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Hacking AOL From The Inside
gizmo_mathboy writes: "It looks like the people that brought you Gnutella and Winamp, Nullsoft, are having fun hacking AOL code after AOL absorbed them. The story is here." One old idea this illustrates is that large, merger-ridden companies like AOL are hard to categorize simply -- they simply have too many parts, not all of which will ever be in complete concert. This kind of semi-allowed internal hacking could be the most valuable thing at AOL right now, though.
It's always good to read fresh Slashdot content.
So, after making millions and millions of dollars selling their company to the highest bidder, they still consider themselves "legitimate nihilistic media terrorists" whom history will "no doubt canonize".
If they mean shot out of a canon (not the real definition, I know, but we can hope) then I'm all for it. These guys are not only trying to both have their cake and eat it, they're trying to eat that cake after they've sold it!
One more target for the clue stick.
---
No, one RIP in a few hours (depending).
As opposed to using MusicMatch or something, which lets you rip your CD to a crappy-quality MP3 with skips and pops in faster than real time!
I figure if I'm going to bother to RIP a CD I may as well do it right...
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Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
I thought it was highly interesting when AOL bought Nullsoft. I equated it to their purchase of Netscape... even though some people might have a problem with that analogy, I'd say that the amount of people using Winamp at the time was probably about equal to the number of people using Netscape. (Market share aside... although Sonique wasn't as popular and there were no other decent MP3 players for Windows at the time)
Netscape withered and died, though. A lot of good talent left the company. But with Nullsoft, the whole team went over... and they're still there.
Now, it's only a matter of "When's Justin Frankel gonna get fired?" Don't get me wrong, he's a genius and a hero in a lot of respects (Shawn Fanning doesn't hold a candle to him, IMO) but he has a knack for doing things to piss off the big corporations... including those that are in the same company as his now. This is a GOOD thing... generally, the stuff that he has made has went pretty far (Winamp, Shoutcast, Gnutella... that's one hell of a resume) but one day someone in another branch of that giant media conglomerate is going to overreact and demand Justin's termination.
It's not as if that would matter, though. So far, anything of his that AOL has shot down made it into the public domain, anyway. He's smart enough to know how to get things out there too, under the radar of AOL until it's too late.
Nullsoft is proof that good things can come out of corporate America, that large corporations don't always go for the loot at the expense of innovation. I'm not saying that AOL actively supports Nullsoft, but their general hands-off approach is almost surprising, considering since they own the company, they can just send a few managers in there to look over everyone's shoulder and make sure that they're not writing the Next Big Thing in Copyright Violations...
There is a good version of Winamp for *nix... it's called XMMS!
If AOL kills winamp, then more people will switch to freeamp, a free and superior project. I'll be the first to lose no sleep.
-- Anne Marie
The reporter said that WinAmp supplies you with all of the software you need to make an illegal copy. Even though it can convert MP3s to WAVs, that doesn't aid in any way the copying of a CD you have.
Refrag
I have a website. It's about Macs.
For a long time I felt AOL was the evil empire, but they really have raised themselves a few notches in my book.
Not Evil Empire, think Roman Empire. Oh sure, Rome had its orgies, slavery, egomaniacal emperors, and gladiatorial games but they also had one of the most vibrant and advanced civilizations of their day and paved the way for modern Western society.
AOL could turn out the same way. Oh sure, Steve Case will continue to sucker in clueless newbies into his empire with inferior but easy to use Internet access; raking in cash and censoring the word "breast" chatrooms while pedophiles prowl his online service unmolested. But AOL is also nurturing some of the most exciting software development today. It's all part of the big chaos of the online scene with both good and bad coming from the same big corporate tent.
Does this
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
...
--
brevity is the soul of
The only thing AOL is good for are all the free "coasters" they thoughtfully include with computer magazines.
Not so! You can also use them as frisbies or build yourself your own, homemade disco ball out of them.
Does this
Well, one extremely obvious application would be to decompose the images into component parts (faces, hair, arms, legs, etc.), then cobble up a "screen blanker" that morphs each part independently. That is, the face would morph to another face; the left arm would morph to another left arm, etc.
