Their other major problem (at least in their older players...I haven't gone past 8) is that you couldn't permanently turn off auto-update...after 30 days, it switches back on and starts screaming that YOUR PLAYER IS OUT OF DATE. IT IS TIME TO UPGRADE. OR ELSE.
They're not commercials! They're the "pre-movie countdown!"
Which is kinda like the "pre-burial" death, and such. God, does anybody else notice that pre-movie commercials tend to be the cherry-picked product of the most irritating commercials on TV at the moment? They're all "hip" and very pop cultural and LOUD, and of course complement the inevitable Ashton-featuring trailers perfectly.
Bittorrent no longer works for many colleges either. Y'know, like IRC, Soulseek, etc...
If my college provided me with some sort of opportunity to use an outside network, I would, but because they don't I'm stuck with their hobbled network that blocks internet gaming traffic half the time when the multiplicity of filters get overzealous.
Yep. Big Trouble in Little China is one of my favorite movies, and while seeing the "extended scenes" on the DVD was a real eye-opener, it let me appreciate even more the work that goes into editing. Adding a few seconds of "extended footage" to any given number of scenes might've ruined 'em.
OK. So I download an album from the internet that I Do Not Own. It is horrible and illegal and for this I will burn in hell, etc. etc. etc. Now, the argument behind this, supposedly, is that I have not paid for and asserted ownership over the material, and (presumably) the RIAA/Artist/ASCAP hasn't received any money. And they're not happy. And thus I am infringing and rightly in the Wrong.
Say I acquire the CD. I buy it used, even (heaven forbid) at a garage sale. I pay $1.99 for it.
I realize that now I am "allowed" to have these MP3s, and to do with them whatever I please...perhaps I will rub them all over myself gleefully. But *why* exactly? I understand the first sale doctrine and how it works, but I still haven't enriched anybody. My owning the CD certainly hasn't contributed to the flow of royalties. Presumably the original owner no longer has a copy, so this is all kosher, but it's still an odd way to thing about conferring "rights to have." No royalties have entered the chain, but suddenly I'm immune and (more importantly) an Honest, Moral Being.
As at least 70% of my CD collection is secondhand at this point, it's fascinating to think that while I certainly don't contribute to anybody's revenue flow by downloading albums, I *still* don't tend to profit the artist/record co/etc. if I do indeed deem something worthy of my all-purchasing eye.
I do have to wonder (as I'm sure many already have) how this bottom line's going to affect the already-meagre artist intake. Loss leader sales are one thing--I believe the loss there is incurred by the store, and not by the artist/label--but special promotions tend to come right out of the performer's pocket.
Ahh well.
This period of stagnation doesn't show any signs of slowing down, in all honesty; a "culture of fear" (as supported by the RIAA) doesn't do much to engender fan support.
Point of wonderment: how were the ratings of the recent advertised-till-you-drop-Video Music Awards? Was there a drop-off?
"I know there's a plan to run commericals in theatres that are along those lines, but the last movie I saw in the theatre (T3) had a commerical for one of the local broadband providers with the tag line "listen to music online". Talk about mixed messages eh?"
Funny you mention this. One of the local broadband providers (I *think* it's Optimum Online/IO, which would make sense, as I tend to see this on the local "preview channel") runs disturbing little ad-lets which include how broadband can let you download songs over the internet...and provide instructions for doing so.
Wait. It gets better.
Basically, there's an actor who's supposed to be "young," but is clearly at least 30. He's jiving to hip-hop beats. He stops. "Dudes, kids love music...we want it all the time, fast as lightning!" He dances some more. Babies die. He says "Well, with IO Digital Cable and Optimum Online, getting songs is quick and easy!"
He saunters arrogantly over to a computer. "First, you need to get a media player." He suggests something horrific I would never go near...I think it's Real One or something.
Etc. You get the point. Basically, he walks through signing someone up to one of the pay digital-music sites, so BAM POW those hip new beats can be on the desktop and playing in your music player--and MAYBE YOU CAN EVEN BURN IT TO CD--fast as lightning, dude!
I.e., the unenlightened as a source of revenue, plain and simple. "Gee golly gosh grammy, there's that computer music we've been hearing so much about! I tell you what! Let's trust the guy on the fucking preview station to have our best interests at heart!"
I could go off on a rant about how irritating and evil every "EET'S SO EASY! HAPPY GO LUCKY!" ad campaign ends up being ("With new Posessed-power switch, you don't even have to KNOW when to turn your computer on! IT'S SO FUCKING EASY"), but I won't, because you all know this already.
