Nah -- no one as contemporary. The guys I deal with talk about things like Being In The Pocket and making sure that an entire song can be played through by the musicians in one take (even if it takes two weeks to get it -- and then the overdubs...but no edits to the original).
I pay a LOT of attention to the aural experience, but the stuff we work on is far more centered on good songwritting than anything else. If you can sing along to it, quite honestly, the shittiest recording will sound great because its stuck in your head and *YOU* fill in the gaps.
Out of the bands you listed, I rate one as a decent songwritting band. Radiohead, for example, use to have great writting, but have gone the way of gimicks in the last few releases. Better than average writting, but their focus on as you say the aural experience more than the content itself.
Losing character has everything to do with the source material you've encoded from and the psychoacoustic model that the encoding employs. I have several mp3 encoders from back in the day (before they got shut down due to patent infringement) that sound better than what we have today. These ones would actually let you choose from a variety of compression techniques that were sorted by the types of music that it did well.
We are seeing more and more of this in straight 96khz to 44.1khz dithering processes as well. POW-r is slowly being added to all the major softwares, and there are plenty of other ways to get around dithering from high end audio to consumer level audio. I have a test application that I'm planning on checking out soon that a high end audio company had sent me that CLAIMS to make the dithering process much less damaging to the sound as a lot of high end mastering engineers claim that going from 96khz to 44.1 is almost criminal in their mind. The app actually adds a layer of noise based on gasiuan theory / brownian motion and a shit load of other probably bullshit ideas. The claim is that adding a random layer in a nonpredictable - inaudible way will allow dithering to occur where its warmer to the listener and truer to the original.
In a sense, MP3s and all these others are adding this sort of random layer that is filling out the parts left off because its not just playing the parts as written, its interpretting it.
Both processes are lossy. Both loose a LOT of information from the masters. If you encode MP3 from a CD, you have lost 2 levels of detail. If you encode MP3 / AAC / Whatever from the masters, you get quite a bit of this information back, and if you actually afford yourself the difference that >128bps MP3s give you (128 was about the norm back when I was dealing with the P2P apps), you might see that while loosing some info, with the right attention to detail in the dither / encoding states, its not too horrid.
Remember this -- when Apple first opened the ITMS, they claimed that ALL their source material was coming straight from the masters and this is why it was taking so long to get in. If they had encoded from CDDA (as so many of the other companies are doing), I doubt it would have sounded so good.
In the end, I'd rather focus on the song and not the skills of the guy behind the board. Otherwise, we start getting into BrittanyPop where its entirely the production that is at stake and not the music (not that I'm saying this is bad...I know one of the guys in her recent production crew and he is the top of his game:-)
"If you do purchase it......then I get the song in a lossless format..."
You know this arguement always pisses me off.
What makes MP3s any less lossless than CDA. Its another format and thats it. As a musician (and more to the point, an engineer and tech for real musicians), I don't think I've recorded anything in the last 2 years where the master wasn't at 24bit 96Khz...that means any CD ya listen to is VERY lossy.
Then again, most of the musicians I've worked with ask me to burn it down to MP3 so they can listen to it on their pods and don't care about the difference -- and neither do it...its not like I'm sitting around a listening room smoking a pipe pontificating about the clean lows and the crisp upper range of the latest f'n Sir Mix-A-Lot cd...
I would like to see digital music come with liner notes though (cover art bores me...the liner is where its at).
Even if you HATE all the candidates, you go in and vote...that means going and and not selecting one motherfucker from the ballot. It registers that you did vote and participated, but you also register as someone that didn't like any up there.
Voting is NEVER a waste of time...and the fact that you see who's on the ballot means nothing in the end if no one caters to your beliefs...
"To this end a 'None of the above option' is going to be added for future elections."
Thats a very good idea. There have been MANY times I've gone into the voting booth to realize I didn't like any of the folks on the ballot, and I refuse to vote for someone that I don't know their stand. Most of the time, I vote for 3 or 4 folks out of a local choice of 15 - 20 choices (judges and chief sanitation officer and things like that for which I give a flying fuck about). There are two almost opposing candidates (they are opposite in ideals, but never for the same position) that I vote for, because both have helped me out with various projects over the years and even if I disagree with their politics (of which I've made it a point not to talk with them about this and turn off cspan if I see them on it:-) So I guess I cancel myself out on these and if someone saw these two votes, they would think I was confused.
And then other years, I've walked in the booth, looked over the list of candidates and said screw this, hit the lever and walked out without a single vote. I'm counted as a voter, but no votes.
I believe technically, one has to have the majority of the votes cast to win (as counted by the number of voters)...if enough of us walked in and did this, maybe the politicians would actually do something about this crap and either come up with a more fair voting system (I'm sick of the 2 party system) or they will learn to get their ideals out there...
So, not having a vote for a voter doesn't mean they didn't vote, it might mean they DID vote and you have their oppinion of the candidates right in front of your face. There are more and more folks like me that might identify with a particular party, but hate every last motherfucker that tends to represent it these days...
It clearly stated that if you want to reregister it under another users name, you needed to contact my company. CLEARLY stated.
It was just a charting program for a very specific use, no data was ever corrupted, it just would crash randomly when trying to print (never actually crashing, it just exited)...unfortunately, if you didn't change the name, another doctors name was then listed on the chart.
I did have it set up where a site license would allow for any office / hospital / whatever that needed it could use the name of the organzation as the key file instead of the name of the individual.
Yeah, this disgusted me as well...considering it was used in a medical office, it cost me a LOT to design...it had to go before a lawyer that was trained in medical technology malpratice...I explained the name protection and what happened, he was more concerned that the data could be corrupted (we had to write instruction on how to read the almost human readable text files, incase they wanted to migrate away from this software to something else).
The fact that these guys were using it and saying screw the $500 license, I didn't spend $100k on my degree to waste it on software pissed me off...
I wanted to give it away at the end of all of this (back before I knew what the GPL was...we all just threw things into the public domain), but I was informed that if someone used the source and screwed it up, *I* would be personally liable for whatever damages could be caused...this is one field I will never deal with again.
300 Baud? I remember on my Commodore 64, half the time, it wasn't even 300 Baud, it was like 150 because the connection strings got crappy on the long distance connection (who remember how long its been sing you've actually heard static on a land line). And you could TELL what speed it was connecting at because of the hum from the modem.
But yeah, it is nice not to have to compete with peers...I'm only early 30s and I see kiddies that work for me and how they are using my fast internet to aquire illegitimate software they they have no need for, but might just need it to trade. Smart...you don't need it, but willing to screw over a company just so that if someone REALLLLY needs it, it can be leverage in their trading schemes and the end user won't have to pay for it. I remember the scene myself...I can't say I was above it when I was that young...I'm jus saying it was stupid and wrong and now that I've had years undernethe me and actually put out a professional product for a few of these years (it was a piece of very genre specific medical software I had written for a friend, and his doctor wanted to collaborate with me, and it expanded from there)...and then I see a few dozen copies sell, but I get calls and inquiries from 10x that with questions on why the software wasn't working right (because they changed the name...that was my big security 18 years ago and allowed 'customization' but didn't tell anyone that changing the name meant that the program was going to randomly 'crash'). And these were folks that could afford it.
The problem with these kiddie pirates aren't that THEY are collecting the software, its that they are putting it in the hands of folks that would have otherwise paid for it...these kids don't know who they hurt, and today, these same kids cry out "if you can't handle it, pick a new profession" everytime you say anything about it critically. What ever happened to corporeal punishment:-) Yeah, it isn't about all that to them, its competing with their friends and trying to be the coolest at any and all expense...
Available at Audible.com
on
Oryx and Crake
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I've had an audible subscription for three months now, but *THIS* book was one of the best I've heard so far. Shit, I picked up my iPod two years back solely to use for Books on CD and things like that, but it was too damn annoying to use until Apple licensed the Audible content and decided to allow you to pause the chapter and listen to music and then come back to the same pause in that file.
I picked up Ender's Game on Audible as well, and it was cool (I actually got more out of Speaker of the Dead in dead tree format) but it just didn't do it as well as this one did.
Great oration and it enhances the story instead of detracting from it (I've picked up serveral tha I got part of the way into the dead tree versions and had to stop because of workloads...and thought I'd finish them up on an airflight -- I can't read while in the air for some reason -- or one one of my many drives to Nashville lately...7 hours of mundate pushings of the gas pedal).
