One Thing They Can Do is Plug the Leaks...
on
Napster Wars
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· Score: 1
Several times, the article refers to songs that have "leaked" out to the general public via the Internet. Instead of chiding those who would download and listen to the songs as infringers of artists' rights, perhaps the artists and record companies would better serve themselves by exercising more control over unreleased product.
It certainly sounds like that within their inner circle, the constituents of the RIAA treat recorded music as a commodity.
It's even easier than MS "fixing their security-deficient products" - Windows Scripting Host should not associate itself with.VBS files automatically. Windows 2000, for example, comes out of the box with this association enabled. If at some point during OS installation or WSH installation the user was prompted to enable the association, there might be less people with computers who have the association enabled. This default association combined with user ignorace is what enabled this virus.
It's disappointing that the same media covering the MS antitrust trial can't see (and report) this virus for what it is: hard proof that MS's OS monopoly, which has led them to at least some of their dominance in the desktop application (Outlook) and corporate services (Exchange) markets, isn't always advantageous for consumers.
I planned to wait for the DVD from the start. I rented the P&S version of the movie and didn't find it particularly worthy of being in my library. Let's face it, the movie was meant to be viewed in its original aspect ratio.
I could care less when the DVD comes out, but when it does, I'll probably buy it.
I think one fact this is bringing out is that for all the time & money spent by the artist and their label on the packaging and distribution of CDs and cassettes, what some listeners want is just the content. Until there's a legitimate effort by the recording industry to introduce a reasonably priced, easy-to-use, secured digital music format that has just enough value-add to make MP3s seem like crap, the usage of MP3s to listen to and share copyrighted audio will not disappear. Simply wrapping encryption around a CD-quality audio stream and calling that the new digital music format won't fly with current MP3 users; the format must be high-quality audio upwardly compatible with multi-channel systems, probably including other media information such as liner notes, artwork, pictures, etc.
The problem is not only how to determine the performance and security features of this new format, but how to show users the value added to their listening/viewing enjoyment. Perhaps some of the savings incurred by electronic distribution of works created in the new format could be passed along to the consumer, unlike the fact that CDs cost more than cassettes.
Whom in the recording industry really wants to do this? I don't know. Until then, I'll continue to use MP3's as a way to capture and enjoy the music I've bought on CD under the right of fair use.
What bogus patents! This is an obvious use of readily available technology - like using cookies to store a customer's preferences in their web browser...
Bezos' first public reaction: "We are incensed by this claim - we patented the right to patent obvious technological solutions! This claim is totally bogus!"
...does not mean all uses are illegal. Unless RIAA can prove that Napster has encouraged users to transfer copyrighted works, they're barking up the wrong tree.
What needs to be espoused in the media is that not all of the music worth sharing with others is owned by the recording industry. Of course, the RIAA won't endorse this view because it makes the artists they represent a bit less godlike, hence, less worthy of our entertainment dollars.
They should suspend Star Trek TV series for a while and concentrate on high-quality movies. The next movie could be a 2.5 hour "crossover" type with a 20-minute prologue featuring Sulu's Excelsior (including Grace Lee Whitney and Tim Russ) which hatches the plot. Of course, the climax of the prologue would be accompanied with a heartfelt Takei "OH MY." The plot would continue 80-90 years later with the current Enterprise-E crew, who could team up with the New Frontier novel series' Excalibur crew. Of course, Dylan McDermott or Alec Baldwin should play Capt. Mackenzie Calhoun (based on artists' conceptions on the NF series's covers), and Zak Kebron would be an excellent showcase of CGI technology. A side plot could be Riker receiving command of his own ship.
When Voyager goes off the air, they could star in a parallel series of movies.
I think I would find a STmovie every 1-1.5 years to be much more entertaining and engrossing than the relative blandness of 22-26 hour-long episodes per year.
While they've decided to "wait and see", I've decided to not wait. I was waiting to see what products would be available around the time R5 came out and came to the conclusion that nothing would be released which has a feature set comparable to Cakewalk. So I bought the upgrade to CWPA v9.
Any company can say they're waiting and seeing what's going to happen on the platform. If they don't produce product (beta or otherwise), they're not helping the situation.
