Business can't just walk into the digital music market in 2001 and think that a crippling, proprietary compression format is going to take off just because it yields small files. That isn't enough. They are ignoring three things:
mp3 can be encoded at high enough quality that it sounds just fine.
Storage is cheap. 80 gig hard drives are selling for around $250 these days. Do you know how many minutes of 192 kbps mp3 that can hold?
People like mp3, they're comfortable with it, they know it.
It's not that cripple-formats won't work, it's that people don't need them and don't want them.
If you are a musician, do not sign with a major record label. Without you, the RIAA will starve. They will offer you a lot of money, in exchange for the rights to your music. Think carefully about what is happening in the world today before accepting that check.
If you are a software developer and have an idea, code it up and release it. Even a "simple" program can change the course of history. Your idea can shorten the war. Shawn Fanning became a household name for a relatively simple program. You could be next.
If you have MP3 files, share them online. YOU make a difference. Sharing even a few files helps.
Keep up with the fight. Take the time to learn FTP, IRC and the different P2P services out there. Try out new programs as they arrive.
DO respect copyright. If an artist has publicly stated that they do not want their music shared, respect them and do not share it.
The RIAA is more afraid right now than they will admit. They are powerful, but not invincible. The one thing that hits them harder than anything else is the power of economics. Do not support them, buy music directly from artists or support them in other ways such as by going to their shows.
I think that any investigator with a free weekend could find out if you can in fact call these people during certain times from motel rooms, jail, wherever.
Now whether Las Vegas itself is a scam is another story.
Microsoft can only get away with the "subscription" model if in fact they are a monopoly. Otherwise who on Earth would want it? Would you buy a car you had to "renew" every third year?
People need to know that other OSes are in fact pretty nice these days, and they don't have to put up with this.
Don't even worry about impressing the industry. There is always room at the top for good designers (or musicians or whatever). If you're talented, go ahead and produce something to make yourself visible. Nobody can read your mind, you're going to have to actually do something to be noticed.
After that, if in fact you are good, the industry will find you.
Not that this would be even remotely on topic, but I worked for a company that was on the ropes and sure enough a bigger company offered to help us. Woohoo!
So what happens? The company I work for goes spending all this money, in anticipation of the merger. Well the bigger (smarter) company sees this and just sits there. Merger talks stall, then fail. Now we're *completely* overextended and we die. One day, there's sign on the door and my key doesn't work. Doh!
The bigger smarter (and now laughing it's ass off) company then contacts our customers and offers it's services, which the customers gladly accept.
It was a gruesome, fascinating, perfect
kill.
Lucky for me I was leavin' anyway, but what a lesson.
A few things jump to mind when considering the phenomena of entangled photons. For one, if you could find a way to get them apart (say, one in NYC and one in LA), and you touched the one in NYC, the one in LA would "instantly" reflect this change by assuming a known state, right?
Wouldn't this be a faster-than-light means of communication? And as such, wouldn't it be impossible since it could conceivably create a time paradox, which (sorry Star Trek fans) can't happen?
Something has to give. Either we can't seperate, move and store entangled photons without affecting their states (no matter what technology, now or in the future), or the effect isn't "instant". If the effect works at the speed of light, then it wouldn't create the paradox, though it wouldn't be as remarkable, either.
Right now, Napster is king, right? If they are shut down, it's like taking out a dictator - it leaves a power vaccuum that someone will immediately try to take over. Fifty million users? That's gotta be worth something. New programs will arrive in droves, every kid out there trying to be the next Shawn Fanning, with an idea that will beat the RIAA.
People will just use these new services. You can bet they won't be as easy to hit as Napster, which never even tried to hide. Napster, by the way, is far from perfect. The new services won't have to try too hard to be BETTER than Napster.
IMOH, the RIAA should have struck a deal, kept their market share, and gone to the subscription system. By blowing Napster away, sure they
"win". But they lose control, and will just create new adveraries. The next guy that steps up will be ready. They RIAA is betting that it can
outsmart the combined programming skills of every computer programmer that likes music. Goooood luck.
