Hooray for mods who fail to find AC comments funny. And here I sit, excellent karma for almost a year, and it's been 4 years since I've had a single modpoint.
The metamoderation and moderation system are as broken as this engineer claims the air valves on the A380 are.
Sucking down your dollars and laughing all the way to the bank, because god knows you'll be first in line to pay for the honor of getting screwed over again.
Well, the Napster case actually says that downloaders are infringing on the copyright holder's reproduction rights. Witness:
"Napster users infringe at least two of the copyright holders' exclusive rights: the rights of reproduction, 106(1); and distribution, 106(3). Napster users who upload file names to the search index for others to copy violate plaintiffs' distribution rights. Napster users who download files containing copyrighted music violate plaintiffs' reproduction rights." See A&M RECORDS, Inc. v. NAPSTER, INC., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001) (emphasis added)."
Finding that little CD logo is becoming (actually, has become) nearly impossible to do anymore. Out of the last 50 cds I've picked up (read as: not bought) at local shops, nothing released in the last year has had it.
However, they have all had that cute little FBI logo on them.
Hmm, maybe musicians aren't really happy with the way things are going... It could be that under the current system, these labels they are only quite so happy to sign to are the only way of getting themselves heard en masse...
3.) I doubt you've ever even asked a real, signed band how this all works or how they feel about their "evil" record contract that they willingly signed.
You had valid arguments up till you brought in the restaurant. Restaurant markup is around 500%, even after figuring in all your overhead.
Would you like to pay a 500% markup for textbooks? Me either. Nor will the market bear it. So you sell it for what the market will bear and make up your margins elsewhere.
Bookstores don't choose which books to sell; professors do. Some professors write their own books and thus have a vested interest in new editions coming out on a regular basis (more new units equals more royalties or consulting fees). Professors are often also easily swayed by publisher representatives into using things like online course materials requiring a passcode (valid for only 12 weeks max), which can only be purchased with a new book (meaning, publisher profits) or else if purchased seperately costs the difference between the new and used version of the book... When in fact the professor doesn't care about the online bit or isn't certain the students won't need those resources.
See where I'm going with this?
It's not the bookstore that's your enemy. It's the publishers who keep the prices high and editions changing (in part to get back the money they lose to used book sales). If professors adopted public domain works or published their own papers and used that as a basis to teach, the textbook market would adjust itself.
I'm mostly on your side with the costs of books, but your ire is misplaced and you are uninformed. However, you are uninformed to the same degree that almost every college student is uninformed on this topic as well. Some of my customers swear that the changing editions is a conspiracy on behalf of the bookstore, ignoring the fact that we (like I said) buy used books every day the store is open as well as (like I also said) we don't choose what books are taught.
I encourage every customer of mine when engaged on this topic to shop around as broadly as possible and become informed about the decisions they make regarding text purchases, and let the market sort it out. Sure you might find that book on eBay for $10 cheaper, but what if it's the wrong edition, or doesn't include those online resources (which your professor may actually use and require you to use as well), or shipping is $20 extra?
Re:So much for selling used books
on
Textbooks With EULAs
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Speaking as the manager for a textbook department for a university affiliated bookstore at a 30,000 population sized university, I have to say that I don't think you don't know very much about how much margin is in used vs new textbooks, nor what the average margin at all. The insane prices you are paying and the constant edition changes are due to one source: the publishers. Not your local campus bookstore. The bookstore is making roughly 25% on new and 35% on used. Those margins on a $8mil/year basis will not sustain a bookstore; ask any business major and they will tell you that that enterprize will float for a while and then sink like a rock. What causes the prices to go up constantly and more new editions in a shorter length of time is actually the used book market: the publishers get zero return when we sell a used book.
Contrast that with buying a tshirt or hoodie at a 50 to 60% margin, and you have what keeps almost all college bookstores afloat these days.
Additionally, our bookstore does buyback everyday we are open. We also automatically discount all new textbooks 10% from what the publisher's list price is. So: if a $100 MSRP book is being carried, we sell it for $90. If we have a used copy of that book, we sell it for a 25% discount from MSRP, so this book would be $75. At the end of term, we know that book has been adopted for the following term, we will buy that book back for $50, making your total cost on this book $25. Yes, you have to work for it by coming in early to get the used copy, and you have to have a little luck on your side when the adoptions roll around, and a little more in hoping that the book doesn't change editions (again, that's a publisher thing through and through), but it is possible. By my reckoning, you got ripped off shopping online, at least from a long-term perspective.