Not only would this make an interesting piece of eye candy, it would also serve as a subtle social critique on pr0n in general (i.e. the people in the photos are stripped of their individuality and humanity, reduced to a set of interchangeable parts).
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
I vote for drunk and somewhat retarded
There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
File Format = Felony
More like File Format = Civil Liability when MP3 is licensed and Vorbis isn't.
Will I retire or break 10K?
LOL - I laughed until I stopped =)
There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
Speaking of journalistic integrity, somebody needs to show these people what colour blood is, because unless they've been seriously abusing their bodies, that ain't blood-red.
Teach your kids: "C++ made baby Jesus cry."
I was looking in their plugins section. Silly me. GO NULLSOFT!
It's not for everybody
7 and a half megs?! whoa doggie. Have some consideration for those of us who have slow connections. Winamp Lite is less than a meg.
It's not for everybody
sonique crashes on me, and hogs too much memory
Windows Media player? Talk about bloat!
Nullsofts got a good product, and I'm glad it's free.
It's not for everybody
Er, mind translating?
I have MP3s bigger than that.
If you only want to is listen to a few MP3s, you probably don't need MMJB. But if you have lots o MP3s that aren't organized particularly well, it is great. It can scan your HD for MP3s and create a library with Artist, Title, Album, Genre info from the ID3 tags. This is the main thing I like about it.
You can also use it to rip and burn CDs easily. (Though a few snobs may bitch about the quality, it's certainly as good as anything you're likely to download off Napster.)
If you have a problem with my views, REPLY, don't moderate!
Any hacker can do this with softice.
Nullsoft didn't decide anything. This article is total bull, and the guy who wrote it would be using winamp if he knew better.
I love the comment that matchbox 20's album that has winamp on it give someone tools to "ILLEGALLY PIRATE" the music.
I can copy all my cd's 10000000 times legally you morons!, I can convert the music to whatever format I want. If I give it away or sell it then it's illegal.
Someone please slap these stupid reporters that think anything mp3 is illegal.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"This kind of semi-allowed internal hacking could be the most valuable thing at AOL right now, though."
Certainly their huge capital reserves, brand, market cap, subscriber base, and much more all outvalue a few internal hackers. Are you on crack or something?
You need to stop smoking some crack.
Wow, burn one cd in only a few hours? What a deal!
"It was an odd admission considering that the Winamp player doesn't distinguish between playing legal and illegal MP3s either."
Shit, I better hide my cassette recorder/VCR/Radio/TV/etc. next time the cops are in the area, after all neither do these distinguish legal and illegal....
Stupidity does not prevent you from becoming a reporter.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
One old idea this illustrates is that large, merger-ridden companies like AOL are hard to categorize simply -- they simply have too many parts
I notice he was careful not to say "too many moving parts.
Or you could use nero, and skip all that WAV business... Nifty software, Nero.
http://www.ahead.de/
"don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
Ouch. NAI, eh?
It's rare to find an article that says so little in so many words.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
But freeamp is missing one very important feature for me... The ability to play regular audio CDs. Until it does, I won't switch.
I modded the Troll Investigation and I got
How does freeamp compare with xmms?
http://www.talknerdy.org
When a big company buys you out, it usually has a stipulation in the purchase that the principals stay around. See, Justin is getting paid to do what he wants. What's more, he can only get fired to be released from the contract. He's probably got a 3 year term in the purchase, to stick around. There's only an upside for him.
--
The company I work for got bought, and they had the CEO stick around doing nothing because of the purchase contract.
musicmatch.com
If you have a problem with my views, REPLY, don't moderate!
There are prostitution conventions??? Where do I preregister?
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
It ships (downloads, whateva...) with a plugin that lets it rip cds, or any audio it's playing to wav format.
Catch me on AIM: SigningiS
I prefer a void in conversation to a vacuous one.
Guess I wouldn't know as I'm using a Fraunhaer(sp?!?) MP3Enc for MP3 encoding. Like I said, the free encoders suck for my kind of music, they leave all kinds of high end noise in the finished product.
Bite my yammer.
As regards why jwz left Netscape (another AOL), you should ask him since it was more likely to do with internal politics than AOL interference because they hardly interfere at all.