If you were ever interested in checking out these kinds of services, check it out...the only problem I had was there wasn't a real resolution to the book...it feels like a halfway end...it finishes the story of Crake and Oryx (characters in the book), while never finishing the story of the 'Snowman' -- the lead narrator telling the story of C&O, but far more interesting than it seems eiher of them ever were. Oryx is too one dimensional to care about as anything but a prop, and Crake is just...well, he too is one dimensional, but that is mainly from the narriation as opposed to his actual being. I just couldn't bring myself to caring whatever happened to Oryx, and Crake just projected himself too far into the future (especially since this is a latter retelling of the tale...hindsight is always 20/20) that his end of the story was told far before ya ever got the intimate details...no, the REAL story is about Snowman, and it was left unfinished.
Lets hope this is a big enough seller that Atwood feels like revisiting it soon and gives it a proper ending...
Soundtrack was in the works before the Logic purchase (it was bought off another company and redeveloped in house from what I understand).
As it stands, you have several packages ranging from the consumer to the pro in Apple's line ups.
For instance, in the Video Line, ya have Final Cut Pro. Ya also have Shake...both of these are two different applications, but are VERY different, while at the same time, slowly sharing their core code. Ya also have DVDStudio...these are the pro lines...
In the intermediatary line, ya have Final Cut Express. It works, but its only output is PAL or NTSC. It doesn't have all the cool parts to it like FCP like all the compositing (its got some) or Soundtrack.
In the low end, ya have iMovie and iDVD.
I've talked with a LOT of video editors, and they all claim FCP *IS* cutting at Avid's jugular. Compare the same experience of working on a $3000 Mac with $1000 of FCP to $20k of Avid's entrylevel workhorse and you get the picture. Add another grand and you have compositing that won't happen on Avid and it works pretty seamlessly.
This is their idea with the music side...give folks what they need.
Ya have Emagic's (or as my forum users are apt to put it, Emapple) Logic. It comes in 3 forms Silver Gold Platnium (actually, they changed these around a bit, I think Silver is now just called Logic...I haven't paid any attention to this as I never get any boxes from those bastards...they just authorize my keys and don't send me new documentation, but hey, I run their largest user forums, so I guess I can figure it out:-)
This is probably going to change in the near future as its a bit confusing...I can see only 2 versions soon with Silver being merged into Gold.
Each of these 3 versions have differing features compared to the level you need and can afford. If you are paying $399 for the entry level version, Surround Sound isn't going to be something you need because its a pro feature (well, getting more common place all the time as folks move up to 5.1 and more...5.1 is actually easier to mix for as ya don't have to worry about overlapping frequencies and all that within a single channel, but still has other new challenges).
The Logic series is aimed squarely at professionals. Even in professionals, I sometimes push folks to one app or another over Logic because their engineering / tech skills might not need all of the features included. ProTools is the option I throw folks to that just want to hit record and go (well, its a LITTLE more complicated than that, but if you can use an Adat, I can teach you how to use ProTools in an afternoon).
Then ya have Soundtrack...its aimed at video-professionals and written in this way. To me, its like AcidPro on the PC...yeah, ya can work with it, but its not entirely what I call making music. Lots of folks work with other peoples loops and think they are musicians...hell, I design and sell loops to these people:P I *HOPE* they are using them in creative ways, but I know most folks that buy this stuff are doing the garageband form of 'composition'...taking a dozen dissimilar loops and adding them together (I use drum loops when a drummer isn't available OR I need a specific sound...I also put limits on how many external loops I will use in a composition as it feels like I'm cheating otherwise).
So, there is very little overlap between Soundtrack and Logic. you *CAN* export your music from Soundtrack into Logic, so if you want to replace prerecorded loops with live guitarist or drummer, its not too difficult to do. It shares AudioUnits (the standard FX and Instrument interface for OSX) with Logic, and the two software are slowly having their code merged. The AU code was DIRECTLY taken from Logic for example.
Soundtrack is the intermediate solution...at allows for nonmusicians as well as musicians to do what they need.
Garageband is a light form of Soundtrack. It exports to Soundtrack and its pretty cool
Well Logic IS the way to go. I don't know why you expect it to do all the other crap...will TextEdit load and edit M$ Word docs...err...thats a bad example.
As for a major interface overhaul, if you aren't doing any looping or midi, ProTools is probably more right for you than either Logic or Digital Performer. I run the largest Logic users group on the web, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone that just wanted the equivelent of a tape recorded.
Not that it can't do all of that, it can, and if you look at it from a simplistic view point, you really only need two screen to work with. Logic's greatest point is that it allows you to customize it in ways none of the other apps can. Its the geeks recorder. Want a customized front end, build it...I know folks that do just this and tweak everything out to their exact configuration...personally, I leave it all alone, except for screwing with the key commands, and use it as it comes out of the box.
Anywho, I'm hoping for an interface revamp in the near future for logic...not a MAJOR one, but something to clean it up (some of the custom objects still look like they were designed from an OS7.5 standpoint...I guess they figure only the geeks get that dirty, so why bother).
but as you have DP, why worry...you've already got a half way decent package that should deal with direct recording than anything else (I just hope you aren't going directly to your internal HD on the TIBook).
In your example of the Subway shop...if you found you were taking a loss due to employee theft, you'd fire the employees involved. If you found that you were taking a loss from folks showing up in the middle of the night and stealing your bread, you'd report it to your insurance. If you found that every last motherfucker in town was showing up, getting behind the counter and making sam'miches for their friends, you'd appeal to someone that could do something about these losses.
My career pays well...not buy a summer home well, but buys me paid vacations with friends and keeps me in new toys to play with. I'm no where near disgruntled. I don't know where you get that. If I owned that subway shop and I found that I was looking $100k a year because of theft, yet still took home $200k, would you still claim that I was an asshole because I made enough and shouldn't expect to make any more? Loose a third of my salary because folks want a nonessential item for free? If it were the ONLY food in town for hundreds of landlocked miles, I could see socialism in action and doing this for the greater good. Subway sandwiches and music cds are not essential, but are pretty much both entertainment.
So, why should folks expect to get free entertainment? Thats what it ammounts to. A dozen folks sneaking into the theatre as a friend opens up the firedoors because he knows the show isn't anywhere near sold out. I know folks that still do this bullshit to the art theatres as they are lax on security. This is unfortunately, the ones that are also hurt the most in the music biz -- the folks that aren't releasing blockbuster hits, but the working class musicians. The ones that know how to live off of $30k a year and have critical acclaim and everyone has some of their music downloaded, but no one seems to have bought their cds because its too inconvient to run down to best buy and pick it up (or go to their website and get it for $5 less).
Being disgruntled because folks steal from me and my friends isn't a reason to get out of the business. If someone were ripping off your home on a daily basis, I'd expect you'd ask the police to do something about it...and if you found the mayors office all running around with your panies on their head with the police chief using your girdle as a bulletproof vest, you'd probably go above their heads and tell your state senator that this is too institutionalized and you think the gov't should recompense you for this.
Personally, I don't think the gov't should be collecting these taxes...its a contractual thing, but I do understand why these folks get pissed off.
"In fact, in my understanding many to most of the musicians that deal with the RIAA end up owing them money for expenses that the RIAA decided to incure on their behalf, charged at the rates that the RIAA found reasonable. etc."
Most artists incure these expense due to their own misplanning OR their lack of experience. What folks don't realize is that a band is a business like anything else. They have to pay the accountants and the management like anyone else. If I were to play the guitar for fun, I wouldn't need to know anything about the business. If I were to play guitar for the house payment, that becomes a completely different situation.
So, while the artists might not make much money off of this stuff, they will make money and the RIAA goes a long way in supporting them. The one and only 'artist' deal I had was when I was 21 and in a decent band. We got a pretty good advance -- what most don't seem to understand is this money is not 'free' money the labels are giving you, but it comes out of you future royalities almost like a loan. When the label started dicking us over and my partner left, but they still liked my contributions and wanted to develop them further, but never could come up with a way to do this, I simply gave them what I had, and went back to school. As an unknown, I was able to pay for a year of college from this money...not too bad. Had to ride out the rest of the contract as it encumbered me, but if I felt like playing the game, I could have gotten something out of it.
The problem is, its not just the advance money, but some of the bigger artists, they will pay living expenses and otherwise...a young band sees this money and spends like there isn't a tommorow, and the label is happy to help out.
Its like winning the lottery...the lottery agents will NOT provide you with a financial councellor, but they will recommend a list of them to you and suggest you take their advice. If I were running the lottery, I'd make it a requirment to collect the fees that one takes part in a series of one on one classes for this and assign a perminent overseer of the account for a set amount of time.
