The folks at Platypus.com are right on to this new old technology and have a really neat built-in UPS with batteries and dual IDE drive on their QikDATA unit. I've been looking at them for about 8 months now and will be doing some benchmarking in two weeks.
An inside source mentioned that a certain large company (not at liberty to name) took 6 servers running Linux email with a max. throughput of 240 emails/sec total between them and reduced it to one server with a QikDATA that can now handle 1200 emails/sec alone !
They use the PCI ports to get max. data flow and it looks just like a disk drive. I personally witnessed the techs plug it in to a Windows 2K server and format just an 8 Gb section of the 16Gb unit INSTANTLY !!! They clicked OK on the format button and it was DONE !!!
Can anyone say shared memory array ???
I'll let anyone who's interested know how the benchmarking goes !
BTW, the 16Gb unit with full redundancy goes for about $35K... the redundancy detects a power failure, switches on the battery and starts backing up both the 8Gb sections to the dual on-board. When complete, it shuts itself down and waits for power to be restored.
When it is, it auto-recovers ! Sweeet !!!
Check it out !
Apologies to the boys at Platypus if I let anything out of the bag !!!
Well, I must admit that being kinda' on the edge between both a musician/composer and techie, some of the generalizations here are leading to misinformation on both sides. Not that I'm saying I know all and see EVERYTHING clearer than anyone else... many of the comments and responses I have read are things I totally agree with, some are not. Being individuals, I'm sure that's the same for all of us. I feel I have some experience in both fields (20 years IT - 25 years music - concurrent, not consecutive !)
OK, Lars and the band (including mangers) are right to be somewhat concerned about illegal copying... that's a no-brainer from the business side for sure.
However, basing your entire argument on thet fact that YOU (Lars and Co.) think it's wrong for someone to take something of yours without permission (and it is !) and then turning around and saying it's OK for YOU to do it to someone else's material negates the argument right there !!! A stunning example of hypocracy at it's finest, wouldn't you say ? This also seems to confirm that the lawyers had nothing to say about this interview !;)
Someone mentioned the only difference between Napster and cassette "home-recording" is that you can quickly track Napster ! This is very true as it is alomost impossible to track something that is done outside of cyberspace !
As well, working in a home project studio of my own, I can tell you that a red-book CD is recorded at 44100Hz, 16 bit, stereo which comes out to 1411Kbps (check a CD through winamp or something that gives you the stats to see what I mean !).
From a size aspect, you're looking at around 10MB/minute of recorded music... so a four minute song would be around 40Mb in total !!! That would KILL a modem ! In fact, it would probably bog-down even a cable connection for a while !
Like the cassette copy, the average MP3 is NOT an exact copy of the original. Converting a song from a "fixed" (physical) media to a WAV or MP3 file allows one to transcend the physicality of the "product"... that is what you are used to receiving for your $16... to a form that eliminates the need for "brick and mortar" stores, trucks, manufacturing plants, liner and CD cover artists,... the list goes on ! This is NOT necessarily a bad thing UNLESS you get your livelyhood from one of these sources. I think the physicality will still be a requirement in order to keep some value to the product. But the artists still deserves to be compensated. Does anybody really think artists should not be compensated for their work ? Is it all really just "background" sound to you and not worth anything ?
I was hoping that would be considered rhetorical but then I realized some folks have every right to answer "yes". Such is the world - if we were all the same, it would be boring !
A new model is required for this new age... a new business model so Lars and Co. can keep feeding himself and his family. Would people be willing to give back something for downloading the Metallica stuff ? I don't know... maybe there's something you could do for them, you know... drop by their place and wash the limo or trim the lawn ? Hey, if you are a musician too, could you offer to give them your CD for an even trade ? Or let them know that you'd be willing to play at their next party ?
This would be like a "barter and trade" idea and it is far from a new one. In fact, did it not lead, eventually, to our current money systems ? Something about it being too difficult to heard sheep or goats or something some several hundreds of miles away... a note that represented the value was sent instead !
One model I heard of, also not an original idea in of itself, but put into the context of the Internet, was for a band to offer a membership or subscription to their music. The fan pays, say, $15 per year and they automatically get the most recent CD and access to the band's catalog. Add a few of the incentives suggested by other posts here, you could have something that may just work !
Bottom line, and I agree with Lars here, "PLEASE JUST ASK ME !" Let me know what you're doing with my recordings because they are mine afterall. 'Course, it would help if the band was more accessible but a million or so folks pounding on your inbox might cause a few problems, too ! I'm sure had Napster or My.MP3.com talked with the musicians and the RIAA in general, this may have turned out to be the next big step in the industry instead of the legal quagmire it has become.
And the lawyers laughed on....
Thanx for reading!
Ron O http://www.capitalnet.com/~reoslund http://www.mp3.com/rono http://www.rosyjo.com http://www.mp3.com/rosyjo
Slashdot Mirror
Oooops ! Sorry, that should read http://www.platypus.net/
:)
You'd think I'd know this by now !
