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User: CastrTroy

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  1. Re:Convenience on The DRM Scorecard · · Score: 1

    But even currently, if you're the kind of person who doesn't require all the PDA functions, then you probably wouldn't care about whether or not you could play your music on an PDA. People who do care about playing on their PDA don't buy encrypted music. Everyone gets what they want. My point was, was that regardless of which devices do and don't support your chosen encryption method today, thing about how things will be 5 years down the road, and whether or not you'll want to be locked into devices from a single player. Apple came out of nowhere with their iPods. It's not to be expected that someone else might do it. Sony could make a really good one. Their Minidisc players were quite good for a while. 52 hours on a single AA battery. If they would stop loading their players up with DRM, and listening to their customers, they might actually get a few sales.

  2. Re:Convenience on The DRM Scorecard · · Score: 1

    What if you wanted a portable music player that wasn't an iPod? Would you feel restricted then? Currently there's not much out there that puts up much competition to the iPod, or at least not much that's a whole lot better. However, in a few years who knows. Maybe some company will put out a device with 300 GB of storage, and 30 hours of battery life while playing videos. And it will have a nice interface. Buying music and other media encrypted may not seem like such a big deal right now, but it seems to me like a very shortsighted point of view. Who know's what kind of players of operating systems will be available in the future. It would be a shame if you couldn't experiece the newest hardware because your music was locked down.

  3. Re:DIVX on The DRM Scorecard · · Score: 1

    Same with my old NetMD Minidisc player. I can't get music on there without Sony's permission. There's a couple projects out there, but none of them have gotten anywhere close to being to put music on the thing. It's really all about the need to crack this stuff. Everything where there has been a large demand for cracking the DRM, it has happened.

  4. Re:My ideals on the "next internet". on What Does the 'Next Internet' Look Like? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't see why you'd want a wristwatch to be contacting the internet. They only drift by about 10 seconds per year, and any extra exactness that you'd get from syncing with the internet, would probably be lost in battery life. The only time my watch drifts any noticable amount is when the battery is low, at which point it would probably be unable to contact the internet anyway.

  5. Re:optical mice have their own issues. on Mouse or Trackball? · · Score: 1

    One thing I've notice about mice and gaming is that you have to constantly pick the mouse up from the desk and move it back into position. This can make you lose precious time, as well as cause the mouse to do undesired actions as it tries to interpret the movement from lifting the mouse. I find that a trackball is a lot better for games, because you never have to adjust it's position, and once you get used to it, you can often just let the thing spin, to do really big movements.

  6. Re:Write them to a DVD jukebox on DSS/HIPPA/SOX Unalterable Audit Logs? · · Score: 2, Informative

    I remember working with VHS tapes. We had to lay down a "control track" by recording a continuous stream over the entire disc before using it. Maybe it's just because my highschool had bad video editing hardware, but I remember that this control track was important if you wanted the editing machines to be able to properly align with single frames when editing, and for the time and frame number to be consistent.

  7. Re:Features? on Can You Handle 'THEY'? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I knew it was rifle, but for some reason my hands typed weapon. Probably because I had just finished writing weapon in the previous sentence.

  8. Re:Er, no. on Music From DNA Patented · · Score: 1

    That's it, I'm going to patent music made from RNA. Then we'll see who get's rich quick.

  9. Re:Features? on Can You Handle 'THEY'? · · Score: 1

    I immediately thought of Full Metal Jacket when the GP mentioned "loving" your weapons. Also, don't forget:

    This is my weapon.
    This is my gun.
    This is for fighting.
    This is for fun.

  10. Re:Meh on eMusic on AT&T Deal With eMusic Excludes iPhones · · Score: 1

    I also like the fact that they trust me with the music, and that they don't try to lock down what I can do with it. I was also amazed at some of the "main-stream" bands you can find on eMusic. One that comes to mind is CCR, as well as stuff released solo by John Fogerty. There's also a lot of classical, and kids music. Kids music is really good for well, the kids. It's relatively cheap, and has lots of the popular shows like Barney, and Bob the Builder, as well as a lot of other artists who do a mix of classic songs, as well as some of their own. There's also a lot of comedy albums. I just got one the other day by George Carlin. And I also picked up Abbott and Costello's, Who's on First. There's lots of good stuff there, you just have to look a little. And just because you have an account there, doesn't mean you can't go out and buy a CD once in a while. I picked up the new Smashing Pumpkins disc the other day. For the price of 1 CD, I get 50 songs. That's not all the music I'll ever buy, but I'd rather get 50 songs from eMusic every month, than buy 1 extra CD.

