I don't think AOL is going to get slashdotted any time soon.:)
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I'd be interested in seeing statistics on how many rebate offers actually get sent in by consumers. I bet it's a fairly low percentage. It's brilliant: the company gets to advertise a low price for their product but, in actuality, they rarely have to make that big a sacrifice.
I think the article mentions that around 85% percent of people actually send the rebate, though I would think it depends on the face value of the rebate. And those 15% of slackers are fair victums.
However, I'd be far more interested how many of the rebates arrive when the form was actually sent. That's where the line between slightly unethical and fully fraudulent is crossed
So? I mean, so long as we're clear that's what they're doing and are ok with it, what's the problem?
The problem comes when they fail to send the actual rebate (while I suspect that they still collect your address, since no letter was ever actually *lost* in the mail). Sending the rebate only after you have called or inquired about its status is also a fraud since they never specify that you must follow up to receive the rebate.
I find that my forgetfulness depends on the amount:). If a rebate is above a few dollars I am usually pretty good at sending the forms in. Experience has taught me that the rebate has maybe has around 50% chance of being mailed to me. Thus I count around half the rebate to be the actual discount:)
Also, a legend has it, that this rebate practice is slightly subsidized by the post-office as each rebate requires a stamp to be purchased.
many people don't have the ears or the brains to notice otherwise
I think it is just the ears actually. Most of us are smart enough to tell the difference between an mp3 and an uncompressed wav on the hard drive.
But replication is probably the cheapest step of the CD-making process. Next on the list is the actual studio time spent recording the CD.
I might agree with you if you answer one simple question for me. How is it that an audio tape costs less for the *same* exect album? The marketing of the music is irrelevant of the medium on which it is sold. Thus if a tape costs 12.99 per albom, a CD, which by now is far cheaper to make, should cost less. or same.
So I think $12.99 is more than fair. Even $14.99.
Where have you seen a new albom for 12.99? Unless it was on tape? I think it is more of 14.99 to 18.99. The soundtrack of the movie often costs *more* than the DVD of the same movie. Honest.
Excuse me...?? Do you own any DVDs?
I have some video tapes that are 10 years old and I can play them fine. My T2 DVD that I bought 2 years ago has problems already, only the special edition still plays. And some other DVDs that I purchased second hand are only good to be ripped and encoded...
The expected life of a VHS tape is like 30 years. DVDs is probably less than 5. *and* DVDs are much much more fragile than VHS...
I doubt that there are any real principles relating to support of Free Software involved;
No one thinks, not even for a second, that MS would support Free Software. Nor do we expect it (most of us). If they stopped abusing their monopoly, that would be sufficient.
it's just a smart business move.
And an old-fashioned one -- a business move that does not involve any litigations/lawsuits.
It usually takes many years to discover how badly a law has been written,
What worries me is the fact that MS has already been declared to be an abusive monopoly in court. What else can happen now? Whoever can get to Linux will and the rest will keep suffering...
I think a big issue is also the fact that they can do so secretly, i.e. the librarian will not be allowed to tell anyone about the records he had to give up.
So think about it... someone might be looking at your borrowing records right now and you wont' know about it until they decide that your reading habits are suspicios enough to question you.
I think those are not exactly the same -- after all, the websites are there for the public to see. But perhaps/. should ask permission or automatically mirror the sites, because somtimes as cool as they are, they just can not handle the load.
My prediction: While the RIAA might get some considerations, they won't get anywhere near what they want. Peng won't see any jail time, and the RIAA will have a black eye.
Actually they don't need to jail the student to win. All they have to do is to scare the shit out of him even if they lose. Even if he wins quickly, he will probably suffer enough damage and RIAA can probably make the suit last for some time. RIAA will only get a black eye if someone COUNTER SUES them for a LOT of money and wins. EFF, are you listening?
YES! The parent is could not be more right. Somehow large corporations can file ridiculous suits and at worst -- at worst, they lose after a few years. But the student will suffer and will never write a search engine again. Just like Sklyarov will never work on "fair use" product again.