The girl on the other address is quite cute anyway !!!
Cheers !
REO
The folks at Platypus.com are right on to this new old technology and have a really neat built-in UPS with batteries and dual IDE drive on their QikDATA unit. I've been looking at them for about 8 months now and will be doing some benchmarking in two weeks.
... the redundancy detects a power failure, switches on the battery and starts backing up both the 8Gb sections to the dual on-board. When complete, it shuts itself down and waits for power to be restored.
An inside source mentioned that a certain large company (not at liberty to name) took 6 servers running Linux email with a max. throughput of 240 emails/sec total between them and reduced it to one server with a QikDATA that can now handle 1200 emails/sec alone !
They use the PCI ports to get max. data flow and it looks just like a disk drive. I personally witnessed the techs plug it in to a Windows 2K server and format just an 8 Gb section of the 16Gb unit INSTANTLY !!! They clicked OK on the format button and it was DONE !!!
Can anyone say shared memory array ???
I'll let anyone who's interested know how the benchmarking goes !
BTW, the 16Gb unit with full redundancy goes for about $35K
When it is, it auto-recovers ! Sweeet !!!
Check it out !
Apologies to the boys at Platypus if I let anything out of the bag !!!
Cheers !
REO
Well, I must admit that being kinda' on the edge between both a musician/composer and techie, some of the generalizations here are leading to misinformation on both sides. Not that I'm saying I know all and see EVERYTHING clearer than anyone else... many of the comments and responses I have read are things I totally agree with, some are not. Being individuals, I'm sure that's the same for all of us. I feel I have some experience in both fields (20 years IT - 25 years music - concurrent, not consecutive !)
;)
... that is what you are used to receiving for your $16 ... to a form that eliminates the need for "brick and mortar" stores, trucks, manufacturing plants, liner and CD cover artists, ... the list goes on ! This is NOT necessarily a bad thing UNLESS you get your livelyhood from one of these sources. I think the physicality will still be a requirement in order to keep some value to the product. But the artists still deserves to be compensated. Does anybody really think artists should not be compensated for their work ? Is it all really just "background" sound to you and not worth anything ?
... a note that represented the value was sent instead !
OK, Lars and the band (including mangers) are right to be somewhat concerned about illegal copying... that's a no-brainer from the business side for sure.
However, basing your entire argument on thet fact that YOU (Lars and Co.) think it's wrong for someone to take something of yours without permission (and it is !) and then turning around and saying it's OK for YOU to do it to someone else's material negates the argument right there !!! A stunning example of hypocracy at it's finest, wouldn't you say ? This also seems to confirm that the lawyers had nothing to say about this interview !
Someone mentioned the only difference between Napster and cassette "home-recording" is that you can quickly track Napster ! This is very true as it is alomost impossible to track something that is done outside of cyberspace !
As well, working in a home project studio of my own, I can tell you that a red-book CD is recorded at 44100Hz, 16 bit, stereo which comes out to 1411Kbps (check a CD through winamp or something that gives you the stats to see what I mean !).
From a size aspect, you're looking at around 10MB/minute of recorded music... so a four minute song would be around 40Mb in total !!! That would KILL a modem ! In fact, it would probably bog-down even a cable connection for a while !
Like the cassette copy, the average MP3 is NOT an exact copy of the original. Converting a song from a "fixed" (physical) media to a WAV or MP3 file allows one to transcend the physicality of the "product"
I was hoping that would be considered rhetorical but then I realized some folks have every right to answer "yes". Such is the world - if we were all the same, it would be boring !
A new model is required for this new age... a new business model so Lars and Co. can keep feeding himself and his family. Would people be willing to give back something for downloading the Metallica stuff ? I don't know... maybe there's something you could do for them, you know... drop by their place and wash the limo or trim the lawn ? Hey, if you are a musician too, could you offer to give them your CD for an even trade ? Or let them know that you'd be willing to play at their next party ?
This would be like a "barter and trade" idea and it is far from a new one. In fact, did it not lead, eventually, to our current money systems ? Something about it being too difficult to heard sheep or goats or something some several hundreds of miles away
One model I heard of, also not an original idea in of itself, but put into the context of the Internet, was for a band to offer a membership or subscription to their music. The fan pays, say, $15 per year and they automatically get the most recent CD and access to the band's catalog. Add a few of the incentives suggested by other posts here, you could have something that may just work !
Bottom line, and I agree with Lars here, "PLEASE JUST ASK ME !" Let me know what you're doing with my recordings because they are mine afterall. 'Course, it would help if the band was more accessible but a million or so folks pounding on your inbox might cause a few problems, too ! I'm sure had Napster or My.MP3.com talked with the musicians and the RIAA in general, this may have turned out to be the next big step in the industry instead of the legal quagmire it has become.
And the lawyers laughed on....
Thanx for reading!
Ron O
http://www.capitalnet.com/~reoslund
http://www.mp3.com/rono
http://www.rosyjo.com
http://www.mp3.com/rosyjo