...whom?" The users? Sure, I'll throw in my three bits, not! Everything I have will be converted by a script to a free format. Those who don't wany to pay will still want portability.
Below is the text pira^H^H^copi^H^H^ "Quoted" from the riaa.org site. While I read this (twice), I still don't know what makes up the cost of a CD. It's aparently quite complicated. Some make money, some lose money. Producing the media dropped in cost, the CPI rose. Artists take days, weeks, months, even years to develope albums.
Also while I was reading, the voices in my head went silent for a moment. Then I thought I heard a chorus of "*Cough, cough,(bullshit) cough, cough*".
My head hurts, I'm goin' for a beer.
From the site:
A typical music fan who buys a CD might use that CD at home, take that CD in the car, make a tape of that CD, - or using it as part of a compilation, play that CD with friends and for friends, and keep that CD for many years. That's probably why most consumers, when asked, describe CDs as a good value. At the same time, when asked directly whether CDs cost too much, some consumers will say yes! Why the contradiction? Because some consumers don't understand why the sales tag on a CD is so much higher than the cost of producing the actual physical disc, a cost, which in fact, has decreased over the years.
While the RIAA does not collect information on the specific costs that make up the price of a CD, there are many factors that go into the overall cost of a CD -- and the plastic it's pressed on, is among the least significant. CD manufacturing costs may be lower, but it takes more money than ever before to put out a new recording.
Of course, the most important component of a CD is the artist's effort in developing that music. Artists spend a large portion of their creative energy on writing song lyrics and composing music or working with producers and A&R executives to find great songs from great writers. This task can take weeks, months, or even years. The creative ability of these artists to produce the music we love, combined with the time and energy they spend throughout that process is in itself priceless. But while the creative process is priceless, it must be compensated. Artists receive royalties on each recording, which vary according to their contract, and the songwriter gets royalties too. In addition, the label incurs additional costs in finding and signing new artists.
Once an artist or group has songs composed, they must then go into the studio and begin recording. The costs of recording this work, including recording studio fees, studio musicians, sound engineers, producers and others, all must be recovered by the cost of the CD.
Then come marketing and promotion costs -- perhaps the most expensive part of the music business today. They include increasingly expensive video clips, public relations, tour support, marketing campaigns, and promotion to get the songs played on the radio. For example, when you hear a song played on the radio -- that didn't just happen! Labels make investments in artists by paying for both the production and the promotion of the album, and promotion is very expensive. New technology such as the Internet offers new ways for artists to reach music fans, but it still requires that some entity, whether it is a traditional label or another kind of company, market and promote that artist so that fans are aware of new releases.
For every album released in a given year, a marketing strategy was developed to make that album stand out among the other releases that hit the market that year. Art must be designed for the CD box, and promotional materials (posters, store displays and music videos) developed and produced. For many artists, a costly concert tour is essential to promote their recordings.
Another factor commonly overlooked in assessing CD prices is to assume that all CDs are equally profitable. In fact, the vast majority is never profitable. Each year, of the approximately 27,000 new releases that hit the market, the major labels release about 7,000 new CD titles and after production, recording, promotion and distribution costs, most never sell enough to recover these costs, let alone make a profit. In the end, less than 10% are profitable, and in effect, it's these recordings that finance all the rest.
Clearly there are many costs associated with producing a CD, and despite these costs the price of recorded music to consumers has fallen dramatically since CDs were first introduced in 1983. Between 1983 and 1996, the average price of a CD fell by more than 40%. Over this same period of time, consumer prices (measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) rose nearly 60%. If CD prices had risen at the same rate as consumer prices over this period, the average retail price of a CD in 1996 would have been $33.86 instead of $12.75. While the price of CDs has fallen, the amount of music provided on a typical CD has increased substantially, along with higher quality in terms of fidelity, durability, ease of use, and range of choices, including multi-media material, such as music videos, interviews and discographies. Content of this type often requires considerable production expense and adds a whole new dimension that goes beyond conventional audio.