I always thought of AOL as the annoying company that keeps sending me coasters-I'm happy to see there are a few innovators in that monster.
Sounds like some damn money grubbing management doesn't care what their employees think about where their going. I bet the high-ups bailed after the big check can in the mail too...
Capitalism...Aint it great!
LFS. Have you built your system today?
I've never been able to figure this one out . . . it seems that everything Nullsoft produces is directly counter to AOL's business interests. So why did AOL buy it? Why does AOL continue to allow Nullsoft to have a separate existence? Well, reading this discussion, a new theory dawned upon me. Perhaps AOL's interests aren't exactly what all of us think that they are. Perhaps (and this is *just* a theory) AOL believes (correctly, IMHO) that it is better positioned than most record labels to weather the mp3 wars. Perhaps AOL believes that IT can supercede Napster, Mp3.com and the traditional record companies to become the major distribution source for digital music, presumably following a subscription model a la its own user fees and the proposed Napster settlement. Has AOL made any movement to acquire Aimster? Jay
I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners. - Berke Breathed
Great company, great products, now great hacking? Whatever next?? Well, there's always the possible open-sourcing of winamp... or at least a (good) version for *nix... :o)
ManicHawk - Just because you're manic doesn't mean the walls aren't bouncy
Winamp will convert mp3 files to wavs. Last time I checked, it wouldn't convert cd tracks to wavs.
Every article portrays AIMazing as some haxxor ad-blocking software. What is really is, is a plugin which sticks your winamp visualization thingy in AIM, so you can see it while you play mp3s. And yes, as a *consequence* it replaces the ads, "blocking" them. The main point though was to put the visualization thing in your IM, not specifically to block ads (AFAIK).
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
WinAmp doesn't enable you to make any sort of copies. WinAmp doesn't include a ripper, doesn't include an encoder, and doesn't include burner software. WinAmp is a playback utility.
The guy also mentioned that WinAmp doesn't distinguish between legal and illegal files. That's because it is impossible to do! If WinAmp refused to play MP3s with the copyright flag on, then everyone would encode their MP3s with it off.
This reporter is either clueless or on medication.
Refrag
I have a website. It's about Macs.
I have a Plextor 40x UW SCSI - true digital rips at 20x and a Plextor SCSI Burner 8/2/20 (a little old). I will often dump the disk to an image first - takes a couple minutes - a full CD burn takes less than ten minutes...
If you are ripping a CD with a crappy IDE drive, you deserve to wait a few hours...
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
What kind of dumb shit is that? Does Winamp rip CDs and encode MP3 now? I though it just played MP3s.
Cunning linguists
Get a real drive that supports high-speed error-correcting digital ripping (think Plextor) and do it better with less errors. If you don't have the hardware to do it, why bother?
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
put some pr0n on all those free aol discs,..
...dave
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
So there's this group of hackers creating cool pieces of free software while being condoned and payed by AOL. So if this is true, then this is AOL actually doing a good thing. First, that can't be true. Second, what's it doing on Slashdot? Don't tell me the discussion on journalistic integrity is going to affect you people?!?
It is the end of The Dot as we know it, it is the end of The Dot as we know it, and I feel fine..
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
"Atlantic Records has even begun to include the Winamp program on some music CDs, such as Matchbox 20's latest release, ``Mad Season.'' This basically provides all the software someone with a CD burner would need to make illegal, high-quality copies."
Funny - I've never needed winamp to make copies of any disk (software or audio). CD->CD copy works - - and most burning programs let you dump to a HD img if you need it... they don't ship a blank CD, either. Just another misleading statement.
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
that the powers that be up at AOL dont try to get their paws in Winamp. Ive been using that program since my win 3.1 days and have watched it grow. If AOL was to start telling these people how to code it..... Just look at what happened to netscape when they got bought out. A good documentary about big biz mucking up good sw projects is on jamie zawinkis (sp?) page. he was one of the original developers at netscape and eventually left in disgust.
"sex on tv is bad, you might fall off..."
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
No, EAC a CD in a few hours, particularly if you have a badly burned CD.
Then I burn it on my 2x2x6x Phillips.
Just how many CDs have you duped and burned in the last month?