The music industry should be the same way...good management (and these are generally entertainment lawyers) *SHOULD* provide this to you...I've never seen one that has though. The music industry is the deep end of the pool...don't go there unless you are ready to tread water without mommy holding your hand. This is probably why I refuse to make it my full time job -- several artists (and more to the point, their management) will not work with me because I say I want something one way, and if it doesn't happen, I walk. This is *ALWAYS* an option...I've exercised this option more than once...and I have a non-industry lawyer that is conversant in the area to understand the contractual nature of this, yet isn't so engrained in the culture that he isn't sleezy (well, he is sleezy, just in a different way...and an excellent drummer to beat:-).
So, the point of all this is that the RIAA isn't as unfair to artists as folks like Courtney Love claim...she made pretty good bank off of these guys and lives well enough today just off her royalties to be able to coke up nightly and break into Beverly Hill neighbor's homes. I've known friends on both sides...almost all admit that they were in over their head and didn't know what they were signing and didn't bother to ask...I had to help a group of guys fill out W9s (that the US IRS independant contractor form) two weeks ago because my friends didn't even know what these were and never had to fill out their own forms -- this was for a television special and their manager was too drunk to take care of it.
If folks looked at this as a business and not as a ticket to fame that needs no oversight, their bands might actually see some money and understand what to expect.
The 'Audio' cd is exactly the same, but they have a set of machine readable serial on the inner ring that tell the box if it is legit and that you paid the tax (or something similar...I can't remember the specifics other than thinking this is ignorant).
Very few machines -- except those that are solely designed to copy other audio cds -- care for this. In my time, I've only come across one, and that was the friends Panasonic that I mentioned in another post, and it was only after trying a few cheaper cds to prove a point to him, and having him prove me wrong. I had told him the music cds were just an idiot tax like the lottery...well they are, but if you have a device that requires them, ya gotta use what it needs to find something else.
And this is where I am calling you an idiot again.
I made no comments about you or how you obtained your music. None. Not one bit. In none of my statements do I say anything about you and filesharing. I was talking solely about my original comments.
As for entitlements, again, and for some reason you don't seem to grasp this -- do you have a native tounge I can translate this into for you...I only know two other human languages outside of English, but I might be able to find an appropriate piece of soft that can do the trict -- but no, I don't think anyone is entitled to anything. I do think each and everyone of us in a free democracy should be allowed to ask for them though. Thats called freedom of speech and I'm encouraging it through the use of democracy that folks in most western states have. Only a despicable elected official would actually grant this, but as a voter and a citizen, they or, more likely, someone on their staff should hear you out to see if you are indeed a crackpot or have a real issue at stake...I've known of folks that went to their congressperson to complain about being fired before to see if they could do something about it...I find that more despicable than asking purely for free money.
And again, and maybe I should repeat this a few more times I HOPE A REASONABLE ELECTED OFFICIAL THROWS YOU OUT ON YOUR EAR FOR ASKING SUCH BULLSHIT.
What the fuck is a levy or tarrif if not a specialized tax? Its not a royalty in any means.
This only happens on blank 'Music CDs'. It doesn't really help out any artists. The canadian system actually ends up to the artists, where this goes 99% to the RIAA who don't redistribute anything.
As for digital audio recorders -- easy to get around these requirements -- disable true bitwise copying. Hell, several consumer level sound card manufacturers actually degrade the out bits (giving you a quality anywhere between 12 and 24 bits at any given sample), where as the professional level (the 'prosumer' as they are called these days) aren't given this requirement because they are actually aimed at the folks that this fund would go to (quite a few 'pro' audio interfaces are being sold as consumer these days).
In the end, very few are ever penalized for this as its only the machines that are solely designed to duplicate consumer's audio from prerecorded cds that really end up paying for this (these are the ones that generally require the music cd blanks to work -- and I *DO* support this as a levy because there are no other reason to copy audio cds from a consumer end than to get around paying for it...my Primera 150 Disc duplicator doesn't give a damn about what kind of burnables I use, while the Panasonic CD-Duper a friend has does).
As for Happy birthday, thats a little fucked up. The words are copyrighted (yeah ANYTHING can get a copyright as long as its original), while the music is from an earlier period (Good Morning to You was the first words...you can figure out the rest). By pairing the music with the title, you have thus announced you are associating it with the copyrighted pair of Music / Words as opposed to the earlier versions (pre-copyright).
In the same sense, and you might be too young to remember this, in the 70s there was a really bad disco version of The Fifth of Bethovin (I can't spell today)...if you were to record the original and title it as Disco's Fifth of Beothvin Stripped, the guy that did the original could sue you. Two years ago, an artist was sued because he attributed John Cage to a 'silent' piece on his album in reference to 4'33. If he had not attributed it, even jokingly, he would not have been sued. As he implicitly was using the trademarked name and doing the same sort of thing, ligitious family members sued. Bullshit in some senses, common sense in others...
This issue isn't really too deep, but unless you have a constant hand in all of these issues (and have to deal with lawyers ready to bend ya over at a moments notice), it is confusing. Then again, in my other employments as a computer programmer, I also don't expect the average person to understand C++ (nor any other programmer other than the original scripter to understand a perl app:-).
No one is forcing anyone to buy music. By no means am I suggesting this. Hell, most of the music I buy has NOTHING to do with the RIAA (the ones that I do listen to that are on the big guys dime are for the most part given to me by the artists or their representatives...I just don't have any personal interest in most of the types of music they put out). Independant artists are where the real interest is.
However, the poster above IMPLIED that he wasn't 'buying' any more because he was charged a penalty for his blank cd buying. His comments would be to any reasonable person to imply that he is still obtaining music, but looking at this tax as reasonable compensation to the artists that he has ilgotten.
So, no...no one is forcing you to buy music nor did I imply that. I implied that if one does grab music, it would be honest and fair to support these artists and their staff, which the Canadian Blank CD Tax does not do.
So, no, you do not point out any earth shattering knowledge that the recording industry is ignoring the needs of its customers, unless that need is for free music, in which case I think it would be moronic to even imply that one should be forced to give their art away for free.
As for favoring legistation, you are a fucking moron if you can't read the sarcasm in this post. Wait, no, you are a fucking moron even if you did read the sarcasm. Not even to the level of the mighty troll. I claimed that its in ANYONES interest to try to convince a legislating body to give them something for nothing...I didn't claim that it was in the interest of the individual tax payer to allow this to happen. I would gladly tax $100k a year from the gov't if they would give it to me...you on the other hand should do everything in your power to stop this from happening. Your elected individuals should have your interests at heart and stop this from happening if they believe it puts you at a disadvantage. This would be easily discernable from my post if you read what I said instead of showing the world what an idiot you truely are:-)
So, no, my attitude of entitlement is solely that if I create something I should be compensated fairly for it. Filesharing removed the fair portion of this. At one point, I held high hopes that folks would use file sharing as a way to get around organizations like the RIAA and use it to find artists they liked and would end up supporting them. In my personal, antectodal and nonscientific opinion, the more and more I meet folks that are enamoured with file trading like this, its not to search out new artists and buy their cds, it is to instead add to their collection and as a good friend tells me -- he doesn't have to buy any prerecorded cds any more.
Honestly, how would you like it if I came in and told you that flipping hamburgers was for the common good and as such, we aren't going to pay you any more?
"Sidenote: as a Canadian, I dont plan on buying a single CD or paying for a single song from the major labels while I'm paying a music industry tax on my blank media."
So, since Canadian artists and their management have given you the shaft without benefit of reach around, you are going to turn around and stick it to the rest of the world?
This tax benefits mainly folks like Celine Dion and Brian Adams and whomever sings those beer commercial songs. It doesn't benefit the artists of the rest of the world.
I for one work have worked in the background in somewhat popular music (nothing that big as I won't work on the crappy overly slick pop shit)...and generally I get substandard wages in hopes that the guys will make it bigger and I can share in a little of the album sales. As I have a day job and engineer / music techs don't really have a purpose on the road, most of the arguments about making the money while touring don't exist for me.
Shafting it to the rest of the world just because your country has decided to make it a point to subsudize your artists is just assinine. Its not as if you are in some third world country and can't afford it, nor has our recording agencies been able to penetrate your country to the point that they've been able to syphon some of this cash. They HAVE tried to impose those taxes here in the states, but if you could ask the gov't to give you personally 1 cent of everyones who filed taxes and get away with it more power to ya (if I thought I could do this, I'd be drafting a law and sending it to my congressperson today) -- its the country men that actually approve the laws that decide if your points are valid and NOT these special interest groups. They don't have to take the money these companies give them, and you don't have to elect anyone that panders to interests.
