I wasn't actually talking about watermarks per se...
They could actually just alter the music in a way that isn't obvious and still sounds nice. They do that right now anyway. I've heard a few bands playing live on Leno that can't even sing on key all of the time. It seems clear that someone digitally cleans up their music in the recording studio. The same thing could be done here.
It's not perfect, but it doesn't have to be.
As for the contract with a particular station, contracts can be changed, and I don't see any reason why the station would object to this. (Particularly if the studio started offering incentives).
Obviously I don't work in radio. Just a thought though...
Equipment becoming obsolete? Like the VHS's in Blockbuster that are disappearing and being replaced by DVD's?
That's different. People don't object to that because they're getting a higher quality product. You're not going to get people to ditch their old equipment simply to prevent something that most people don't want to prevent. The only purpose of which is to enrich the RIAA.
If anyone actually believed that the RIAA would lower the price of CD's if piracy was eliminated, they might go for it. But no one believes it.
Pricing of CD's and DVD's has almost nothing to do with cost, and almost everything to do with what the market will bear. In other words, we'll charge as much as we can get away with. That's not evil, it's standard economics when competition is removed from the equation. And there isn't competition. If you want a particular song, there's only one company to get it from.
Also, look at the price of DVD's vs. the price of tapes. Tapes cost more to manufacture, and yet DVD's cost more. Why? Because people are willing to pay more.
Interesting thought, but what would stop the RIAA from putting some sort of canary trap in place on randomly selected discs?
If you don't know, the paper version of the canary trap is the idea of altering the punctuation, but not the text of a document in a certain way uniquely for each copy of the document you give out, and keeping track of who gets what. Then, if a copy of your document is leaked to the media, and they show text from the document, you can find the snitch in your organisation.
Couldn't something similar be done with music? Not that it wouldn't be possible to undo, but if you don't know exactly what's been done, it's difficult to be 100% sure that you've undone the trap. Then the RIAA couldn't threaten very serious penalties. First off, you'd be certain to lose your job, but they couldn't also conceivably go after you for lost revenue for every copy of the song derived from the copy you originally made. And they'd have a method to prove that they came from your copy too. That'd be enough to bankrupt anyone.
And yet, we're required to have at least some minimal training and certification to be able to drive a car.
Bad comparison. If you drive a car improperly, you can kill people or at the very least damage lots of other peoples property. Last time I checked, it wasn't possible to kill people by thinking that Word stores your documents in "memory".
And the property damage caused by people passing along viruses due to using Outlook doesn't count. That's not because they don't know how the system works, it's because the software is badly designed.
As for the/. crowd being upset if computers were "crippled", that's sort of irrelevant. The existence of one kind of computer-type appliance for average people doesn't mean that computers as we know them now can't exist. Different product for different markets.
The artist's name was Linda Mbube, and was a migrant worker.
If you don't like links, here's some cut and paste from the site.
More importantly, and perhaps less complicated, is the matter of Solomon Linda's Mbube , a song that, thanks in part to Seeger, qualifies as South Africa's most famous melody - and the focus of one of the world's greatest musical travesties. Linda, a migrant worker, recorded Mbube in Johannesburg for Gallo Records in 1939. Seeger directly copied it and released it in 1952 as Wimoweh - but with its composer now credited as "Paul Campbell", a pseudonym for Seeger and his band, The Weavers. Once Seeger, who thought the song was a "traditional" piece, learnt it was Linda's work, he made arrangements for the South African to receive a share of Wimoweh's royalties.
Then, in 1961, a New York group, The Tokens, released The Lion Sleeps Tonight - for all intents and purposes, Wimoweh with English lyrics. Now the "composers" were Tin Pan Alley songwriters Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George Weiss. This version topped charts the world over and would come to be recorded by more than 170 artists. It dominated charts again in 1994 with the Disney film The Lion King . All this earned Peretti, Creatore and Weiss millions of dollars. Linda, on the other hand, died penniless in 1962. Over the years, his estate - four daughters, Philda, Delphi, Elizabeth and Adelaide Ntsele - has received an estimated R130 000 in royalties, a paltry amount considering its overall earnings.
that's not even remotely (no pun intended) on the same scale.
a remote control is a very simple system, and doesn't even come close to the complexity of Windows, Linux or any other major OS. More to the point, the UI on a remote doesn't change that much. The play button always looks the same, the rewind is always to the left of the play button and the fast forward is always to the right. stuff like that.
We need to be developing systems for the consumer that are about as idiot-proof as a your toaster or CD-player.
I don't know how my car is built, and I don't care. And I don't think that information should be necessary to drive my car. Same deal with computers.
