I am a Troll.
Hath not a troll eyes?
Hath not a Troll hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Karma Whore is?
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh?
if you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.
If a troll wrong a karma whore, what is his humility?
Revenge.
If a moderator wrong a troll, what should his sufferance be by Christian example?
Why, revenge.
The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction
To troll or not to troll, that is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the -1s of outrageous moderators
Or rise up, take arms against unfair offtopics And by opposing, end them
We few, we happy few, we band of trolls.
For he today that floods his crap with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.
And trolls in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their logins cheap whiles any posts
That trolled with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Anonymous posting is terrorism
on
Mapping the Spam
·
· Score: -1
If you want to help keep this great country of ours free of terrorists, you'd better log in boy. Using the Internet anonymously puts you in league with those that perpetrated the Sept 11th attacks.
That is true. And by not logging in, certain posters are promoting this "anonymity on the web" concept which, implicitly, helps terrorists carry out their evil deeds. In short, all ACs are supporting the 9/11 attacks.
Despite the popularity of tools such as Together Control Center and Rational Rose, it is clear the UML is dying. Despite the bloat which occured between versions 1.2 and 1.4, the "language" is still incomplete in many places whilst still containing multiple notations in others.
UML will never be able to implement the feature sets which are vital to modern programming. These include multiple thread representation (which can be done clumsily using coloured sequence diagrams) and multiple view representation (such as the private and remote interfaces to an EJB). Even Peter Coad's group admit this.
The promise of the so-called "unified" modelling language has led to individual developers adding their own ad-hoc notations for the missing concepts - or, in many cases, abandoning UML altogether in favour of a home-grown notation. UML needs to be scrapped and replaced with a notation which is capable of representing the concepts which affect software developers today.
One day, you may even be able to work out how to have more than one account. In the meantime, your anonymous post is barely even worth the -1 moderation it will doubtless get.
If MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ever meets you, he will kick your ass. If I ever meet you, I will also kick your ass. If Cowbow Neal ever meets you, this will be your ass.
By the way, I hate Microsoft so you cannot mod me down.
Trolling in the name of
Some of those that boot Suse
Are the same that bought XP
Some of those that boot Suse
Are the same that bought XP
Trolling in the name of
And now you run what they told you
And now you run what they told you
And now you run what they told you
95 is justified for running the games that you didn't buy
95 is justified for running the games that you didn't buy
Some of those that boot Suse
Are the same that bought XP
Some of those that boot Suse
Are the same that bought XP
And you run what they told you
Now your under control
And you run what they told you
Now your under control
And you run what they told you
Come on!
Fuck you I wont run what you tell me
Fuck you I wont run what you tell me
Fuck you I wont run what you tell me
Fuck you I wont run what you tell me
Motherfucker
I think I did it again
I made you bleed with rough anal sex
Oh baby
I'm hardly hung like a horse
But it doesn't mean that I'm serious
'Cause to lose all my faeces
That is just so typically me
Oh baby, baby
:Chorus:
Oops!...I did it again
I came in your ass, got lost in the game
Oh baby, baby
Oops!...You think I'm in love
That I'm sent from above
I'm not that Kathleen Fent
You see my problem is this
I'm dreaming away
Wishing that Hemos, was drinking my piss
I cry, watching the gays
Can't you see I'm a faggot in so many ways
But to lose all my share price
That is just so typically me
Baby, oh
:Chorus:
Oops!...I did it again
I played with your penis, got lost in the game
Oh baby, baby
Oops!...You think I'm in love
That I'm sent from above
I'm not that Kathleen Fent
The Economics of File Sharing Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @02:44PM from the buy-one-get-one-free dept. Howzer writes "A great Salon article popped up today, and it appears Stan Liebowitz at the Cato Institute is having second thoughts about his paper that was published on May 15. It seems the facts simply don't support his earlier assertion (& the well-known position of all the major recording labels) that downloading hurts music sales. It's good to see this argued from another angle, especially by a guy like Liebowitz."
Big Dogs Cock (539391) [ Preferences ]
Related Links Howzer A great Salon article Stan Liebowitz Cato Institute his paper More on Music Also by michael
download it from a song swapping service. Now no one gets paid for anything. Why not cut the loss and sell the songs online for a couple bucks. I mean high quality WAV files that the user can do what they wish with NOT liquid audio
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Mirror (Score:-1) by Alan_Thicke on Thursday June 13, @02:51PM (#3693274) (User #553655 Info | Last Journal: Thursday May 09, @05:09PM) Here is a mirror. [ulta.com] Alan Thicke's Journal [slashdot.org] My Slashdot ads say "junkbuster" [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Coincidence? (Score:2) by AVee (.gro.eeva..ta..todhsals.) on Thursday June 13, @02:53PM (#3693281) (User #557523 Info | http://dev/null/) This pops up on slashdot right after i submitted this [com.com] cnet story about sony and universal lowering the prices of there online digital music, as well as alowing downloading to mp3 players and burning on cd. Wich a least suggests these companies aren't as afraid of piracy as they where before. There is no sig like sig 11 [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Wow, common sense! (Score:3, Funny) by PhxBlue on Thursday June 13, @02:54PM (#3693286) (User #562201 Info) ". ..That's the beauty of the market. That's why it can't get too far afield. If they get every consumer mad at them, they'll be in big trouble."
Are you listening, RIAA? Either the mainstream is starting to realize just how full of it you really are, or this guy didn't get his payola check for the month.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Methods for gathering Pirated Music Data (Score:2) by mcwop on Thursday June 13, @02:54PM (#3693288) (User #31034 Info | http://www.ujoda.com/) I would like to see more in depth details on how the music industry gathers its pirated music data. Surveys are not very accurate. Other than measuring the actual sales by pirates, it seems as if the industry pulls numbers out of thin air. Measuring downloads of music from Kazaa and equating that to lost sales is bunk as well. One must match that users downloads to their purchases of music. Personally, I have purchased more music since buying a cd burner. My interest in music has increased as well. Now only if the iPod would drop in price.
"I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:Methods for gathering Pirated Music Data (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13, @03:08PM (#3693360) I know that I lot of people claim that being able to download music leads to them actually purchasing more CDs...but from my own experience, after getting ADSL installed, a CD burner and a portable MP3 player, I now only buy 2-3 CDs a year. I used to buy 30-50 a year. The same amount of money has to go somewhere...now I elect to put it into broadband, not CDs. As much as I love being able to freely download music, I think the guys at the MPAA are right: P2P is going to significantly hurt their sales.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:Methods for gathering Pirated Music Data (Score:2) by Reziac on Thursday June 13, @03:13PM (#3693393) (User #43301 Info | http://home.earthlink.net/~rividh/ | Last Journal: Thursday March 07, @05:53AM) My own experiences with free vs purchased music:
Back around 1980, I was a DJ. I had access to a HUGE vinyl library and a high-end cassette recorder -- so I could tape whatever I wished.
Until a year ago I had better online access, and could download whatever I wished. Since then I've moved and my connexion speed went to hell, so I've stopped downloading music.
There have been two periods in my life when I *bought* a lot of music: when I was DJing, and when I had good download access. Conversely, I *didn't* buy any music when I had NO access to free music.
On thinking about it, the reason is simple: when I have good access to free music, I also get to sample lots of stuff I've never heard before, that I can listen to when I'm in the mood to care about it (not just when some crap radio station sneaks a song in between commercials). And I want to own what I want listen to.