If you don't suggest HP or Compaq for students, who would you support? HP and Compaq give some of the most end user support for the retail buyer, and can give the help in much better locations than the mom and pop shop down the street that would just prefer you bring the computer in -- especially when you are half a continent away. Which brings ya back to the point of buying something that has national support and probably at least one campus rep within 15 minutes from your location. And if that doesn't help, theres you or the mom and pop shops in town (and these mom and pop shops don't care who you bought your original computer from because they will charge you the same as anyone else that didn't buy from there).
Non-retail is a gamble...you never know what kind of crap is going to be in there. Its like eMachines, but worse (or at least how the e use to be).
Personally, I use Apples for most of my serious work...I use my PC for playing games. But the department I manage only uses Compaqs (and some Dells) and they are *GREAT* machines. Ya just can't buy the cheap $300 Entire Package that they aim at the home user because half the price of the business end machines are including the support issues that may arise...if you buy a certain class machine, you get this. If not, ya don't. The higher priced the machine, the more likely you will have more standarized parts. Its not HP or Compaq are bad, its that they sell tiered services in the form of computers and ya get what you pay for. Hell, I almost bought a package deal Compaq was selling to faculty members a few months back that included a flat screen simply for that screen (it ended up the package was only $60 more than the screen itself at retail and I could have given the rest away to a family member including one of my CRTs).
Anywho, I just got through un-virusing a home built computer for an aquaintence tonight...nothing to do with the brand:-P
Re:Proud to be a Heretic!
on
What You Can't Say
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· Score: 4, Interesting
"There are all kinds of sacred cows here, that you criticize at your peril: the effectiveness of Linux, the evil of copyright in general and the recording industry in particular; the lack of merit to SCO's lawsuit..."
It really depends on how you do it...
I am a windows programmer / administrator by day (well, my subordinates actually administer everything), at night I do a *LOT* of work for RIAA endentured artists (to the point that it is generally much more profitable than my university gig -- and my boss knows this and allows my to fly off to LA or Nashville at a moments notice) and I get paid solely because of the enforcement of copyrights from these folks. I guess I could say that I secretly write code for SCO, but that would be stretching the truth:-)
BUT -- I say this stuff and correct the misconceptions and generally I am modded up for my speach. Occasionally, the zealots get to my posts before the guys that read at +2 or better do (the only way to read this site these days) and I'll get zapped, but its not too often.
Yeah, there is a group speak around here and one must phrase your words anticipating the general arguments. I know one individual that seems to stalk the RIAA comments as if he had something personal to loose in the whole thing, and occasionally I notice I comment towards him before he will even start to refute the words.
So -- does the group think help or hurt? For me, it helps to force me to not just throw halfassed comments out there on certain subjects. The idiots in the groupspeak think will get modded up with a simple Copyright Is Dead post, the other end will get modded up with half a page of intelligent speach.
I can live with that...its almost like affirmative-action for the dumbasses. Those that can think on their own must do so more carefully, allowing us to reestablish our own thoughts on the subject...while the idiots can feel good because their/. equivelent of Calvin pissing on Ford got noticed by the masses. it works out for both sides and no one is any the less enriched because of it...
I'd give it a 5. A consistant 5. Thats what folks want these days. The coffee houses I *LOVE* are generally at the 8 or 9 level...only ever been to one I would consider a 10. But they aren't consistent. They might be at an 8 *MOST* of the time, but you will get someone that gives you a 6 service. Its still better than the 'bucks, but you were expecting 8, thus it sucked like it was a 2.
People want consistency...I would happily take crappy service noting that it might get better than go to an automatron that gives you the same thing each and every time...its just not human. It tastes like factory made coffees.
Am I criticizing others tastes? No, little dick, I'm not. I'm making a statement of fact, and I'm making an opinion that I personally like having an element of risk that while I wish others had, I am not judgemental when they don't. The only inconsiderate inconsequential pricks are those that read into others posts and making blindingly inaccurate statements.
And by that, I am not refering to any individual, but talking in general. If you feel that applies to you, I apologize for your selfloathing in advance.:-)
I run an unencrypted unsecured WLAN...or at least I use to.
Anything important enough to warent encryption did so between the machine and its server, so that was never a problem...if someone sees other files flying around, who cares.
As for unsecured, that too was something I was cool with. If someone needed to use my lan, I was happy to oblige...I have my airport on the 3rd floor of my home, and it got pretty good coverage in my neighborhood if I just aimed my iBook just right.
BUT, I started getting HUGE downloads that would slow down my entire network, and thats when I got a little irked. It wasn't friends that showed up and pulled in front of the house to check email on their way from point A to B, I think some kiddie was downloading huge warez or porn vids through it. I had the major trading softwares firewalled at the main router, so I wasn't worried about that.
But the fact these people got greedy ended up pissing me off to the point I started filtering via Mac Address.
So, if you don't want to pay -- thats cool for most of us. Just don't be a greedy bastard and you might end up being allowed to use these networks for a bit longer:-)
BTW -- to keep this on topic for the rest of this posting, 2 bigger coffee shops in my area (within 10 minutes walking distance) have free internet access as well. Its an advertised service and one of the reasons folks come in and stay 3 hours. If small shops like this can do it and not charge a penny, companies like Starbucks should be able to do it for free as well (then again, Starbucks doesn't care about bringing in customers...the fact that its there will kill off 70% of the coffee shops in its vacinity because most people would rather go with a brand name than quality).
"isn't what apple is doing the same as what Lexmark is doing"
What do ya mean by that? Lexmark was suing anyone trying to come up with a way around their refill solutions. Apple was coming up with a way to have a tightly integrated machine that a user couldn't screw up.
I have a 5G iPod, and it looks impenatrable, but countless others have proven me wrong, and Apple doesn't care if you open the sucker. Lexmark would like to sell you a machine where the only user accessable part is the cart refill, and if you do open it, they will sue ya.
I swear, this board has gone from folks that are prepared for a challenge, to those willing to surrender like the french and cry home to momma about it. A challenge is cool...a lawsuit to keep you from this challenge isn't. Get the difference now?
The Quicktime ***PLAYER*** won't allow it to play in fullscreen. Its a minor annoyance, one that doesn't bother anyone, and is designed to allow the much beleagered (did I get it right) and always on the verge of bankruptcy company to collect cash so Microsoft won't have to 'bail them out' again. I think I summed up all the generally Apple conspiracies:-)
But, with a simple legal download, one that doesn't require a crack, one can get another media player that runs pretty much as yet another quicktime skin, and you can get fullscreen for free. I'm surprised your brother decided he had to break a licensing agreement to get this.
I on the other hand, felt $29 was a steal for QTPro and picked it up without giving it a second thought.
Wow! One free software is asking you to download another free software and all you have to do is click No, but this is too hard for you?
I'd hate to see you try to install OS software with marginal instructions written by someone that assumes that you can compile the kernel blindfolded:-) Grumbling about weekend install getting crap to work on OSX that barely worked on my Linux Box...grumble grumble...and "No Thanks" is too hard for folks like you. Maybe/. isn't the site for you, have ya looked at MSN?
How are you going to do that? The original report was very easy to do...ya go out and get accident reports.
Would you require every motorcyclist from a state to carry around a log book noting how often they were in near misses, and if they were speeding, and if they were wearing a helmet, and how much reaction time they had?
Remember, motorcyclists have this outlaw image, even if its just in their own head. Sen. John Kerry has taken to bring his own bike to rallies, solely to prove that he is outside of the pack. If its an idea in presidential candidates, even if 99% of all motorcyclists are prefectly good members of society (and I'd bet they are generally more thinking / caring than any asshole in a SUV...well judging from person experience only), they STILL have this marginalized view of themselves.
Past that, how do you judge adjendas...if known as to scope of the research, many cyclists might game the system...hell, they might even encourage others to do so. As I've said in my last post, I *DO* wear my helmet at specific times...I think that on interstate highways, there needs to be a law for helmet usage...its a completely different situation than city streets where folks are coming at you from 4 different directions, all at different speeds and none of them paying attention to you:-)
BUT I know a lot of cyclists that don't believe in helmuts ANYWHERE...as many as believe that believe that you should ALWAYS wear one. You have vastly different opinions...and any statistician knows this, but it is never as easy to guess at true intent as it is with cold hard accident reports.
It WOULD be a worthwhile study...I just couldn't see the legistics being easy to follow through with...
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Nah -- no one as contemporary. The guys I deal with talk about things like Being In The Pocket and making sure that an entire song can be played through by the musicians in one take (even if it takes two weeks to get it -- and then the overdubs...but no edits to the original).