As for the child porn, for starters I think that if you get a kick out of that then there is something seriously wrong with you, but that feeling aside I can't see why "virtual" child porn should be illegal. The arguments against real life child porn is the exploitation of children, which is perfectly understandable. However if you get a kick out of seeing some sort of 3 year old alien that's virtual, or a pair of boots, or anything else that's virtual, hey, whatever turns your crank.
Except for the fact of course that the availability of "virtual" child porn will increase the number of child molestations. That's a big statement, I know, but consider regular porn for a minute. Regular porn makes one think of sex, thinking of sex tends to make people want to have sex, and people tend to carry out their desires.
That's not to say that "virtual" child porn will turn everyone into pedophiles. I'm not claiming that. But one shouldn't endulge a "lifestyle" (I can't believe I just called it that), that is harmful to children. (Or to people in general).
belief that requires an act of faith rather than a simple evaluation of evidence.
Atheism is therefore a religion. Agnosticism is not a religion, but Atheism most definately is. It says that God does NOT exist. Since disproving the existence of God is scientifically impossible, it requires a leap of faith, the sameo sort of leap is required to believe that God does exist.
Agnosticism on the other hand takes 2 forms. One simply says "I don't know if God exists" (perfectly defensible fence sitting) and the other says "it is impossible to know for sure whether or not God exists without making a leap of faith". (Course that would make many Christians into Agnostics).
and if you think your (fellow?) Canadians (i.e. ME) are going to tolerant this whiny pathetic jealousy that manifests itself as anti-Americanism anymore you've got another thing coming.
I love Canada. Really, I do, but we've been resting on our laurals too long and taking cheap shots at the most democratic country in the world because we've got an inferiority complex.
I grew up making jokes about Americans, I got tired of it when I left high school. Now it offends me.
Sorry this is slightly off topic, but I'm still embarassed by my Country's weak response to NY. Look at Britain's reaction, now THAT'S what true friends and allies do.
can you please explain why being a minor means he should be held fully responsible for his actions?
are you suggesting that a 17 year old isn't capable of coprehending the consequences of his actions? That's a big steaming pile. They most certainly are, and they should be held responsible like any other human being.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think that because of his age, he gets his record wiped clean later. (You basically have to murder many people to make a permanent mark on your record when you're 17 in Canada).
Now that sucks! Anything like that should be a permanent part of your record. That's part of the problem with idiot teens like this. They know darn well that basically anything they do before 18 doesn't get punished or have any permanent consequences. (Course most are too stupid to stop when they turn 18).
Canada needs to ditch the Young Offenders Act and get something with some teeth. 'course I've been saying this since I was 15, but those bleeding heart idiots WHO LET TERRORISTS IN BECAUSE THEY WHINE THAT THEY'RE REFUGEES, aren't ever going to do anything.
I really hope we rebuild the buildings - bigger and better than ever. Tempting fate? Maybe - but its not like fanatics lack targets!
Absolutely. Additionally, it's easier to stop terrorists when you have an idea of what they're trying to hit.
On the other hand, they're not interested in symbolism above all else. After all, they hit the Pentagon, not the White House. (Or was that the target of the 4th plane?)
Prosecution requires that you arrest those responsible. Those responsible are almost certainly being protected by anti-US regimes. That requires military action.
(Incidentally they're the same regimes that were saying a few days ago at the UN conference about what an evil abuser of human rights the US is).
Bin Laden's been named as the aggressor, with very little evidence
Not to be picky, but there is some evidence.
A coordinated operation such as this would require large funds. Bin Laden has that. It would also require pilots, (you couldn't rely on being able to force the US pilots to hit the right target or an untrained terrorist to fly a jumbo jet). Bin Laden's organisation has pilots.
You'd also need a burning hatred for the US and a willingness to kill civilians. He definately has that. (But on the other hand, so does Arafat so that doesn't mean much).
Peace and compromise are not always the best way to go. Neville Chamberlain declared peace in our time after speaking with Hitler, and then the second world war happened. Compromise was definately not the best option in that case.
Neither is compromise the best option now. The United States should do it's best to identify the larger supporting organisations, and strike them so that the are unable to do this again. (We can't make them not want to do it again). This will involve killing many people, and it will involve collateral damage to civilians and loss of life for US military personel. That is unfortunate, but it should still be done.
The Canadian response, (I am a Canadian), should be to support the US in whatever action it takes. No more fence sitting. These are our friends and neighbours and they need our support.
History has showed that Roosevelt was aware of the pending attack on Pearl Harbor. This is fact.
No it is not! It is a rumour that has not been confirmed or even shown to be probable. That statement is less historical than Oliver Stone's movie JFK.
We certainly would. Americans are great. There's a catch though. IT professionals in Canada are paid significantly less than their US counterparts. (That's not including the fact that we have significantly higher taxes than the US).