Since I've not been able to reasonably download music (26k tops is not "reasonable"), I've not bought a single CD. Coincidence? You decide.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway? [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Don't be so sure.... (Score:1) by Procrasturbator on Thursday June 13, @02:54PM (#3693290) (User #585082 Info) Now that I've downloaded the entire soundtrack to Glitter, I won't buy the CD! Ha!
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Another flip-flop with asymmetric publicity? (Score:2) by redelm on Thursday June 13, @02:55PM (#3693297) (User #54142 Info | http://users.ev1.net/~redelm) Is this another one of those high-profile pronouncements with a small-type retraction later? Will the RIAA and fellow-travellers publicise both, or will they just grab the headline? I would hope that authors and organizations have more respect for their reputations than to play this game.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
His positions.. (Score:1) by ObviousGuy (ObviousGuy@hotmail.com) on Thursday June 13, @02:56PM (#3693299) (User #578567 Info | Last Journal: Monday June 10, @06:15AM) He supports Microsoft and supports digital piracy. The man is a modern day Renaissance man! This is my sig. [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Okay let's get the facts straight... (Score:4, Interesting) by keep_it_simple_stupi on Thursday June 13, @02:57PM (#3693306) (User #562690 Info) I'm sick and tired of people arguing that this doesn't hurt sales. But while I believe it hurts sales, I don't believe it hurts them as much as the Record companies have been saying.
I haven't bought more than 2 or 3 CD's in the last 3 years. I have downloaded probably 1000 or more mp3 files in that same time period. But this does NOT mean that I would have bought those files had I not downloaded them. I may have bought 10 or 12, but not all of them.
So should they stop mass file sharing? Yeah probably. Will I be happy about it? Not one bit, but I'll accept it.
Also in other news I heard yesterday on the radio that a couple of the labels will be selling singles online for $.99 and albums for under 10 bucks. If that happens, I wouldn't mind forking over the cash every now and then when there's something actually worth buying.
Just my $.02
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Liebowitz is a convenient (Score:1) by grinwell on Thursday June 13, @02:58PM (#3693312) (User #138078 Info) tool.
This is the same tool who Microsoft uses to argue against a possible breakup, saying it will cost US citizens $50 billion.
I'm not saying a breakup is a good thing, but $50 billion? Give me a break--that's $250 per adult. I don't spend $250 now:-)
That said, here's one of the most salient points from the article:
In order for downloading to really have an impact on CD sales, it needs to be a substitute for CDs. If file sharing is not a good substitute, then you can download all you want and it may be a new form of listening but it may not hurt CD sales.
The rest of the article is filled with a lot of duh moments (DMCA bad? really? Record companies should try to figure out new revenue streams instead of trying to supress piracy? get out of town!).
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I'm confused too (Score:2) by Mr_Silver on Thursday June 13, @03:01PM (#3693322) (User #213637 Info | http://www.uberworld.org/user_info.cgi?name=Silver ) I firmly believe that (based on what I've seen) that mp3 sharing does hurt the industy. Yet, at the same time, they post record profits and album sales.
I'm sorry, but I don't buy into the idea that the majority of people use mp3's as a taster and then go and buy the product. It just doesn't, well, sit right with me.
But at the same time, they are boasting these profits. Sure, there are people who use mp3's as a sampler before purchasing the products but I seriously can't believe they are in the majority.
It's a case of what would appear to be the logical reason sounding... well... wrong. Am I the only one confused by it all?
-- IRC for the intelligent [uberworld.org]
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:I'm confused too (Score:2) by ObviousGuy (ObviousGuy@hotmail.com) on Thursday June 13, @03:05PM (#3693345) (User #578567 Info | Last Journal: Monday June 10, @06:15AM) In the past few years since digital piracy has been made accessible to the masses, the record industry has debuted several VERY popular bands.
The popularity of Britney Spears, N'Sync, The Backstreet Boys, Eminem, and others has brought them many CD buying-fans. Not to mention that the economy during this time was booming and disposable income was trickling down to the preteen and teen age groups.
No numbers have ever been released that show that groups other than those most popular (and hence crappy, by some definitions) have increased their record sales one iota. This is my sig. [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:I'm confused too (Score:1) by grinwell on Thursday June 13, @03:10PM (#3693376) (User #138078 Info) I firmly believe that (based on what I've seen) that mp3 sharing does hurt the industy.
Silver, check out the article. The argument isn't that downloading doesn't affect sales. The argument is that it's not a substitute for sales. The argument is that if it were really a substitute, then sales would be drastically lower and not just an economy-affected 10%.
The article says the likelihood is that downloading is a new type of distribution which does not replace the old methods (yet). Leib makes the oft-used idea that the music industry should be looking for ways of profiting from this new method instead of trying to suppress it. Leib admits that he thought "a priori" (ie, before examining the evidence) that sharing hurts--but the sales data doesn't back it up.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
of course not (Score:2) by YanceyAI (yanceyai@yahoo.com) on Thursday June 13, @03:02PM (#3693329) (User #192279 Info) File sharing doesn't hurt record labels any more than radio play. I can hear new music anytime I turn on the radio, but I still want to go buy the CD for the art, the tactile experience, and the addition to my collection. I can tape the song off the radio just like I can download it off the Internet, but I still want to buy, buy, buy.
Why does this not register with label execs, economists, etc.?
Can I bum a sig?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Are downloads replacing something? (Score:1) by chobee on Thursday June 13, @03:03PM (#3693334) (User #555901 Info) The artical stats that people have been making copies of music and the music companies have been fighting this for quite some time. I wonder if really all that is happening is that sales of blank tapes have declined and sells of blank cd-r media has risen. This whole scare of music companies losing all their profits could be nothing more than just new media technology replacing old media technology.
I think listeners have always wanted to tailor albums to their listening tastes. Even in listening to my favorite group, I don't like all the songs just some of them. Instead of swapping in a new cd to listen to that song from a one-hit-wonder, its so much better to mix a tape or cd and enjoy the flow of music. Even with 100 disk changers it still sucks to wait through the switching of cds.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Free Advertising? (Score:2) by nobody69 (msimone1969ataltavistadotcom) on Thursday June 13, @03:05PM (#3693341) (User #116149 Info) Since downloading doesn't seem to affect music sales much/at all, shouldn't the RIAA think of it as free advertising? People hear a song and maybe they buy the cd and maybe not. It doesn't seem to matter if they hear it on the radio, at a friends house or as an mp3, so a smart record company should at least allow downloads, even if they don't encourage them.
Unfortunately, smart record companies seem to be few and far between. The big corporate culture doesn't seem to allow anything that could even potentially threaten the bottom line, whether it's not panicking about downloads or promoting commercially risky bands. I thought all these big corporations were supposed to be more likely to support marginal acts and moderately risky ventures?
"Bugger this, I want a better world." - Jenny Sparks [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Another case of.. (Score:1) by Sapphon on Thursday June 13, @03:05PM (#3693343) (User #214287 Info) well, duh! I'm sure someone will beat me to the old 'In other news, water is wet!' posts, but it's good to see that someone in a position of relative influence (relative to say, the unwashed hordes of/.) has come to the same conclusions so obvious to us.
