Your options are: either drive down to your nearest record store and pay for pressing, shipping, handling, packaging, advertising, sales assistance, cashiering, and post-sale security checks; or you can download it for free. What am I supposed to do if I like one particular song and would like a legal, electronic copy of it? The issue isn't about opression, or stealing being some kind of right. It's about a market that's unsatisfied.
Come to think of it, I'd really like nude pics of a petrified Natalie Portman with hot grits poured down her pants, but I can't have that either. So I deal with it, life moves on. Not a perfect analogy, but it illustrates what I'm trying to get across, which is, to quote the Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want." If one don't like the purchasing options, yeah, that sucks, but that doesn't give one the right to just take for free whatever the heart desires.
The fact that downloadable music (well, legally downloadable anyway) is a largely untapped market may be true, but it's irrelevant to the fact that people aren't giving anything back for the stuff they copy. You're blurring the issue. The fact remains, while the available options suck, not paying for stuff is still wrong. And cliched as it sounds, two wrongs still don't make a right.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a hardcore music freak - I'm painfully aware of how corrupt the industry is, and how much they jack both consumers and artists. But until something can be worked out, what else am I supposed to do? I can't stick it to the labels without sticking it to the artists. So I have to either bite the bullet and pay for the over-priced disc, or choose not to buy the stuff. Taking without paying is not an option.
As for solutions? While Emusic's 128kbit MP3s (as oppposed to much nicer ~160kbps.OGGs or something) and relatively limited selection aren't exactly what I'm looking for either, it's a damn fine start. There's no bullshit encryption, and the prices are fair. You can even buy single tracks, etc. All these things are *exactly* what the "untapped" market you refer to are clamoring for. It's just not developed enough yet... Here's to hoping that a place built on fairness and rights for the consumer and the artist actually succeed.
All I can say to that is a big simpsons Nelson-style "HA-HA!"
Yeah, the content companies suck ass, no doubt, but that doesn't mean that NOT PAYING FOR THE SHIT YOU DOWNLOAD is going to make things any better. If you hate stupid restrictions, stop buying records from the opporessive major labels. Frequent places like Emusic.com, where the downloads are all real MP3s, no bullshit copy prevention. The albums are sold for a reasonable price, and the artists GET PAID.
And finally, would everyone stop acting like they're somehow oppressed because they actually have to PAY for their media? Cry me a river. Don't put up with copy prevention bullshit, but don't go back and *REINFORCE ITS APPARENT NEED* by "trading" stuff on Kazaa...
Great, now you have a few thousand computers with identical root passwords!
Maybe. And if they ship with XP, it'll be identical "Administrator" passwords.
Granted you will still get it in XP, they can always configure it from the images to load the default user account automatically, without a login
If they use Gnome, GDM can use "pictures" for logging in, and can also be easily configured (read: with a GUI) to log in a particular user on boot. So this is also the same. (KDE can probably do this too, but I don't use it, so I wouldnt' know.:)
Linux is a bit easier to break than windows... Ever powered off a Linux machine without halting it? Sometimes it makes u type in commands just to get it to boot up
"u" ever used ext3 before? Works great, y'know...
Not only that, Netscape Navigator tends to crash, and bring everything down with it
Mozilla, Mozilla, Mozilla. Navigator is DEAD.
I've got strong suspicions it'll be equipped with at least something, if only Works.
Or they could install a *real* suite like OpenOffice...
Linux is becoming *quite* usable on the desktop. Anyone who's installed a recent copy of RedHat could tell you that the install is just as easy as Windows (just maybe not as familiar, but still very easy. hell, the partitioning utility beats the crap out of Win2k's HANDS DOWN), so that's not an issue. And for usability? StarOffice, Mozilla, and Evolution are every bit as usable as Office, IE, and Outlook, IMHO. And since they could save MILLIONS on this project by not using M$ software, they could take a *fraction* of that budget and put it towards removing any "rough edges" they observed in whatever distro they decided on...
well, given that Google has just put all of that stuff onto their site, I'm guessing that it won't be much of an issue.;)
But seriously, just because the medium is no longer manufactured doesn't mean that all the machines to READ the 9-track tape are going away. There are still 8 track tape decks in service, despite the fact that it's probably been over 15 years since an 8 track tape (or deck!) was made...
