Music in Japan is very expensive, in part due to the high cost of living and other economic factors. The only cheap consumer product in Japan seems to be Japanese comic books, the collected books can run about a third to to half of what it costs in the US.
At any rate, a "single" CD with maybe four tracks costs about ¥1200 when converted to US currency, a full album is ¥3000+. It's easy to see why ¥150 per song is going to sell well.
The question is, should Cnet be treated as a news source? They've made the troll, that effectively shows they is nearly the level of National Enquirer.
On the other hand, Google shouldn't be using shareholder time and resources to jealously protect its CEO and founder. I don't see it being too disimilar from Apple's retailiation against Wiley for publishing their book about Steve Jobs.
I do see the point with backlash. For those that don't know, Apple withdrew ALL Wiley books from their stores, including the. Apple would have been better off doing nothing because of the press they got in response. It backfired so much that the book in question got a doubled run before the book was released.
People do effectively connect their TV peripherals to the Internet or phone link. Tivo, Replay, cable boxes, satellite boxes, game consoles, HTPCs and so on.
I do think it is dumb. It would seem pretty silly to have to hook up a portable BR player to the Internet to authenticate.
But it still plays non-DRMed files and that's all I need, and the iTunes software will import CDs into WAV, AIFF, MP3 and unencrypted AAC. iPod DRM is only for files purchased from iTMS or Audible, it wasn't like Sony a couple years ago where all files had to be transcoded into a DRM'ed file to work.
Blu-Ray isn't Sony though, it was co-developed by most of the hardware makers on the DVD Forum, save NEC and Toshiba, I think, which made a competing format with 40% less capacity.
The thing that bugs me is that there are so many systems of programming that I think the people that develop them aught to slow down a bit. Programming languages seem to come and go like clothing fads.
The moral here is, if you're working on something cool, soemthing that you might want to patent, write it down. Even a diagram or sketch can help you if it's dated.
One of the things I've heard from an Engineering professor is that you want to make a sketch, preliminary descriptions, make copies and mail it to yourself by certified mail, and leave it sealed. That is considered sufficient proof of date should it be challenged in court.
But... iPod doesn't have a tuner! Not that I care, AM/FM is worthless to me.
You do have a point. I wish tech companies didn't try to do away with dials and knobs so much, it is easier, faster and more intuitive to just twist a knob than it is to hold down or click a button to move a pointer through a sliding scale. If this weren't true, we wouldn't be using mice instead of the keyboard's arrow keys.
This is one reason why "control surfaces" are necessary for serious digital media production, they have dozens of dials, knobs and sliders to control volumes, panning, effects, fades and such.
Re:Sounds like a bad deal to me
on
Textbooks With EULAs
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Don't forget that this requires an expensive electronic device to read! Add the cost of a laptop if you need to use it anywhere (even over several years of books) and it is a worse deal.
I don't like the idea that a crippled version is sold for a marginal savings when it shifts so many costs to the user. Saving to pdf or whatever is a lot cheaper than printing, and I want to see a much better share of that savings.
1) It is basically a podcast aggregator that plays videos, for retrieving video over RSS feeds. Except for lacking the thumbnail feature, iTunes 4.9 does this better, its podcast feature can download videos.
I don't know about scripting, but OS X does include a "print to PDF" feature. I haven't found it necessary to use it yet. If you need to be very specific about how a document will look, then going to PDF is the way to go.
What I wanted to communicate is that a weblog is an easier and faster way to make and change a personal web page. Rather than worrying about coding and markup, or using a program to generate the files (lots of steps) and then upload it (a few steps), weblogs make it a lot easier for most people to post new information or change it, just click "post" or "edit" and type. Some of them automatically generate RSS feeds, which is a big pain to do manually.
If blogs are what make using the WWW easier, more interesting and useful, then I'm willing to drop the whole (Blog = Overhyped Personal Webpage) argument.
I think you missed the point. To demonstrate exactly what you are missing, I now forward the whole calculators == overhyped abacus idea.
I deally this would be a neat idea for open source.
I think the first "podcast", as in audio feed from RSS enclosures, was a recording about the goings on in the coding of the first podcast aggregator, that program is open source.
Except for the iTunes specific tags, the distribution coding is about as open as you can get, RSS is an open standard. MP3 and AAC aren't necessarily "open" standards, one could doo an oggcast.
If you do not think that spy satellites are not weapons you are just nuts.
If I think binoculars aren't weapons, then I am nuts? Are you saying that the fact an object might be operated by a military organization it is considered a weapon?
Please tell me, what aren't weapons? I suppose "My Little Pony" and Care Bears are good hand-to-hand weapons too.
Targeting non combatants with nuclear weapons was definitely the wrong thing to do. It is terrorism.