In contrast, CD prices are low compared to other forms of entertainment and one of the few entertainment units to decrease in price, even though production, marketing and distribution costs have increased. In a USA Today article entitled, "Spending a Fortune for Fun: The cost of entertainment is rising along with our willingness to pay it," the reporter observes, "though some factions of the industry see price resistance -- CD prices are relatively low and home videos rentals are still a bargain -- consumers don't seem to balk at the rising price of fun in this strong, family-friendly economy." The prices of other forms of entertainment have risen, on average, more rapidly than has music or consumer prices, with most admission prices for other forms of entertainment having increased more than 90% between 1983 and 1996.
By all measures, when you consider how long people have the music and how often they can go back and get "re-entertained" CDs truly are an incredible value for the money.
How about security? Fewer Viruses? No Upgrade "Service" lisences (as of July 2002)? Being "forced" to change from IE is a good thing, 'cept Hotmail might be a problem. This is a Public Access site, productivity is not an issue.
We've/.ed "www.nsa.gov". At first I was surprised, but a Netcraft look-up explained it all. "The site www.nsa.gov is running Microsoft-IIS/5.0 on Windows 2000."
"The ruling was a reversal from last week's tentative order, in which Cooper wrote that the case would likely resolve ``many, if not all'' of the issues consumers raise -- without their direct output." She must have realised her Betazoid powers were waning and needed "Output" from actual humaniods.
Dammit, when will these judges realise that we don't have time to tell them what we think.
That's why we elect/appoint them, so we don't have to think for ourselves.
There are other, less oppressive, countries to obtain diamonds from. Where? Canada. What? Canada? There are only Igloos and Eskimos (Inuit) up there, right?
Not so, there are also Polar Bears. http://www.siriusdiamonds.com/home.htm
If you're Canadian, buy Canadian. If you're American, buy North American.
No, I'm not tired of them at all. I think one of these types of tech will be my next toy purchase. Laptops are too heavy to carry around for a long period. Digital photography for long days requires some extra storage. The simple solution to being tired of "all these PDA articles" is not to click on them.
The post was "tongue in cheek" but since the point was raised, let's say 5 minutes for three paragraphs. 1 million people every 5 minutes. That's 288,000,000 people per day. In 347.2 days there would be 100,000,000,000.
From the article: "the new ID numbers -- for each of Japan's 126 million citizens...." Three paragraphs later: "About four million of Japan's 127 million people...." At that rate of population explosion, how long till they run out of number combos?
"..if there's any chance to fight the DMCA, it lies with competent lawyers and not just some guy who sort of understands law."
Not only lawyers are needed. Everyone who cares to read, or learn, or poke fun at, or not pay an arm and a leg for information that is timely has to be involved in the debate. See: http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i47/47b00701.htm for a really interesting take on how DMCA was overlooked by the academic world
I say debate because fight implies win/lose. To win, the law would have to be repealed. How many times has that happened since prohibition?
"I always say, if I wanted to build a computer from scratch, the very last material I would choose to work with is meat."
Here goes:
Intelligent Life
[by Terry Bisson; originally appearing in OMNI Magazine] Imagine if you will... the leader of the fifth invader force speaking to the commander in chief...
"They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "Meat. They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat." "That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars." "They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines." "So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact." "They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines." "That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat." "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in the sector and they're made out of meat." "Maybe they're like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage." "Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take too long. Do you have any idea the life span of meat?" "Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside." "Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through." "No brain?" "Oh, there is a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat!" "So... what does the thinking?" "You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat." "Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!" "Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?" "Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat." "Finally, Yes. They are indeed made out meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years." "So what does the meat have in mind?" "First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The usual." "We're supposed to talk to meat?" "That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?' That sort of thing." "They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?" "Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat." "I thought you just told me they used radio." "They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat." "Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?" "Officially or unofficially?" "Both." "Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant, without prejudice, fear, or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing." "I was hoping you would say that." "It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?" "I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say?" `Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?" "Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact." "So we just pretend there's no one home in the universe." "That's it." "Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed? You're sure they won't remember?" "They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them." "A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream." "And we can mark this sector unoccupied." "Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?" "Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again." "They always come around." "And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone."