Our economy simply isn't as productive as the US. (National Post).
Chances are that things won't get hard enough in the US to prompt people into moving up here.
Don't despair though, things are looking up for our economy. As long as our current federal government and the west coast provincial ones keep moving to the economic right we should be in better shape in about a decade. Just make sure that Brian Tobin doesn't become the next PM. (Seriously, I'd rather we had Chretien for the next decade).
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They could actually just alter the music in a way that isn't obvious and still sounds nice. They do that right now anyway. I've heard a few bands playing live on Leno that can't even sing on key all of the time. It seems clear that someone digitally cleans up their music in the recording studio. The same thing could be done here.
It's not perfect, but it doesn't have to be.
As for the contract with a particular station, contracts can be changed, and I don't see any reason why the station would object to this. (Particularly if the studio started offering incentives).
Obviously I don't work in radio. Just a thought though...
That's different. People don't object to that because they're getting a higher quality product. You're not going to get people to ditch their old equipment simply to prevent something that most people don't want to prevent. The only purpose of which is to enrich the RIAA.
If anyone actually believed that the RIAA would lower the price of CD's if piracy was eliminated, they might go for it. But no one believes it.
Pricing of CD's and DVD's has almost nothing to do with cost, and almost everything to do with what the market will bear. In other words, we'll charge as much as we can get away with. That's not evil, it's standard economics when competition is removed from the equation. And there isn't competition. If you want a particular song, there's only one company to get it from.
Also, look at the price of DVD's vs. the price of tapes. Tapes cost more to manufacture, and yet DVD's cost more. Why? Because people are willing to pay more.
If you don't know, the paper version of the canary trap is the idea of altering the punctuation, but not the text of a document in a certain way uniquely for each copy of the document you give out, and keeping track of who gets what. Then, if a copy of your document is leaked to the media, and they show text from the document, you can find the snitch in your organisation.
Couldn't something similar be done with music? Not that it wouldn't be possible to undo, but if you don't know exactly what's been done, it's difficult to be 100% sure that you've undone the trap. Then the RIAA couldn't threaten very serious penalties. First off, you'd be certain to lose your job, but they couldn't also conceivably go after you for lost revenue for every copy of the song derived from the copy you originally made. And they'd have a method to prove that they came from your copy too. That'd be enough to bankrupt anyone.
Bad comparison. If you drive a car improperly, you can kill people or at the very least damage lots of other peoples property. Last time I checked, it wasn't possible to kill people by thinking that Word stores your documents in "memory".
And the property damage caused by people passing along viruses due to using Outlook doesn't count. That's not because they don't know how the system works, it's because the software is badly designed.
As for the /. crowd being upset if computers were "crippled", that's sort of irrelevant. The existence of one kind of computer-type appliance for average people doesn't mean that computers as we know them now can't exist. Different product for different markets.
The artist's name was Linda Mbube, and was a migrant worker.
If you don't like links, here's some cut and paste from the site.
More importantly, and perhaps less complicated, is the matter of Solomon Linda's Mbube , a song that, thanks in part to Seeger, qualifies as South Africa's most famous melody - and the focus of one of the world's greatest musical travesties. Linda, a migrant worker, recorded Mbube in Johannesburg for Gallo Records in 1939. Seeger directly copied it and released it in 1952 as Wimoweh - but with its composer now credited as "Paul Campbell", a pseudonym for Seeger and his band, The Weavers. Once Seeger, who thought the song was a "traditional" piece, learnt it was Linda's work, he made arrangements for the South African to receive a share of Wimoweh's royalties.
Then, in 1961, a New York group, The Tokens, released The Lion Sleeps Tonight - for all intents and purposes, Wimoweh with English lyrics. Now the "composers" were Tin Pan Alley songwriters Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George Weiss. This version topped charts the world over and would come to be recorded by more than 170 artists. It dominated charts again in 1994 with the Disney film The Lion King . All this earned Peretti, Creatore and Weiss millions of dollars. Linda, on the other hand, died penniless in 1962. Over the years, his estate - four daughters, Philda, Delphi, Elizabeth and Adelaide Ntsele - has received an estimated R130 000 in royalties, a paltry amount considering its overall earnings.
There's also some info here.
that's not even remotely (no pun intended) on the same scale.
a remote control is a very simple system, and doesn't even come close to the complexity of Windows, Linux or any other major OS. More to the point, the UI on a remote doesn't change that much. The play button always looks the same, the rewind is always to the left of the play button and the fast forward is always to the right. stuff like that.
We need to be developing systems for the consumer that are about as idiot-proof as a your toaster or CD-player.
