hang on a sec here, why exactly should't we endorse ads in mp3s? the way i see it, this provides the big bad music companies with a way to make a little money from legally releasing their music online and hence with a reason to do so, while allowing anyone who cares enough to simply listen to the music without the ads -- from what i've read above, that shouldn't be excessively difficult.
true enough, advertising is annoying, but when you think about it, it might be the only way for these companies to actually in some way profit from "their" music. micropayments, for example, either don't work at all -- the files will still be available for free somewhere -- or, if they work (which would have to be on some kind of voluntary basis), they'll cut out the middle man completely -- a very sensible state of affairs, in my opinion.
another idea that's been pitched is that the music companies should provide a service similar to napster but far better & more extensive -- that people need to pay for. let's think about this for a second. first, no such scheme has worked online. second, the files, if provided on a pay-per-song service of some kind, will very soon after their release be made available on some other, napster-like, free service. this may be because people save the files in the same directory that their copy napster uses, or because someone cracks into the system and "steals" the songs, then redistributes them.
finally, the idea that these music companies could provide a file format so much better than mp3 that people would use instead of mp3 even if they have to pay for it, is ludicrous.
what this leaves as the only viable option then is advertising, a perhaps necessary evil that we may or may not be able to strip from the files, but one that may give us perhaps even legal access to an even greater amount of music than what is now available online.
I hereby shamefully quote the 32nd issue of the Discworld Monthly, and provide a few nuggets of truth to kick around with, since then the arguments get far more interesting. Personally, I can't wait for the movie to come out.
Neil Gaiman confirmed that Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Time Bandits) will write and direct the feature film version of Good Omens, the novel Gaiman co-authored with Terry Pratchett. Gaiman told SCI FI Wire that Gilliam will write the screenplay with Tony Grisoni, who worked with Gilliam on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Peter Samuelson, Marc Samuelson (Arlington Road) and Chuck Roven will produce the film, and talks are ongoing with several studios to develop the project.
Gaiman said he plans to keep his distance from the film. "Terry Pratchett and I have elected not to get involved--we both got our fingers burned some years ago trying to write a Good Omens movie for Sovereign Pictures, for producers who bought Good Omens and then immediately began trying to turn it into something else. We decided that this time around we would give the book to people who seemed to understand it and let them make the film."
Gaiman also had high praise for Gilliam and the Samuelsons. "We turned down a lot of producers before the Samuelsons came along, and they impressed us by understanding what the book was about (and not just understanding what happened in it and the meaning of several of the longer words)," Gaiman said. "I think Terry Gilliam is the perfect director for Good Omens in every way, and I've been an enormous fan of his since Jabberwocky."
Gaiman added that he is "really looking forward to going and eating popcorn at the premiere. Or those little raisin things with chocolatey stuff on them."
Good Omens: or, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, is a tongue-in-cheek telling of the Apocalypse from the viewpoint of an angel and a devil who realize their best interests lie in working together to postpone the Day of Reckoning.
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true enough, advertising is annoying, but when you think about it, it might be the only way for these companies to actually in some way profit from "their" music. micropayments, for example, either don't work at all -- the files will still be available for free somewhere -- or, if they work (which would have to be on some kind of voluntary basis), they'll cut out the middle man completely -- a very sensible state of affairs, in my opinion.
another idea that's been pitched is that the music companies should provide a service similar to napster but far better & more extensive -- that people need to pay for. let's think about this for a second. first, no such scheme has worked online. second, the files, if provided on a pay-per-song service of some kind, will very soon after their release be made available on some other, napster-like, free service. this may be because people save the files in the same directory that their copy napster uses, or because someone cracks into the system and "steals" the songs, then redistributes them.
finally, the idea that these music companies could provide a file format so much better than mp3 that people would use instead of mp3 even if they have to pay for it, is ludicrous.
what this leaves as the only viable option then is advertising, a perhaps necessary evil that we may or may not be able to strip from the files, but one that may give us perhaps even legal access to an even greater amount of music than what is now available online.
eemeli
Neil Gaiman confirmed that Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Time Bandits) will write and direct the feature film version of Good Omens, the novel Gaiman co-authored with Terry Pratchett. Gaiman told SCI FI Wire that Gilliam will write the screenplay with Tony Grisoni, who worked with Gilliam on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Peter Samuelson, Marc Samuelson (Arlington Road) and Chuck Roven will produce the film, and talks are ongoing with several studios to develop the project.
Gaiman said he plans to keep his distance from the film. "Terry Pratchett and I have elected not to get involved--we both got our fingers burned some years ago trying to write a Good Omens movie for Sovereign Pictures, for producers who bought Good Omens and then immediately began trying to turn it into something else. We decided that this time around we would give the book to people who seemed to understand it and let them make the film."
Gaiman also had high praise for Gilliam and the Samuelsons. "We turned down a lot of producers before the Samuelsons came along, and they impressed us by understanding what the book was about (and not just understanding what happened in it and the meaning of several of the longer words)," Gaiman said. "I think Terry Gilliam is the perfect director for Good Omens in every way, and I've been an enormous fan of his since Jabberwocky."
Gaiman added that he is "really looking forward to going and eating popcorn at the premiere. Or those little raisin things with chocolatey stuff on them."
Good Omens: or, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, is a tongue-in-cheek telling of the Apocalypse from the viewpoint of an angel and a devil who realize their best interests lie in working together to postpone the Day of Reckoning.