At 9:00 PM (-5 GMT) this evening I am going to browse the site http://www.mpaa.org/home.htm for about ten minutes. Anyone else planning the same thing?.org? not for profit? how ironic!
Note: "MPAA.com" is a project management company. I wonder how they held on to that one?
Lots of them. The Wheel of Time (currently book nine), The Sword of Truth (currently boob five), A Song of Ice and Fire (currently book three).
Music, that's more my wife's interest. Movies, just what's on the tube.
My boycott started a loonnggg time ago because of all the crap being fed to the masses. Just the trailer to the new Austin Powers POS makes me think of Mr. Creosote: "...better get a bucket, I'm gonna..."
"primitive pinballs"...
on
High Score
·
· Score: 1
One of my laptops runs ME. I use it for games. I like the challenge of pinball on it, which will "Tilt" first: the game or the machine.
Slashdot Mirror
Absolutely right!
Just downloaded, installed and configured Moz. 1.1, then got the mouse gestures add-on.
I think I have a good setup, close to Opera.
Back on-topic, sort of, the only flash et.al. games I play are at The Romp
"Does that mean that it will crash every day so I won't be able to watch/ listen to the media?"
Yes.
"Does that also mean that I will have to deal with the rights management?"
Yes.
"Will it also automatically download updates that I will not be informed of?"
Yes.
Any more questions?
...whom?"
The users?
Sure, I'll throw in my three bits, not!
Everything I have will be converted by a script to a free format.
Those who don't wany to pay will still want portability.
Below is the text pira^H^H^copi^H^H^ "Quoted" from the riaa.org site.
," the reporter observes, "though some factions of the industry see price resistance -- CD prices are relatively low and home videos rentals are still a bargain -- consumers don't seem to balk at the rising price of fun in this strong, family-friendly economy." The prices of other forms of entertainment have risen, on average, more rapidly than has music or consumer prices, with most admission prices for other forms of entertainment having increased more than 90% between 1983 and 1996.
While I read this (twice), I still don't know what makes up the cost of a CD. It's aparently quite complicated. Some make money, some lose money.
Producing the media dropped in cost, the CPI rose.
Artists take days, weeks, months, even years to develope albums.
Also while I was reading, the voices in my head went silent for a moment.
Then I thought I heard a chorus of "*Cough, cough,(bullshit) cough, cough*".
My head hurts, I'm goin' for a beer.
From the site:
A typical music fan who buys a CD might use that CD at home, take that CD in the car, make a tape of that CD, - or using it as part of a compilation, play that CD with friends and for friends, and keep that CD for many years. That's probably why most consumers, when asked, describe CDs as a good value. At the same time, when asked directly whether CDs cost too much, some consumers will say yes! Why the contradiction? Because some consumers don't understand why the sales tag on a CD is so much higher than the cost of producing the actual physical disc, a cost, which in fact, has decreased over the years.
While the RIAA does not collect information on the specific costs that make up the price of a CD, there are many factors that go into the overall cost of a CD -- and the plastic it's pressed on, is among the least significant. CD manufacturing costs may be lower, but it takes more money than ever before to put out a new recording.
Of course, the most important component of a CD is the artist's effort in developing that music. Artists spend a large portion of their creative energy on writing song lyrics and composing music or working with producers and A&R executives to find great songs from great writers. This task can take weeks, months, or even years. The creative ability of these artists to produce the music we love, combined with the time and energy they spend throughout that process is in itself priceless. But while the creative process is priceless, it must be compensated. Artists receive royalties on each recording, which vary according to their contract, and the songwriter gets royalties too. In addition, the label incurs additional costs in finding and signing new artists.
