In the 8/19/04 edition of The Economist, there's an article reports that for the equivalent of USD$37 per month, a household can be serviced with broadband internet, digital TV and nationwide phonecalls using phone lines. The company providing the service is Iliad which has invested 100m in two years for the project. The company made a profit of 34m on revenues of 293m in 2003.
Iliad's success is mostly due to France's changes in telecom regulation policy. Other European countries, impressed by France's move, have followed suit. The article mentions that the US has achieved little success in convincing local telecoms to unbundle their loops.
I suppose in a few years we may see how unbundling really plays by observing Europe.
I have been using the minidisc format for over 5 years now. The RIAA can have its way with MP3s, WMA, or whatever else for all I care.
As long as I have Optical Line Out (via my unofficial sound blaster add-on card or my portable cd player), I can make DIGITAL copies of music, regardless of the musical format.
Slashdot Mirror
This tactic is similar to what Sony used to squash Sega's Dreamcast.
To add to what you wrote, here is an excerpt from a Harvard library report regarding journal prices:
1. Journal inflation rates have exceeded ten percent annually for more than a decade
2. No institution can continuously compensate for such increases
3. Electronic versions of journals are more expensive than the print version
4. Publishers often require libraries to maintain the print version in order to access the electronic version, which usually carries an added fee
5. Titles are often bundled by publishers, obliging libraries to purchase a cluster of titles in order to secure the ones really desired
In the 8/19/04 edition of The Economist, there's an article reports that for the equivalent of USD$37 per month, a household can be serviced with broadband internet, digital TV and nationwide phonecalls using phone lines. The company providing the service is Iliad which has invested 100m in two years for the project. The company made a profit of 34m on revenues of 293m in 2003. Iliad's success is mostly due to France's changes in telecom regulation policy. Other European countries, impressed by France's move, have followed suit. The article mentions that the US has achieved little success in convincing local telecoms to unbundle their loops. I suppose in a few years we may see how unbundling really plays by observing Europe.
I have been using the minidisc format for over 5 years now. The RIAA can have its way with MP3s, WMA, or whatever else for all I care. As long as I have Optical Line Out (via my unofficial sound blaster add-on card or my portable cd player), I can make DIGITAL copies of music, regardless of the musical format.