  11. Re:Uh... on AT&T Deal With eMusic Excludes iPhones · · Score: 3, Insightful
    In the article it says:

    $7.49 a month for access to five songs
    Wow, that's expensive. Who would pay that much for music. I currently have the $15 plan, and I get 50 songs. So if I bought the songs on my cell phone, I would pay about $1.50 for a song. With my plan, I pay $0.30 for a song. That means it costs 5 times more to buy it on the phone. I can't seriously see this working, or creating any good press for eMusic or AT&T. eMusic is all about delivering indie music at a fair price. If this is the first exposure people have to eMusic, they will relate it with high prices for not-even-big-name-bands. Why would anybody pay $1.50 a song, just to have it now, instead of downloading it when you got home, or to your office, or a friends house, or to a coffee shop with your laptop...
  12. Re:Any consensus? on Blue Blu-ray · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Which brings up a good question. Back in the 80s?? when the VHS-Betamax war was raging, there wasn't many ways to get porn. You could either buy magazines, which were just pictures, or you could buy video cassettes. Now we have the internet. With all the pay-for and free porn on the internet, I think that buying porn in a brick and mortar store will disappear pretty fast. I don't think that porn availability will be the deciding factor in which format wins this time around, because most of the people who are up-and-up on technology, who will be buying the new HD disc players are on the internet, and getting their porn from there.

  13. Re:Any consensus? on Blue Blu-ray · · Score: 0

    Almost 1/3 have HDTV? Really? I live in Canada, and it isn't that different from the USA up here, and I cannot believe that for a second. I would say that maybe 10% of the people I know own an HDTV. And I know some people with a lot of money. Most people I know just don't see the need for it. Granted most people will probably buy HDTV when it's time to upgrade, since it's hard to find a decent SDTV, but people aren't just running out and buying these things.

  14. Re:Largely an attitude thing on Does ODF Have a Future? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Which I really don't understand, because usually, MS Word will mess with the formatting if you open it up on a computer with a different printer. PDF really is the best for resumes, because it means that how I see my resume, is exactly how everyone else will see my resume. I don't want to get turned down for a job because somebody looked at it in a different version of ms word, and the formatting was messed up, or the text ended up being a little bigger, and something got pushed off the page, which left one page blank, except for that 1 line that got pushed. It's probably not a good idea to judge how good a candidate is based on how their resume looks, and not the content inside, but when you post a job, and get 500 resumes in 2 days, you have to weed through them pretty quickly. Throwing out any resumes that have really bad formatting is a way good start.

  15. Re:That's why its called Prison... on FBI, IRS Raid Home of Sen. Ted Stevens · · Score: 1

    However, operating prisons isn't supposed to be all about efficiency. It's about keeping dangerous people out of society, and trying to make them not so dangerous. The owners and investors in a business are a happy as long as the business is making money. It can't be argued that the government paying someone else to do the job, and have them make a profit, can be cheaper than them doing the same thing themselves, for no profit. That's a logical fallacy, assuming they are doing the same thing as the private enterprise would be doing.

  16. Re:That's why its called Prison... on FBI, IRS Raid Home of Sen. Ted Stevens · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But jails are a private enterprise, and by lowering the recidivism rate, they are getting rid of their cash flow. The prisons aren't interested in rehabilitating people, and the health insurance companies aren't interested in providing health care. That's what happens when things that should be socially funded get turned into a money making scheme.

  17. Re:boo hoo on Apple Sued Over iPhone Non-Replaceable Batteries · · Score: 0, Troll

    Although he probably shouldn't win this trial, You would thank that Apple would have learned their lesson by now. With all the complaints about iPods having non-user-replaceable batteries, you would think that they would have changed the design. Especially on a cell phone, as I have never had a cell phone who's battery laster more than 1.5 years, and I'm not even a heavy user. Also, the fact that most people cannot be without their phone for a week while it's being repaired. If you can't listen to your music, it kind of sucks. If you can't contact any of your business contacts, or have to wait by a landline, or get a loaner phone, which probably doesn't have all your calendar and address book information, that a lot worse.