Most of the established multimedia authoring software companies who were promising BeOS versions of their apps have canceled their plans, the best example of which is Steinberg's promised Nuendo for BeOS. Given the right hardware, BeOS is more suited for multimedia authoring than Linux (I use both OS's, by the way). How can one expect Linux support from such companies?
I'm still chained to Win98 for my music recording since I use Cakewalk Pro Audio and soundcards which are supported best under that OS.
The copyright statement aired at the beginning of NFL telecasts says something like "this telecast is copyright by the NFL and CBS[/FOX/ABC, whomever] - any unauthorized broadcast of this, or any accounts of the game, without the expressed written consent of the NFL is prohibited."
So, if your blimp-cam version of the game is an "account of the game" and you broadcast it, you're violating the NFL's copyright.
It does seem silly, since most folks wouldn't bother to publish or broadcast a game. However, I guess they must exercise this control to keep illegal Super Bowl videotapes, etc., off the market.
It struck me as odd, but the fact that their report had named MS employees confirming the level of bugs/defects they were reporting certainly lended credence to the question. If the report was based on rumor and the question said "...an OS rumored to have over 65,000 bugs?", that would certainly be biased.
"All signs point to YES." (his thumbs pointing to the back of his new 8-ball jacket)
Definitely a brilliant casting move. I've been wanting to see him do something besides Cadillac & M&M commercials.
On a side note, who else noticed that in the Seinfeld "Superman" American Express commercial, that Warburton was the voice of the animated Superman? And that the actress who played "Lois" was the same one who played "Lois" in an episode of "Seinfeld"? I thought that was funny...
I'm an IBM Global Network user, and recommend the service as a reliable, nationwide one. Note that the company was recently renamed AT&T Global Network (AT&T bought the company over a year ago).
I've used the service in about 10 cities and rarely get a busy signal. I think they have over 400 U.S. POPs. Check their website at www.attglobal.net.
The average price of a VHS movie is not necessarily $19.99; I would agree that this is probably the average price of a "sell-through" title, i.e. one that is targeted at mass-market purchase as well as high-volume rental. There are still plenty of new movies which cost significantly more than this, which are destined to be rental-only and probably are only produced a few thousand at a time. Granted, most hit movies don't fall into this category.
I think the appointment of Ballmer as CEO was done to attempt to promote investor confidence in Ballmer. If MS is broken up, their shareholders would receive equal amounts in the new "Baby Bills". Since it is likely that Ballmer would be CEO of one of the new companies, this appointment would prevent at least some of the shareholders from cashing out of Ballmer's company and putting money in whichever one Gates ended up running.
The comments that this proposal would create two or three "Baby Bills" with instant monopolies is one extreme, and may be true for a time. However, breaking the financial/managerial/intellectual-property relationship between the OS and applications groups should stimulate the development or porting of MS applications to non-MS platforms. Why wouldn't the president of the MS Applications Company want to make their products available for as many environments as they could support?
You need a library card (or other ID) to check out a book, so why not require authenticated logins at Internet terminals in libraries to bypass a content-filtering mechanism put in place for anonymous usage? On top of that, why not log user activity for authenticated users at these terminals? Internet access in libraries is a public service, but that need not necessarily be taken to mean that everyone has a right to anonymously browse the Internet freely.
Some (many?) people will argue that the logged information is an invasion of privacy and could (worst case) be publicized to discredit or ridicule an individual. I think your right to privacy should be revoked while you choose to use a public Internet terminal.
I've noticed that your computers use Intel's chips and motherboards exclusively. With other Intel-based server vendors joining the Linux fray (Compaq, IBM, etc.), some of whom design their own motherboards that incorporate high-availability features (like IBM's Chipkill technology on their increasingly Linux-compatible Netfinity servers), are you relying upon your Linux expertise and customer service as key differentiators?
Or are you going to invest more in hardware R&D or possibly source hardware which would allow for higher-availability single-server solutions?
Last time I spoke with my Netfinity sales rep, they told me that the Netfinity group was part of the Enterprise Servers group you mentioned. In fact, they bragged that that fact was enabling the process of integrating high-availability features like Chipkill into the Netfinity servers.