Once an artist or group has songs composed, they must then go into the studio and begin recording. The costs of recording this work, including recording studio fees, studio musicians, sound engineers, producers and others, all must be recovered by the cost of the CD.
Then come marketing and promotion costs -- perhaps the most expensive part of the music business today. They include increasingly expensive video clips, public relations, tour support, marketing campaigns, and promotion to get the songs played on the radio. For example, when you hear a song played on the radio -- that didn't just happen! Labels make investments in artists by paying for both the production and the promotion of the album, and promotion is very expensive. New technology such as the Internet offers new ways for artists to reach music fans, but it still requires that some entity, whether it is a traditional label or another kind of company, market and promote that artist so that fans are aware of new releases.
For every album released in a given year, a marketing strategy was developed to make that album stand out among the other releases that hit the market that year. Art must be designed for the CD box, and promotional materials (posters, store displays and music videos) developed and produced. For many artists, a costly concert tour is essential to promote their recordings.
Another factor commonly overlooked in assessing CD prices is to assume that all CDs are equally profitable. In fact, the vast majority is never profitable. Each year, of the approximately 27,000 new releases that hit the market, the major labels release about 7,000 new CD titles and after production, recording, promotion and distribution costs, most never sell enough to recover these costs, let alone make a profit. In the end, less than 10% are profitable, and in effect, it's these recordings that finance all the rest.
Clearly there are many costs associated with producing a CD, and despite these costs the price of recorded music to consumers has fallen dramatically since CDs were first introduced in 1983. Between 1983 and 1996, the average price of a CD fell by more than 40%. Over this same period of time, consumer prices (measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) rose nearly 60%. If CD prices had risen at the same rate as consumer prices over this period, the average retail price of a CD in 1996 would have been $33.86 instead of $12.75. While the price of CDs has fallen, the amount of music provided on a typical CD has increased substantially, along with higher quality in terms of fidelity, durability, ease of use, and range of choices, including multi-media material, such as music videos, interviews and discographies. Content of this type often requires considerable production expense and adds a whole new dimension that goes beyond conventional audio.
In contrast, CD prices are low compared to other forms of entertainment and one of the few entertainment units to decrease in price, even though production, marketing and distribution costs have increased. In a USA Today article entitled, "Spending a Fortune for Fun: The cost of entertainment is rising along with our willingness to pay it
By all measures, when you consider how long people have the music and how often they can go back and get "re-entertained" CDs truly are an incredible value for the money.
How about security? Fewer Viruses? No Upgrade "Service" lisences (as of July 2002)?
Being "forced" to change from IE is a good thing, 'cept Hotmail might be a problem.
This is a Public Access site, productivity is not an issue.
We've /.ed "www.nsa.gov".
At first I was surprised, but a Netcraft look-up explained it all.
"The site www.nsa.gov is running Microsoft-IIS/5.0 on Windows 2000."
That does NOT comfort me at all.
Where are the mod points when you need 'em!
"The ruling was a reversal from last week's tentative order, in which Cooper wrote that the case would likely resolve ``many, if not all'' of the issues consumers raise -- without their direct output."
She must have realised her Betazoid powers were waning and needed "Output" from actual humaniods.
Dammit, when will these judges realise that we don't have time to tell them what we think.
That's why we elect/appoint them, so we don't have to think for ourselves.
"Pick Me!, Pick Me! I'm more than qualified!", cried a member of the chorus.
...I couldn't resist...
"communist yes but not in the big red dog way"
Clifford was a communist??
One couple in love = Priceless
One wedding/engagement ring (3 rings) set $800.00 CDN$
SHE picked it out = BONUS!!
There are other, less oppressive, countries to obtain diamonds from.
Where?
Canada.
What? Canada?