File Sharing does not hurt music sales, how much more simple can it be? I can think of at least 20 bands whose CD's I never would have bought had I not been able to listen to their mp3. I can't find the post at the moment, but a very astute poster pointed out in an earlier story on the same issue that while there may be many people who just download whole CDs and then burn them, there are plenty for whom owning the actual CD is worth just as much as being able to play the music.
I personally take all my originals wherever I go, even though I could easily just burn them and take copies with me. It's just because I take pride in the fact that yes, I've spent the time, effort, and money required to go and purchase the CDs rather than just leave my computer on overnight.
Martin
----- Ahhh... a man with a sharp wit. Someone ought to take it from him before he cuts himself ----- [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Hurting radio, not CD Sales? (Score:1) by kirkjobsluder (posts@nosPam.kirkjobsluder.org) on Thursday June 13, @03:06PM (#3693349) (User #520465 Info | http://php.indiana.edu/~csluder) Perhaps one of the reasons why downloads are not hurting CD sales is because people are not substituting downloaded music for personally-owned CDs but for broadcast music.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Digital Home Recording Act? (Score:3, Interesting) by psxndc on Thursday June 13, @03:06PM (#3693351) (User #105904 Info | http://slashdot.org/) From the article: I got a nasty letter from someone, who said he took a videotape of his brother's wedding, and then he tried to transfer the sound to the digital audiotape that he had, and it wouldn't do it. He blamed DRM for that. I wrote him back and said, look, be mad at the Digital Home Recording Act. That's what said you can't record from a digital source onto a digital audiotape. It has nothing to do with DRM.
I can see how this is not a DRM issue, but why can't someone record from a digital source to a digital tape? Can someone please explain this? I did a google search but nothing really explained what this law entails and what I am and am not allowed to do. Thanks.
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess...
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
He's an Honest Guy (Score:2) by oni on Thursday June 13, @03:07PM (#3693354) (User #41625 Info | http://slashdot.org/) I like this quote:
I try to let data tell me what's actually happening in the world. And when the theory says one thing and things don't work that way, then I say something's missing in the theory.
He's not afraid to admit when he's wrong. That's a rare quality I think. I suspect many people (in his position) would rather keep quiet if they already stated their opinion and then found that the data didn't support it. But he's honest enough to admit he may have been wrong.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Someone finally gets it! (Score:2) by SirSlud on Thursday June 13, @03:07PM (#3693355) (User #67381 Info | http://www.besonic.com/nufunq | Last Journal: Wednesday June 05, @03:21AM) > There are a bunch of potential reasons. It may wind up that people just like to purchase because it's the honest thing to do. There's another possible explanation though, which is something that I'm trying to get harder data on. If we had a degree of copying [now] not that different from in the past, and it's just switched from audiotapes to downloads, then we may not notice an impact on CD sales.
Look, I hate to say it, but for every person on this website who has dismissed:
a) people dont like to freeload b) there was always piracy going on, audio tapes, etc c) its all good, chill. remember the vcr, the cd, all these things were supposed to spell the demise of music. guess what - humans couldn't live without some form of (even if its economically motivated) altruism! oh, the horror!
I told you so. If this ends up being the magic 'discovery' of filesharing, I'm going to cry. I've been saying this all along. [ buttery jazz breaks for the discerning headphon-o-phile [besonic.com] ] [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Just a small step (Score:1) by GrafZahl ( ) on Thursday June 13, @03:08PM (#3693359) (User #180304 Info | http://slashdot.org/) Until there are proper representative emperical studies about the buying behaviour of people that download films and mp3s, we won't know the whole truth. If I just look at myself and my friends then we certainly buy as many CDs as before. Although we have got 'access' to 150GB mp3s 'locally'.
Same goes for movies. Although I saw Star Wars Episode 2 in perfect quality before it came out I still watched in in the cinema. Same for many others. Just cannot beat the atmosphere:)
And what about the effect that although I might not have seen a film with heaps of product placement (like James Bond movies) in the cinema, I still have been exposed to it when watching it as a copy?
Now come and get me:)
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
But its just basic math! (Score:1) by miffo.swe on Thursday June 13, @03:09PM (#3693363) (User #547642 Info | http://slashdot.org/) The music industry seems to think that all people have unlimited money and that they go through the hassle of getting music online just for fun. The simple tuth is that most people has x amount of money to spend and after it is spent thay cant buy something else. If say a person has 10 % of his income to spend on records and there are more records released than he can afford he dont "take" money from the record labels if he dl's mp3's that he cant afford to buy. Since he wouldnt be able to buy any more records than for the amount of 10% of his income it doesnt directly hurts record companies. That is if he don give a fsk in electric bills and taxes and spend that money on records. We all have limited money and we cant spend more than we have (aleast not we non enron). Record companies need to lower there prices if they want to sell more copies but the overall sales wont go much higher. Sure they want us to put all our money on records but hey, that's what every other company wants too. ----------------I bought Windows and all i got was this lousy BSOD.----------------- [ Reply to This | Parent ]
liebowitz/cato reading poses national terror risk (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13, @03:09PM (#3693364) read the report furnished buy the William de FUDgePacking Institute [trustworthycomputing.com], a division of waygoner&fudstorm [wagged.com], the giaNT ?pr? ?firm?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
RIAA and the numbers game (Score:1) by BenJeremy (bj2000@!NOSPAM!hotmail.com) on Thursday June 13, @03:10PM (#3693374) (User #181303 Info) I always find it infuriating... the RIAA claims billions lost to piracy, even as profits and sales continue to climb into record numbers.
Amazingly, they never talk about the gross numbers, only about percentages. The sad thing is, as teens and college-aged consumers drop in numbers, so do the sales PERCENTAGES - it has NOTHING to do with piracy! Oddly enough, however, is that even though the number of consumers (in relation to other demographic groups) goes down, the sales have still increased. It doesn't take a genius to see the facts demonstrate how the Record Industry is lying through it's teeth on the piracy issue.
If anything, the figures actually show that 'so-called 'piracy' and MP3 distribution actually HELP sales.
So why the concern over MP3?
Simple: Record companies want absolute control over distribution channels. Independent labels and consumer freedoms must be squashed if record companies are to continue expanding unabated. The plan is simple - eliminate consumer rights and squeeze out the indies in favor of a pay-per-play licensing scheme.
Worse still, the movie industry is following lock-step behind the RIAA in this. The now-dead 'DIVX' (the original, not the codec) was a test run, and trust me, it WILL be attempted again.
It all boils down to eaking out every penny possible from the consumers, to the point of shoving THEIR choices down OUR throats and telling us we like it - all the while they collect their drop of blood when we are forced to play their licensed media.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
So what? (Score:2) by BilldaCat on Thursday June 13, @03:12PM (#3693387) (User #19181 Info | http://www.bangable.com/) You think this justifies stealing?
BilldaCat - http://www.hockeyfreaks.com -- Hockey Discussion. [hockeyfreaks.com] [ Reply to This | Parent ]
albumosity (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13, @03:14PM (#3693396) So far, why do you think people are both purchasing music and downloading it? The clincher for me on this aspect of the issue is the "album factor." I often download mp3s, and ocassionally burn them to cds, but doing so is just not as satisfying as buying cds. true, i'm more selective with buying cds than i am with downloading/burning, because it costs me something, but i generally get more enjoyment out of albums that i buy. having a cd with nice cover and sleeve art, that's put together in the way the artist/band intended me to experience it just seems special (moreso than having the same cd burned on a generic cd-r would be), and that's why i continue to buy cds even with easy mp3 access (of course, this might not apply to the majority of Britney-Spears-mass-market music that's meant to sell zillions of copies to crazed 14-year-olds). nevertheless, i think i would be dissapointed if cds ever dissapeared.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
But I WANT to destroy them (Score:2) by sam_handelman (skh2003@NOspam.columbia.edu) on Thursday June 13, @03:15PM (#3693398) (User #519767 Info | http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/a2010.htm | Last Journal: Wednesday March 13, @05:12PM) This is a serious challenge, folks. We need a new strategy.
