I disagree. $1 per song works out to approximately the same price for a custom full CD of songs as a standard studio CD of songs. It's a figure the consumer is familiar with (I was going to say "comfortable with", but...).
So, you're paying the same price, but getting a much better product.
You are right, however, about stores not needing to carry inventory... so their overhead would probably be lower. CDuctive was online-only, but getting burn-yer-own CD kiosks into your local HMV or whatever would be uber-cool. They'd need to invest in the machines and technology and stuff to get this going in the first place, so I can see the inital price being somewhere around $1/song, but they could probably drop that after a year or so... when studios realize that it's an incredibly inexpensive, intelligent and in-demand way of getting their product out.
(They'd also probably offer songs from their back catalog at a lower price, or the latest hits at a slightly higher price. I can see the price of a song varying depending on factors.)
I would gladly pay $1 for a full-quality version of a song, rather than fire up Kazaa and try and find the lower-quality MP3 rip.
I read this article and was immediately reminded of a company I bought 2 mix-yer-own CDs from a few years back: CDuctive.com.
Can't connect to their site now. And a look at their whois record seems to indicate that they were bought out by EMusic, which kinda sucks.
IIRC, CDuctive charged $0.99 per track, or $1.99 for the 10-minute-plus songs. Over all, my CDs cost around $20 and were full of goodness by folks like DJ Food, 9 Lazy 9, Coldcut, LTJ Sound Machine and others (they had several Ninja Tune artists, I believe).
If you have access to the IMAP server, like I do, I recommend using Spamprobe. It's a Bayesian filter and, along with a few procmail filters to weed out Asian spam, my inbox remains pretty clean.
Now, if someone would make a half-decent IMAP *client*...:)
There are frequent news stories about the damage that underground cable installers sometimes do to sewer mains, etc., causing people's basements to be flooded with human waste.
I read an article about it very recently (I think it happened in Austin, TX), but kind find an online reference. This google cache of a page seems to list lots of similar cases, though.
But more and more equipment (high-tech or otherwise) is becoming so cheap that the cost of repair out-weighs the cost of buying new.
My toaster over wasn't working this morning, and I was thinking "Fuck, it'll probably cost $20 for a repair guy to even look at it, and probably another $50 for him to fix it, if he can get the parts. I may as well just buy a new one for $40."
Same thing goes for $50 cellphones, I bet.
Unless there is a solution to this problem (either by including the "costs of disposal" into the purchase price, or something else), I don't see an end to it.
Another problem that might need addressing is this:
I need to dispose of my P100, but instead I donate it to someone that could really get some use out of it. In 5 years, that person wants to dispose of it, so they try to pass it off to someone else, but at that point it is *so* outdated that no one wants it.
They could ship it to a 3rd world country where it would still be useful, but that will just delay the invetiable. Besides, that 3rd world country probably doesn't have a nice recycling facility, so it just ends up in someone else's land fill.
I think PC recycling will only work if a) there is an upfront fee you pay on purchase of a new computer that goes towards recycling efforts (like a bottle deposit), and b) you receive a refund when you drop off your sick, your tired, your dirty PC at a recycling station.
Yeah, and Pepsi should pay to get rid of my Mountain Dew cans...
Right now, you are paying part of your taxes to get rid of your cans, glass, paper and plastic that your municipality can accept through your recycling program.
There is no incentive for manufacturers to create more environmentally friendly products because they never see the end-costs of disposal.
A law like the one proposed, plus some incentives like a fee reduction for companies that make an effort to reduce non-recyclable components, is better way to put the burden on the right folks.
Laws like this do nothing but raise costs for consumers.
As has been said before, you'll end up paying for it either way: now through the fee, or later when your ground water is contaminated, etc..
For all your hosting needs, Slashdot is now pleased to offer:
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SciAm should also promote more ethical gifts, such as adopting endangered animals, areas of threatened land and donations to trusts promoting research in to disease cure and treatment.
How long before Mozilla has to change their logo because it's a pretty blatant theft of the Toronto Raptors logo? (NBA basketball team, for those who don't know)
Speech-to-text works fine for the deaf person "listening" to the phone. But what does the deaf person do when he/she needs to "talk"?
I know I'm generalizing, and not to be politically uncorrect, but don't most deaf people have difficulty speaking "clearly"? So how does the phone deal with that? Or does the deaf user need to type in their response?
It seems to me that speech-to-text for receiving and text-to-speech for sending is the way to go... and then the speech part is pretty redundant.
In which case you've just re-invented the Blackberry.
For all the non-US folks here (or at least those of them who are ignorant of this fact), Black Friday is the shopping day after the American Thanksgiving holiday. Biggest shopping day of the year for retailers.
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I disagree. $1 per song works out to approximately the same price for a custom full CD of songs as a standard studio CD of songs. It's a figure the consumer is familiar with (I was going to say "comfortable with", but ...).
... so their overhead would probably be lower. CDuctive was online-only, but getting burn-yer-own CD kiosks into your local HMV or whatever would be uber-cool. They'd need to invest in the machines and technology and stuff to get this going in the first place, so I can see the inital price being somewhere around $1/song, but they could probably drop that after a year or so ... when studios realize that it's an incredibly inexpensive, intelligent and in-demand way of getting their product out.
So, you're paying the same price, but getting a much better product.
You are right, however, about stores not needing to carry inventory
(They'd also probably offer songs from their back catalog at a lower price, or the latest hits at a slightly higher price. I can see the price of a song varying depending on factors.)