I don't know how my car is built, and I don't care. And I don't think that information should be necessary to drive my car. Same deal with computers.
not that I necessarily believe him, but Arthur C. Clarke claims that the HAL-IBM thing is a coincidence.
Except for the fact of course that the availability of "virtual" child porn will increase the number of child molestations. That's a big statement, I know, but consider regular porn for a minute. Regular porn makes one think of sex, thinking of sex tends to make people want to have sex, and people tend to carry out their desires.
That's not to say that "virtual" child porn will turn everyone into pedophiles. I'm not claiming that. But one shouldn't endulge a "lifestyle" (I can't believe I just called it that), that is harmful to children. (Or to people in general).
uh...
did you read all of his post before you replied? That was a rhetorical question that he immediately answered with "certainly not".
you know I normally read the links, but the one time I don't....
dummie...
maybe I'm missing something by not being American, but how did Falwell refer to you as a pagan?
religion:
belief that requires an act of faith rather than a simple evaluation of evidence.
Atheism is therefore a religion. Agnosticism is not a religion, but Atheism most definately is. It says that God does NOT exist. Since disproving the existence of God is scientifically impossible, it requires a leap of faith, the sameo sort of leap is required to believe that God does exist.
Agnosticism on the other hand takes 2 forms. One simply says "I don't know if God exists" (perfectly defensible fence sitting) and the other says "it is impossible to know for sure whether or not God exists without making a leap of faith". (Course that would make many Christians into Agnostics).
teenagers throwing rocks are not civilians!
throwing rocks is a violent act and in a military zone that makes you a soldier.
read my bio if you want to know where I'm from.
and if you think your (fellow?) Canadians (i.e. ME) are going to tolerant this whiny pathetic jealousy that manifests itself as anti-Americanism anymore you've got another thing coming.
I love Canada. Really, I do, but we've been resting on our laurals too long and taking cheap shots at the most democratic country in the world because we've got an inferiority complex.
I grew up making jokes about Americans, I got tired of it when I left high school. Now it offends me.
Sorry this is slightly off topic, but I'm still embarassed by my Country's weak response to NY. Look at Britain's reaction, now THAT'S what true friends and allies do.
Now that's just silly.
(and I'm 25)
are you suggesting that a 17 year old isn't capable of coprehending the consequences of his actions? That's a big steaming pile. They most certainly are, and they should be held responsible like any other human being.
Now that sucks! Anything like that should be a permanent part of your record. That's part of the problem with idiot teens like this. They know darn well that basically anything they do before 18 doesn't get punished or have any permanent consequences. (Course most are too stupid to stop when they turn 18).
Canada needs to ditch the Young Offenders Act and get something with some teeth. 'course I've been saying this since I was 15, but those bleeding heart idiots WHO LET TERRORISTS IN BECAUSE THEY WHINE THAT THEY'RE REFUGEES, aren't ever going to do anything.
Absolutely. Additionally, it's easier to stop terrorists when you have an idea of what they're trying to hit.
On the other hand, they're not interested in symbolism above all else. After all, they hit the Pentagon, not the White House. (Or was that the target of the 4th plane?)
(Incidentally they're the same regimes that were saying a few days ago at the UN conference about what an evil abuser of human rights the US is).
Not to be picky, but there is some evidence.
A coordinated operation such as this would require large funds. Bin Laden has that. It would also require pilots, (you couldn't rely on being able to force the US pilots to hit the right target or an untrained terrorist to fly a jumbo jet). Bin Laden's organisation has pilots.
You'd also need a burning hatred for the US and a willingness to kill civilians. He definately has that. (But on the other hand, so does Arafat so that doesn't mean much).
Neither is compromise the best option now. The United States should do it's best to identify the larger supporting organisations, and strike them so that the are unable to do this again. (We can't make them not want to do it again). This will involve killing many people, and it will involve collateral damage to civilians and loss of life for US military personel. That is unfortunate, but it should still be done.
The Canadian response, (I am a Canadian), should be to support the US in whatever action it takes. No more fence sitting. These are our friends and neighbours and they need our support.
No it is not! It is a rumour that has not been confirmed or even shown to be probable. That statement is less historical than Oliver Stone's movie JFK.
This absolute disaster happens, and you are such an ABSOLUTE PRICK as to be making political jokes? Grow up!
Chances are that things won't get hard enough in the US to prompt people into moving up here.
Don't despair though, things are looking up for our economy. As long as our current federal government and the west coast provincial ones keep moving to the economic right we should be in better shape in about a decade. Just make sure that Brian Tobin doesn't become the next PM. (Seriously, I'd rather we had Chretien for the next decade).
it's actually $0.11 per CD-R. What's really funny is that you pay tax on that $0.11. No kidding.