EFF, are you listening? Any chance of counter suit for a *completely* baseless suit whose sole purpose is to initimidate and scare some students? If he turns around and sues RIAA for damages, he might actually be able to COLLECT at least a few million from THEM. The only way to stop this ridiculous behaviour is to hit back hard
They do extensive checking for each and every song to make sure that 1) The RIAA represents the artist in question, 2) that it's the right song, and not something with a similar name, and 3) that the band hasn't decided to make the MP3 available intentionally. Only then do they reluctantly issue a cease & desist order.
You clearly are new here. Or perhaps just from RIAA? Have you been reading slashdot? They do not have to carefully check each and every song. If you get a cease & desist order, you will comply (or do the checking yourself). So why should they bother?
In other words, an hour of music is no longer worth $15 - $20.
I am not arguing with you. Just to point out that an hour of music was NEVER worth $15-$20. RIAA were (lawsuit) and are pricefixing. If fair competition existed, we would at least know what an hour of music is worth...
Organized illegal file swapping is organized crime, nothing more and nothing less.
Do you work for RIAA?? ORGANIZED CRIME?? Organized crime is groups like Triads, Yakudza or South American cartels. Even if this student had an underground music printing shop he would not even come close to being defined as organized crime. Organized crime doesn't deal in free distribution of copyrighted material... not enough money in it.
I'd agree that kid(s) broke the law. Though it seems that they provided indexing, much like gnutella rather than napster.
I think this will go as the anti-pirating technologies do. Resellers will still have no trouble defeating the measures but individuals who want to overclock will be screwd. Though I don't see any global conspiracy theories here...
It is a first step... once that goes through, other things will follow. Do you really think that Microsoft wouldn't consider requiring registration of all software products?
Anyways, isn't that monopoly abuse? Again? Few months after the trial?
All these issues were brought up before and explained... Let me see what I remember:
How much crap do you get a day in your postal mailbox? How much of that was sent with a $0.37 First-Class stamp?
Bulk mail has different rates mostly because the sender pre-sorts the mail and saves some work for the postal-office. It has nothing to do with subsidizing, in fact bulk mail helps subsidize the post office.
How much you wanna bet that some kind of postage on email won't make much difference, as the cost will either be so low that most won't care, or there'll be ways for companies to get out of it (or to get a much cheaper rate)?
Anything, even a very, very cheap rate would help. Not to say it would eliminate spam, but right now the costs are, in fact, ZERO. Spam is sent through stealing someone else's resources. Even.001c would be greater than zero. And the payment might leave traces to find the spam source.
Sure, it might cut back some. Maybe. But remember how the big junkmail senders got cheaper rates in the first place: Lobbyists. So I wouldn't expect it to last.
Actually, the big junkmail senders are kept in check by *other* lobbists that work for utility companies and such. Utility companies are *required* to send bills via first-class mail, so they have some interest in controlling the first-class rate.
YES, YES! I would mod the parent to 6 and above if I could. To that I can only add that people that write TFMs are obviously never from the newbie group, thus there are always issues that are hard for newbie but aren't covered as they are too obvious for TFM writer! (as someone who is still on the newbie side of the fence...:)
I've very rarely seen people told to RTFM for asking a polite question. They almost always get pointed to docs. If they fail to read those, they get told off, but what else do you expect when you rudely demand someone walk you step by step through something you aren't willing to read a help file for?
You clearly hangout in different social cirles. You must be one of the RTFM people with this attitude. Yes, it is reasonable to expect that people read the docs. But it is also reasonable to expect that you will understand nothing unless you are at least moderately knowledgable. Happens to me every time I try to decipher SysAdmin related stuff. Thus the barrier of entry is high, and newbies aren't welcome
And a polite question coming from someone who tried to RTFM gets the same reply as a polite question from someone who hasn't RTFMed.
Currently Disney and AOL/TW and their ilk have enough money and influence to get their copyrights extended perpetually
I belive that the suggestion of charging an "extension" fee for a copyright is not to solve the problem of Disney cartoons. It is to make sure that the OTHER 98% of the copyrighted material from early 20th century goes to public domain. Disney created a far bigger problem by extending the copyright of EVERY work that was created in the time of steamboat willie (sp?).
You cannot copyright figures, numbers, prices, etc.
Remember Walmart trying to sue over the Black Friday?