The RIAA curve was something generally applied only in the cutting stage or in the few stages immediately preceding. Digital remastering has never, consequently, been about "reversing" this. Generally, it started out as a trend to use better source tapes for albums, and mutated into something wholly different.
Nitpick: My Iron Lung was indeed a single (both in the traditional two-part single sense, and then in the "It's the title track of an enormously popular EP" sense).
Exactly. The record industry is *the* pioneer of this marketing strategy, to the point where they don't bother trying to disguise it anymore. I.e. a few weeks from now, we'll be seeing "Absolutely the Best of the Doors," a super-new Greatest Hits comp with...one unreleased track. Yippie. Similarly, that Beach Boys hits collection that just came out had exactly one remix not featured elsewhere.
This is blatant. And shameless. And nobody pretends it's anything else. Whereas the movie industry still tries to give it the old spin-cycle of "value added" and "real fans" and "newly discovered" and "fire walk with me."
>By age 12, kids really do understand right from >wrong. Hell, 100 years ago, 12 and 13 year olds >were already married, so the idea that children >are fragile is a relatively recent thought (since >WWII).
Not necessarily. Do remember that Anthony Comstock built his entire career on the theory that childhood was a "plastic" phase in one's life, and that even a drop of perversion would destroy a child's entire being.
And he kept all sorts of "smut" out of the mails for quite some time...
Damn right. Hiroki Kikuta is a completely underrated composer...I wish his volume of output were higher (FWIW, he seems to have exactly four soundtracks to his name: SD2/Secret of Mana, SD3, Soukaigi, and Koudelka...)
Xenogears is, hands down, the best CRPG I could ever imagine playing. Now, the thing is that the game tends to get dumped on for the fact that it seems to be a movie trying to masquerade as an interactive experience, but I never saw that at all...I really enjoyed *playing* the damn thing, as well as being blown away by the story (for the record, it seems as if Xenosaga unfortunately did go down the interactive movie path).
Heck, my big problem with Xenogears is that one essentially has to go in totally blind to get full enjoyment from it...knowing the tiniest details of the story can ruin a good part of the gameplay experience. But if you manage to do that, like I did...Jesus. Nothing comes close. The desert battle scene with Vanderkaum (sp?), where a certain character makes his first "real" appearence, is still one of the coolest moments in Square RPG history.
You're right. I have one from this series, and they're just talking about the fact that they're on CDR. There is no copy protection on the disc I have.
You can indeed rip the CD track out of most hybrid SACDs...the only stumbling point comes when people try to rip the CD content on their DVD-ROM drives. As the DVD-ROM drive detects the SACD layer--but can't play it--troubles occasionally arise there. It isn't copy protection, but merely a consequence of the standard.
I discern something worrisome here, though. If amateur-band-A wants to release something on SACD, they *have* to watermark the thing to get it to play in a SACD player...it doesn't seem like they have a choice.
That lack of choice might become a sticking point in the future.
...the University of Chicago has offered online resources for a few years now, mostly in the form of "electronic reserve" readings. Obviously, they don't provide too *many* (as that would eat into the profits of their own University of Chicago press), but it does seem like the era of $100 course packets is largely over for most classes.
eBay's violation-finding techniques
on
Ebay vs. Musician
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
FWIW, a large part of this guy's problem might be announcing his "CDRs" as "CDRs," instead of something fantastically euphemistic like "home-made CDs."
eBay notoriously doesn't actually *check* many auctions, and instead tends to end things via VeRO by searching listings for "forbidden" words. One of the big forbidden words is "promo" or "promotional," which is almost guaranteed to get your listing kicked out of the music section (despite the fact that it's a rather spurious assumption to make that things stamped "Not for sale" can never be sold, but...). Thus, one finds endless listings for "samplers" or "rhymes-with-flow-motional" albums. This may be a case of the same thing.
Or it could just be the usually self-appointed eBay police making life hell, but...
His ability was a bit more limited than you describe, and due less to a special ability to "read records" than to an encyclopedic knowledge of classical music and a nifty insight into its application.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm fairly new to this entire thing, but isn't the point that there was an "old" SCO, and this new company just happened to change its name?
Their other major problem (at least in their older players...I haven't gone past 8) is that you couldn't permanently turn off auto-update...after 30 days, it switches back on and starts screaming that YOUR PLAYER IS OUT OF DATE. IT IS TIME TO UPGRADE. OR ELSE.
They're not commercials! They're the "pre-movie countdown!"
Which is kinda like the "pre-burial" death, and such. God, does anybody else notice that pre-movie commercials tend to be the cherry-picked product of the most irritating commercials on TV at the moment? They're all "hip" and very pop cultural and LOUD, and of course complement the inevitable Ashton-featuring trailers perfectly.