At first, it seemed that filesharing really would destroy the RIAA. Then, just as it became clear that this was never going to happen, they started throwing fits sufficient to make me think it didn't need to - they were going to destroy themselves. Now, it looks like they may wise up.
So, we have to ask ourselves - since the RIAA has developed some means of distinguishing it's collective ass from the hole they've dug themselves into, what can we do to ensure their destruction? I think filesharing can still be an important part of that plan, but really, we need to look into alternative methods of eroding their strangehold on popular music discourse and promotion. Even if CD sales stay up, if we can really bring people into a genuinely alternative culture of music - free from the RIAA - that can accomplish the same goals. While we're at it, if we can continue to fool the major labels into thinking that Kazaa will somehow eradicate them from the face of the earth, that would be wonderful.
I think we need to start a letter writing campaign! Everyone, assume some l33t speak teenage hacker monicker, and inundate random e-mail addresses at the RIAA/major lables with threatening e-mails about how you've developed a new file sharing app that will somehow cause people to pirate more music. Sensical explanations are not required, or even desirable, but we need a lot of DIVERSITY in the messages so that the RIAA becomes convinved that there's a huge conspiracy out to get them. Brag about the number of your friends that you've convinced never to buy another CD.
If we work together, we can keep them frothing at the mouth until they've lost what little remains of their credibility, and deflect their attention from genuine threats to their hegemony.
A certain element of humor was intentional. Pickle me in Bovine Serum Albumin. [jtbaker.com] [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Ratios... (Score:2) by Astin on Thursday June 13, @03:15PM (#3693403) (User #177479 Info) Interesting idea in there - that perhaps the music companies should have negotiated with Napster, found some way to change the "rules". The example he gives is that in order to download, you have to upload. Would this have worked? Obviously what you upload in a P2P system is partially dependent on people actually taking stuff FROM you. But could they have said "If you want to download, you need to have at least 1/5 of your d/l amount available for others." Might have kept the leeches away. Reminds me of the BBS days, and the U/D ratios many had.
- In hell, treason is the work of angels. [ Reply to This | Parent ]
DRM Negates Productivity Improvements (Score:1) by aldheorte on Thursday June 13, @03:16PM (#3693411) (User #162967 Info) DRM can't keep you from reading the material, as long as you pay the price. Some say, Well, how can you take a paragraph and copy it anymore? That's what we normally consider to be fair use. But the fact is, you can still do that. You might not be able to cut and paste but as long as you can read it, you can type it... It's just not as easy as it could be but it's not any harder than it was 30 years ago.
True, there is no way to plug the "analog hole." However, to revert back to it as the only mechanism for copying is to effectively undo 30 or more years of productivity enhancement through technology and features such as copy/paste. The point of technological advancement is to automate manual processes such as transcription.
Estimating the lack of productivity seems popularly acceptable for damages alleged by computer viruses. If we did a calculation for the lost productivity costs of DRM difficulties imposed on legitimate copying in business and academic work, it would likely be a large number, perhaps dwarfing the revenues protected by DRM. Therefore, Mr. Liebowitz's argument founders on a zero, or perhaps even negative, sum.
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If I were the leader of al Qaeda (Op-Ed) By freakazoid Thu Jun 13th, 2002 at 05:33:16 AM BST
I take one look at Jose Padilla and one word comes to mind: patsy. Here's an American citizen whose citizenship not only made him interesting to al Qaeda, it also made him untrustworthy. So what did they do? They sent him to the US to do what most, if not all, of their US cells are probably doing right now: keeping the authorities distracted while tightly controlled cells abroad plan the real operation.
I'm an American, and this article is admittedly somewhat US-centric. I believe the US is the most likely target of the attacks described here. However, my recommendations should be applicable just about anywhere.
Full Story (191 comments, 1443 words in story)
Abu Sayyaf (Op-Ed)
By William Rees Tue Jun 11th, 2002 at 10:47:35 PM BST
One year ago today, Guillermo Sobero's hands were tied behind his back. He was led away from his fellow detainees and marched deep into the Basilan jungle. That night, his head was chopped off.
Sobero is just one of thousands of victims in the war between the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Filipino government. Since 1991, the ASG has conducted kidnappings, looting, murder, and war. The United States government has tied the ASG to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Earlier this year, the US increased its military presence in the Philippines to over 1000 troops specifically designated to help the war against the ASG. What is the Abu Sayyaf? Why are they fighting the Filipino government? What are their demands?
Full Story (61 comments, 61 new, 1332 words in story)
Royal Mail may soon be able to read your web logs (MLP)
By hulver Tue Jun 11th, 2002 at 06:33:20 PM BST
Currently due to be debated in the UK Parliament are some disturbing additions to the "Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act". The RIP act currently allows the police, customs & secret service to read "Traffic Data" about anybody in the UK. That is, web logs, phone records, mobile phone data (including position information) and email information (including recipients). They can obtain this information without a warrant.
Full Story (69 comments, 44 new, 539 words in story)
America: Broken As Designed (Op-Ed)
By Arkady Tue Jun 11th, 2002 at 02:31:47 PM BST
The most significant test of any system is how it handles unanticipated situations. A well-designed and implemented system is one which can continue to operate correctly (i.e. one which continues to embody its design principles and function according to its specifications) in a situation which was not considered in its creation. A system which does not must be considered flawed, either in design or implementation.
While those of here who are scientists and engineers use this principle of evaluation daily in our work, it's likely that few of us (and probably even fewer in the general population) have applied this principle to the State(s) in which we live. Since the United States, in its current form, is over two hundred years old (and one of its designers, Thomas Jefferson himself, advocated such a review every twenty years), a public review of how well it has proceeded is long overdue.
Full Story (253 comments, 167 new, 2938 words in story)
Could terrorism result in a constitutional dictator? (Freedom & Politics)
By zander106 Mon Jun 10th, 2002 at 11:33:08 AM BST
I ran into this interesting link on a couple weblogs this week, and thought it would make for an interesting kuro5hin discussion. A columnist for CNN's Findlaw section wrote a piece about the possibility of a constitutional dictatorship in the wake of more terrorism. Could George W. Bush follow in the footsteps of past Presidents like Lincoln and FDR and circumvent the legislature in an attempt to secure order?
Full Story (299 comments, 51 new, 329 words in story)
Acoustics Crash Course 1 - Room Modes (Media)
By marktaw Sun Jun 9th, 2002 at 11:50:41 PM BST
With the proliferation of home recording studios, many more people have questions about room acoustics than before. This article first in a series meant to be a starting point in your understanding of acoustics in rectangular rooms.
Full Story (97 comments, 35 new, 2800 words in story)
Is the Universe Really Consistent? (Op-Ed)
By localroger Sun Jun 9th, 2002 at 02:28:24 PM BST
The Scientific Method has allowed us to do awesome things, but this has come at a price we seldom notice. We rarely remember the hidden assumption at the root of all science -- an assumption which was considered radical and improbable as recently as 300 years ago.