:-)
I pay a LOT of attention to the aural experience, but the stuff we work on is far more centered on good songwritting than anything else. If you can sing along to it, quite honestly, the shittiest recording will sound great because its stuck in your head and *YOU* fill in the gaps.
Out of the bands you listed, I rate one as a decent songwritting band. Radiohead, for example, use to have great writting, but have gone the way of gimicks in the last few releases. Better than average writting, but their focus on as you say the aural experience more than the content itself.
Losing character has everything to do with the source material you've encoded from and the psychoacoustic model that the encoding employs. I have several mp3 encoders from back in the day (before they got shut down due to patent infringement) that sound better than what we have today. These ones would actually let you choose from a variety of compression techniques that were sorted by the types of music that it did well.
We are seeing more and more of this in straight 96khz to 44.1khz dithering processes as well. POW-r is slowly being added to all the major softwares, and there are plenty of other ways to get around dithering from high end audio to consumer level audio. I have a test application that I'm planning on checking out soon that a high end audio company had sent me that CLAIMS to make the dithering process much less damaging to the sound as a lot of high end mastering engineers claim that going from 96khz to 44.1 is almost criminal in their mind. The app actually adds a layer of noise based on gasiuan theory / brownian motion and a shit load of other probably bullshit ideas. The claim is that adding a random layer in a nonpredictable - inaudible way will allow dithering to occur where its warmer to the listener and truer to the original.
In a sense, MP3s and all these others are adding this sort of random layer that is filling out the parts left off because its not just playing the parts as written, its interpretting it.
Both processes are lossy. Both loose a LOT of information from the masters. If you encode MP3 from a CD, you have lost 2 levels of detail. If you encode MP3 / AAC / Whatever from the masters, you get quite a bit of this information back, and if you actually afford yourself the difference that >128bps MP3s give you (128 was about the norm back when I was dealing with the P2P apps), you might see that while loosing some info, with the right attention to detail in the dither / encoding states, its not too horrid.
Remember this -- when Apple first opened the ITMS, they claimed that ALL their source material was coming straight from the masters and this is why it was taking so long to get in. If they had encoded from CDDA (as so many of the other companies are doing), I doubt it would have sounded so good.
In the end, I'd rather focus on the song and not the skills of the guy behind the board. Otherwise, we start getting into BrittanyPop where its entirely the production that is at stake and not the music (not that I'm saying this is bad...I know one of the guys in her recent production crew and he is the top of his game
"If you do purchase it... ...then I get the song in a lossless format..."
You know this arguement always pisses me off.
What makes MP3s any less lossless than CDA. Its another format and thats it. As a musician (and more to the point, an engineer and tech for real musicians), I don't think I've recorded anything in the last 2 years where the master wasn't at 24bit 96Khz...that means any CD ya listen to is VERY lossy.
Then again, most of the musicians I've worked with ask me to burn it down to MP3 so they can listen to it on their pods and don't care about the difference -- and neither do it...its not like I'm sitting around a listening room smoking a pipe pontificating about the clean lows and the crisp upper range of the latest f'n Sir Mix-A-Lot cd...
I would like to see digital music come with liner notes though (cover art bores me...the liner is where its at).
Dude -- thats NOT the point.
Even if you HATE all the candidates, you go in and vote...that means going and and not selecting one motherfucker from the ballot. It registers that you did vote and participated, but you also register as someone that didn't like any up there.
Voting is NEVER a waste of time...and the fact that you see who's on the ballot means nothing in the end if no one caters to your beliefs...
"To this end a 'None of the above option' is going to be added for future elections."
:-) So I guess I cancel myself out on these and if someone saw these two votes, they would think I was confused.
Thats a very good idea. There have been MANY times I've gone into the voting booth to realize I didn't like any of the folks on the ballot, and I refuse to vote for someone that I don't know their stand. Most of the time, I vote for 3 or 4 folks out of a local choice of 15 - 20 choices (judges and chief sanitation officer and things like that for which I give a flying fuck about). There are two almost opposing candidates (they are opposite in ideals, but never for the same position) that I vote for, because both have helped me out with various projects over the years and even if I disagree with their politics (of which I've made it a point not to talk with them about this and turn off cspan if I see them on it
And then other years, I've walked in the booth, looked over the list of candidates and said screw this, hit the lever and walked out without a single vote. I'm counted as a voter, but no votes.
I believe technically, one has to have the majority of the votes cast to win (as counted by the number of voters)...if enough of us walked in and did this, maybe the politicians would actually do something about this crap and either come up with a more fair voting system (I'm sick of the 2 party system) or they will learn to get their ideals out there...
So, not having a vote for a voter doesn't mean they didn't vote, it might mean they DID vote and you have their oppinion of the candidates right in front of your face. There are more and more folks like me that might identify with a particular party, but hate every last motherfucker that tends to represent it these days...
It clearly stated that if you want to reregister it under another users name, you needed to contact my company. CLEARLY stated.
It was just a charting program for a very specific use, no data was ever corrupted, it just would crash randomly when trying to print (never actually crashing, it just exited)...unfortunately, if you didn't change the name, another doctors name was then listed on the chart.
I did have it set up where a site license would allow for any office / hospital / whatever that needed it could use the name of the organzation as the key file instead of the name of the individual.
Yeah, this disgusted me as well...considering it was used in a medical office, it cost me a LOT to design...it had to go before a lawyer that was trained in medical technology malpratice...I explained the name protection and what happened, he was more concerned that the data could be corrupted (we had to write instruction on how to read the almost human readable text files, incase they wanted to migrate away from this software to something else).
The fact that these guys were using it and saying screw the $500 license, I didn't spend $100k on my degree to waste it on software pissed me off...
I wanted to give it away at the end of all of this (back before I knew what the GPL was...we all just threw things into the public domain), but I was informed that if someone used the source and screwed it up, *I* would be personally liable for whatever damages could be caused...this is one field I will never deal with again.
300 Baud? I remember on my Commodore 64, half the time, it wasn't even 300 Baud, it was like 150 because the connection strings got crappy on the long distance connection (who remember how long its been sing you've actually heard static on a land line). And you could TELL what speed it was connecting at because of the hum from the modem.
:-) Yeah, it isn't about all that to them, its competing with their friends and trying to be the coolest at any and all expense...
But yeah, it is nice not to have to compete with peers...I'm only early 30s and I see kiddies that work for me and how they are using my fast internet to aquire illegitimate software they they have no need for, but might just need it to trade. Smart...you don't need it, but willing to screw over a company just so that if someone REALLLLY needs it, it can be leverage in their trading schemes and the end user won't have to pay for it. I remember the scene myself...I can't say I was above it when I was that young...I'm jus saying it was stupid and wrong and now that I've had years undernethe me and actually put out a professional product for a few of these years (it was a piece of very genre specific medical software I had written for a friend, and his doctor wanted to collaborate with me, and it expanded from there)...and then I see a few dozen copies sell, but I get calls and inquiries from 10x that with questions on why the software wasn't working right (because they changed the name...that was my big security 18 years ago and allowed 'customization' but didn't tell anyone that changing the name meant that the program was going to randomly 'crash'). And these were folks that could afford it.
The problem with these kiddie pirates aren't that THEY are collecting the software, its that they are putting it in the hands of folks that would have otherwise paid for it...these kids don't know who they hurt, and today, these same kids cry out "if you can't handle it, pick a new profession" everytime you say anything about it critically. What ever happened to corporeal punishment
I've had an audible subscription for three months now, but *THIS* book was one of the best I've heard so far. Shit, I picked up my iPod two years back solely to use for Books on CD and things like that, but it was too damn annoying to use until Apple licensed the Audible content and decided to allow you to pause the chapter and listen to music and then come back to the same pause in that file.
I picked up Ender's Game on Audible as well, and it was cool (I actually got more out of Speaker of the Dead in dead tree format) but it just didn't do it as well as this one did.
Great oration and it enhances the story instead of detracting from it (I've picked up serveral tha I got part of the way into the dead tree versions and had to stop because of workloads...and thought I'd finish them up on an airflight -- I can't read while in the air for some reason -- or one one of my many drives to Nashville lately...7 hours of mundate pushings of the gas pedal).