The answer is probably "wait until the next Service Pack--which will incorporate those fixes--comes out, and slipstream it."
I feel your pain. I wanted to make a "definitive" Win2K install disc, but as far as I could tell the post-SP4 patches won't slipstream in.
Bittorrent no longer works for many colleges either. Y'know, like IRC, Soulseek, etc...
If my college provided me with some sort of opportunity to use an outside network, I would, but because they don't I'm stuck with their hobbled network that blocks internet gaming traffic half the time when the multiplicity of filters get overzealous.
Yep. Big Trouble in Little China is one of my favorite movies, and while seeing the "extended scenes" on the DVD was a real eye-opener, it let me appreciate even more the work that goes into editing. Adding a few seconds of "extended footage" to any given number of scenes might've ruined 'em.
...and at least somewhat offtopic.
OK. So I download an album from the internet that I Do Not Own. It is horrible and illegal and for this I will burn in hell, etc. etc. etc. Now, the argument behind this, supposedly, is that I have not paid for and asserted ownership over the material, and (presumably) the RIAA/Artist/ASCAP hasn't received any money. And they're not happy. And thus I am infringing and rightly in the Wrong.
Say I acquire the CD. I buy it used, even (heaven forbid) at a garage sale. I pay $1.99 for it.
I realize that now I am "allowed" to have these MP3s, and to do with them whatever I please...perhaps I will rub them all over myself gleefully. But *why* exactly? I understand the first sale doctrine and how it works, but I still haven't enriched anybody. My owning the CD certainly hasn't contributed to the flow of royalties. Presumably the original owner no longer has a copy, so this is all kosher, but it's still an odd way to thing about conferring "rights to have." No royalties have entered the chain, but suddenly I'm immune and (more importantly) an Honest, Moral Being.
As at least 70% of my CD collection is secondhand at this point, it's fascinating to think that while I certainly don't contribute to anybody's revenue flow by downloading albums, I *still* don't tend to profit the artist/record co/etc. if I do indeed deem something worthy of my all-purchasing eye.
Again, just a thought/musing/whathaveya.
With P2P you really don't know what you're getting. You may think you're downloading The Lion King but you may end up with Debbie Does Dallas.
*blinkblink*
You mean The Lion King didn't feature the first filmed quintuple penetration?
(throws away his mislabeled AVI in disgust)
Fuck you, Kazaa!
I do have to wonder (as I'm sure many already have) how this bottom line's going to affect the already-meagre artist intake. Loss leader sales are one thing--I believe the loss there is incurred by the store, and not by the artist/label--but special promotions tend to come right out of the performer's pocket.
Ahh well.
This period of stagnation doesn't show any signs of slowing down, in all honesty; a "culture of fear" (as supported by the RIAA) doesn't do much to engender fan support.
Point of wonderment: how were the ratings of the recent advertised-till-you-drop-Video Music Awards? Was there a drop-off?
"I know there's a plan to run commericals in theatres that are along those lines, but the last movie I saw in the theatre (T3) had a commerical for one of the local broadband providers with the tag line "listen to music online". Talk about mixed messages eh?"
Funny you mention this. One of the local broadband providers (I *think* it's Optimum Online/IO, which would make sense, as I tend to see this on the local "preview channel") runs disturbing little ad-lets which include how broadband can let you download songs over the internet...and provide instructions for doing so.
Wait. It gets better.
Basically, there's an actor who's supposed to be "young," but is clearly at least 30. He's jiving to hip-hop beats. He stops. "Dudes, kids love music...we want it all the time, fast as lightning!" He dances some more. Babies die. He says "Well, with IO Digital Cable and Optimum Online, getting songs is quick and easy!"
He saunters arrogantly over to a computer. "First, you need to get a media player." He suggests something horrific I would never go near...I think it's Real One or something.
Etc. You get the point. Basically, he walks through signing someone up to one of the pay digital-music sites, so BAM POW those hip new beats can be on the desktop and playing in your music player--and MAYBE YOU CAN EVEN BURN IT TO CD--fast as lightning, dude!
I.e., the unenlightened as a source of revenue, plain and simple. "Gee golly gosh grammy, there's that computer music we've been hearing so much about! I tell you what! Let's trust the guy on the fucking preview station to have our best interests at heart!"
I could go off on a rant about how irritating and evil every "EET'S SO EASY! HAPPY GO LUCKY!" ad campaign ends up being ("With new Posessed-power switch, you don't even have to KNOW when to turn your computer on! IT'S SO FUCKING EASY"), but I won't, because you all know this already.