I manage the textbook department for a school that uses these devices in two courses. It's my opinion that the clickers are merely another way for the publishers to make money. The remote unit costs around $4.00. Registering the remote costs $30, unless you buy the textbook new (read as: publisher profits vs student or store profits), then a coupon for $20 off the registration is included. The difference in cost between the new textbook and the used textbook? $20.
The reason why the remotes aren't bought back is quite simple for the geek crowd to understand: any registered remote is only good for 12 weeks, not life.
Actually, if you paid attention to the context of what's going on, Millie calls you "master" repeatedly, and if you enable the infamous "hot coffee" mod, you spank her, not the other way around.
I loved Populous. Great game. Took forever to get through anything, and man did I enjoy calling Armageddon.
Heard about B&W from some friends who had been playing it about 5 hours and were frothing at the mouth about how cool it was, and how pretty it was. So, I bought it. 20 hours later, I quit. In addition to the stuff mentioned above, what really got me was the voices. Those had to be the most over the top Brits working in game voicing EVER. It didn't help much hearing the old guy giving helpful advice (the same helpful advice) over. And over. And OVER again.
So I said no thank you to the expansion pack, and gave away my copy of the game.
Fast forward to last summer. Everyone's hollering about Fable, so I start reading up on it, and instantly am thinking "ugh, here he is again, promising the sun and moon. Should I get fooled again?" Well, I bought Fable. Again, very pretty game, so much potential, some rather funny stuff. But still the things I hated: Over the top Brit voicing, and an old man saying "Try to get your combat modifier even HIGHER" every 30 seconds.
Sold the game 16 hours after I bought it (having beat it in that same amount of time).
Won't get fooled again. Populous has come, writ, and moved on, never to be repeated.
Would you prefer the $50 1/8th ounce kitten, or the super fine, super rare $300 an ounce kitten, or perhaps you'd be interested in our mixed breed for $250 a half ounce?
These guys seem to have gotten caught after being found out on a telephone conversation - leading to the authorities to get access at their internet connection. First rule of traffic is to keep a low profile, and apparently someone broke that rule (and got phonetapped in the process, which blew the rest of this open).
I honestly don't see how Google (or anyone else for that matter) could manage policing this type of environment. Instead of saying "Hey I have $SUBSTANCE", smart dealers will say things like, "Free kittens to good home" or whatnot.
Of course, I could springboard from here to legalization arguments, but that would bring me way OT...
Kids playing the GTA series of games, purchased most likely by their parents &/or guardians, cannot find pr0n on the internet, but have no problem finding the patch for this game that allows for crudely rendered sexual situations amid an already extremely violent video game. (Yes, I'm qualified to say it's violent, I've been playing it exclusively for almost a month now. For what it's worth, I find the whole girlfriend thing annoying and irritating.)
I'm still hoping for the off chance that HRC doesn't run for president in '08 and thereby assuring the American People of yet another Republican term.
Personally, I really enjoyed Monolith's Lithtech games (Blood2, No One Lives Forever & NOLF2). They actually are the three games that hooked me into playing FPS games... well, until GTA3 came along, then I decided I wanted more than just "if it moves, kill it; if it doesn't move, push it" games. I wanted to explore and not feel like I was playing a platform game. I digress though.
I really think Blood2 was (and still is) an awesome game. It was overlooked at the time because HalfLife came out at the same time (and was prettier, with a slicker engine, and ran better on the majority of machines of the time). But really, the dialogue of Blood2 was funny, NOLF was wacky and pretty, but admittedly I felt a little ripped off by NOLF2 (too short, for starters).
Another overlooked game but using the Quake engine (iirc) is Clive Barker's Undying. Honestly, this was a little more what I was expecting from Doom3 with regards to storyline and general creepiness.
Back OT: I also liked D3, not because it was pretty, but because the whole time I kept thinking "ooh, someone's going to have fun with this engine". And that ends back up relevant to the thread - its all about the engine.
I've given a lot of thought to the subject lately, and really, I've decided I don't care much. In fact, I honestly believe that anyone who stole my identity would after a quick perusal of what they've stolen feel guilty and probably credit me a couple of hundred bucks or so.