How much more expansion and networkability are the MPAA and TV networks going to "allow" in these sorts of things? I keep wondering when the "other shoe is going to drop" and Tivo is either sued out of existance or DRM'd out of usefulness...
For everyone bitching about a "1.5Mb cap" on their cable modems, here's a little piece of info you might not be aware of... you were SUPPOSED to be "capped" at 1.5Mb down to begin with! The only reason you weren't rate-limited before was because @Home had lots of money for bandwidth, and were too stupid to figure out rate-limiting until only a month or two before their collapse. Nowhere in your EULA did it say you were to get an unlimited download speed.
Which brings me to my second point... bandwidth doesn't come cheap, y'know. Exactly what were you expecting for $35-$40 a month??!? In my area anyhow, the cable ISP I work for is EASILY the cheapest per meg per month on the download side. The alternatives are DSL, which usually only offers up to 1Mb download, and that's if you're damn close to their equipment, and it's around $120-$130 a month for that download speed, once you include your ISP fees. There's always a T1, but is anyone really up for $700 a month for the same download speed as a single cable modem? Cable modems are THE best "value" (much as I hate that word) for heavy downloaders available, but we still have to make money, too. You're not charged by the meg for your downloads, but WE ARE. If everyone ran uncapped, all the time, we'd probably pull an @Home too, and go bankrupt.
If you want something to bitch about, bitch about the ACL's that don't allow personal web servers, or the lack of the option for a static IP. Now there, you've got my sympathy. But as for the speed? Think of the uncapped speeds you got for years as a gift, not an expectation.
Come ON... and people call Linux advocates "zealots?" Superlative like this is rediculous. OSX is very cool, but Linux still has some *serious* advantages over it for the future. Combined with it's nearly infinite flexability (Free as in speach), and it's price (free as in beer), and its emerging office applications, Linux may be the one to beat late next year. Abiword, Gnumeric, Evolution, Galeon, Gabber, Ximian Setup Tools, and OpenOffice, all running on top of Mandrake could become a hell of a competitor. Notice, however, that this doesn't mean that it will suddenly eat Windows whole, and destroy all need for OSX to exist. Linux will simply become a stronger player, filling what I believe is a serious need in the software market...
I wonder what they mean by the "Radeon chipset"? Is this just for the "classic" Radeons, or for the new 7500/8500 series? While I've got a legacy Radeon, I really hope the support is for the new series - I'd love to see cutting edge cards like the Radeon 8500 get the support it deserves in Linux, and I'd pay for the privilege. (You listening, ATI?:)
...too bad we don't have socialism, so we could wait for the government Digital Video Recorder to come out...
That may be, but let's hear it for good ol' Capitalism! Bringing you years of Innovation(tm) in the form of crass materialism, environmental violence, and solipsism! Yay!
Re:Why I don't trust environmentalists
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
Ha ha. Joke aside, cars are FAR less efficient than this thing is.
eh!? I think the W3C badge is a clear sign that a developer DOES care. When browser developers don't code to the W3C standards, it's THEY that do not care. That's why standards are there - for everyone to use and reference. Anyone who breaks that standard is the one who "doesn't care".
the German 'draconian' one works on Macs?
on
NSync Copy Protected CD
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
From the article:
But the German version does not even play on a Windows PC meaning users cannot listen to music they have bought... [snip] However, Apple Mac users have succeeded in playing the German disc.
Eh? Wouldn't this suggest this is defeatable by software, and thus useless? (Mac, Linux, *BSD, BeOs rippers/encoders anyone?) Anyone care to comment on this?
My problem is that as an employee of a software development company, any accidental of copyleft code into our copyright codebase would mean that our copyright is null and void.
Wow, way to spread a little FUD lovin around. No, it wouldn't invalidate your copyrights, you'd just have to remove the offending code from your works.
When Mozilla copylefts SAMPLE code, the only way to avoid the risk to corporate intellectual property is to use cleanroom reverse engineering procedures.