I figure I've EAC'ed about 20, and burned about 100.
"It was an odd admission considering that the Winamp player doesn't distinguish between playing legal and illegal MP3s either."
Funny, neither does my walkman.
For a long time I felt AOL was the evil empire, but they really have raised themselves a few notches in my book.
Tony
Could this be AOL's attempt to get some "street cred" by sponsoring a bunch of hackers? Kind of like Sprite running commercials telling us not to believe the hype commercials, or lifelong politicians portraying themselves as "outsiders"?
The only thing AOL is good for are all the free "coasters" they thoughtfully include with computer magazines. Hacking AOL from within? I don't know if I'd care to admit that as it's tanatmount to admitting that I actually used their service. ...........
You're using her as bait, Master!
Get a Plextor Plexwriter 12/10/32A. With its new Burn-Proof technology (essentially it stops the write if it runs out of data, then resumes), you'll never make another coaster. I've had one for months, and I can do anything on the computer that I want without messing up a write. You can even do a CD-to-CD with no problemos. Love this product (and no, I have no financial interest in the company or product.)
Well, MP3 the format isn't illegal in and of itself. You can still make copies legally for yourself. As you said, it is 'units shipped' that you are charged for. If you aren't distributing, then you don't have any reason to worry about using MP3.
Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of Vorbis (I haven't used it yet, but am keeping my eye on it), but I have spent hundreds of hours (not really, hundreds of hours of batch time on my Linux server at home) encoding all of my CDs to MP3 so that I don't have to constantly fiddle with the CDs themselves (and I did purchase a legal MP3 encoder to do this work, the 'free' ones give me really sucky, squeaky quality). It's going to take some convincing to get me to switch without a real reason. And thus far this entire, *MP3 is illegal* thing just doesn't seem real to me. If the format itself ever is outlawed, and Vorbis begins to take its place, it won't be long before Vorbis is outlawed as well.
It is the concept of copying which seems to bother the big corporations. And unfortunately at the moment, the big corporations are all that really matter in the US. God knows the law is bought and paid for by them. Just a few more years and they should be able to remove that pesky voting process where people even have the illusion that they matter.
Everybody knows that government is there to protect the poor abused big businesses from the big bad and nasty consumers. That's what this entire, *MP3 should be illegal* thing is really about. Forget fair use. If you want to listen to a song on your home stereo and in your car you should have to pay for it twice! Now, if they could just convince people that this is *for their own good*.
Bite my yammer.
Its up there, in the free section.
http://www.nullsoft.com/free/aimazing/
When is the mainstream media going to stop qualifying MP3s?
Any time you read an article, or hear a news report about Napster/Gnutella/Metallica/Dre/whatever they always mention mp3, followed by "A type of computer file that makes downloading music on the internet easier." Don't people know that by now? When will it end?
Can you imagine if everytime they mentioned Internet they still had to follow with "..a set of standards used to connect computers throughout the world together forming a giant network community."
The dumbest online service "everyone uses" buys the dumbest MP3 player "everyone uses". It's fitting, in a way.
Winamp was advanced when everyone was still fighting with Winplay3, but today it's sorely become diluted with useless bloat and features of questionable value. There are many players out there now that can manage your MP3 collection, rip CDs, and even burn audio CDs without needing to change programs.
And when it comes to player-only software, Winamp is Sonique's bitch-boy.
--- Replace ISA with USB? Great idea, I love more cables...
Could this be AOL's attempt to get some "street cred" by sponsoring a bunch of hackers? Kind of like Sprite running commercials telling us not to believe the hype commercials, or lifelong politicians portraying themselves as "outsiders"?
This is exactly what it is, Suck recently ran a great article on this phenomenon. Basically, Americans like to think of their heroes as outsiders. No matter how well-connected you are, the system is set up so that you can reinvent yourself as a renegade.
Why? Because this country was founded by wealthy, well-connected men who modeled themselves as rebels in order to rally the people to their cause.
That's how AOL wants to be seen, as being on the cutting edge of technology, so they'll put up with Justin Frankel's antics so long as they can point to him and say, "You see, we're not like those other corporate sheep. We're outsiders who take chances!" He is worth more to AOL as a human marketing tool than he is as a brilliant programmer. Frankel have to pull some seriously illegal crap before AOL would give up what he represents.