Hey, you can't steal what isn't there, and my credit is already wrecked beyond belief. You'd have to be a pretty desperate scammer to steal my identity.
"Napster users infringe at least two of the copyright holders' exclusive rights: the rights of reproduction, 106(1); and distribution, 106(3). Napster users who upload file names to the search index for others to copy violate plaintiffs' distribution rights. Napster users who download files containing copyrighted music violate plaintiffs' reproduction rights." See A&M RECORDS, Inc. v. NAPSTER, INC., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001) (emphasis added)."
Well, if they can get the price point right, I think it's plausible.
I think if they release it for around $200-225, then it will definately be do-able.
Before you start telling me how they won't release that low, remember the hype around PSP: at first there was "no way that it would be less than $400..." according to the industry watchers.
If you combine this with the $60+ (and rising!) price point for newer games, I think the whole thing is plausible.
I know I'll get one. Then again, I plan on getting a PS3 as well (but only after the first gen hardware is gone).
Actually, a friend of mine was stationed in Saudi for a few years in the mid to late 80s and picked up quite a few cassettes that were very Western. The wierd thing about them was that the album art had been altered in a lot of cases. For example, the little girl climbing up the mountain on Houses of the Holy had a tshirt and bluejeans airbrushed (poorly) onto her. Beauty and the Beat's album art was altered to show what was the back of the album originally - namely, individual shots of the Go-Gos in bathtubs, but oddly enough wearing black "shirts" just above the waterline. I suppose the real cover (them all standing around in towels) was just too much to deal with.
So anyway, at least in the 80s, there was a definate demand for modern Western music in Saudi.
Slashdot Mirror
Hooray for mods who fail to find AC comments funny. And here I sit, excellent karma for almost a year, and it's been 4 years since I've had a single modpoint.
The metamoderation and moderation system are as broken as this engineer claims the air valves on the A380 are.
Sucking down your dollars and laughing all the way to the bank, because god knows you'll be first in line to pay for the honor of getting screwed over again.
No, they sucked ass as well.
Because /. is American-centric, and quite frankly the only people who'd give a fuck are the damn hippies.
Well, the Napster case actually says that downloaders are infringing on the copyright holder's reproduction rights. Witness:
"Napster users infringe at least two of the copyright holders' exclusive rights: the rights of reproduction, 106(1); and distribution, 106(3). Napster users who upload file names to the search index for others to copy violate plaintiffs' distribution rights. Napster users who download files containing copyrighted music violate plaintiffs' reproduction rights." See A&M RECORDS, Inc. v. NAPSTER, INC., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001) (emphasis added)."
And this one by Courtney Love (who'd have thunk it?) does even better: http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2000/06/14 /love/index.xml
Finding that little CD logo is becoming (actually, has become) nearly impossible to do anymore. Out of the last 50 cds I've picked up (read as: not bought) at local shops, nothing released in the last year has had it.
However, they have all had that cute little FBI logo on them.
Gosh, and if that weren't enough, here's a link right from the very front page of Slashdot not 10 hours later: http://forums1.sonymusic.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/ f/716102313/m/5201067064.3 43251&tid=141&tid=17
Lifted from: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/19/0
Hmm, maybe musicians aren't really happy with the way things are going... It could be that under the current system, these labels they are only quite so happy to sign to are the only way of getting themselves heard en masse...
3.) I doubt you've ever even asked a real, signed band how this all works or how they feel about their "evil" record contract that they willingly signed.
4 /love/index.xml.
Well, IANARIG (I Am Not A Record Industry Guy), and she might not be the _best_ example, but here's what Courtney Love has to say about that:
http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2000/06/1
I'd have to say that like her music or not, she's fairly successful in her field.
You had valid arguments up till you brought in the restaurant. Restaurant markup is around 500%, even after figuring in all your overhead.
... When in fact the professor doesn't care about the online bit or isn't certain the students won't need those resources.
Would you like to pay a 500% markup for textbooks? Me either. Nor will the market bear it. So you sell it for what the market will bear and make up your margins elsewhere.
Bookstores don't choose which books to sell; professors do. Some professors write their own books and thus have a vested interest in new editions coming out on a regular basis (more new units equals more royalties or consulting fees). Professors are often also easily swayed by publisher representatives into using things like online course materials requiring a passcode (valid for only 12 weeks max), which can only be purchased with a new book (meaning, publisher profits) or else if purchased seperately costs the difference between the new and used version of the book
See where I'm going with this?