If you were ever interested in checking out these kinds of services, check it out...the only problem I had was there wasn't a real resolution to the book...it feels like a halfway end...it finishes the story of Crake and Oryx (characters in the book), while never finishing the story of the 'Snowman' -- the lead narrator telling the story of C&O, but far more interesting than it seems eiher of them ever were. Oryx is too one dimensional to care about as anything but a prop, and Crake is just...well, he too is one dimensional, but that is mainly from the narriation as opposed to his actual being. I just couldn't bring myself to caring whatever happened to Oryx, and Crake just projected himself too far into the future (especially since this is a latter retelling of the tale...hindsight is always 20/20) that his end of the story was told far before ya ever got the intimate details...no, the REAL story is about Snowman, and it was left unfinished.
Lets hope this is a big enough seller that Atwood feels like revisiting it soon and gives it a proper ending...
Soundtrack was in the works before the Logic purchase (it was bought off another company and redeveloped in house from what I understand).
:-)
:P I *HOPE* they are using them in creative ways, but I know most folks that buy this stuff are doing the garageband form of 'composition'...taking a dozen dissimilar loops and adding them together (I use drum loops when a drummer isn't available OR I need a specific sound...I also put limits on how many external loops I will use in a composition as it feels like I'm cheating otherwise).
As it stands, you have several packages ranging from the consumer to the pro in Apple's line ups.
For instance, in the Video Line, ya have Final Cut Pro. Ya also have Shake...both of these are two different applications, but are VERY different, while at the same time, slowly sharing their core code. Ya also have DVDStudio...these are the pro lines...
In the intermediatary line, ya have Final Cut Express. It works, but its only output is PAL or NTSC. It doesn't have all the cool parts to it like FCP like all the compositing (its got some) or Soundtrack.
In the low end, ya have iMovie and iDVD.
I've talked with a LOT of video editors, and they all claim FCP *IS* cutting at Avid's jugular. Compare the same experience of working on a $3000 Mac with $1000 of FCP to $20k of Avid's entrylevel workhorse and you get the picture. Add another grand and you have compositing that won't happen on Avid and it works pretty seamlessly.
This is their idea with the music side...give folks what they need.
Ya have Emagic's (or as my forum users are apt to put it, Emapple) Logic. It comes in 3 forms Silver Gold Platnium (actually, they changed these around a bit, I think Silver is now just called Logic...I haven't paid any attention to this as I never get any boxes from those bastards...they just authorize my keys and don't send me new documentation, but hey, I run their largest user forums, so I guess I can figure it out
This is probably going to change in the near future as its a bit confusing...I can see only 2 versions soon with Silver being merged into Gold.
Each of these 3 versions have differing features compared to the level you need and can afford. If you are paying $399 for the entry level version, Surround Sound isn't going to be something you need because its a pro feature (well, getting more common place all the time as folks move up to 5.1 and more...5.1 is actually easier to mix for as ya don't have to worry about overlapping frequencies and all that within a single channel, but still has other new challenges).
The Logic series is aimed squarely at professionals. Even in professionals, I sometimes push folks to one app or another over Logic because their engineering / tech skills might not need all of the features included. ProTools is the option I throw folks to that just want to hit record and go (well, its a LITTLE more complicated than that, but if you can use an Adat, I can teach you how to use ProTools in an afternoon).
Then ya have Soundtrack...its aimed at video-professionals and written in this way. To me, its like AcidPro on the PC...yeah, ya can work with it, but its not entirely what I call making music. Lots of folks work with other peoples loops and think they are musicians...hell, I design and sell loops to these people
So, there is very little overlap between Soundtrack and Logic. you *CAN* export your music from Soundtrack into Logic, so if you want to replace prerecorded loops with live guitarist or drummer, its not too difficult to do. It shares AudioUnits (the standard FX and Instrument interface for OSX) with Logic, and the two software are slowly having their code merged. The AU code was DIRECTLY taken from Logic for example.
Soundtrack is the intermediate solution...at allows for nonmusicians as well as musicians to do what they need.
Garageband is a light form of Soundtrack. It exports to Soundtrack and its pretty cool
Well Logic IS the way to go. I don't know why you expect it to do all the other crap...will TextEdit load and edit M$ Word docs...err...thats a bad example.
As for a major interface overhaul, if you aren't doing any looping or midi, ProTools is probably more right for you than either Logic or Digital Performer. I run the largest Logic users group on the web, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone that just wanted the equivelent of a tape recorded.
Not that it can't do all of that, it can, and if you look at it from a simplistic view point, you really only need two screen to work with. Logic's greatest point is that it allows you to customize it in ways none of the other apps can. Its the geeks recorder. Want a customized front end, build it...I know folks that do just this and tweak everything out to their exact configuration...personally, I leave it all alone, except for screwing with the key commands, and use it as it comes out of the box.
Anywho, I'm hoping for an interface revamp in the near future for logic...not a MAJOR one, but something to clean it up (some of the custom objects still look like they were designed from an OS7.5 standpoint...I guess they figure only the geeks get that dirty, so why bother).
but as you have DP, why worry...you've already got a half way decent package that should deal with direct recording than anything else (I just hope you aren't going directly to your internal HD on the TIBook).
"Also, the iPod is the only player that works with audiobooks."
Yeah, but ya gotta admit, after listening to 70 hours of War and Peace on an iPod, you'll wish that it didn't work with them...
I'm disgruntled?
I'm disgruntled by thieves.
In your example of the Subway shop...if you found you were taking a loss due to employee theft, you'd fire the employees involved. If you found that you were taking a loss from folks showing up in the middle of the night and stealing your bread, you'd report it to your insurance. If you found that every last motherfucker in town was showing up, getting behind the counter and making sam'miches for their friends, you'd appeal to someone that could do something about these losses.
My career pays well...not buy a summer home well, but buys me paid vacations with friends and keeps me in new toys to play with. I'm no where near disgruntled. I don't know where you get that. If I owned that subway shop and I found that I was looking $100k a year because of theft, yet still took home $200k, would you still claim that I was an asshole because I made enough and shouldn't expect to make any more? Loose a third of my salary because folks want a nonessential item for free? If it were the ONLY food in town for hundreds of landlocked miles, I could see socialism in action and doing this for the greater good. Subway sandwiches and music cds are not essential, but are pretty much both entertainment.
So, why should folks expect to get free entertainment? Thats what it ammounts to. A dozen folks sneaking into the theatre as a friend opens up the firedoors because he knows the show isn't anywhere near sold out. I know folks that still do this bullshit to the art theatres as they are lax on security. This is unfortunately, the ones that are also hurt the most in the music biz -- the folks that aren't releasing blockbuster hits, but the working class musicians. The ones that know how to live off of $30k a year and have critical acclaim and everyone has some of their music downloaded, but no one seems to have bought their cds because its too inconvient to run down to best buy and pick it up (or go to their website and get it for $5 less).
Being disgruntled because folks steal from me and my friends isn't a reason to get out of the business. If someone were ripping off your home on a daily basis, I'd expect you'd ask the police to do something about it...and if you found the mayors office all running around with your panies on their head with the police chief using your girdle as a bulletproof vest, you'd probably go above their heads and tell your state senator that this is too institutionalized and you think the gov't should recompense you for this.
Personally, I don't think the gov't should be collecting these taxes...its a contractual thing, but I do understand why these folks get pissed off.
"In fact, in my understanding many to most of the musicians that deal with the RIAA end up owing them money for expenses that the RIAA decided to incure on their behalf, charged at the rates that the RIAA found reasonable. etc."
:-).
Most artists incure these expense due to their own misplanning OR their lack of experience. What folks don't realize is that a band is a business like anything else. They have to pay the accountants and the management like anyone else. If I were to play the guitar for fun, I wouldn't need to know anything about the business. If I were to play guitar for the house payment, that becomes a completely different situation.
So, while the artists might not make much money off of this stuff, they will make money and the RIAA goes a long way in supporting them. The one and only 'artist' deal I had was when I was 21 and in a decent band. We got a pretty good advance -- what most don't seem to understand is this money is not 'free' money the labels are giving you, but it comes out of you future royalities almost like a loan. When the label started dicking us over and my partner left, but they still liked my contributions and wanted to develop them further, but never could come up with a way to do this, I simply gave them what I had, and went back to school. As an unknown, I was able to pay for a year of college from this money...not too bad. Had to ride out the rest of the contract as it encumbered me, but if I felt like playing the game, I could have gotten something out of it.
The problem is, its not just the advance money, but some of the bigger artists, they will pay living expenses and otherwise...a young band sees this money and spends like there isn't a tommorow, and the label is happy to help out.
Its like winning the lottery...the lottery agents will NOT provide you with a financial councellor, but they will recommend a list of them to you and suggest you take their advice. If I were running the lottery, I'd make it a requirment to collect the fees that one takes part in a series of one on one classes for this and assign a perminent overseer of the account for a set amount of time.
