Actually, it has been done; I've been using it for a few years. Musicrypt, whose DMDS (Digital Music Distribution System) gives radio stations online access to new releases, has a biometric password login procedure.
Thanks for the surprisingly timely processing of my $100US rebate on the printer, via Future Shop. But if you're going to continue asking people to mail stuff in, how about instead of requiring them to cut fairly sizeable rodent doors into both ends of that nice box, you tuck a little piece of paper with the UPC (or two, if it's THAT crucial) into the owner's manual, and let them send that in instead?
For those in the Great White North, the base unit is $399.99 and the whizbang model is $499.99 (the additional items with which it comes would cost about $300 separately).
Prices on other doodads:
20GB Hard Drive: $129.99
64MB Memory Unit: $49.99
Wireless Controller: $59.99
Play & Charge Kit: $29.99
Rechargeable Battery Pack: $14.99
Wireless Networking Adapter: $129.99
Headset: $29.99
Universal Media Remote: $39.99
S-Video AV Cable: $39.99
VGA HD AV Cable: $49.99
Probably the same way many of us in other countries did: an opportune moment arose (!) while we were over at our girlfriend's house and her parents were away.
Nice Film Beams: The ones emitted by the counter-revolutionary airborne drones in the original The Terminator
Nice Game Beams: Tempest (which can be heard at one point during the It's A Good Life segment in Twilight Zone: The Movie, hey?)
Nice High Beams: Sandra Bullock in Speed
Why are the electronics and software people so keen to add DRM?
Perhaps because they feel there are too many people out there (insert preferred "misappropriating" reference here) their content?
Shareware authors, who used to release fully functional versions of their applications, no longer do so, even though that change in tactics may have reduced their income (IANASWA). I don't think the shareware authors got together and collectively decided to do that just to make life more difficult for the honest people who actually pay for what they get.
You now have to put money in the box to get a newspaper, whereas before, you could just take one and then deposit your money. That additional machinery contributes to the extra cost of your newspaper. See "I don't think" above.
You, as a law-abiding driver, will occasionally have to experience the unnerving effects of a DUI roadblock. Those roadblocks cost you and me tax dollars. See either "I don't think" above.
Keep swiping newspapers, keep failing to send your shareware payments, and keep driving drunk, and all of us will keep paying the price. That last sentence is not directed at you personally, since I don't know you from Alfred E. Neuman.
Because we at the US Department Of Acronyms have to do something to justify our paychecks.
We're working on naming a bill which deals with the Nigerian 419 scam -- the Fraudulent and Unethical Computerized Kiting Organizations Filtering and Forwarding Act.
Also, the Detect and Identify Email According to Selected Spyware Heuristics On Local EMail Servers Act may be introduced at some point.
Quotage:
If you slipstreamed SP2 into your install and burned a new CD would any machine that you install onto be unpatched?
That's a debatable point. So here we go:
I recently redid the whole fershchlugginer schmear and reinstalled Windows XP using said slipstreamed SP2 CD. After that, I installed the 8 track UMixit application from Aerosmith's new You Gotta Move CD, which allows me to futz around with one of their songs and remix it.
Then, for a bit of coin, I upgraded to the 16 track version just for shites and giggles.
The 16 track upgrade file won't execute, and when I try to acquire the 16 track license, that doesn't work either. From what I've read, there is a very good probability that my problems are being caused by SP2.
So, I'm about to engage in a (no doubt) lengthy dialog with Cakewalk tech support. If the tech asks "Do you have any Windows XP patches on your system?", should I say "No, my system is unpatched."?
Yes, I'd agree with that if the e-mail I was sending was unsolicited.
In this case, though, it's an internal industry e-mail which is sent to subscribers, who have indicated that they wish to receive it.
I also have a web-based version of it, with a link to the site in every e-mail, and a link which will allow them to cancel the e-mail and move to the web distribution list. I've even sent e-mails advising everyone of the existence of the site, and asking if they'd prefer to receive it that way. Response rate so far is minimal.
Despite my best efforts, the vast majority seem to prefer graphics-intensive e-mail. Go figure.
Well, Mr. Off My Medication: anent your original post -- you didn't mention the ability to skip from track 9 to 12.