Science works on the assumption that the Universe is consistent. And while the mighty works of Science remind us that this is not a bad assumption, Science cannot prove the Universe is consistent because it cannot really address the matter of inconsistent things at all.
Full Story (345 comments, 42 new, 3168 words in story)
Superstring Theory - Why we need it, how it's progressing (Columns)
By CitAnon Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 11:35:37 PM BST
Recently I wrote a popular exposition of string theory for a class at my college. I post it here for the amusement of K5 readers. The contents should not be new to any specialist in the field, but may provide a good overview and some perspective for the casual reader.
Before you read on, keep in mind that I have no technical proficiency in string theory. However, this paper has undergone extensive editing by someone who does. Consequently, it should be scientifically accurate.
Full Story (153 comments, 153 new, 3855 words in story)
Beijing Evening News Reprints Article From "The Onion" (MLP)
By DarkZero Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 03:17:16 PM BST
Today, Reuters is reporting that the Beijing Evening News, which claims a circulation of 1.25 million, reprinted a satire article from the popular satire newspaper and website The Onion in full, believing it to be truth and passing that belief onto the more gullible of its readers. The article in question deals with demands from the Senators and Representatives of the United States Congress to have a new Capitol built, complete with a retracting dome, better sight lines, more concession stands and bathrooms, and also a better parking lot. Ideally, according to the "retro-futuristic" architectural design that Congress had the Kansas City architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum draw up, this new Capitol would also include a Dancing Waters fountain in the front courtyard and fifty-five more luxury boxes than the current building.
If these demands are not met, the Senators and Representatives of the US Congress are threatening to move to either Charlotte or Memphis, but with San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, and Toronto (Yes, that Toronto, the one with the Blue Jays) also being mentioned as "long shots".
Full Story (94 comments, 76 new, 342 words in story)
Federal library censorware law overturned (Freedom & Politics)
By Seth Finkelstein Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 01:16:27 AM BST
On May 31 2002, a Federal court struck down a law requiring public libraries to install censorware in return for receiving certain government funding. Information about this law, called the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), and the court case, can be found at locations such as ACLU CIPA information and ALA CIPA information. Note that CIPA required censorware for adults and well as minors.
The extensive court decision is notable for thoroughly demolishing virtually every legal argument in favor of censorware in public libraries.
Full Story (81 comments, 16 new, 1302 words in story)
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But you should mention the CLIT.
Cross-platform? Like the .NET VM then. It does run on a range of Microsoft operating systems.
Despite the popularity of tools such as Together Control Center and Rational Rose, it is clear the UML is dying. Despite the bloat which occured between versions 1.2 and 1.4, the "language" is still incomplete in many places whilst still containing multiple notations in others.
UML will never be able to implement the feature sets which are vital to modern programming. These include multiple thread representation (which can be done clumsily using coloured sequence diagrams) and multiple view representation (such as the private and remote interfaces to an EJB). Even Peter Coad's group admit this.
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One day, you may even be able to work out how to have more than one account. In the meantime, your anonymous post is barely even worth the -1 moderation it will doubtless get.
Claimed for the CLIT etc.
Yeah - it will be nice for the US soccer team to go up against one of the third world countries you've been screwing for years.
My god, have you people no shame? You force them to stop growing their own food (by removing subsidies) and then sell them your own (subsidised) food.
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Trolling in the name of
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.ta. .todhsals.) on Thursday June 13, @02:53PM (#3693281)
.That's the beauty of the market. That's why it can't get too far afield. If they get every consumer mad at them, they'll be in big trouble."
:-)
r )
... well ... wrong. Am I the only one confused by it all?
/.) has come to the same conclusions so obvious to us.
:)
:)
The Economics of File Sharing
Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @02:44PM
from the buy-one-get-one-free dept.
Howzer writes "A great Salon article popped up today, and it appears Stan Liebowitz at the Cato Institute is having second thoughts about his paper that was published on May 15. It seems the facts simply don't support his earlier assertion (& the well-known position of all the major recording labels) that downloading hurts music sales. It's good to see this argued from another angle, especially by a guy like Liebowitz."
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Also by michael
download it from a song swapping service. Now no one gets paid for anything. Why not cut the loss and sell the songs online for a couple bucks. I mean high quality WAV files that the user can do what they wish with NOT liquid audio
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Mirror (Score:-1)
by Alan_Thicke on Thursday June 13, @02:51PM (#3693274)
(User #553655 Info | Last Journal: Thursday May 09, @05:09PM)
Here is a mirror. [ulta.com]
Alan Thicke's Journal [slashdot.org]
My Slashdot ads say "junkbuster"
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Coincidence? (Score:2)
by AVee (.gro.eeva.
(User #557523 Info | http://dev/null/)
This pops up on slashdot right after i submitted this [com.com] cnet story about sony and universal lowering the prices of there online digital music, as well as alowing downloading to mp3 players and burning on cd. Wich a least suggests these companies aren't as afraid of piracy as they where before.
There is no sig like sig 11
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Wow, common sense! (Score:3, Funny)
by PhxBlue on Thursday June 13, @02:54PM (#3693286)
(User #562201 Info)
". .
Are you listening, RIAA? Either the mainstream is starting to realize just how full of it you really are, or this guy didn't get his payola check for the month.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Methods for gathering Pirated Music Data (Score:2)
by mcwop on Thursday June 13, @02:54PM (#3693288)
(User #31034 Info | http://www.ujoda.com/)
I would like to see more in depth details on how the music industry gathers its pirated music data. Surveys are not very accurate. Other than measuring the actual sales by pirates, it seems as if the industry pulls numbers out of thin air. Measuring downloads of music from Kazaa and equating that to lost sales is bunk as well. One must match that users downloads to their purchases of music.
Personally, I have purchased more music since buying a cd burner. My interest in music has increased as well. Now only if the iPod would drop in price.
"I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:Methods for gathering Pirated Music Data (Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13, @03:08PM (#3693360)
I know that I lot of people claim that being able to download music leads to them actually purchasing more CDs...but from my own experience, after getting ADSL installed, a CD burner and a portable MP3 player, I now only buy 2-3 CDs a year. I used to buy 30-50 a year. The same amount of money has to go somewhere...now I elect to put it into broadband, not CDs. As much as I love being able to freely download music, I think the guys at the MPAA are right: P2P is going to significantly hurt their sales.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:Methods for gathering Pirated Music Data (Score:2)
by Reziac on Thursday June 13, @03:13PM (#3693393)
(User #43301 Info | http://home.earthlink.net/~rividh/ | Last Journal: Thursday March 07, @05:53AM)
My own experiences with free vs purchased music:
Back around 1980, I was a DJ. I had access to a HUGE vinyl library and a high-end cassette recorder -- so I could tape whatever I wished.
Until a year ago I had better online access, and could download whatever I wished. Since then I've moved and my connexion speed went to hell, so I've stopped downloading music.
There have been two periods in my life when I *bought* a lot of music: when I was DJing, and when I had good download access. Conversely, I *didn't* buy any music when I had NO access to free music.
On thinking about it, the reason is simple: when I have good access to free music, I also get to sample lots of stuff I've never heard before, that I can listen to when I'm in the mood to care about it (not just when some crap radio station sneaks a song in between commercials). And I want to own what I want listen to.