I guess the "NTSC" I've seen printed on some of my DVD boxes is just synonymous with "Region 1" then? I'm not trying to be annoying, I guess I'm using the wrong terms to make the basic point that future DTV sets will have to be analog-compatible to be useful to many (which you confirmed in your first reply).
Overrated=1 means that one moderator thought your comment was overrated. The "Overrated" rating adds nothing to the comment's score. I would guess that your comment was rated a 1 initially just as the comment I replied to was.
The video stream on a DVD is NTSC - the comment I was making was that the sets we buy in 2006 or later should be NTSC compatible, either natively or via a set-top box. Hopefully component, S-video, and composite analog connectors would all still continue to be supported.
I think it's nice to hear the FCC chairman has decided to act on this issue; maybe McCain is just applying some more pressure... 8)
Just because NTSC will be removed from the broadcast airwaves by 2006 does not mean it will completely die as a broadcasting format; stations which still use it should be available via cable or satellite providers. How much of the market consists of antenna-only viewers, anyways? Devices like ReplayTV and TiVo are just starting to break into the market, and they are geared towards the broadcast NTSC market exclusively.
NTSC should also continue to thrive as a home video standard, albeit the lowest one. Does anyone think the DVD collections some of us are building up now will be rendered obsolete so quickly? Next-gen TV's will have to sport some analog connections and integrated A/D converters to provide the compatibility I think a majority of the concerned public would want. Set-top boxes of both the D/A and A/D varieties will probably co-exist on the market for years before the HDTV standard (whatever it turns out to be) entrenches both the hardware/software and content sides of the market to the point that new product will simply not be made available in an analog format.
There's a void in the TV market that has yet to be agressively pursued by any of the manufacturers - an affordable ($1000) 16:9 analog set with composite video connectors that's not more than 35" diagonal! This would be a great companion for DVD since it would allow viewing of widescreen content in its native resolution (500 horizonal lines per inch, I think). Is this because the companies are too scared to enter into this markket while HDTV still looms?
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Several times, the article refers to songs that have "leaked" out to the general public via the Internet. Instead of chiding those who would download and listen to the songs as infringers of artists' rights, perhaps the artists and record companies would better serve themselves by exercising more control over unreleased product.
It certainly sounds like that within their inner circle, the constituents of the RIAA treat recorded music as a commodity.
...matter is to anti-matter.
It's even easier than MS "fixing their security-deficient products" - Windows Scripting Host should not associate itself with .VBS files automatically. Windows 2000, for example, comes out of the box with this association enabled. If at some point during OS installation or WSH installation the user was prompted to enable the association, there might be less people with computers who have the association enabled. This default association combined with user ignorace is what enabled this virus.
It's disappointing that the same media covering the MS antitrust trial can't see (and report) this virus for what it is: hard proof that MS's OS monopoly, which has led them to at least some of their dominance in the desktop application (Outlook) and corporate services (Exchange) markets, isn't always advantageous for consumers.
I planned to wait for the DVD from the start. I rented the P&S version of the movie and didn't find it particularly worthy of being in my library. Let's face it, the movie was meant to be viewed in its original aspect ratio.
I could care less when the DVD comes out, but when it does, I'll probably buy it.
I think one fact this is bringing out is that for all the time & money spent by the artist and their label on the packaging and distribution of CDs and cassettes, what some listeners want is just the content. Until there's a legitimate effort by the recording industry to introduce a reasonably priced, easy-to-use, secured digital music format that has just enough value-add to make MP3s seem like crap, the usage of MP3s to listen to and share copyrighted audio will not disappear. Simply wrapping encryption around a CD-quality audio stream and calling that the new digital music format won't fly with current MP3 users; the format must be high-quality audio upwardly compatible with multi-channel systems, probably including other media information such as liner notes, artwork, pictures, etc.
The problem is not only how to determine the performance and security features of this new format, but how to show users the value added to their listening/viewing enjoyment. Perhaps some of the savings incurred by electronic distribution of works created in the new format could be passed along to the consumer, unlike the fact that CDs cost more than cassettes.
Whom in the recording industry really wants to do this? I don't know. Until then, I'll continue to use MP3's as a way to capture and enjoy the music I've bought on CD under the right of fair use.