The music industry should be the same way...good management (and these are generally entertainment lawyers) *SHOULD* provide this to you...I've never seen one that has though. The music industry is the deep end of the pool...don't go there unless you are ready to tread water without mommy holding your hand. This is probably why I refuse to make it my full time job -- several artists (and more to the point, their management) will not work with me because I say I want something one way, and if it doesn't happen, I walk. This is *ALWAYS* an option...I've exercised this option more than once...and I have a non-industry lawyer that is conversant in the area to understand the contractual nature of this, yet isn't so engrained in the culture that he isn't sleezy (well, he is sleezy, just in a different way...and an excellent drummer to beat
So, the point of all this is that the RIAA isn't as unfair to artists as folks like Courtney Love claim...she made pretty good bank off of these guys and lives well enough today just off her royalties to be able to coke up nightly and break into Beverly Hill neighbor's homes. I've known friends on both sides...almost all admit that they were in over their head and didn't know what they were signing and didn't bother to ask...I had to help a group of guys fill out W9s (that the US IRS independant contractor form) two weeks ago because my friends didn't even know what these were and never had to fill out their own forms -- this was for a television special and their manager was too drunk to take care of it.
If folks looked at this as a business and not as a ticket to fame that needs no oversight, their bands might actually see some money and understand what to expect.
The 'Audio' cd is exactly the same, but they have a set of machine readable serial on the inner ring that tell the box if it is legit and that you paid the tax (or something similar...I can't remember the specifics other than thinking this is ignorant).
Very few machines -- except those that are solely designed to copy other audio cds -- care for this. In my time, I've only come across one, and that was the friends Panasonic that I mentioned in another post, and it was only after trying a few cheaper cds to prove a point to him, and having him prove me wrong. I had told him the music cds were just an idiot tax like the lottery...well they are, but if you have a device that requires them, ya gotta use what it needs to find something else.
And this is where I am calling you an idiot again.
I made no comments about you or how you obtained your music. None. Not one bit. In none of my statements do I say anything about you and filesharing. I was talking solely about my original comments.
As for entitlements, again, and for some reason you don't seem to grasp this -- do you have a native tounge I can translate this into for you...I only know two other human languages outside of English, but I might be able to find an appropriate piece of soft that can do the trict -- but no, I don't think anyone is entitled to anything. I do think each and everyone of us in a free democracy should be allowed to ask for them though. Thats called freedom of speech and I'm encouraging it through the use of democracy that folks in most western states have. Only a despicable elected official would actually grant this, but as a voter and a citizen, they or, more likely, someone on their staff should hear you out to see if you are indeed a crackpot or have a real issue at stake...I've known of folks that went to their congressperson to complain about being fired before to see if they could do something about it...I find that more despicable than asking purely for free money.
And again, and maybe I should repeat this a few more times I HOPE A REASONABLE ELECTED OFFICIAL THROWS YOU OUT ON YOUR EAR FOR ASKING SUCH BULLSHIT.
What the fuck is a levy or tarrif if not a specialized tax? Its not a royalty in any means.
:-).
This only happens on blank 'Music CDs'. It doesn't really help out any artists. The canadian system actually ends up to the artists, where this goes 99% to the RIAA who don't redistribute anything.
As for digital audio recorders -- easy to get around these requirements -- disable true bitwise copying. Hell, several consumer level sound card manufacturers actually degrade the out bits (giving you a quality anywhere between 12 and 24 bits at any given sample), where as the professional level (the 'prosumer' as they are called these days) aren't given this requirement because they are actually aimed at the folks that this fund would go to (quite a few 'pro' audio interfaces are being sold as consumer these days).
In the end, very few are ever penalized for this as its only the machines that are solely designed to duplicate consumer's audio from prerecorded cds that really end up paying for this (these are the ones that generally require the music cd blanks to work -- and I *DO* support this as a levy because there are no other reason to copy audio cds from a consumer end than to get around paying for it...my Primera 150 Disc duplicator doesn't give a damn about what kind of burnables I use, while the Panasonic CD-Duper a friend has does).
As for Happy birthday, thats a little fucked up. The words are copyrighted (yeah ANYTHING can get a copyright as long as its original), while the music is from an earlier period (Good Morning to You was the first words...you can figure out the rest). By pairing the music with the title, you have thus announced you are associating it with the copyrighted pair of Music / Words as opposed to the earlier versions (pre-copyright).
In the same sense, and you might be too young to remember this, in the 70s there was a really bad disco version of The Fifth of Bethovin (I can't spell today)...if you were to record the original and title it as Disco's Fifth of Beothvin Stripped, the guy that did the original could sue you. Two years ago, an artist was sued because he attributed John Cage to a 'silent' piece on his album in reference to 4'33. If he had not attributed it, even jokingly, he would not have been sued. As he implicitly was using the trademarked name and doing the same sort of thing, ligitious family members sued. Bullshit in some senses, common sense in others...
This issue isn't really too deep, but unless you have a constant hand in all of these issues (and have to deal with lawyers ready to bend ya over at a moments notice), it is confusing. Then again, in my other employments as a computer programmer, I also don't expect the average person to understand C++ (nor any other programmer other than the original scripter to understand a perl app
clif
Sonikmatter, LLC
No one is forcing anyone to buy music. By no means am I suggesting this. Hell, most of the music I buy has NOTHING to do with the RIAA (the ones that I do listen to that are on the big guys dime are for the most part given to me by the artists or their representatives...I just don't have any personal interest in most of the types of music they put out). Independant artists are where the real interest is.
:-)
However, the poster above IMPLIED that he wasn't 'buying' any more because he was charged a penalty for his blank cd buying. His comments would be to any reasonable person to imply that he is still obtaining music, but looking at this tax as reasonable compensation to the artists that he has ilgotten.
So, no...no one is forcing you to buy music nor did I imply that. I implied that if one does grab music, it would be honest and fair to support these artists and their staff, which the Canadian Blank CD Tax does not do.
So, no, you do not point out any earth shattering knowledge that the recording industry is ignoring the needs of its customers, unless that need is for free music, in which case I think it would be moronic to even imply that one should be forced to give their art away for free.
As for favoring legistation, you are a fucking moron if you can't read the sarcasm in this post. Wait, no, you are a fucking moron even if you did read the sarcasm. Not even to the level of the mighty troll. I claimed that its in ANYONES interest to try to convince a legislating body to give them something for nothing...I didn't claim that it was in the interest of the individual tax payer to allow this to happen. I would gladly tax $100k a year from the gov't if they would give it to me...you on the other hand should do everything in your power to stop this from happening. Your elected individuals should have your interests at heart and stop this from happening if they believe it puts you at a disadvantage. This would be easily discernable from my post if you read what I said instead of showing the world what an idiot you truely are
So, no, my attitude of entitlement is solely that if I create something I should be compensated fairly for it. Filesharing removed the fair portion of this. At one point, I held high hopes that folks would use file sharing as a way to get around organizations like the RIAA and use it to find artists they liked and would end up supporting them. In my personal, antectodal and nonscientific opinion, the more and more I meet folks that are enamoured with file trading like this, its not to search out new artists and buy their cds, it is to instead add to their collection and as a good friend tells me -- he doesn't have to buy any prerecorded cds any more.
Honestly, how would you like it if I came in and told you that flipping hamburgers was for the common good and as such, we aren't going to pay you any more?
"Sidenote: as a Canadian, I dont plan on buying a single CD or paying for a single song from the major labels while I'm paying a music industry tax on my blank media."
So, since Canadian artists and their management have given you the shaft without benefit of reach around, you are going to turn around and stick it to the rest of the world?
This tax benefits mainly folks like Celine Dion and Brian Adams and whomever sings those beer commercial songs. It doesn't benefit the artists of the rest of the world.
I for one work have worked in the background in somewhat popular music (nothing that big as I won't work on the crappy overly slick pop shit)...and generally I get substandard wages in hopes that the guys will make it bigger and I can share in a little of the album sales. As I have a day job and engineer / music techs don't really have a purpose on the road, most of the arguments about making the money while touring don't exist for me.
Shafting it to the rest of the world just because your country has decided to make it a point to subsudize your artists is just assinine. Its not as if you are in some third world country and can't afford it, nor has our recording agencies been able to penetrate your country to the point that they've been able to syphon some of this cash. They HAVE tried to impose those taxes here in the states, but if you could ask the gov't to give you personally 1 cent of everyones who filed taxes and get away with it more power to ya (if I thought I could do this, I'd be drafting a law and sending it to my congressperson today) -- its the country men that actually approve the laws that decide if your points are valid and NOT these special interest groups. They don't have to take the money these companies give them, and you don't have to elect anyone that panders to interests.