Does this
Wait for your next AOL coaster to arrive. Like selling drugs, the first 500 hours will be free, and then it will only cost you $20/month for unlimited access.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Winamp has been free for a while now. About a month after I payed my ten clams to Justin, actually. Doh!
Catch me on AIM: SigningiS
I prefer a void in conversation to a vacuous one.
Your sig is from the one where the aliens abduct Clinton and Bush and try to run themselves. Nice. -- Don't EVEN mod me down for this. I wanted to tell this person, but didn't think their email was valid. Thanks peeps.
------ This is my sig.
some music CDs, such as Matchbox 20's latest release, ``Mad
Season.'' This basically provides all the software someone with a
CD burner would need to make illegal, high-quality copies.
I'm sorry? When did winamp *make* mp3's? And since when could you burn cd's from winamp?
Whatever they're on, it should be illegal - unless you're (insert name of relevant drug-using "star" here).
"I am so cool, you could keep a side of meat in me for a month
io hymen hymnaee io
io hymen hymnaee
Is it possible that nullsoft made some sort of agreement to keep their working environment in tact when AOL sought to take them over? Tivoli did something similar when IBM took them over. If so, that would have been a neat trick. If they did, they should be commended and imitated.
If you have a badly burned CD:
1) Why rip from that one - get a better one
2) a real drive will still help. A plextor ripping at half of it's normal speed for extra error correction will still take less than 20 minutes to rip a full 70 minutes of music.
I don't work for Plextor, but ever since I purchased the 12/20 back in 1996, I'll never buy another brand - they work better, more reliably, and last longer than other readers or burners I've had.
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
I happen to have a plextor -- I have 3 CD drives that I use for ripping MP3s.
I have about 1200 (100 gigs) CDs on my home jukebox, and ripped every one of them myself.
Error correction is wonderful, and I use it in the hardware and the software (EAC). If you're trusting the drive to eliminate all the skips and pops, you're just plain wrong -- it can't. At least EAC will say (after trying 100 times!) "there's an error on this CD at this position" and I know to check it and see if it sounds bad so I can delete it. Otherwise you can have a collection full of annoying pops you don't know about until you play it later...
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Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
I do a bitwise verify after a disk rip for each track, and verify the sound for any discrepancies. I also re-rip the burnt disc and verify that against the original (repeat error screening). I've never had any problems with the burns, except for Imation media (never any other kind), or my old HP SureStore 6020i (there's a class action suit against HP for that drive, among others).
I've never used EAC, but I might have to check that out.
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
After the Time Warner Merger, Nullsoft will be back in the news... hehehe... I can't wait!
.sigs??
-- Don't you hate it when people comment on other people's
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
...that besides buying Nullsoft, AOL acquired a clue at the same time?
Heh. "You bring the money, I'll bring my big ol' Clue Stick." LOL.
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
Well, if that's how you're going to define "profit," then yes, we all live in an ocean of unlimited wealth, free for the asking.
But just consuming stuff tends to get kind of one-dimensional and boring after a while. The important next question is, "What can you do with it?" By which I mean, can you take all that raw material and put it together in new, creative ways?
The value is not in the artifact, but in the imagination.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
It's an interesting bit of polarity... the very group trying to eliminate groups like Napster also creates their own.
Perhaps the reason behind this dichotomy is that AOL wants no competition for their media on the internet, i.e. "If it didn't come from us, you shouldn't be able to download it." This sort of control over the "new media" could be staggering.
This attitude recalls the days where people would ask me if I had AOL, to which I responded, "No, I have an Internet connection."
"Aren't they the same thing?"
try this
"sex on tv is bad, you might fall off..."
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
Isn't Nullsoft essentially a vanity purchase for AOL anyway? I don't see what possible profit motive was behind it. So what harm does it do AOL to let the Nullsoft boys run wild, but reign in potentially litigenic stuff like Gnutella.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sounds like some damn money grubbing management doesn't care what their employees think about where their going. I bet the high-ups bailed after the big check can in the mail too...
you don't have a lot of work experience, do you?
some? try all.
