Broken down into essential elements, media, in it's most basic definition, is simply a pattern which your technical toys (TV's, radios, computers, etc..) can use to work in entertaining, educational, productive, and scientific ways. Simply put, a pattern is nothing more than a mathematical construct, a sequence of elements which follow one another in a predetermined way. For example, this is media: 4675636b084d504141. (Uh-oh, you just looked at my media, so I'm charging you $100, and don't you dare copy it. Patent pending on the string above.)
Truly, it is really these patterns which humanity has come to cherish. They are the words you read in your favorite magazine, the songs you listen to in the car, the movie you watch on your brand new surround sound DVD system. But you and I know that patterns can be represented merely as bits. Why? Because that is all that they are. 1's and 0's. Highs and lows. Example: if, by chance, your copy of Great Expectations had one character 'e' on page 149 that was smeared with ink (but still legible, for argument's sake), then you still have a copy of Great Expectations. It's still the same pattern! The words are distinct entities, not dependent on how they manifest themselves. However, that 'e' was accidently printed as a capital 'X' in your copy, then you don't have an exact copy of the work, and it does detract (however slightly) from the original author's intent. Many typos would cause much frustration on your part. My point is that what we value is the content of those patterns themselves, and who is to say what that value is? You? Me? The corporations? Big Brother? The answer is no one, because content is human experience, human effort, and that is priceless.
So, if not media, what IS marketable, then? Silicon is marketable. (CD's, DVD's..) Books are marketable. (The pages, covers, machining, and crafting therein are material in nature.) Radios are marketable. (You need them to pick up your favorite tunes.) Movie projection screen services are marketable. (Hey, going to the cinema is fun..) I could go on forever, but you get the idea: material carriers and services for media are marketable.
I'm really tired of corporations trying to make huge profit just from charging money for patterns which they have no rational right to dole out to us in the first place. This includes recording companies, all these insane new patents of late, the RIAA, and many more. Instead of searching for these endless freebees, corporations should perform their main function, which is competing in a capitalistic market to make the most money by providing the customer with the best, most well-engineered product.
The only reason they're getting away with all these silly monopolies on natural patterns is even more horrific: The government is actually going along with it! They're bowing to the influence of corporate power, and allowing copyright or patent arguments persuade them that maybe these guys actually do have a right to charge a consumer for a sequence of bits.
Truly, there should be no patents. The group who can make the best product will naturally be rewarded with the most profit from the consumer. It's that simple. Any other con games for free money are nothing more than theft. And you can go to jail for that; at least, you used to.
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Media is not marketable. Media is not marketable!
Broken down into essential elements, media, in it's most basic definition, is simply a pattern which your technical toys (TV's, radios, computers, etc..) can use to work in entertaining, educational, productive, and scientific ways. Simply put, a pattern is nothing more than a mathematical construct, a sequence of elements which follow one another in a predetermined way. For example, this is media: 4675636b084d504141. (Uh-oh, you just looked at my media, so I'm charging you $100, and don't you dare copy it. Patent pending on the string above.)
Truly, it is really these patterns which humanity has come to cherish. They are the words you read in your favorite magazine, the songs you listen to in the car, the movie you watch on your brand new surround sound DVD system. But you and I know that patterns can be represented merely as bits. Why? Because that is all that they are. 1's and 0's. Highs and lows. Example: if, by chance, your copy of Great Expectations had one character 'e' on page 149 that was smeared with ink (but still legible, for argument's sake), then you still have a copy of Great Expectations. It's still the same pattern! The words are distinct entities, not dependent on how they manifest themselves. However, that 'e' was accidently printed as a capital 'X' in your copy, then you don't have an exact copy of the work, and it does detract (however slightly) from the original author's intent. Many typos would cause much frustration on your part. My point is that what we value is the content of those patterns themselves, and who is to say what that value is? You? Me? The corporations? Big Brother? The answer is no one, because content is human experience, human effort, and that is priceless.
So, if not media, what IS marketable, then? Silicon is marketable. (CD's, DVD's..) Books are marketable. (The pages, covers, machining, and crafting therein are material in nature.) Radios are marketable. (You need them to pick up your favorite tunes.) Movie projection screen services are marketable. (Hey, going to the cinema is fun..) I could go on forever, but you get the idea: material carriers and services for media are marketable.
I'm really tired of corporations trying to make huge profit just from charging money for patterns which they have no rational right to dole out to us in the first place. This includes recording companies, all these insane new patents of late, the RIAA, and many more. Instead of searching for these endless freebees, corporations should perform their main function, which is competing in a capitalistic market to make the most money by providing the customer with the best, most well-engineered product.
The only reason they're getting away with all these silly monopolies on natural patterns is even more horrific: The government is actually going along with it! They're bowing to the influence of corporate power, and allowing copyright or patent arguments persuade them that maybe these guys actually do have a right to charge a consumer for a sequence of bits.
Truly, there should be no patents. The group who can make the best product will naturally be rewarded with the most profit from the consumer. It's that simple. Any other con games for free money are nothing more than theft. And you can go to jail for that; at least, you used to.
Curry