Since I've not been able to reasonably download music (26k tops is not "reasonable"), I've not bought a single CD. Coincidence? You decide.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Don't be so sure.... (Score:1)
by Procrasturbator on Thursday June 13, @02:54PM (#3693290)
(User #585082 Info)
Now that I've downloaded the entire soundtrack to Glitter, I won't buy the CD! Ha!
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Another flip-flop with asymmetric publicity? (Score:2)
by redelm on Thursday June 13, @02:55PM (#3693297)
(User #54142 Info | http://users.ev1.net/~redelm)
Is this another one of those high-profile pronouncements with a small-type retraction later? Will the RIAA and fellow-travellers publicise both, or will they just grab the headline?
I would hope that authors and organizations have more respect for their reputations than to play this game.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
His positions.. (Score:1)
by ObviousGuy (ObviousGuy@hotmail.com) on Thursday June 13, @02:56PM (#3693299)
(User #578567 Info | Last Journal: Monday June 10, @06:15AM)
He supports Microsoft and supports digital piracy. The man is a modern day Renaissance man!
This is my sig.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Okay let's get the facts straight... (Score:4, Interesting)
by keep_it_simple_stupi on Thursday June 13, @02:57PM (#3693306)
(User #562690 Info)
I'm sick and tired of people arguing that this doesn't hurt sales. But while I believe it hurts sales, I don't believe it hurts them as much as the Record companies have been saying.
I haven't bought more than 2 or 3 CD's in the last 3 years. I have downloaded probably 1000 or more mp3 files in that same time period. But this does NOT mean that I would have bought those files had I not downloaded them. I may have bought 10 or 12, but not all of them.
So should they stop mass file sharing? Yeah probably. Will I be happy about it? Not one bit, but I'll accept it.
Also in other news I heard yesterday on the radio that a couple of the labels will be selling singles online for $.99 and albums for under 10 bucks. If that happens, I wouldn't mind forking over the cash every now and then when there's something actually worth buying.
Just my $.02
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Liebowitz is a convenient (Score:1)
by grinwell on Thursday June 13, @02:58PM (#3693312)
(User #138078 Info)
tool.
This is the same tool who Microsoft uses to argue against a possible breakup, saying it will cost US citizens $50 billion.
I'm not saying a breakup is a good thing, but $50 billion? Give me a break--that's $250 per adult. I don't spend $250 now
That said, here's one of the most salient points from the article:
In order for downloading to really have an impact on CD sales, it needs to be a substitute for CDs. If file sharing is not a good substitute, then you can download all you want and it may be a new form of listening but it may not hurt CD sales.
The rest of the article is filled with a lot of duh moments (DMCA bad? really? Record companies should try to figure out new revenue streams instead of trying to supress piracy? get out of town!).
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I'm confused too (Score:2)
by Mr_Silver on Thursday June 13, @03:01PM (#3693322)
(User #213637 Info | http://www.uberworld.org/user_info.cgi?name=Silve
I firmly believe that (based on what I've seen) that mp3 sharing does hurt the industy.
Yet, at the same time, they post record profits and album sales.
I'm sorry, but I don't buy into the idea that the majority of people use mp3's as a taster and then go and buy the product. It just doesn't, well, sit right with me.
But at the same time, they are boasting these profits. Sure, there are people who use mp3's as a sampler before purchasing the products but I seriously can't believe they are in the majority.
It's a case of what would appear to be the logical reason sounding
--
IRC for the intelligent [uberworld.org]
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:I'm confused too (Score:2)
by ObviousGuy (ObviousGuy@hotmail.com) on Thursday June 13, @03:05PM (#3693345)
(User #578567 Info | Last Journal: Monday June 10, @06:15AM)
In the past few years since digital piracy has been made accessible to the masses, the record industry has debuted several VERY popular bands.
The popularity of Britney Spears, N'Sync, The Backstreet Boys, Eminem, and others has brought them many CD buying-fans. Not to mention that the economy during this time was booming and disposable income was trickling down to the preteen and teen age groups.
No numbers have ever been released that show that groups other than those most popular (and hence crappy, by some definitions) have increased their record sales one iota.
This is my sig.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:I'm confused too (Score:1)
by grinwell on Thursday June 13, @03:10PM (#3693376)
(User #138078 Info)
I firmly believe that (based on what I've seen) that mp3 sharing does hurt the industy.
Silver, check out the article. The argument isn't that downloading doesn't affect sales. The argument is that it's not a substitute for sales. The argument is that if it were really a substitute, then sales would be drastically lower and not just an economy-affected 10%.
The article says the likelihood is that downloading is a new type of distribution which does not replace the old methods (yet). Leib makes the oft-used idea that the music industry should be looking for ways of profiting from this new method instead of trying to suppress it. Leib admits that he thought "a priori" (ie, before examining the evidence) that sharing hurts--but the sales data doesn't back it up.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
of course not (Score:2)
by YanceyAI (yanceyai@yahoo.com) on Thursday June 13, @03:02PM (#3693329)
(User #192279 Info)
File sharing doesn't hurt record labels any more than radio play. I can hear new music anytime I turn on the radio, but I still want to go buy the CD for the art, the tactile experience, and the addition to my collection.
I can tape the song off the radio just like I can download it off the Internet, but I still want to buy, buy, buy.
Why does this not register with label execs, economists, etc.?
Can I bum a sig?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Are downloads replacing something? (Score:1)
by chobee on Thursday June 13, @03:03PM (#3693334)
(User #555901 Info)
The artical stats that people have been making copies of music and the music companies have been fighting this for quite some time. I wonder if really all that is happening is that sales of blank tapes have declined and sells of blank cd-r media has risen. This whole scare of music companies losing all their profits could be nothing more than just new media technology replacing old media technology.
I think listeners have always wanted to tailor albums to their listening tastes. Even in listening to my favorite group, I don't like all the songs just some of them. Instead of swapping in a new cd to listen to that song from a one-hit-wonder, its so much better to mix a tape or cd and enjoy the flow of music. Even with 100 disk changers it still sucks to wait through the switching of cds.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Free Advertising? (Score:2)
by nobody69 (msimone1969ataltavistadotcom) on Thursday June 13, @03:05PM (#3693341)
(User #116149 Info)
Since downloading doesn't seem to affect music sales much/at all, shouldn't the RIAA think of it as free advertising? People hear a song and maybe they buy the cd and maybe not. It doesn't seem to matter if they hear it on the radio, at a friends house or as an mp3, so a smart record company should at least allow downloads, even if they don't encourage them.
Unfortunately, smart record companies seem to be few and far between. The big corporate culture doesn't seem to allow anything that could even potentially threaten the bottom line, whether it's not panicking about downloads or promoting commercially risky bands. I thought all these big corporations were supposed to be more likely to support marginal acts and moderately risky ventures?
"Bugger this, I want a better world." - Jenny Sparks
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Another case of.. (Score:1)
by Sapphon on Thursday June 13, @03:05PM (#3693343)
(User #214287 Info)
well, duh!
I'm sure someone will beat me to the old 'In other news, water is wet!' posts, but it's good to see that someone in a position of relative influence (relative to say, the unwashed hordes of
File Sharing does not hurt music sales, how much more simple can it be? I can think of at least 20 bands whose CD's I never would have bought had I not been able to listen to their mp3.
I can't find the post at the moment, but a very astute poster pointed out in an earlier story on the same issue that while there may be many people who just download whole CDs and then burn them, there are plenty for whom owning the actual CD is worth just as much as being able to play the music.