...dave
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
Remind me to never, ever trade with you, unless you're talking standalone burner, but I don't think you are.
When I dupe a CD, I read it in with EAC, and it may take a few hours.
Then I dump it the HD (or via network) to my burner.
I rarely get underrungs or diginoise this way.
I never knew this..but cool!
-----------------------------------
MP3 = Illegal
-----------------------------------
3 letters = 6 letters -- Close enough for a braindead reporter!
No letters match -- Close enough for a believer in this following!
File Format = Felony -- No match but when's the last time a staff writer made sense? Hehe 3 F's!
Music = Intellectual Property -- Not in my belief, but sure in a Luddite's!
-----------------------------------
Obviously the real equations here are:
Media reporter = Head up ass
Technology analyst = Brainwashed
-----------------------------------
Try that on your calculator!
Definitions:
XML: Leading the way to make the web a ebiz thing
You can use WinAmp to decode the mp3 to a wav file. With most (any?) cd-burner software you can make your illegal, high quality copy.
Big props out to Adaptec's EZ-CD Creator 4.0 with which you can burn mp3s across you local 10baseT network to an audio cd.
funky49
--- rapper/producer/bachelorette party stripper
You have to pick your battles. When you're Nullsoft, you don't take AOL/Time Warner on head first. Widdle away.
PS: does anyone know where to get AIMazing? The article said it's still available, and I searched nullsoft.com but I can't find it.
It's not for everybody
--- SNIP ---
Someone please slap these stupid reporters that think anything mp3 is illegal.
At least LAME is illegal. MP3 the format is encumbered by patents. Software encoder developers must pay USD$15,000 for the first 6,000 units shipped yearly and USD$2.50 for each additional unit. Per-unit royalties are incompatible with free software. Switch to Vorbis today; most peer-to-peer file-sharing services support it now anyway.
Will I retire or break 10K?
As it stands, the last AOL CD that came in sparkled nicely in the microwave, and I was able to rescue a quite nice CD case of the style usually used for DVDs...
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Article's Quote:
The REAL Quote:Somehow, I think that the meaning changes a bit here, don't you? The article seems to want to portray them as hackers who are glory hounds, whereas, I think their real quote reveals that they KNOW they will have their public image assassinated at every chance no matter what happens (as this example blatantly shows)
I am rather fond of XMMS, myself. It's better coded than WinAmp. FreeAmp is also nice, and has alot of potential but I found its playlist system to be buggy and slightly awkward. I think it's a matter of opinion really.
I send you this message in order to have your advice.
Ya know, until I saw this message I thought I was just going crazy... shortly after installing nero and having it complain that a whole new spindle of CD's isn't writable, the FAT table on my hard drive got corrupted... right in the middle of the entries for the Windows directory. And again I got to experience the joy of a win98se install... nice to know it was nero and not something more serious (motherboard, hard drive, etc)
BRTB
Hacking away from the inside can be the only thing that keeps you sane. When I found that our corporate http proxies were blocking chiark I started playing with ways to avoid them. So far I am winning (witness this post), but I have had the interesting experience of having my home IP address blocked at the corporate firewall.
Sometimes it doesn't seem fair. After all, if they had any brains at all they wouldn't be working in information security, would they? But they have all the budget, and all the hardware, so it evens out.
At the time of writing, this is the first non-troll post.
--
--
E_NOSIG
- Winamp can be used to listen to illegal mp3's
- Shoutcast can be used to play copyrighted music and not pay any royalties
- Gnutella exists
- The guys from nullsoft released a winamp plugin to change the AOL Instant Messenger ads with something else.
There really isn't much new information here, it portrays the guys at Nullsoft as whimsical, ecentric, crazy kids while showing AOL to be the mature but understanding adult that is simply putting up with their youthful antics with a grin.
Mas vale cholo, que mal acompañado.
But just consuming stuff tends to get kind of one-dimensional and boring after a while. The important next question is, "What can you do with it?" By which I mean, can you take all that raw material and put it together in new, creative ways?
Ehm, the parent post was about pr0n... I don't really want to know what someone's going to do with that "raw material" and the "putting things together in a creative way" part if you don't mind. I haven't had dinner yet...
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.