Hopefully, when your horse and buggy CD player does that, it doesn't create a gap. We wouldn't want the resulting aneurism depriving us of your well-thought out, intelligent responses. Lord, no.
I doubt it will ever do that, since it doesn't play CDs. However, ripping an entire live CD with Easy CD DA Extractor's single-file output option turned on accomplishes the same thing.
Other extraction applications may have the same capability. Or not.
It's also lovely when you send a long, graphics-intensive e-mail to someone, and they send you a two-word reply, followed by the entire original e-mail -- and you need to reply again.
User stupidity is still the number one security problem.
And a close second, or perhaps tied at number one, is the negative attitude of a lot of knowledgeable types. They're very quick to assume the average user is "stupid" because he doesn't know how to format a floppy disk, for example. I actually heard a couple of techs laughing about this behind someone's back the other day. Well, those two guys probably had to use DOS to format disks back in the day, but when's the last time you went to the store and bought an unformatted disk? The current crop of "average" users has never had to deal with that, so why would you assume that when such a situation arises, they're just going to know what to do? And when all they encounter is derision and ridicule when they ask questions, how likely is it that they're going to continue to ask questions so that they can learn?
And then there's the nerd factor. A lot of people, particularly young women, are terrified that if they display any computer-centric knowledge beyond the bare minimum needed to get by from day to day, they'll be tagged as a Poindexter and ostracized. Sure, you can tell them that they shouldn't give a rip about what other people think, but never underestimate the power of peer pressure. I had an interesting conversation about this topic with someone from some educational institution a couple of years back, and she said that it was such a problem that it was causing many young people to think twice about taking computer-related courses -- and that was leading to a shortage of qualified IT staff. This may have changed a bit today, but not a lot, I'd wager.
Recent case in point: after dropping the phone on my desk for the umpteenth time while tucking it between my neck and shoulder, so that I could look up something on the PC while talking to someone, I asked my manager for a phone headset. He figured that would be a good idea, and asked the young (20-ish) woman on the other side of the office if she'd like one, too. Her reply: "Ohmigod, I'd look like a NERD!"
Some time ago, this same person was asked by another employee how to perform some sort of basic (to you and me) operation one one of the other PCs in the office. She gave him some instructions, and tagged them with "Gee, I hope you don't think I'm a NERD for knowing that."
I doubt she's a prime candidate for reading up on what spyware is, how to avoid it, and then finding, downloading and installing something like Ad-Aware -- much less telling anyone else how to do so. And I think she's representative of a lot of "average" users.
Even if you meant to type injest, in order to make ajoke, I think it's still avalid comment, given the subject matter. =)
I sure hope they build some specialized prisons to house victims of this new law, though.
Me: So, what are you in for?
Burly Savage: I killed my entire family. What are you in for?
Me: I skipped a McDonald's ad.
Me (thinking): Hm. I think I just dropped a tad on the pecking order...
If you're talking about a community station, you MIGHT be able to do it with that much, but you'll be running a very barebones operation.
If you're talking about a commercial radio station which has a chance of actually giving you a return on your investment, then you're going to need at least a million for:
Engineering studies
Transmitter
A building from which to operate
A position on someone's tower, unless you want to build your own site
A plethora of fairly expensive equipment, including on-air and production studio consoles, some sort of digital audio playback system, CD players, audio processing gear, an STL link to get the signal from the studio to the tower, broadcast quality microphones, a number of personal computers and all the software that goes with them, a network and a few hundred other pieces of gear -- descriptions of which I can't think at the moment
Salaries for airstaff, newspeople, programming staff, producer(s), traffic department staff, creative department staff and sales staff
Various licensing fees
Subscriptions to record labels so that they'll send music to you
A promotion budget large enough to enable you to compete with the other stations in your market
You'll also have to spend a significant amount of money preparing a good case to the regulating authorities regarding exactly why they should give a license to YOU and not one of the other applicants.
Oh, and this is all based on Canuck Bucks. Adjust accordingly for US based operations.
TSL is actually Time Spent Listening, but your interpretation makes just as much sense.