I personally take all my originals wherever I go, even though I could easily just burn them and take copies with me. It's just because I take pride in the fact that yes, I've spent the time, effort, and money required to go and purchase the CDs rather than just leave my computer on overnight.
Martin
----- Ahhh... a man with a sharp wit. Someone ought to take it from him before he cuts himself -----
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Hurting radio, not CD Sales? (Score:1)
by kirkjobsluder (posts@nosPam.kirkjobsluder.org) on Thursday June 13, @03:06PM (#3693349)
(User #520465 Info | http://php.indiana.edu/~csluder)
Perhaps one of the reasons why downloads are not hurting CD sales is because people are not substituting downloaded music for personally-owned CDs but for broadcast music.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Digital Home Recording Act? (Score:3, Interesting)
by psxndc on Thursday June 13, @03:06PM (#3693351)
(User #105904 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
From the article: I got a nasty letter from someone, who said he took a videotape of his brother's wedding, and then he tried to transfer the sound to the digital audiotape that he had, and it wouldn't do it. He blamed DRM for that.
I wrote him back and said, look, be mad at the Digital Home Recording Act. That's what said you can't record from a digital source onto a digital audiotape. It has nothing to do with DRM.
I can see how this is not a DRM issue, but why can't someone record from a digital source to a digital tape? Can someone please explain this? I did a google search but nothing really explained what this law entails and what I am and am not allowed to do. Thanks.
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess...
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
He's an Honest Guy (Score:2)
by oni on Thursday June 13, @03:07PM (#3693354)
(User #41625 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
I like this quote:
I try to let data tell me what's actually happening in the world. And when the theory says one thing and things don't work that way, then I say something's missing in the theory.
He's not afraid to admit when he's wrong. That's a rare quality I think. I suspect many people (in his position) would rather keep quiet if they already stated their opinion and then found that the data didn't support it. But he's honest enough to admit he may have been wrong.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Someone finally gets it! (Score:2)
by SirSlud on Thursday June 13, @03:07PM (#3693355)
(User #67381 Info | http://www.besonic.com/nufunq | Last Journal: Wednesday June 05, @03:21AM)
> There are a bunch of potential reasons. It may wind up that people just like to purchase because it's the honest thing to do. There's another possible explanation though, which is something that I'm trying to get harder data on. If we had a degree of copying [now] not that different from in the past, and it's just switched from audiotapes to downloads, then we may not notice an impact on CD sales.
Look, I hate to say it, but for every person on this website who has dismissed:
a) people dont like to freeload
b) there was always piracy going on, audio tapes, etc
c) its all good, chill. remember the vcr, the cd, all these things were supposed to spell the demise of music. guess what - humans couldn't live without some form of (even if its economically motivated) altruism! oh, the horror!
I told you so. If this ends up being the magic 'discovery' of filesharing, I'm going to cry. I've been saying this all along.
[ buttery jazz breaks for the discerning headphon-o-phile [besonic.com] ]
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Just a small step (Score:1)
by GrafZahl ( ) on Thursday June 13, @03:08PM (#3693359)
(User #180304 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
Until there are proper representative emperical studies about the buying behaviour of people that download films and mp3s, we won't know the whole truth.
If I just look at myself and my friends then we certainly buy as many CDs as before. Although we have got 'access' to 150GB mp3s 'locally'.
Same goes for movies. Although I saw Star Wars Episode 2 in perfect quality before it came out I still watched in in the cinema. Same for many others. Just cannot beat the atmosphere
And what about the effect that although I might not have seen a film with heaps of product placement (like James Bond movies) in the cinema, I still have been exposed to it when watching it as a copy?
Now come and get me
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
But its just basic math! (Score:1)
by miffo.swe on Thursday June 13, @03:09PM (#3693363)
(User #547642 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
The music industry seems to think that all people have unlimited money and that they go through the hassle of getting music online just for fun. The simple tuth is that most people has x amount of money to spend and after it is spent thay cant buy something else. If say a person has 10 % of his income to spend on records and there are more records released than he can afford he dont "take" money from the record labels if he dl's mp3's that he cant afford to buy. Since he wouldnt be able to buy any more records than for the amount of 10% of his income it doesnt directly hurts record companies. That is if he don give a fsk in electric bills and taxes and spend that money on records. We all have limited money and we cant spend more than we have (aleast not we non enron). Record companies need to lower there prices if they want to sell more copies but the overall sales wont go much higher. Sure they want us to put all our money on records but hey, that's what every other company wants too.
----------------I bought Windows and all i got was this lousy BSOD.-----------------
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
liebowitz/cato reading poses national terror risk (Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13, @03:09PM (#3693364)
read the report furnished buy the William de FUDgePacking Institute [trustworthycomputing.com], a division of waygoner&fudstorm [wagged.com], the giaNT ?pr? ?firm?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
RIAA and the numbers game (Score:1)
by BenJeremy (bj2000@!NOSPAM!hotmail.com) on Thursday June 13, @03:10PM (#3693374)
(User #181303 Info)
I always find it infuriating... the RIAA claims billions lost to piracy, even as profits and sales continue to climb into record numbers.
Amazingly, they never talk about the gross numbers, only about percentages. The sad thing is, as teens and college-aged consumers drop in numbers, so do the sales PERCENTAGES - it has NOTHING to do with piracy! Oddly enough, however, is that even though the number of consumers (in relation to other demographic groups) goes down, the sales have still increased. It doesn't take a genius to see the facts demonstrate how the Record Industry is lying through it's teeth on the piracy issue.
If anything, the figures actually show that 'so-called 'piracy' and MP3 distribution actually HELP sales.
So why the concern over MP3?
Simple: Record companies want absolute control over distribution channels. Independent labels and consumer freedoms must be squashed if record companies are to continue expanding unabated. The plan is simple - eliminate consumer rights and squeeze out the indies in favor of a pay-per-play licensing scheme.
Worse still, the movie industry is following lock-step behind the RIAA in this. The now-dead 'DIVX' (the original, not the codec) was a test run, and trust me, it WILL be attempted again.
It all boils down to eaking out every penny possible from the consumers, to the point of shoving THEIR choices down OUR throats and telling us we like it - all the while they collect their drop of blood when we are forced to play their licensed media.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
So what? (Score:2)
by BilldaCat on Thursday June 13, @03:12PM (#3693387)
(User #19181 Info | http://www.bangable.com/)
You think this justifies stealing?
BilldaCat - http://www.hockeyfreaks.com -- Hockey Discussion. [hockeyfreaks.com]
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
albumosity (Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13, @03:14PM (#3693396)
So far, why do you think people are both purchasing music and downloading it? The clincher for me on this aspect of the issue is the "album factor." I often download mp3s, and ocassionally burn them to cds, but doing so is just not as satisfying as buying cds. true, i'm more selective with buying cds than i am with downloading/burning, because it costs me something, but i generally get more enjoyment out of albums that i buy. having a cd with nice cover and sleeve art, that's put together in the way the artist/band intended me to experience it just seems special (moreso than having the same cd burned on a generic cd-r would be), and that's why i continue to buy cds even with easy mp3 access (of course, this might not apply to the majority of Britney-Spears-mass-market music that's meant to sell zillions of copies to crazed 14-year-olds). nevertheless, i think i would be dissapointed if cds ever dissapeared.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
But I WANT to destroy them (Score:2)
by sam_handelman (skh2003@NOspam.columbia.edu) on Thursday June 13, @03:15PM (#3693398)
(User #519767 Info | http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/a2010.htm | Last Journal: Wednesday March 13, @05:12PM)
This is a serious challenge, folks. We need a new strategy.