What bogus patents! This is an obvious use of readily available technology - like using cookies to store a customer's preferences in their web browser...
Bezos' first public reaction: "We are incensed by this claim - we patented the right to patent obvious technological solutions! This claim is totally bogus!"
...does not mean all uses are illegal. Unless RIAA can prove that Napster has encouraged users to transfer copyrighted works, they're barking up the wrong tree.
What needs to be espoused in the media is that not all of the music worth sharing with others is owned by the recording industry. Of course, the RIAA won't endorse this view because it makes the artists they represent a bit less godlike, hence, less worthy of our entertainment dollars.
They should suspend Star Trek TV series for a while and concentrate on high-quality movies. The next movie could be a 2.5 hour "crossover" type with a 20-minute prologue featuring Sulu's Excelsior (including Grace Lee Whitney and Tim Russ) which hatches the plot. Of course, the climax of the prologue would be accompanied with a heartfelt Takei "OH MY." The plot would continue 80-90 years later with the current Enterprise-E crew, who could team up with the New Frontier novel series' Excalibur crew. Of course, Dylan McDermott or Alec Baldwin should play Capt. Mackenzie Calhoun (based on artists' conceptions on the NF series's covers), and Zak Kebron would be an excellent showcase of CGI technology. A side plot could be Riker receiving command of his own ship.
When Voyager goes off the air, they could star in a parallel series of movies.
I think I would find a STmovie every 1-1.5 years to be much more entertaining and engrossing than the relative blandness of 22-26 hour-long episodes per year.
While they've decided to "wait and see", I've decided to not wait. I was waiting to see what products would be available around the time R5 came out and came to the conclusion that nothing would be released which has a feature set comparable to Cakewalk. So I bought the upgrade to CWPA v9.
Any company can say they're waiting and seeing what's going to happen on the platform. If they don't produce product (beta or otherwise), they're not helping the situation.
Most of the established multimedia authoring software companies who were promising BeOS versions of their apps have canceled their plans, the best example of which is Steinberg's promised Nuendo for BeOS. Given the right hardware, BeOS is more suited for multimedia authoring than Linux (I use both OS's, by the way). How can one expect Linux support from such companies?
I'm still chained to Win98 for my music recording since I use Cakewalk Pro Audio and soundcards which are supported best under that OS.
The copyright statement aired at the beginning of NFL telecasts says something like "this telecast is copyright by the NFL and CBS[/FOX/ABC, whomever] - any unauthorized broadcast of this, or any accounts of the game, without the expressed written consent of the NFL is prohibited."
So, if your blimp-cam version of the game is an "account of the game" and you broadcast it, you're violating the NFL's copyright.
It does seem silly, since most folks wouldn't bother to publish or broadcast a game. However, I guess they must exercise this control to keep illegal Super Bowl videotapes, etc., off the market.
It struck me as odd, but the fact that their report had named MS employees confirming the level of bugs/defects they were reporting certainly lended credence to the question. If the report was based on rumor and the question said "...an OS rumored to have over 65,000 bugs?", that would certainly be biased.
Warburton is great! My favorite Puddy line:
"All signs point to YES." (his thumbs pointing to the back of his new 8-ball jacket)
Definitely a brilliant casting move. I've been wanting to see him do something besides Cadillac & M&M commercials.
On a side note, who else noticed that in the Seinfeld "Superman" American Express commercial, that Warburton was the voice of the animated Superman? And that the actress who played "Lois" was the same one who played "Lois" in an episode of "Seinfeld"? I thought that was funny...
I'm an IBM Global Network user, and recommend the service as a reliable, nationwide one. Note that the company was recently renamed AT&T Global Network (AT&T bought the company over a year ago).
I've used the service in about 10 cities and rarely get a busy signal. I think they have over 400 U.S. POPs. Check their website at www.attglobal.net.
The average price of a VHS movie is not necessarily $19.99; I would agree that this is probably the average price of a "sell-through" title, i.e. one that is targeted at mass-market purchase as well as high-volume rental. There are still plenty of new movies which cost significantly more than this, which are destined to be rental-only and probably are only produced a few thousand at a time. Granted, most hit movies don't fall into this category.