This is quite expensive. Just use a BSD compatible license and you do the entire world a favor. If you want commercial software developers to be able to read and help you improve your code, give us a license that dosen't kill our employers.
Awww.... you're pissy because it would be "quite expensive" to use someone else's work? Either write the stuff yourself, or quit complaining. Commercial development CAN HAPPEN with GPL'd code, and *especially* with LGPL'd code, so quitcherbitchen; be happy it's Free at all!
The Democrats would have done the same thing. No sane President is going to push for the crucifiction of the one tech stock that isn't currently in the toilet with today's poor economy.
Two problems with that.
1) Microsoft's stock IS in the toilet, if you compare its current price compared to a year or two years ago. The tech market has taken a *relative* dive across the board, so everyone's stock took a crap. But when your stock is worth as much as M$'s to start with, when it takes a dive, it will still appear to have a good price, compared to other tech stocks.
2) The only one? Ever hear of a young little punk startup out there called IBM? They're still above 100, my friend.
What if the guy down the street giving away the popsicles had STOLEN THEM from the guy selling them for 25 cents!?! Still interested? I would hope not.
MP3.com gets their music with *consent*, and still gives it away for free. You don't have to buy their premium service to get the free tunes, you just have to put up with ads. MP3.com is entitled to whatever they make in this business, as they aren't STEALING anything from artists *cough*Morpheus*cough*, and they're providing a valuable service, ie: storage space, organization, search utilities, and how about that giant monthly bandwidth bill?
On the other hand, if Free-Uber-Alles is really your mantra, expect to see me at your house tonight with a flashlight and a few garbage bags. I figure, why should I BUY anything, when I can just raid your house for it? I mean, it's the *obvious* decision, right?
Slashdot Mirror
Your options are: either drive down to your nearest record store and pay for pressing, shipping, handling, packaging, advertising, sales assistance, cashiering, and post-sale security checks; or you can download it for free. What am I supposed to do if I like one particular song and would like a legal, electronic copy of it?
.OGGs or something) and relatively limited selection aren't exactly what I'm looking for either, it's a damn fine start. There's no bullshit encryption, and the prices are fair. You can even buy single tracks, etc. All these things are *exactly* what the "untapped" market you refer to are clamoring for. It's just not developed enough yet... Here's to hoping that a place built on fairness and rights for the consumer and the artist actually succeed.
The issue isn't about opression, or stealing being some kind of right. It's about a market that's unsatisfied.
Come to think of it, I'd really like nude pics of a petrified Natalie Portman with hot grits poured down her pants, but I can't have that either. So I deal with it, life moves on. Not a perfect analogy, but it illustrates what I'm trying to get across, which is, to quote the Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want." If one don't like the purchasing options, yeah, that sucks, but that doesn't give one the right to just take for free whatever the heart desires.
The fact that downloadable music (well, legally downloadable anyway) is a largely untapped market may be true, but it's irrelevant to the fact that people aren't giving anything back for the stuff they copy. You're blurring the issue. The fact remains, while the available options suck, not paying for stuff is still wrong. And cliched as it sounds, two wrongs still don't make a right.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a hardcore music freak - I'm painfully aware of how corrupt the industry is, and how much they jack both consumers and artists. But until something can be worked out, what else am I supposed to do? I can't stick it to the labels without sticking it to the artists. So I have to either bite the bullet and pay for the over-priced disc, or choose not to buy the stuff. Taking without paying is not an option.
As for solutions? While Emusic's 128kbit MP3s (as oppposed to much nicer ~160kbps
All I can say to that is a big simpsons Nelson-style "HA-HA!"
Yeah, the content companies suck ass, no doubt, but that doesn't mean that NOT PAYING FOR THE SHIT YOU DOWNLOAD is going to make things any better. If you hate stupid restrictions, stop buying records from the opporessive major labels. Frequent places like Emusic.com, where the downloads are all real MP3s, no bullshit copy prevention. The albums are sold for a reasonable price, and the artists GET PAID.