The RIAA curve was something generally applied only in the cutting stage or in the few stages immediately preceding. Digital remastering has never, consequently, been about "reversing" this. Generally, it started out as a trend to use better source tapes for albums, and mutated into something wholly different.
Nitpick: My Iron Lung was indeed a single (both in the traditional two-part single sense, and then in the "It's the title track of an enormously popular EP" sense).
Still surprising, though.
Exactly. The record industry is *the* pioneer of this marketing strategy, to the point where they don't bother trying to disguise it anymore. I.e. a few weeks from now, we'll be seeing "Absolutely the Best of the Doors," a super-new Greatest Hits comp with...one unreleased track. Yippie. Similarly, that Beach Boys hits collection that just came out had exactly one remix not featured elsewhere.
This is blatant. And shameless. And nobody pretends it's anything else. Whereas the movie industry still tries to give it the old spin-cycle of "value added" and "real fans" and "newly discovered" and "fire walk with me."
-D
>By age 12, kids really do understand right from
>wrong. Hell, 100 years ago, 12 and 13 year olds
>were already married, so the idea that children
>are fragile is a relatively recent thought (since
>WWII).
Not necessarily. Do remember that Anthony Comstock built his entire career on the theory that childhood was a "plastic" phase in one's life, and that even a drop of perversion would destroy a child's entire being.
And he kept all sorts of "smut" out of the mails for quite some time...
-D
Damn right. Hiroki Kikuta is a completely underrated composer...I wish his volume of output were higher (FWIW, he seems to have exactly four soundtracks to his name: SD2/Secret of Mana, SD3, Soukaigi, and Koudelka...)
Xenogears is, hands down, the best CRPG I could ever imagine playing. Now, the thing is that the game tends to get dumped on for the fact that it seems to be a movie trying to masquerade as an interactive experience, but I never saw that at all...I really enjoyed *playing* the damn thing, as well as being blown away by the story (for the record, it seems as if Xenosaga unfortunately did go down the interactive movie path).
Heck, my big problem with Xenogears is that one essentially has to go in totally blind to get full enjoyment from it...knowing the tiniest details of the story can ruin a good part of the gameplay experience. But if you manage to do that, like I did...Jesus. Nothing comes close. The desert battle scene with Vanderkaum (sp?), where a certain character makes his first "real" appearence, is still one of the coolest moments in Square RPG history.
That entire sequence (indeed, most of the castle storming as well) reminded me of Army of Darkness, for some reason...
You're right. I have one from this series, and they're just talking about the fact that they're on CDR. There is no copy protection on the disc I have.
>Sony has also purposely DEGRADED the CD track on >their SACD hybrid discs to FAVOR SACD. The >resolution is chopped
> down to around 14-bits.
This is where you lose me. Where do you have *proof* of this?
-D
You can indeed rip the CD track out of most hybrid SACDs...the only stumbling point comes when people try to rip the CD content on their DVD-ROM drives. As the DVD-ROM drive detects the SACD layer--but can't play it--troubles occasionally arise there. It isn't copy protection, but merely a consequence of the standard.
-D
I discern something worrisome here, though. If amateur-band-A wants to release something on SACD, they *have* to watermark the thing to get it to play in a SACD player...it doesn't seem like they have a choice.
That lack of choice might become a sticking point in the future.
...the University of Chicago has offered online resources for a few years now, mostly in the form of "electronic reserve" readings. Obviously, they don't provide too *many* (as that would eat into the profits of their own University of Chicago press), but it does seem like the era of $100 course packets is largely over for most classes.
FWIW, a large part of this guy's problem might be announcing his "CDRs" as "CDRs," instead of something fantastically euphemistic like "home-made CDs."
eBay notoriously doesn't actually *check* many auctions, and instead tends to end things via VeRO by searching listings for "forbidden" words. One of the big forbidden words is "promo" or "promotional," which is almost guaranteed to get your listing kicked out of the music section (despite the fact that it's a rather spurious assumption to make that things stamped "Not for sale" can never be sold, but...). Thus, one finds endless listings for "samplers" or "rhymes-with-flow-motional" albums. This may be a case of the same thing.
Or it could just be the usually self-appointed eBay police making life hell, but...
-D
*pondering*
So it isn't being used for porno? Or spying on someone? Or tawdry videoconferencing?
I think this guy should be recognized more for finally discovering a legitimate use for one of those cameras than anything else.
-D
Unless the cars are NUDE, of course.
For the record, the following is to what you are referring:
http://www.snopes.com/music/media/reader.htm.
His ability was a bit more limited than you describe, and due less to a special ability to "read records" than to an encyclopedic knowledge of classical music and a nifty insight into its application.
-D