My memory is a bit hazy, but I remember that Walmart was able to scare a lot of people into removing the listings (or all of them even). That lasted until the Black Friday was over. What I don't remember is Walmart being slammed for a frivolous lawsuit. So this seems like a good method of delaying and scaring people...
big problem is that there are a reasonable amount of people willing to watch a movie even if it is filmed on with a handheld and takes place in someones apartment, as long as the story is worthwhile (clerks, etc.) while most folks buy the next gen console/computer for more power better graphics etc.
Well, that is exactly what screws up the game market. People more interested in flashy things, though they do get tired of them quickly. Dunno about you, but I, personally, am willing to play a game with below-average graphics for a good story line (I am a big fan of Might and Magic 6-9, though they have not changed their engine in a decade, and their story line is decent to good). Problem is, so few games care about the story... Blizzard seems to be one of the few, and hence its success..
Crappy CDs only cost 20 bucks. Crappy games cost around $50 buck
Indeed! And crappy game that's over two years old costs anywhere from $5-$10 in a bargain bin. I dare you to find a CD that costs less than $10... even in 5 years and even if it is *very* crappy.
Slashdot Mirror
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I think the article mentions that around 85% percent of people actually send the rebate, though I would think it depends on the face value of the rebate. And those 15% of slackers are fair victums.
However, I'd be far more interested how many of the rebates arrive when the form was actually sent. That's where the line between slightly unethical and fully fraudulent is crossed
The problem comes when they fail to send the actual rebate (while I suspect that they still collect your address, since no letter was ever actually *lost* in the mail). Sending the rebate only after you have called or inquired about its status is also a fraud since they never specify that you must follow up to receive the rebate.
Also, a legend has it, that this rebate practice is slightly subsidized by the post-office as each rebate requires a stamp to be purchased.
I think it is just the ears actually. Most of us are smart enough to tell the difference between an mp3 and an uncompressed wav on the hard drive.
But replication is probably the cheapest step of the CD-making process. Next on the list is the actual studio time spent recording the CD.
I might agree with you if you answer one simple question for me. How is it that an audio tape costs less for the *same* exect album? The marketing of the music is irrelevant of the medium on which it is sold. Thus if a tape costs 12.99 per albom, a CD, which by now is far cheaper to make, should cost less. or same.
So I think $12.99 is more than fair. Even $14.99.
Where have you seen a new albom for 12.99? Unless it was on tape? I think it is more of 14.99 to 18.99. The soundtrack of the movie often costs *more* than the DVD of the same movie. Honest.
First of all there was an article on slashdot about DVD rot, which I am assuming came from some scientific research...
Secondly, the fragility of DVDs is uncontested, you can experiment at home by dropping a DVD and a video tape on the floor or scratching either one.
Finally, I don't believe DVDs have few decades of scientific data behind them... they are not that old as a format
Excuse me...?? Do you own any DVDs?
I have some video tapes that are 10 years old and I can play them fine. My T2 DVD that I bought 2 years ago has problems already, only the special edition still plays. And some other DVDs that I purchased second hand are only good to be ripped and encoded...
The expected life of a VHS tape is like 30 years. DVDs is probably less than 5. *and* DVDs are much much more fragile than VHS...
No one thinks, not even for a second, that MS would support Free Software. Nor do we expect it (most of us). If they stopped abusing their monopoly, that would be sufficient.
it's just a smart business move.
And an old-fashioned one -- a business move that does not involve any litigations/lawsuits.
What worries me is the fact that MS has already been declared to be an abusive monopoly in court. What else can happen now? Whoever can get to Linux will and the rest will keep suffering...
So think about it... someone might be looking at your borrowing records right now and you wont' know about it until they decide that your reading habits are suspicios enough to question you.
I think those are not exactly the same -- after all, the websites are there for the public to see. But perhaps /. should ask permission or automatically mirror the sites, because somtimes as cool as they are, they just can not handle the load.
Actually they don't need to jail the student to win. All they have to do is to scare the shit out of him even if they lose. Even if he wins quickly, he will probably suffer enough damage and RIAA can probably make the suit last for some time. RIAA will only get a black eye if someone COUNTER SUES them for a LOT of money and wins. EFF, are you listening?