Quality is subjective, as one person's trash is another person's treasure, but I'd say that it is a factor -- along with increasingly hectic lifestyles, which leave less time for listening, and the explosion of other user-controllable listening choices, notably the iPod.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, it has been done; I've been using it for a few years. Musicrypt, whose DMDS (Digital Music Distribution System) gives radio stations online access to new releases, has a biometric password login procedure.
Thanks for the surprisingly timely processing of my $100US rebate on the printer, via Future Shop. But if you're going to continue asking people to mail stuff in, how about instead of requiring them to cut fairly sizeable rodent doors into both ends of that nice box, you tuck a little piece of paper with the UPC (or two, if it's THAT crucial) into the owner's manual, and let them send that in instead?
Jeff, let us know if you manage to recoup your production costs on this free jobby, wouldja?
Bill Shatner
Prices on other doodads:
20GB Hard Drive: $129.99
64MB Memory Unit: $49.99
Wireless Controller: $59.99
Play & Charge Kit: $29.99
Rechargeable Battery Pack: $14.99
Wireless Networking Adapter: $129.99
Headset: $29.99
Universal Media Remote: $39.99
S-Video AV Cable: $39.99
VGA HD AV Cable: $49.99
Sincerely,
The People Who Also Care About The Difference Between Theft And Copyright Infringement and The Difference Between Rollerblades(tm) And Inline Skates
Well, as a non-female entity, if I don't have to see any more Stayfree ads, I'll take that as a positive.
Except: some of us Slashtards predate Slashdot by a long shot, Junior(ette).
Probably the same way many of us in other countries did: an opportune moment arose (!) while we were over at our girlfriend's house and her parents were away.
Nice Film Beams: The ones emitted by the counter-revolutionary airborne drones in the original The Terminator
Nice Game Beams: Tempest (which can be heard at one point during the It's A Good Life segment in Twilight Zone: The Movie, hey?)
Nice High Beams: Sandra Bullock in Speed
Perhaps because they feel there are too many people out there (insert preferred "misappropriating" reference here) their content?
Shareware authors, who used to release fully functional versions of their applications, no longer do so, even though that change in tactics may have reduced their income (IANASWA). I don't think the shareware authors got together and collectively decided to do that just to make life more difficult for the honest people who actually pay for what they get.
You now have to put money in the box to get a newspaper, whereas before, you could just take one and then deposit your money. That additional machinery contributes to the extra cost of your newspaper. See "I don't think" above.
You, as a law-abiding driver, will occasionally have to experience the unnerving effects of a DUI roadblock. Those roadblocks cost you and me tax dollars. See either "I don't think" above.
Keep swiping newspapers, keep failing to send your shareware payments, and keep driving drunk, and all of us will keep paying the price. That last sentence is not directed at you personally, since I don't know you from Alfred E. Neuman.
OMFG y not
if the alein ppls have evlvd evn futher than us have, theyll probly be speling like this
we have nothing to loose
We're working on naming a bill which deals with the Nigerian 419 scam -- the Fraudulent and Unethical Computerized Kiting Organizations Filtering and Forwarding Act.
Also, the Detect and Identify Email According to Selected Spyware Heuristics On Local EMail Servers Act may be introduced at some point.
That's a debatable point. So here we go:
I recently redid the whole fershchlugginer schmear and reinstalled Windows XP using said slipstreamed SP2 CD. After that, I installed the 8 track UMixit application from Aerosmith's new You Gotta Move CD, which allows me to futz around with one of their songs and remix it.
Then, for a bit of coin, I upgraded to the 16 track version just for shites and giggles.
The 16 track upgrade file won't execute, and when I try to acquire the 16 track license, that doesn't work either. From what I've read, there is a very good probability that my problems are being caused by SP2.
So, I'm about to engage in a (no doubt) lengthy dialog with Cakewalk tech support. If the tech asks "Do you have any Windows XP patches on your system?", should I say "No, my system is unpatched."?
Yes, I'd agree with that if the e-mail I was sending was unsolicited.
In this case, though, it's an internal industry e-mail which is sent to subscribers, who have indicated that they wish to receive it.
I also have a web-based version of it, with a link to the site in every e-mail, and a link which will allow them to cancel the e-mail and move to the web distribution list. I've even sent e-mails advising everyone of the existence of the site, and asking if they'd prefer to receive it that way. Response rate so far is minimal.