At first, it seemed that filesharing really would destroy the RIAA. Then, just as it became clear that this was never going to happen, they started throwing fits sufficient to make me think it didn't need to - they were going to destroy themselves. Now, it looks like they may wise up.
So, we have to ask ourselves - since the RIAA has developed some means of distinguishing it's collective ass from the hole they've dug themselves into, what can we do to ensure their destruction? I think filesharing can still be an important part of that plan, but really, we need to look into alternative methods of eroding their strangehold on popular music discourse and promotion. Even if CD sales stay up, if we can really bring people into a genuinely alternative culture of music - free from the RIAA - that can accomplish the same goals. While we're at it, if we can continue to fool the major labels into thinking that Kazaa will somehow eradicate them from the face of the earth, that would be wonderful.
I think we need to start a letter writing campaign! Everyone, assume some l33t speak teenage hacker monicker, and inundate random e-mail addresses at the RIAA/major lables with threatening e-mails about how you've developed a new file sharing app that will somehow cause people to pirate more music. Sensical explanations are not required, or even desirable, but we need a lot of DIVERSITY in the messages so that the RIAA becomes convinved that there's a huge conspiracy out to get them. Brag about the number of your friends that you've convinced never to buy another CD.
If we work together, we can keep them frothing at the mouth until they've lost what little remains of their credibility, and deflect their attention from genuine threats to their hegemony.
A certain element of humor was intentional.
Pickle me in Bovine Serum Albumin. [jtbaker.com]
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Ratios... (Score:2)
by Astin on Thursday June 13, @03:15PM (#3693403)
(User #177479 Info)
Interesting idea in there - that perhaps the music companies should have negotiated with Napster, found some way to change the "rules". The example he gives is that in order to download, you have to upload. Would this have worked? Obviously what you upload in a P2P system is partially dependent on people actually taking stuff FROM you. But could they have said "If you want to download, you need to have at least 1/5 of your d/l amount available for others." Might have kept the leeches away. Reminds me of the BBS days, and the U/D ratios many had.
- In hell, treason is the work of angels.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
DRM Negates Productivity Improvements (Score:1)
by aldheorte on Thursday June 13, @03:16PM (#3693411)
(User #162967 Info)
DRM can't keep you from reading the material, as long as you pay the price. Some say, Well, how can you take a paragraph and copy it anymore? That's what we normally consider to be fair use. But the fact is, you can still do that. You might not be able to cut and paste but as long as you can read it, you can type it... It's just not as easy as it could be but it's not any harder than it was 30 years ago.
True, there is no way to plug the "analog hole." However, to revert back to it as the only mechanism for copying is to effectively undo 30 or more years of productivity enhancement through technology and features such as copy/paste. The point of technological advancement is to automate manual processes such as transcription.
Estimating the lack of productivity seems popularly acceptable for damages alleged by computer viruses. If we did a calculation for the lost productivity costs of DRM difficulties imposed on legitimate copying in business and academic work, it would likely be a large number, perhaps dwarfing the revenues protected by DRM. Therefore, Mr. Liebowitz's argument founders on a zero, or perhaps even negative, sum.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Consider different fading systems
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OSDN | Our Network | Newsletters | Advertise | Shop Slashdot ----------- All OSDN Sites freshmeat Linux.com LinuxGram NewsForge OSDN.com Slashcode SourceForge.net X faq code awards journals subscribe older stuff rob's page preferences submit story advertising supporters past polls topics about bugs hof Sections apache Jun 11 (1 recent) apple Jun 12 (5 recent) askslashdot Jun 13 (12 recent) books Jun 12 (1 recent) bsd Jun 10 developers Jun 12 (5 recent) features Jun 8 interviews Jun 10 radio Jun 29 science Jun 13 (6 recent) yro Jun 12 (4 recent) This page was generated by a Group of Stealth Elephants for Big Dogs Cock (539391). Serious IIS Hole; Minor X Bug Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @10:10AM from the truthworthy-computing dept. EyesWideOpen writes "Microsoft announced Wednesday that there is a serious software flaw with its IIS web server. The 'vulnerability affects a function in the server software that allows Web administrators to change passwords for an Internet site.' 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Mostly hand-waving. ( Read More... | 393 comments ) Ask Slashdot: Making Users Back Up Important Data? Posted by Cliff on Wednesday June 12, @08:44PM from the it's-for-their-own-good dept. Lux Interior asks: "Help! I am the ad-hoc computer guy in a small satellite office of a larger company. We have no CIO, no IT department, and no policies whatsoever as regards data retention or backup. Therefore, a lot of company property exists one place-- on individual hard drives. The office is made of almost entirely of rudimentary users, on WIN98 and 2000 machines, who never, ever, back up any company information. Has anyone out there had experiences in a small-office setting with: changing users' behavior in regards to managing their data; setting up best practices for backing up information properly; and making sure that the most computer-apathetic users comply with what you've put in place?" 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Haptic Battle Pong... Future of Game Interface? (153)
Will Cable Unplug the File Swappers? (851)
Writing CGI Applications with Perl (237)
iPod for Windows (again) (321)
Get Ready For Divx On Xbox (365)
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Linux at Industrial Light and Magic (276)
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How Yoda Became an Action Star (751)
Tuesday June 11
Neverwinter Nights is Gold (323)
Lawrence Livermore Lab On The Chopping Block? (371)
Terapin Mine Review (171)
UCSD Students Tracking Their Friends' Locations (244)
Hollow Optical Fibres Can Now Process Signals (97)
Satellite Radio - XM vs. Sirius? (486)
Countries Ponder: GNU/Linux vs. Microsoft (432)
Responses to ADTI Paper (272)
UK Government Expands Spying Powers (327)
Older Articles
Yesterday's Edition
Slashdot Poll
This Summer....
Traveling
In School
Working, darn it
Retired, you insignifigant whippersnapper
Waiting for mom to fill wading pool
Blissfully Unemployed, slacking
Preciousss, the sunsss hurtssss.....
Will be stalking CowboyNeal
[ Results | Polls ]
Comments:254 | Votes:14662
Book Reviews
Slashdot's book review section is brimming with reader-submitted commentary on interesting books. Here's a sampling of recent reviews -- read below for how you can add yours to the list.
For programmers, check out reviews of the Zope Bible, Programming Jabber and other specialized books.
If you're just trying to manage programmers, grumpy's review of Managing Einsteins might be just what you're looking for. Meanwhile, keep the company afloat with lessons learned from The MouseDriver Chronicles and The Bombast Transcripts.
Science buff? Read Tal Cohen's reaction to Rare Earth, and Peter Wayner on Digital Biology. Don't forget the grain of salt in Voodoo Science, either. His Dark Materials is one of the many Science Fiction titles that Slashdot readers have praised or panned for your pleasure.
And somewhere between Sci-Fi and reality are books like Flesh and Machines, reporting from the intersection of yesterday's fiction and current technology.
It's easy to submit your own reviews for consideration, too. Just read the Slashdot book review guidelines, and then use the web submission form.
Update: 20020427 12:50 by timothy
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