I'm not really convinced that it is terrorism. The definitions of terrorism don't seem to fit that one country being the aggressor. Act of war, or war attrocity, I will take, because the meaning of war fits better when it is country against country.
I'm still not buying it. People that had nothing to do with the wrong, and could never possibly have been in a position to stop it (because of the fact of not having been alive yet) should not be held liable.
I am also not convinced that the people that committed the discussed wrongdoings lacked humanity, they were the manefestation of the dark side of humanity. I believe there is good in humanity and there is evil in humanity.
I am saddened that atrocities continue. All of humanity should be judged for what they didn't do, as much as what they did do. If more people could push for means to ending genocides and bringing to justice the people that committed them in a timely manner, it could mean countless lives saved, but as it is, justice takes far too long.
The world leaders don't have the stomach to stop these events while they are happening, rather than trying to clean up afterwards and pretend they did everything they could. It seems we like to pretend everything is OK, when, in many places, nothing is OK and true action needs to be taken in the name of humanity. I fully understand that this idea can be taken too far, but doing nothing is just an eggregious of an error.
It certainly wasn't the only Slashdotter that made unfounded claims without knowing what they are talking about, and certainly won't be the last. Reading the actual article is technically a lost skill, the same goes with doing research before yapping stupid and wrong claims.
says you in your naivete. look at the name ferchrissakes it is "podcast". If that's not a creation of Apple Computer then I don't know what is. It might look like it's not directly linked to Apple but with a name like that you can bet Apple was pushing for it in the background. check the money trail I bet you can see where it leads and it's not kansas.
Show me the proof. You can make bets, state claims, but in the end, it isn't true unless it is true, the only way to know for sure is the claimant must actually follow the trail and convince others.
One thing that you do seem to be missing is that there ARE a lot of independent podcasts, heavy commercial interest really didn't show up until Apple was promoting it. Most of those indies are still around and more are still popping up.
So, no, podcasting doesn't inherently mean independent, but it does provide an avenue for independents that simply didn't exist before.
Slashdot Mirror
Music in Japan is very expensive, in part due to the high cost of living and other economic factors. The only cheap consumer product in Japan seems to be Japanese comic books, the collected books can run about a third to to half of what it costs in the US.
At any rate, a "single" CD with maybe four tracks costs about ¥1200 when converted to US currency, a full album is ¥3000+. It's easy to see why ¥150 per song is going to sell well.
The question is, should Cnet be treated as a news source? They've made the troll, that effectively shows they is nearly the level of National Enquirer.
On the other hand, Google shouldn't be using shareholder time and resources to jealously protect its CEO and founder. I don't see it being too disimilar from Apple's retailiation against Wiley for publishing their book about Steve Jobs.
I do see the point with backlash. For those that don't know, Apple withdrew ALL Wiley books from their stores, including the. Apple would have been better off doing nothing because of the press they got in response. It backfired so much that the book in question got a doubled run before the book was released.
I am curious why the "equalized" audio would sound a lot better than not, maybe there is a defficiency in your speakers, or audio outputs?
People do effectively connect their TV peripherals to the Internet or phone link. Tivo, Replay, cable boxes, satellite boxes, game consoles, HTPCs and so on.
I do think it is dumb. It would seem pretty silly to have to hook up a portable BR player to the Internet to authenticate.
But it still plays non-DRMed files and that's all I need, and the iTunes software will import CDs into WAV, AIFF, MP3 and unencrypted AAC. iPod DRM is only for files purchased from iTMS or Audible, it wasn't like Sony a couple years ago where all files had to be transcoded into a DRM'ed file to work.
Blu-Ray isn't Sony though, it was co-developed by most of the hardware makers on the DVD Forum, save NEC and Toshiba, I think, which made a competing format with 40% less capacity.
The thing that bugs me is that there are so many systems of programming that I think the people that develop them aught to slow down a bit. Programming languages seem to come and go like clothing fads.
The moral here is, if you're working on something cool, soemthing that you might want to patent, write it down. Even a diagram or sketch can help you if it's dated.
One of the things I've heard from an Engineering professor is that you want to make a sketch, preliminary descriptions, make copies and mail it to yourself by certified mail, and leave it sealed. That is considered sufficient proof of date should it be challenged in court.
But... iPod doesn't have a tuner! Not that I care, AM/FM is worthless to me.
You do have a point. I wish tech companies didn't try to do away with dials and knobs so much, it is easier, faster and more intuitive to just twist a knob than it is to hold down or click a button to move a pointer through a sliding scale. If this weren't true, we wouldn't be using mice instead of the keyboard's arrow keys.
This is one reason why "control surfaces" are necessary for serious digital media production, they have dozens of dials, knobs and sliders to control volumes, panning, effects, fades and such.