If you don't suggest HP or Compaq for students, who would you support? HP and Compaq give some of the most end user support for the retail buyer, and can give the help in much better locations than the mom and pop shop down the street that would just prefer you bring the computer in -- especially when you are half a continent away. Which brings ya back to the point of buying something that has national support and probably at least one campus rep within 15 minutes from your location. And if that doesn't help, theres you or the mom and pop shops in town (and these mom and pop shops don't care who you bought your original computer from because they will charge you the same as anyone else that didn't buy from there).
:-P
Non-retail is a gamble...you never know what kind of crap is going to be in there. Its like eMachines, but worse (or at least how the e use to be).
Personally, I use Apples for most of my serious work...I use my PC for playing games. But the department I manage only uses Compaqs (and some Dells) and they are *GREAT* machines. Ya just can't buy the cheap $300 Entire Package that they aim at the home user because half the price of the business end machines are including the support issues that may arise...if you buy a certain class machine, you get this. If not, ya don't. The higher priced the machine, the more likely you will have more standarized parts. Its not HP or Compaq are bad, its that they sell tiered services in the form of computers and ya get what you pay for. Hell, I almost bought a package deal Compaq was selling to faculty members a few months back that included a flat screen simply for that screen (it ended up the package was only $60 more than the screen itself at retail and I could have given the rest away to a family member including one of my CRTs).
Anywho, I just got through un-virusing a home built computer for an aquaintence tonight...nothing to do with the brand
"There are all kinds of sacred cows here, that you criticize at your peril: the effectiveness of Linux, the evil of copyright in general and the recording industry in particular; the lack of merit to SCO's lawsuit ..."
:-)
/. equivelent of Calvin pissing on Ford got noticed by the masses. it works out for both sides and no one is any the less enriched because of it...
It really depends on how you do it...
I am a windows programmer / administrator by day (well, my subordinates actually administer everything), at night I do a *LOT* of work for RIAA endentured artists (to the point that it is generally much more profitable than my university gig -- and my boss knows this and allows my to fly off to LA or Nashville at a moments notice) and I get paid solely because of the enforcement of copyrights from these folks. I guess I could say that I secretly write code for SCO, but that would be stretching the truth
BUT -- I say this stuff and correct the misconceptions and generally I am modded up for my speach. Occasionally, the zealots get to my posts before the guys that read at +2 or better do (the only way to read this site these days) and I'll get zapped, but its not too often.
Yeah, there is a group speak around here and one must phrase your words anticipating the general arguments. I know one individual that seems to stalk the RIAA comments as if he had something personal to loose in the whole thing, and occasionally I notice I comment towards him before he will even start to refute the words.
So -- does the group think help or hurt? For me, it helps to force me to not just throw halfassed comments out there on certain subjects. The idiots in the groupspeak think will get modded up with a simple Copyright Is Dead post, the other end will get modded up with half a page of intelligent speach.
I can live with that...its almost like affirmative-action for the dumbasses. Those that can think on their own must do so more carefully, allowing us to reestablish our own thoughts on the subject...while the idiots can feel good because their
Starbucks? An 8???
:-)
I'd give it a 5. A consistant 5. Thats what folks want these days. The coffee houses I *LOVE* are generally at the 8 or 9 level...only ever been to one I would consider a 10. But they aren't consistent. They might be at an 8 *MOST* of the time, but you will get someone that gives you a 6 service. Its still better than the 'bucks, but you were expecting 8, thus it sucked like it was a 2.
People want consistency...I would happily take crappy service noting that it might get better than go to an automatron that gives you the same thing each and every time...its just not human. It tastes like factory made coffees.
Am I criticizing others tastes? No, little dick, I'm not. I'm making a statement of fact, and I'm making an opinion that I personally like having an element of risk that while I wish others had, I am not judgemental when they don't. The only inconsiderate inconsequential pricks are those that read into others posts and making blindingly inaccurate statements.
And by that, I am not refering to any individual, but talking in general. If you feel that applies to you, I apologize for your selfloathing in advance.
I run an unencrypted unsecured WLAN...or at least I use to.
:-)
Anything important enough to warent encryption did so between the machine and its server, so that was never a problem...if someone sees other files flying around, who cares.
As for unsecured, that too was something I was cool with. If someone needed to use my lan, I was happy to oblige...I have my airport on the 3rd floor of my home, and it got pretty good coverage in my neighborhood if I just aimed my iBook just right.
BUT, I started getting HUGE downloads that would slow down my entire network, and thats when I got a little irked. It wasn't friends that showed up and pulled in front of the house to check email on their way from point A to B, I think some kiddie was downloading huge warez or porn vids through it. I had the major trading softwares firewalled at the main router, so I wasn't worried about that.
But the fact these people got greedy ended up pissing me off to the point I started filtering via Mac Address.
So, if you don't want to pay -- thats cool for most of us. Just don't be a greedy bastard and you might end up being allowed to use these networks for a bit longer
BTW -- to keep this on topic for the rest of this posting, 2 bigger coffee shops in my area (within 10 minutes walking distance) have free internet access as well. Its an advertised service and one of the reasons folks come in and stay 3 hours. If small shops like this can do it and not charge a penny, companies like Starbucks should be able to do it for free as well (then again, Starbucks doesn't care about bringing in customers...the fact that its there will kill off 70% of the coffee shops in its vacinity because most people would rather go with a brand name than quality).
"isn't what apple is doing the same as what Lexmark is doing"
What do ya mean by that? Lexmark was suing anyone trying to come up with a way around their refill solutions. Apple was coming up with a way to have a tightly integrated machine that a user couldn't screw up.
I have a 5G iPod, and it looks impenatrable, but countless others have proven me wrong, and Apple doesn't care if you open the sucker. Lexmark would like to sell you a machine where the only user accessable part is the cart refill, and if you do open it, they will sue ya.
I swear, this board has gone from folks that are prepared for a challenge, to those willing to surrender like the french and cry home to momma about it. A challenge is cool...a lawsuit to keep you from this challenge isn't. Get the difference now?
The Quicktime ***PLAYER*** won't allow it to play in fullscreen. Its a minor annoyance, one that doesn't bother anyone, and is designed to allow the much beleagered (did I get it right) and always on the verge of bankruptcy company to collect cash so Microsoft won't have to 'bail them out' again. I think I summed up all the generally Apple conspiracies :-)
But, with a simple legal download, one that doesn't require a crack, one can get another media player that runs pretty much as yet another quicktime skin, and you can get fullscreen for free. I'm surprised your brother decided he had to break a licensing agreement to get this.
I on the other hand, felt $29 was a steal for QTPro and picked it up without giving it a second thought.
Wow! One free software is asking you to download another free software and all you have to do is click No, but this is too hard for you?
:-) Grumbling about weekend install getting crap to work on OSX that barely worked on my Linux Box...grumble grumble...and "No Thanks" is too hard for folks like you. Maybe /. isn't the site for you, have ya looked at MSN?
I'd hate to see you try to install OS software with marginal instructions written by someone that assumes that you can compile the kernel blindfolded
How are you going to do that? The original report was very easy to do...ya go out and get accident reports.
:-)
Would you require every motorcyclist from a state to carry around a log book noting how often they were in near misses, and if they were speeding, and if they were wearing a helmet, and how much reaction time they had?
Remember, motorcyclists have this outlaw image, even if its just in their own head. Sen. John Kerry has taken to bring his own bike to rallies, solely to prove that he is outside of the pack. If its an idea in presidential candidates, even if 99% of all motorcyclists are prefectly good members of society (and I'd bet they are generally more thinking / caring than any asshole in a SUV...well judging from person experience only), they STILL have this marginalized view of themselves.
Past that, how do you judge adjendas...if known as to scope of the research, many cyclists might game the system...hell, they might even encourage others to do so. As I've said in my last post, I *DO* wear my helmet at specific times...I think that on interstate highways, there needs to be a law for helmet usage...its a completely different situation than city streets where folks are coming at you from 4 different directions, all at different speeds and none of them paying attention to you
BUT I know a lot of cyclists that don't believe in helmuts ANYWHERE...as many as believe that believe that you should ALWAYS wear one. You have vastly different opinions...and any statistician knows this, but it is never as easy to guess at true intent as it is with cold hard accident reports.
It WOULD be a worthwhile study...I just couldn't see the legistics being easy to follow through with...