It's not the bookstore that's your enemy. It's the publishers who keep the prices high and editions changing (in part to get back the money they lose to used book sales). If professors adopted public domain works or published their own papers and used that as a basis to teach, the textbook market would adjust itself.
I'm mostly on your side with the costs of books, but your ire is misplaced and you are uninformed. However, you are uninformed to the same degree that almost every college student is uninformed on this topic as well. Some of my customers swear that the changing editions is a conspiracy on behalf of the bookstore, ignoring the fact that we (like I said) buy used books every day the store is open as well as (like I also said) we don't choose what books are taught.
I encourage every customer of mine when engaged on this topic to shop around as broadly as possible and become informed about the decisions they make regarding text purchases, and let the market sort it out. Sure you might find that book on eBay for $10 cheaper, but what if it's the wrong edition, or doesn't include those online resources (which your professor may actually use and require you to use as well), or shipping is $20 extra?
Speaking as the manager for a textbook department for a university affiliated bookstore at a 30,000 population sized university, I have to say that I don't think you don't know very much about how much margin is in used vs new textbooks, nor what the average margin at all. The insane prices you are paying and the constant edition changes are due to one source: the publishers. Not your local campus bookstore. The bookstore is making roughly 25% on new and 35% on used. Those margins on a $8mil/year basis will not sustain a bookstore; ask any business major and they will tell you that that enterprize will float for a while and then sink like a rock. What causes the prices to go up constantly and more new editions in a shorter length of time is actually the used book market: the publishers get zero return when we sell a used book.
Contrast that with buying a tshirt or hoodie at a 50 to 60% margin, and you have what keeps almost all college bookstores afloat these days.
Additionally, our bookstore does buyback everyday we are open. We also automatically discount all new textbooks 10% from what the publisher's list price is. So: if a $100 MSRP book is being carried, we sell it for $90. If we have a used copy of that book, we sell it for a 25% discount from MSRP, so this book would be $75. At the end of term, we know that book has been adopted for the following term, we will buy that book back for $50, making your total cost on this book $25. Yes, you have to work for it by coming in early to get the used copy, and you have to have a little luck on your side when the adoptions roll around, and a little more in hoping that the book doesn't change editions (again, that's a publisher thing through and through), but it is possible. By my reckoning, you got ripped off shopping online, at least from a long-term perspective.
YMMV.
I manage the textbook department for a school that uses these devices in two courses. It's my opinion that the clickers are merely another way for the publishers to make money. The remote unit costs around $4.00. Registering the remote costs $30, unless you buy the textbook new (read as: publisher profits vs student or store profits), then a coupon for $20 off the registration is included. The difference in cost between the new textbook and the used textbook? $20.
The reason why the remotes aren't bought back is quite simple for the geek crowd to understand: any registered remote is only good for 12 weeks, not life.
And more to do with all the in-game jokes about the US-Austrailian War.
Actually, if you paid attention to the context of what's going on, Millie calls you "master" repeatedly, and if you enable the infamous "hot coffee" mod, you spank her, not the other way around.
But hey...
When your room looks like this....
I think the article about addiction downplays how addictive MUDs are in comparison; I have dreamt in text because of MUDding 8-12 hours a day.
I loved Populous. Great game. Took forever to get through anything, and man did I enjoy calling Armageddon.
Heard about B&W from some friends who had been playing it about 5 hours and were frothing at the mouth about how cool it was, and how pretty it was. So, I bought it. 20 hours later, I quit. In addition to the stuff mentioned above, what really got me was the voices. Those had to be the most over the top Brits working in game voicing EVER. It didn't help much hearing the old guy giving helpful advice (the same helpful advice) over. And over. And OVER again.
So I said no thank you to the expansion pack, and gave away my copy of the game.
Fast forward to last summer. Everyone's hollering about Fable, so I start reading up on it, and instantly am thinking "ugh, here he is again, promising the sun and moon. Should I get fooled again?" Well, I bought Fable. Again, very pretty game, so much potential, some rather funny stuff. But still the things I hated: Over the top Brit voicing, and an old man saying "Try to get your combat modifier even HIGHER" every 30 seconds.
Sold the game 16 hours after I bought it (having beat it in that same amount of time).