What some people don't realize is that all the Internet does is share files, for free. You have to do extra work to make it NOT share them, and you have to do an absurd amount of work to make it sell them!
The RIAA got so focused on wiping out Napster that it forgot to look up and realize that the world had changed. It was their 1950's era thinking that did them in, "If we just stifle this technology with laswuits, it will never be an issue for us and we can keep doing things the old way".
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Business can't just walk into the digital music market in 2001 and think that a crippling, proprietary compression format is going to take off just because it yields small files. That isn't enough. They are ignoring three things:
It's not that cripple-formats won't work, it's that people don't need them and don't want them.
The RIAA is more afraid right now than they will admit. They are powerful, but not invincible. The one thing that hits them harder than anything else is the power of economics. Do not support them, buy music directly from artists or support them in other ways such as by going to their shows.
it seems unlikely that this could be true.
I think that any investigator with a free weekend could find out if you can in fact call these people during certain times from motel rooms, jail, wherever.
Now whether Las Vegas itself is a scam is another story.
Microsoft can only get away with the "subscription" model if in fact they are a monopoly. Otherwise who on Earth would want it? Would you buy a car you had to "renew" every third year?
People need to know that other OSes are in fact pretty nice these days, and they don't have to put up with this.
It has very serious potential
You got that right. This guy and Shawn Fanning need to go have a beer.
Don't even worry about impressing the industry. There is always room at the top for good designers (or musicians or whatever). If you're talented, go ahead and produce something to make yourself visible. Nobody can read your mind, you're going to have to actually do something to be noticed.
After that, if in fact you are good, the industry will find you.
Not that this would be even remotely on topic, but I worked for a company that was on the ropes and sure enough a bigger company offered to help us. Woohoo!
So what happens? The company I work for goes spending all this money, in anticipation of the merger. Well the bigger (smarter) company sees this and just sits there. Merger talks stall, then fail. Now we're *completely* overextended and we die. One day, there's sign on the door and my key doesn't work. Doh!The bigger smarter (and now laughing it's ass off) company then contacts our customers and offers it's services, which the customers gladly accept.
It was a gruesome, fascinating, perfect kill.
Lucky for me I was leavin' anyway, but what a lesson.
I say we nuke the RIAA from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
A few things jump to mind when considering the phenomena of entangled photons. For one, if you could find a way to get them apart (say, one in NYC and one in LA), and you touched the one in NYC, the one in LA would "instantly" reflect this change by assuming a known state, right?
Wouldn't this be a faster-than-light means of communication? And as such, wouldn't it be impossible since it could conceivably create a time paradox, which (sorry Star Trek fans) can't happen?
Something has to give. Either we can't seperate, move and store entangled photons without affecting their states (no matter what technology, now or in the future), or the effect isn't "instant". If the effect works at the speed of light, then it wouldn't create the paradox, though it wouldn't be as remarkable, either.
Right now, Napster is king, right? If they are shut down, it's like taking out a dictator - it leaves a power vaccuum that someone will immediately try to take over. Fifty million users? That's gotta be worth something. New programs will arrive in droves, every kid out there trying to be the next Shawn Fanning, with an idea that will beat the RIAA.
People will just use these new services. You can bet they won't be as easy to hit as Napster, which never even tried to hide. Napster, by the way, is far from perfect. The new services won't have to try too hard to be BETTER than Napster.
IMOH, the RIAA should have struck a deal, kept their market share, and gone to the subscription system. By blowing Napster away, sure they "win". But they lose control, and will just create new adveraries. The next guy that steps up will be ready. They RIAA is betting that it can outsmart the combined programming skills of every computer programmer that likes music. Goooood luck.
What some people don't realize is that all the Internet does is share files, for free. You have to do extra work to make it NOT share them, and you have to do an absurd amount of work to make it sell them!
The RIAA got so focused on wiping out Napster that it forgot to look up and realize that the world had changed. It was their 1950's era thinking that did them in, "If we just stifle this technology with laswuits, it will never be an issue for us and we can keep doing things the old way".
They had never seen anything like the Internet.
Will this thing be able to log onto Napster servers?