And finally, would everyone stop acting like they're somehow oppressed because they actually have to PAY for their media? Cry me a river. Don't put up with copy prevention bullshit, but don't go back and *REINFORCE ITS APPARENT NEED* by "trading" stuff on Kazaa...
Apparently you have no clue what roads cost to UPKEEP. The initial investment on rail is high, true, but the upkeep is a fraction of that.
...getting your nazi on
:)
i think i just pissed my pants, i'm laughing so hard.
Microsoft has already stated they are switching to the non-proprietary XML format for their standard document format.
HA! I'll believe THAT when I see it. ("Wishful Thinking" indeed!)
Great, now you have a few thousand computers with identical root passwords!
:)
... Ever powered off a Linux machine without halting it? Sometimes it makes u type in commands just to get it to boot up
Maybe. And if they ship with XP, it'll be identical "Administrator" passwords.
Granted you will still get it in XP, they can always configure it from the images to load the default user account automatically, without a login
If they use Gnome, GDM can use "pictures" for logging in, and can also be easily configured (read: with a GUI) to log in a particular user on boot. So this is also the same. (KDE can probably do this too, but I don't use it, so I wouldnt' know.
Linux is a bit easier to break than windows
"u" ever used ext3 before? Works great, y'know...
Not only that, Netscape Navigator tends to crash, and bring everything down with it
Mozilla, Mozilla, Mozilla. Navigator is DEAD.
I've got strong suspicions it'll be equipped with at least something, if only Works.
Or they could install a *real* suite like OpenOffice...
Linux is becoming *quite* usable on the desktop. Anyone who's installed a recent copy of RedHat could tell you that the install is just as easy as Windows (just maybe not as familiar, but still very easy. hell, the partitioning utility beats the crap out of Win2k's HANDS DOWN), so that's not an issue. And for usability? StarOffice, Mozilla, and Evolution are every bit as usable as Office, IE, and Outlook, IMHO. And since they could save MILLIONS on this project by not using M$ software, they could take a *fraction* of that budget and put it towards removing any "rough edges" they observed in whatever distro they decided on...
well, given that Google has just put all of that stuff onto their site, I'm guessing that it won't be much of an issue. ;)
But seriously, just because the medium is no longer manufactured doesn't mean that all the machines to READ the 9-track tape are going away. There are still 8 track tape decks in service, despite the fact that it's probably been over 15 years since an 8 track tape (or deck!) was made...
How much more expansion and networkability are the MPAA and TV networks going to "allow" in these sorts of things? I keep wondering when the "other shoe is going to drop" and Tivo is either sued out of existance or DRM'd out of usefulness...
Tell ya what. I'll start donating when you stop trolling. Sound fair?
Which brings me to my second point... bandwidth doesn't come cheap, y'know. Exactly what were you expecting for $35-$40 a month??!? In my area anyhow, the cable ISP I work for is EASILY the cheapest per meg per month on the download side. The alternatives are DSL, which usually only offers up to 1Mb download, and that's if you're damn close to their equipment, and it's around $120-$130 a month for that download speed, once you include your ISP fees. There's always a T1, but is anyone really up for $700 a month for the same download speed as a single cable modem? Cable modems are THE best "value" (much as I hate that word) for heavy downloaders available, but we still have to make money, too. You're not charged by the meg for your downloads, but WE ARE. If everyone ran uncapped, all the time, we'd probably pull an @Home too, and go bankrupt.
If you want something to bitch about, bitch about the ACL's that don't allow personal web servers, or the lack of the option for a static IP. Now there, you've got my sympathy. But as for the speed? Think of the uncapped speeds you got for years as a gift, not an expectation.
Any hope for Linux on the desktop is gone.
Come ON... and people call Linux advocates "zealots?" Superlative like this is rediculous. OSX is very cool, but Linux still has some *serious* advantages over it for the future. Combined with it's nearly infinite flexability (Free as in speach), and it's price (free as in beer), and its emerging office applications, Linux may be the one to beat late next year. Abiword, Gnumeric, Evolution, Galeon, Gabber, Ximian Setup Tools, and OpenOffice, all running on top of Mandrake could become a hell of a competitor. Notice, however, that this doesn't mean that it will suddenly eat Windows whole, and destroy all need for OSX to exist. Linux will simply become a stronger player, filling what I believe is a serious need in the software market...