Despite my best efforts, the vast majority seem to prefer graphics-intensive e-mail. Go figure.
Well, Mr. Off My Medication: anent your original post -- you didn't mention the ability to skip from track 9 to 12.
Hopefully, when your horse and buggy CD player does that, it doesn't create a gap. We wouldn't want the resulting aneurism depriving us of your well-thought out, intelligent responses. Lord, no.
I doubt it will ever do that, since it doesn't play CDs. However, ripping an entire live CD with Easy CD DA Extractor's single-file output option turned on accomplishes the same thing.
Other extraction applications may have the same capability. Or not.
Three-province shooting spree, anyone?
Acme(tm) Strapons -- The Number One Choice For Today's Energy-Conscious Woman.
And a close second, or perhaps tied at number one, is the negative attitude of a lot of knowledgeable types. They're very quick to assume the average user is "stupid" because he doesn't know how to format a floppy disk, for example. I actually heard a couple of techs laughing about this behind someone's back the other day. Well, those two guys probably had to use DOS to format disks back in the day, but when's the last time you went to the store and bought an unformatted disk? The current crop of "average" users has never had to deal with that, so why would you assume that when such a situation arises, they're just going to know what to do? And when all they encounter is derision and ridicule when they ask questions, how likely is it that they're going to continue to ask questions so that they can learn?
And then there's the nerd factor. A lot of people, particularly young women, are terrified that if they display any computer-centric knowledge beyond the bare minimum needed to get by from day to day, they'll be tagged as a Poindexter and ostracized. Sure, you can tell them that they shouldn't give a rip about what other people think, but never underestimate the power of peer pressure. I had an interesting conversation about this topic with someone from some educational institution a couple of years back, and she said that it was such a problem that it was causing many young people to think twice about taking computer-related courses -- and that was leading to a shortage of qualified IT staff. This may have changed a bit today, but not a lot, I'd wager.
Recent case in point: after dropping the phone on my desk for the umpteenth time while tucking it between my neck and shoulder, so that I could look up something on the PC while talking to someone, I asked my manager for a phone headset. He figured that would be a good idea, and asked the young (20-ish) woman on the other side of the office if she'd like one, too. Her reply: "Ohmigod, I'd look like a NERD!"
Some time ago, this same person was asked by another employee how to perform some sort of basic (to you and me) operation one one of the other PCs in the office. She gave him some instructions, and tagged them with "Gee, I hope you don't think I'm a NERD for knowing that."
I doubt she's a prime candidate for reading up on what spyware is, how to avoid it, and then finding, downloading and installing something like Ad-Aware -- much less telling anyone else how to do so. And I think she's representative of a lot of "average" users.
I sure hope they build some specialized prisons to house victims of this new law, though.
Me: So, what are you in for? ...
Burly Savage: I killed my entire family. What are you in for?
Me: I skipped a McDonald's ad.
Me (thinking): Hm. I think I just dropped a tad on the pecking order
Yes, yes, they charge for features like filediff support, but the free version still works pretty well.
Naw, probably not. =)
If you're talking about a commercial radio station which has a chance of actually giving you a return on your investment, then you're going to need at least a million for:
Engineering studies
Transmitter
A building from which to operate
A position on someone's tower, unless you want to build your own site
A plethora of fairly expensive equipment, including on-air and production studio consoles, some sort of digital audio playback system, CD players, audio processing gear, an STL link to get the signal from the studio to the tower, broadcast quality microphones, a number of personal computers and all the software that goes with them, a network and a few hundred other pieces of gear -- descriptions of which I can't think at the moment
Salaries for airstaff, newspeople, programming staff, producer(s), traffic department staff, creative department staff and sales staff
Various licensing fees
Subscriptions to record labels so that they'll send music to you
A promotion budget large enough to enable you to compete with the other stations in your market
You'll also have to spend a significant amount of money preparing a good case to the regulating authorities regarding exactly why they should give a license to YOU and not one of the other applicants.
Oh, and this is all based on Canuck Bucks. Adjust accordingly for US based operations.
Quality is subjective, as one person's trash is another person's treasure, but I'd say that it is a factor -- along with increasingly hectic lifestyles, which leave less time for listening, and the explosion of other user-controllable listening choices, notably the iPod.