I would gladly pay $1 for a full-quality version of a song, rather than fire up Kazaa and try and find the lower-quality MP3 rip.
I read this article and was immediately reminded of a company I bought 2 mix-yer-own CDs from a few years back: CDuctive.com.
... too bad they're not around anymore.
Can't connect to their site now. And a look at their whois record seems to indicate that they were bought out by EMusic, which kinda sucks.
IIRC, CDuctive charged $0.99 per track, or $1.99 for the 10-minute-plus songs. Over all, my CDs cost around $20 and were full of goodness by folks like DJ Food, 9 Lazy 9, Coldcut, LTJ Sound Machine and others (they had several Ninja Tune artists, I believe).
Anyway
I can't even find a good IMAP spam filter!
... :)
If you have access to the IMAP server, like I do, I recommend using Spamprobe. It's a Bayesian filter and, along with a few procmail filters to weed out Asian spam, my inbox remains pretty clean.
Now, if someone would make a half-decent IMAP *client*
There are frequent news stories about the damage that underground cable installers sometimes do to sewer mains, etc., causing people's basements to be flooded with human waste.
I read an article about it very recently (I think it happened in Austin, TX), but kind find an online reference. This google cache of a page seems to list lots of similar cases, though.
I think his TiVO already does this.
... to help your ISP to maintain massive logs of your online activities, neatly packaged for law enforcement and other "authorities".
Thanks!
it's the first time a story of mine got its way to the front page!
Hey, if you're really lucky, your story will get on the front page again in about 3 days!
But more and more equipment (high-tech or otherwise) is becoming so cheap that the cost of repair out-weighs the cost of buying new.
My toaster over wasn't working this morning, and I was thinking "Fuck, it'll probably cost $20 for a repair guy to even look at it, and probably another $50 for him to fix it, if he can get the parts. I may as well just buy a new one for $40."
Same thing goes for $50 cellphones, I bet.
Unless there is a solution to this problem (either by including the "costs of disposal" into the purchase price, or something else), I don't see an end to it.
Another problem that might need addressing is this:
I need to dispose of my P100, but instead I donate it to someone that could really get some use out of it. In 5 years, that person wants to dispose of it, so they try to pass it off to someone else, but at that point it is *so* outdated that no one wants it.
They could ship it to a 3rd world country where it would still be useful, but that will just delay the invetiable. Besides, that 3rd world country probably doesn't have a nice recycling facility, so it just ends up in someone else's land fill.
I think PC recycling will only work if a) there is an upfront fee you pay on purchase of a new computer that goes towards recycling efforts (like a bottle deposit), and b) you receive a refund when you drop off your sick, your tired, your dirty PC at a recycling station.
Yeah, and Pepsi should pay to get rid of my Mountain Dew cans ...
Right now, you are paying part of your taxes to get rid of your cans, glass, paper and plastic that your municipality can accept through your recycling program.
There is no incentive for manufacturers to create more environmentally friendly products because they never see the end-costs of disposal.
A law like the one proposed, plus some incentives like a fee reduction for companies that make an effort to reduce non-recyclable components, is better way to put the burden on the right folks.
Laws like this do nothing but raise costs for consumers.
As has been said before, you'll end up paying for it either way: now through the fee, or later when your ground water is contaminated, etc..
Absolutely right!
I was going to clean up my apartement, but instead I wrote a piece for Greplaw ...
I hope you also skipped cleaning the bathroom, and took the time to spell check your article.
For all your hosting needs, Slashdot is now pleased to offer:
- text only hosting (linking to images on external servers permitted).
- HTML markup (limited)
- free message board on each page
- Slashdot-Effect protection (tm)
Optional features include posting your webpage several times a week for maximum exposure, and limited spelling and grammar checking.
Act now, and get a free CowboyNeal.
I think its funny that Microsoft didn't say that their stuff is better. They can only argue that their stuff isn't worse.
Actually, they aren't even saying that!
They are saying that their stuff isn't necessarily worse just because it's their stuff. It still could be worse.
Or something for meta-meta-moderators (?) to yank a story after noticing it's a dupe.
/. editors to save face when they goof up like this.
This would certainly help
Oh, was that a pun too? Excellent.
SciAm should also promote more ethical gifts, such as adopting endangered animals, areas of threatened land and donations to trusts promoting research in to disease cure and treatment.
If you had actually RTFA, you would've seen links on the last page to Adopt a Whale and Sponsor a Big Cat.
You sentiments may be well meaning, but get your facts straight first.
"Shiznit"?
Can someone buy this guy a punch in the face, please? Or at least an education.
How long before Mozilla has to change their logo because it's a pretty blatant theft of the Toronto Raptors logo? (NBA basketball team, for those who don't know)
Ah ... so *that's* what Enya is singing ...
Speech-to-text works fine for the deaf person "listening" to the phone. But what does the deaf person do when he/she needs to "talk"?
... and then the speech part is pretty redundant.
I know I'm generalizing, and not to be politically uncorrect, but don't most deaf people have difficulty speaking "clearly"? So how does the phone deal with that? Or does the deaf user need to type in their response?
It seems to me that speech-to-text for receiving and text-to-speech for sending is the way to go
In which case you've just re-invented the Blackberry.
No downloadable ring-tones.
Possibly ... but they could certainly refuse to rent to you again.
Click here for the Google cache of the home page. Not much info, since the cache was made before the test flight.
.. if for no other reason than to see the Spock pr0n.
For all the non-US folks here (or at least those of them who are ignorant of this fact), Black Friday is the shopping day after the American Thanksgiving holiday. Biggest shopping day of the year for retailers.