There are only Igloos and Eskimos (Inuit) up there, right?
Not so, there are also Polar Bears.
http://www.siriusdiamonds.com/home.htm
If you're Canadian, buy Canadian.
If you're American, buy North American.
Just a suggestion.
I guess it's sort of a "Fusion" of news and cartoons.
No, I'm not tired of them at all.
I think one of these types of tech will be my next toy purchase.
Laptops are too heavy to carry around for a long period. Digital photography for long days requires some extra storage.
The simple solution to being tired of "all these PDA articles" is not to click on them.
The post was "tongue in cheek" but since the point was raised, let's say 5 minutes for three paragraphs. 1 million people every 5 minutes.
That's 288,000,000 people per day.
In 347.2 days there would be 100,000,000,000.
From the article:
"the new ID numbers -- for each of Japan's 126 million citizens...."
Three paragraphs later:
"About four million of Japan's 127 million people...."
At that rate of population explosion, how long till they run out of number combos?
"..if there's any chance to fight the DMCA, it lies with competent lawyers and not just some guy who sort of understands law."
Not only lawyers are needed. Everyone who cares to read, or learn, or poke fun at, or not pay an arm and a leg for information that is timely has to be involved in the debate.
See: http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i47/47b00701.htm for a really interesting take on how DMCA was overlooked by the academic world
I say debate because fight implies win/lose.
To win, the law would have to be repealed.
How many times has that happened since prohibition?
And your contribution would be...??? ...perhaps pointing out the underlying trouble with allowing A/C Posting?
Nice Troll.
Obviously you followed the First Rule of Posting:
Read ONLY the Headline, then post the first moronic thing you can think of.
"I always say, if I wanted to build a computer from scratch, the very last
material I would choose to work with is meat."
Here goes:
Intelligent Life
[by Terry Bisson; originally appearing in OMNI Magazine]
Imagine if you will... the leader of the fifth invader force speaking to the commander in chief...
"They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars."
"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."
"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."
"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in the sector and they're made out of meat."
"Maybe they're like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."
"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take too long. Do you have any idea the life span of meat?"
"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."
"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."
"No brain?"
"Oh, there is a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat!"
"So... what does the thinking?"
"You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat."
"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?"
"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."
"Finally, Yes. They are indeed made out meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."
"So what does the meat have in mind?"
"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The usual."
"We're supposed to talk to meat?"
"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?' That sort of thing."
"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."
"I thought you just told me they used radio."
"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"
"Officially or unofficially?"
"Both."
"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant, without prejudice, fear, or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."
"I was hoping you would say that."
"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"
"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say?" `Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"
"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."
"So we just pretend there's no one home in the universe."
"That's it."
"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed? You're sure they won't remember?"
"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them."
"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."
"And we can mark this sector unoccupied."
"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"
"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."
"They always come around."
"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone."
At 9:00 PM (-5 GMT) this evening I am going to browse the site http://www.mpaa.org/home.htm for about ten minutes. Anyone else planning the same thing? .org? not for profit? how ironic!
Note: "MPAA.com" is a project management company. I wonder how they held on to that one?
"Anyone read any good books lately?"
Lots of them.
The Wheel of Time (currently book nine),
The Sword of Truth (currently boob five),
A Song of Ice and Fire (currently book three).
Music, that's more my wife's interest.
Movies, just what's on the tube.
My boycott started a loonnggg time ago because of all the crap being fed to the masses.
Just the trailer to the new Austin Powers POS makes me think of Mr. Creosote: "...better get a bucket, I'm gonna..."
One of my laptops runs ME. I use it for games. I like the challenge of pinball on it, which will "Tilt" first: the game or the machine.
Mozilla Quick test: htmlguru.com vs 37signals.com.
37signals wins!
Point: It ain't the browser that sucks!!!!!!
OK, Ok.
I haven't tried mozilla, yet.
Downloading as I type this.
I'll getback after the install.