  18. Re:Very true. on Emoticons in the Workplace · · Score: 1

    I find that emoticons such as :), :( and :0, can be very useful to convey the mood of an email. However, things like LOL,L8R, and all the other giberish, for which perfectly good words exist are unnecessary in the work place. Things like sending nudges and winks on MSN, as well as replacing words with animated GIFs is completely unnacceptable in the work place. Maybe I'm just a bit too serious about work, but it makes me lose confidence in the people I'm working with when they refuse to write coherent sentences. I've often wondered why they don't make an IM service/client for businesses, that doesn't support all this stuff that shouldn't be used in the office, and doesn't cost $2000 a seat.

  19. Re:An alternate open letter on Comment Deadline For NYC Photography Permits · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You mention professional photographers using low-end SLR cameras. With the advancement of Digital cameras, it's not uncommon to see amateurs, like families on vacation, using what appears to be a very professional camera. Also, it's not uncommon to see professionals using what looks like the camera an amateur would use. Also, I've seen a lot of professionals not using tripods. Does getting rid of the tripod immediately mean that you don't require a permit? The lines here seem very blurred here. Just because someone is using a tripod and a nice camera doesn't mean they are a professional, just as someone using a cheap camera with no tripod can be a professional.

  20. Re:What about other revenue sources? on Higher Tuition For an Engineering Degree · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm from Canada and the Engineering students (of which I was one) paid way more for tuition than arts students. Do you know why? Because even though they can make a lot of money off research, it still costs a lot for all the equipments. Most students in arts programs require a professor, and a room in which to put the students. Engineering and science requires labs, computers, professors who could be making better money in the private sector, and many other thinks that aren't necessary for a student in other programs. I remember one of my professors telling me about a study, where they said a history student cost around $300 for a single course, while and engineer could could cost 10 times that much. So, in reality, the history students were subsidizing the engineering students. We should be so lucky that our tuition is as low as it is.

  21. Re:Kind of sad on Web Contracts Can't Be Changed Without Notice · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The point is, is that these companies are not being fair about the renegotiations. There are actually no negotiations going on at all. They just change the contract, tell you if you don't like it, you can leave, and you may not even have any idea that we've changed the contract until it's too late. You're landlord can't just come to you 6 months after you've signed the lease, and take away your stove, fridge, and dishwashers, and say, sorry, we changed the terms of this contract, and you're not entitled to that stuff anymore. If you don't like it, you can leave. Oh, but you now have to give us 4 months warning before moving out, or you'll be held accountable for the extra rent.

  22. Kind of sad on Web Contracts Can't Be Changed Without Notice · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's kind of sad that something like this has to be decided in court, and isn't actually just common sense. I can't have someone sign a paper contract, and then go and change everything around, and them make them bound to said contract. I don't know why anybody would think an online contract would be any different. The whole idea of changing a contract after someone has already agreed it is ludicrous.

  23. Re:This is horrible news... seriously on Judge Permits eBay's "Buy It Now" Feature · · Score: 1

    Many people will just buy Coke, simply because it's coke, and not because it actually tastes better, or different than the competition. You see this with many products. Most people will buy Black Diamond or Cracker Barrel cheddar even though the noname cheddar is actually much better cheese, at a much better price. People will spend $30 on a bottle of wine, simply because they think that if it costs more, it will be better. Price does factor into it a bit, but often you can get something just as good, if not better, if you stay away from the name brands.

  24. Re:Why not? on School District To Parents — Buy Office 2007 · · Score: 1

    My biggest pet-peeve about computers is programs that think they are smarter than the users. Things like auto-correct, auto-formatting, auto-linking, and a bunch of other "auto" stuff that I never asked the computer to do in the first place. I liked it when word processors didn't try to guess what you were doing, and just did what you told them to.

  25. Re:This is horrible news... seriously on Judge Permits eBay's "Buy It Now" Feature · · Score: 1

    You do realize that there's something called chemical analysis. If Pepsi wanted to copy Coke, they could make an identical product. The reason they don't, is that nobody wants to be just some copycat of Coke. If you're saying that "our product is the same as Coke", then you're admitting that Coke is the best, and everyone will continue to buy Coke. By creating copycat products, you validate the competitors product. Pepsi is better off saying that their product is better than Coke. Coke tried this when they came out with "New Coke". They tried to make it taste more like Pepsi. They lost the Coke drinkers, because they didn't want Pepsi, and the Pepsi drinkers stayed with Pepsi because they wanted real Pepsi, not some Coke knock-off.