I think the appointment of Ballmer as CEO was done to attempt to promote investor confidence in Ballmer. If MS is broken up, their shareholders would receive equal amounts in the new "Baby Bills". Since it is likely that Ballmer would be CEO of one of the new companies, this appointment would prevent at least some of the shareholders from cashing out of Ballmer's company and putting money in whichever one Gates ended up running.
The comments that this proposal would create two or three "Baby Bills" with instant monopolies is one extreme, and may be true for a time. However, breaking the financial/managerial/intellectual-property relationship between the OS and applications groups should stimulate the development or porting of MS applications to non-MS platforms. Why wouldn't the president of the MS Applications Company want to make their products available for as many environments as they could support?
You need a library card (or other ID) to check out a book, so why not require authenticated logins at Internet terminals in libraries to bypass a content-filtering mechanism put in place for anonymous usage? On top of that, why not log user activity for authenticated users at these terminals? Internet access in libraries is a public service, but that need not necessarily be taken to mean that everyone has a right to anonymously browse the Internet freely.
Some (many?) people will argue that the logged information is an invasion of privacy and could (worst case) be publicized to discredit or ridicule an individual. I think your right to privacy should be revoked while you choose to use a public Internet terminal.
I've noticed that your computers use Intel's chips and motherboards exclusively. With other Intel-based server vendors joining the Linux fray (Compaq, IBM, etc.), some of whom design their own motherboards that incorporate high-availability features (like IBM's Chipkill technology on their increasingly Linux-compatible Netfinity servers), are you relying upon your Linux expertise and customer service as key differentiators?
Or are you going to invest more in hardware R&D or possibly source hardware which would allow for higher-availability single-server solutions?
Last time I spoke with my Netfinity sales rep, they told me that the Netfinity group was part of the Enterprise Servers group you mentioned. In fact, they bragged that that fact was enabling the process of integrating high-availability features like Chipkill into the Netfinity servers.
Am I supposed to be impressed that they're not?
I guess the "NTSC" I've seen printed on some of my DVD boxes is just synonymous with "Region 1" then? I'm not trying to be annoying, I guess I'm using the wrong terms to make the basic point that future DTV sets will have to be analog-compatible to be useful to many (which you confirmed in your first reply).
Sorry if I offended.
Sorry, should have said just "500 lines". It was early when I posted. 8)
In fact, it looks like it's 480 lines of vertical resolution for Region 1 DVDs.
Overrated=1 means that one moderator thought your comment was overrated. The "Overrated" rating adds nothing to the comment's score. I would guess that your comment was rated a 1 initially just as the comment I replied to was.
The video stream on a DVD is NTSC - the comment I was making was that the sets we buy in 2006 or later should be NTSC compatible, either natively or via a set-top box. Hopefully component, S-video, and composite analog connectors would all still continue to be supported.
I think it's nice to hear the FCC chairman has decided to act on this issue; maybe McCain is just applying some more pressure... 8)
Just because NTSC will be removed from the broadcast airwaves by 2006 does not mean it will completely die as a broadcasting format; stations which still use it should be available via cable or satellite providers. How much of the market consists of antenna-only viewers, anyways? Devices like ReplayTV and TiVo are just starting to break into the market, and they are geared towards the broadcast NTSC market exclusively.
NTSC should also continue to thrive as a home video standard, albeit the lowest one. Does anyone think the DVD collections some of us are building up now will be rendered obsolete so quickly? Next-gen TV's will have to sport some analog connections and integrated A/D converters to provide the compatibility I think a majority of the concerned public would want. Set-top boxes of both the D/A and A/D varieties will probably co-exist on the market for years before the HDTV standard (whatever it turns out to be) entrenches both the hardware/software and content sides of the market to the point that new product will simply not be made available in an analog format.
There's a void in the TV market that has yet to be agressively pursued by any of the manufacturers - an affordable ($1000) 16:9 analog set with composite video connectors that's not more than 35" diagonal! This would be a great companion for DVD since it would allow viewing of widescreen content in its native resolution (500 horizonal lines per inch, I think). Is this because the companies are too scared to enter into this markket while HDTV still looms?