EFF, are you listening? Any chance of counter suit for a *completely* baseless suit whose sole purpose is to initimidate and scare some students? If he turns around and sues RIAA for damages, he might actually be able to COLLECT at least a few million from THEM. The only way to stop this ridiculous behaviour is to hit back hard
I think I'll go donate some money to eff...
You clearly are new here. Or perhaps just from RIAA? Have you been reading slashdot? They do not have to carefully check each and every song. If you get a cease & desist order, you will comply (or do the checking yourself). So why should they bother?
I am not arguing with you. Just to point out that an hour of music was NEVER worth $15-$20. RIAA were (lawsuit) and are pricefixing. If fair competition existed, we would at least know what an hour of music is worth...
Do you work for RIAA?? ORGANIZED CRIME?? Organized crime is groups like Triads, Yakudza or South American cartels. Even if this student had an underground music printing shop he would not even come close to being defined as organized crime. Organized crime doesn't deal in free distribution of copyrighted material... not enough money in it.
I'd agree that kid(s) broke the law. Though it seems that they provided indexing, much like gnutella rather than napster.
I think this will go as the anti-pirating technologies do. Resellers will still have no trouble defeating the measures but individuals who want to overclock will be screwd. Though I don't see any global conspiracy theories here...
Anyways, isn't that monopoly abuse? Again? Few months after the trial?
How much crap do you get a day in your postal mailbox? How much of that was sent with a $0.37 First-Class stamp?
Bulk mail has different rates mostly because the sender pre-sorts the mail and saves some work for the postal-office. It has nothing to do with subsidizing, in fact bulk mail helps subsidize the post office.
How much you wanna bet that some kind of postage on email won't make much difference, as the cost will either be so low that most won't care, or there'll be ways for companies to get out of it (or to get a much cheaper rate)?
Anything, even a very, very cheap rate would help. Not to say it would eliminate spam, but right now the costs are, in fact, ZERO. Spam is sent through stealing someone else's resources. Even .001c would be greater than zero. And the payment might leave traces to find the spam source.
Sure, it might cut back some. Maybe. But remember how the big junkmail senders got cheaper rates in the first place: Lobbyists. So I wouldn't expect it to last.
Actually, the big junkmail senders are kept in check by *other* lobbists that work for utility companies and such. Utility companies are *required* to send bills via first-class mail, so they have some interest in controlling the first-class rate.
YES, YES! I would mod the parent to 6 and above if I could. To that I can only add that people that write TFMs are obviously never from the newbie group, thus there are always issues that are hard for newbie but aren't covered as they are too obvious for TFM writer! (as someone who is still on the newbie side of the fence... :)
You clearly hangout in different social cirles. You must be one of the RTFM people with this attitude. Yes, it is reasonable to expect that people read the docs. But it is also reasonable to expect that you will understand nothing unless you are at least moderately knowledgable. Happens to me every time I try to decipher SysAdmin related stuff. Thus the barrier of entry is high, and newbies aren't welcome
And a polite question coming from someone who tried to RTFM gets the same reply as a polite question from someone who hasn't RTFMed.
I belive that the suggestion of charging an "extension" fee for a copyright is not to solve the problem of Disney cartoons. It is to make sure that the OTHER 98% of the copyrighted material from early 20th century goes to public domain. Disney created a far bigger problem by extending the copyright of EVERY work that was created in the time of steamboat willie (sp?).
My memory is a bit hazy, but I remember that Walmart was able to scare a lot of people into removing the listings (or all of them even). That lasted until the Black Friday was over. What I don't remember is Walmart being slammed for a frivolous lawsuit. So this seems like a good method of delaying and scaring people...
Well, that is exactly what screws up the game market. People more interested in flashy things, though they do get tired of them quickly. Dunno about you, but I, personally, am willing to play a game with below-average graphics for a good story line (I am a big fan of Might and Magic 6-9, though they have not changed their engine in a decade, and their story line is decent to good). Problem is, so few games care about the story... Blizzard seems to be one of the few, and hence its success..
Indeed! And crappy game that's over two years old costs anywhere from $5-$10 in a bargain bin. I dare you to find a CD that costs less than $10... even in 5 years and even if it is *very* crappy.