I wonder what they mean by the "Radeon chipset"? Is this just for the "classic" Radeons, or for the new 7500/8500 series? While I've got a legacy Radeon, I really hope the support is for the new series - I'd love to see cutting edge cards like the Radeon 8500 get the support it deserves in Linux, and I'd pay for the privilege. (You listening, ATI? :)
Subscriptions will not support Ximian. Red Hat already offers a more compelling product - they'll update your entire OS, not just the UI.
Red Carpet DOES update the whole OS!!! How about READING THE PRESS RELEASE before bashing the product, eh?
MOD PARENT UP!
if I had a nickel for every time I had to explain that *BANDWIDTH COSTS SOMETHING*....
MOD PARENT UP! My god... something USEFUL might actually come of /. :)
The dead have risen, and they're reviewing handhelds! AAAHHHHHHH!!!!
That may be, but let's hear it for good ol' Capitalism! Bringing you years of Innovation(tm) in the form of crass materialism, environmental violence, and solipsism! Yay!
Ha ha. Joke aside, cars are FAR less efficient than this thing is.
eh!? I think the W3C badge is a clear sign that a developer DOES care. When browser developers don't code to the W3C standards, it's THEY that do not care. That's why standards are there - for everyone to use and reference. Anyone who breaks that standard is the one who "doesn't care".
But the German version does not even play on a Windows PC meaning users cannot listen to music they have bought... [snip] However, Apple Mac users have succeeded in playing the German disc.
Eh? Wouldn't this suggest this is defeatable by software, and thus useless? (Mac, Linux, *BSD, BeOs rippers/encoders anyone?) Anyone care to comment on this?
I'd be more concerned if AMD wasn't laying-off people.
Oh shit, it's Night of the Living Adam Smith!
Wow, way to spread a little FUD lovin around. No, it wouldn't invalidate your copyrights, you'd just have to remove the offending code from your works.
When Mozilla copylefts SAMPLE code, the only way to avoid the risk to corporate intellectual property is to use cleanroom reverse engineering procedures.
This is quite expensive. Just use a BSD compatible license and you do the entire world a favor. If you want commercial software developers to be able to read and help you improve your code, give us a license that dosen't kill our employers.
Awww.... you're pissy because it would be "quite expensive" to use someone else's work? Either write the stuff yourself, or quit complaining. Commercial development CAN HAPPEN with GPL'd code, and *especially* with LGPL'd code, so quitcherbitchen; be happy it's Free at all!
The Democrats would have done the same thing. No sane President is going to push for the crucifiction of the one tech stock that isn't currently in the toilet with today's poor economy.
Two problems with that.
1) Microsoft's stock IS in the toilet, if you compare its current price compared to a year or two years ago. The tech market has taken a *relative* dive across the board, so everyone's stock took a crap. But when your stock is worth as much as M$'s to start with, when it takes a dive, it will still appear to have a good price, compared to other tech stocks.
2) The only one? Ever hear of a young little punk startup out there called IBM? They're still above 100, my friend.
"slashdotting" serves as a handy penis substitute for the hordes of socially malformed idiots that this place calls its audience
Does anyone else find this post a little ironic? (pot and kettle?)
No, actually, fuck *you*.
What if the guy down the street giving away the popsicles had STOLEN THEM from the guy selling them for 25 cents!?! Still interested? I would hope not.
MP3.com gets their music with *consent*, and still gives it away for free. You don't have to buy their premium service to get the free tunes, you just have to put up with ads. MP3.com is entitled to whatever they make in this business, as they aren't STEALING anything from artists *cough*Morpheus*cough*, and they're providing a valuable service, ie: storage space, organization, search utilities, and how about that giant monthly bandwidth bill?
On the other hand, if Free-Uber-Alles is really your mantra, expect to see me at your house tonight with a flashlight and a few garbage bags. I figure, why should I BUY anything, when I can just raid your house for it? I mean, it's the *obvious* decision, right?