Won't get fooled again. Populous has come, writ, and moved on, never to be repeated.
Would you prefer the $50 1/8th ounce kitten, or the super fine, super rare $300 an ounce kitten, or perhaps you'd be interested in our mixed breed for $250 a half ounce?
*grin*
These guys seem to have gotten caught after being found out on a telephone conversation - leading to the authorities to get access at their internet connection. First rule of traffic is to keep a low profile, and apparently someone broke that rule (and got phonetapped in the process, which blew the rest of this open).
I honestly don't see how Google (or anyone else for that matter) could manage policing this type of environment. Instead of saying "Hey I have $SUBSTANCE", smart dealers will say things like, "Free kittens to good home" or whatnot.
Of course, I could springboard from here to legalization arguments, but that would bring me way OT...
Kids playing the GTA series of games, purchased most likely by their parents &/or guardians, cannot find pr0n on the internet, but have no problem finding the patch for this game that allows for crudely rendered sexual situations amid an already extremely violent video game. (Yes, I'm qualified to say it's violent, I've been playing it exclusively for almost a month now. For what it's worth, I find the whole girlfriend thing annoying and irritating.)
I'm still hoping for the off chance that HRC doesn't run for president in '08 and thereby assuring the American People of yet another Republican term.
Personally, I really enjoyed Monolith's Lithtech games (Blood2, No One Lives Forever & NOLF2). They actually are the three games that hooked me into playing FPS games... well, until GTA3 came along, then I decided I wanted more than just "if it moves, kill it; if it doesn't move, push it" games. I wanted to explore and not feel like I was playing a platform game. I digress though.
I really think Blood2 was (and still is) an awesome game. It was overlooked at the time because HalfLife came out at the same time (and was prettier, with a slicker engine, and ran better on the majority of machines of the time). But really, the dialogue of Blood2 was funny, NOLF was wacky and pretty, but admittedly I felt a little ripped off by NOLF2 (too short, for starters).
Another overlooked game but using the Quake engine (iirc) is Clive Barker's Undying. Honestly, this was a little more what I was expecting from Doom3 with regards to storyline and general creepiness.
Back OT: I also liked D3, not because it was pretty, but because the whole time I kept thinking "ooh, someone's going to have fun with this engine". And that ends back up relevant to the thread - its all about the engine.
I've given a lot of thought to the subject lately, and really, I've decided I don't care much. In fact, I honestly believe that anyone who stole my identity would after a quick perusal of what they've stolen feel guilty and probably credit me a couple of hundred bucks or so.
Hey, you can't steal what isn't there, and my credit is already wrecked beyond belief. You'd have to be a pretty desperate scammer to steal my identity.
"Napster users infringe at least two of the copyright holders' exclusive rights: the rights of reproduction, 106(1); and distribution, 106(3). Napster users who upload file names to the search index for others to copy violate plaintiffs' distribution rights. Napster users who download files containing copyrighted music violate plaintiffs' reproduction rights." See A&M RECORDS, Inc. v. NAPSTER, INC., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001) (emphasis added)."
There you go.
PS: Bring back autopr0n!!!
Well, if they can get the price point right, I think it's plausible.
..." according to the industry watchers.
I think if they release it for around $200-225, then it will definately be do-able.
Before you start telling me how they won't release that low, remember the hype around PSP: at first there was "no way that it would be less than $400
If you combine this with the $60+ (and rising!) price point for newer games, I think the whole thing is plausible.
I know I'll get one. Then again, I plan on getting a PS3 as well (but only after the first gen hardware is gone).
Actually, a friend of mine was stationed in Saudi for a few years in the mid to late 80s and picked up quite a few cassettes that were very Western. The wierd thing about them was that the album art had been altered in a lot of cases. For example, the little girl climbing up the mountain on Houses of the Holy had a tshirt and bluejeans airbrushed (poorly) onto her. Beauty and the Beat's album art was altered to show what was the back of the album originally - namely, individual shots of the Go-Gos in bathtubs, but oddly enough wearing black "shirts" just above the waterline. I suppose the real cover (them all standing around in towels) was just too much to deal with.
So anyway, at least in the 80s, there was a definate demand for modern Western music in Saudi.
Stupid mods.
He was saying (most likely) that what he wanted to POST to WIPO was that statement, not to us.
Jesus Christ.