Don't forget that this requires an expensive electronic device to read! Add the cost of a laptop if you need to use it anywhere (even over several years of books) and it is a worse deal.
I don't like the idea that a crippled version is sold for a marginal savings when it shifts so many costs to the user. Saving to pdf or whatever is a lot cheaper than printing, and I want to see a much better share of that savings.
1) It is basically a podcast aggregator that plays videos, for retrieving video over RSS feeds. Except for lacking the thumbnail feature, iTunes 4.9 does this better, its podcast feature can download videos.
I hope this program improves though.
I don't know about scripting, but OS X does include a "print to PDF" feature. I haven't found it necessary to use it yet. If you need to be very specific about how a document will look, then going to PDF is the way to go.
I think that's reading too much into it.
What I wanted to communicate is that a weblog is an easier and faster way to make and change a personal web page. Rather than worrying about coding and markup, or using a program to generate the files (lots of steps) and then upload it (a few steps), weblogs make it a lot easier for most people to post new information or change it, just click "post" or "edit" and type. Some of them automatically generate RSS feeds, which is a big pain to do manually.
I just installed htop on my debian based web server, it's pretty nifty. Not that I need top that often, the computer runs at practically no load.
If blogs are what make using the WWW easier, more interesting and useful, then I'm willing to drop the whole (Blog = Overhyped Personal Webpage) argument.
I think you missed the point. To demonstrate exactly what you are missing, I now forward the whole calculators == overhyped abacus idea.
I deally this would be a neat idea for open source.
I think the first "podcast", as in audio feed from RSS enclosures, was a recording about the goings on in the coding of the first podcast aggregator, that program is open source.
Except for the iTunes specific tags, the distribution coding is about as open as you can get, RSS is an open standard. MP3 and AAC aren't necessarily "open" standards, one could doo an oggcast.
Actually, the name of the MP3 file has the word "podcast" in it, so step 4 belongs as part of step 1, step 3 doesn't really belong.
I'd rather move to base 10 everything than stick to a Babylonian numbering system.
If you do not think that spy satellites are not weapons you are just nuts.
If I think binoculars aren't weapons, then I am nuts? Are you saying that the fact an object might be operated by a military organization it is considered a weapon?
Please tell me, what aren't weapons? I suppose "My Little Pony" and Care Bears are good hand-to-hand weapons too.
I understand, I've been there myself. I've gotten so used to the edit function that I forget to preview on slashdot.
I think there may be a legit reason for using different brackets, but I really don't know for sure.
In summary: If Sony was an icecream flavor, they'd be pralines and dick
It is comments like these that cause me to wonder if slashdotters have something against homosexuals, as if they were less than other people.
Targeting non combatants with nuclear weapons was definitely the wrong thing to do. It is terrorism.
I'm not really convinced that it is terrorism. The definitions of terrorism don't seem to fit that one country being the aggressor. Act of war, or war attrocity, I will take, because the meaning of war fits better when it is country against country.
I'm still not buying it. People that had nothing to do with the wrong, and could never possibly have been in a position to stop it (because of the fact of not having been alive yet) should not be held liable.
I am also not convinced that the people that committed the discussed wrongdoings lacked humanity, they were the manefestation of the dark side of humanity. I believe there is good in humanity and there is evil in humanity.
I am saddened that atrocities continue. All of humanity should be judged for what they didn't do, as much as what they did do. If more people could push for means to ending genocides and bringing to justice the people that committed them in a timely manner, it could mean countless lives saved, but as it is, justice takes far too long.
The world leaders don't have the stomach to stop these events while they are happening, rather than trying to clean up afterwards and pretend they did everything they could. It seems we like to pretend everything is OK, when, in many places, nothing is OK and true action needs to be taken in the name of humanity. I fully understand that this idea can be taken too far, but doing nothing is just an eggregious of an error.
It certainly wasn't the only Slashdotter that made unfounded claims without knowing what they are talking about, and certainly won't be the last. Reading the actual article is technically a lost skill, the same goes with doing research before yapping stupid and wrong claims.
says you in your naivete. look at the name ferchrissakes it is "podcast". If that's not a creation of Apple Computer then I don't know what is. It might look like it's not directly linked to Apple but with a name like that you can bet Apple was pushing for it in the background. check the money trail I bet you can see where it leads and it's not kansas.
Show me the proof. You can make bets, state claims, but in the end, it isn't true unless it is true, the only way to know for sure is the claimant must actually follow the trail and convince others.
One thing that you do seem to be missing is that there ARE a lot of independent podcasts, heavy commercial interest really didn't show up until Apple was promoting it. Most of those indies are still around and more are still popping up.
So, no, podcasting doesn't inherently mean independent, but it does provide an avenue for independents that simply didn't exist before.