Either mod this guy up for a dose of morning humor, or mod him down as a whining troll.
Yes, let's have a hyperfast internet where everything is free, free, free...I'm sure we can work something out. We only need two things:
Some government to print 80 bajillion currency units (if it's free, we can't tax anyone to build it)
A bunch of/.ers willing to spend the next three to five years of their lives working for free (if the service is free, we can't pay the people who are building it, after all)
My apologies to the above poster is this is sounding churlish...it's too early in the morning for me to be reading yet another such wishful posting.
The interesting thing about this concept (apart from abysmally slow response times) is that it is an archive: for $4.95/month, you get access to the archives of the selected publications. In order to get an article from the current issue, you'll have to pay for it. And this, strangely enough, is why I think this has a chance of succeeding...
While it's easy to find current news on the Web, finding old news (useful to put current stories in context) is almost impossible. Due to storage limits, most information providers don't keep a lot of old information. Yet, it's exactly this "old" information that is so useful in research. I, for one, would be glad to pay $5/month for a useable archive of information.
The question now is: does the KeepMedia content qualify as a useable archive of information? The magazines they have at the moment are actually promising. Aside from the trade journals (a great source of information for activists and other investigative types), there are some interesting magazines, including Mother Jones, one of the better muckraking magazines in the U.S.
I think I'll try the 7 day trial and see how much value I derive from what's available. If I wind up with the equivalent of 4-5 magazine subscriptions plus a library's worth of back issues of other material, this could be a bargain.
To further chomp down...I recently visited my favorite used CD/DVD store and what did I find on the rack? "Faces of Death 4" in all its DVD splendor. I've seen this series in video rental stores for at least ten years. While it's a vile concept, IMHO (and something I've never wanted to see), it's not a new, Internet-only attack on America's youth. While such material perhaps should be banned, the fact is that, today, it is available via brick and mortar. Don't attack the medium for the message.
Unfortunately, most of what passes for logic and reason on/. when it comes to this issue is whining and lack of responsibility, something endemic to Gen X and Y. Consider the following:
I need money. You offer me money in exchange for my television. I sign a contract giving you the television in exchange for money. Later, my neighbor, who has been coming to visit me to watch my television, is outraged that I gave it to you. Since he's been watching it at my house, he goes to your house and demands to watch it there. You say no. Since you're denying him his right to watch television, he breaks into your house and watches the television whenever he wants. If you ask him to leave, you're obviously a greedy SOB. Sound familiar?
I don't care for the current state of IP law in this country. However, it is the law. As a citizen, I have the responsibility to obey it or change it by peaceful means. Those who suggest my desire to listen to whatever music I want to for free requires civil disobedience to free us from government tyranny do a great disservice to those who have used, and continue to use, civil disobedience to accomplish noble and worthy goals.
Here's the way it is, folks: the musicians who sign away their rights for a bowl of lentil stew do so voluntarily. No one put a gun to their heads and forced them to do so. No one put a gun to their heads and forced them to become musicians. They chose to make music and they chose to market it in a certain manner. Now, they have to live with the consequences of those decisions. This is called being an adult.
How do I deal with the RIAA? Simple: I don't buy CDs I feel are not worth the cost. Neither do I steal the music via P2P. If it's on EMusic, I download it legally. If it's on the radio, I listen to it legally. If it's available at a used CD store, I buy it legally.
The latter is important, since the right to do so was established in a court of law after a challenge by the RIAA. No matter your feelings about the current legal system, it's the best we have at the moment. With time, and the proper case, sanity will prevail.
In the meantime, have the courage to act on your principles, not your appetites. If you object to paying outrageous prices for junk music, don't pay; but don't steal it. Instead, do the principled thing: listen to music that's offered to you on your terms. Better yet, learn to make music yourself...they can't take that away from you.
Imagine a device that would allow any family member to design and create his/her own toys, for their own use or for gifts. Consider the possibilities: what a great tool for teaching/stimulating creativity amongst children. Imagine a thriving network of toy P2P. Imagine these capabilities in a device that sells for $300-$500 with refills at $100. There is a market for this, and I think it may dwarf the videogame market in time.
It doesn't make enabling software illegal, but it does require such software to post a conspicuous notice to the user before it's installed. In that case, how could an operating system be preloaded on a computer without violating that provision of the bill?
I thought that as well, until I reread the bill. The language in question is actually defining what it means, legally, to place copyright works in a P2P network in violation of the proposed law. Hence, if you make it available, but nobody downloads it, you're not in violation.
IANAL...perhaps some/. legal ace can clarify my interpretation of the verbiage.
''For purposes of section 2319(b) of title 18, the placing of a copyrighted work, without the authorization of the copyright owner, on a computer network accessible to members of the public who are able to copy the work through such access...''
Those who wish to demonize the bill should read it first. It's not that long (in its current form) and will provide a much more solid base for the demonization.
Here is the bill's definition of "sharing software":
''(b) As used in this section, the term 'enabling software' means software that, when installed on the user's computer, enables 3rd parties to store data on that computer, or use that computer to search other computers' contents over the Internet.''
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't any modern operating system be considered 'enabling software' under that definition. If so, how will computers with preloaded OSes comply with this section of the law? Is it possible that all OS providers will now become felons?
Buffet pricing ($10/month for essentially all-you-can-listen-to)
Previews of every track they offer, accessible to non-subscribers as well as subscribers
High-quality VBRs
MP3s with sane strings attached: you can burn them all you want and share them with your immediate family, but no one else. This is the sensible and right way to handle distribution.
An interesting selection of labels (especially for indie/alternative and jazz)
Message boards for people to communicate with each other and with EMusic
Recommendations based on an individual's download history
RSN: the ability for members to create and publish their own lists of music
What EMusic needs to improve:
Customer service: fairly unresponsive
Quality control: too many albums are mislabeled and/or have missing tracks
Cataloging: this is a real problem with classical albums and collaborations. OTOH, no one has really come up with a good cataloging scheme for classical MP3s.
Not enough labels: the labels they have are great. It would be helpful to have more, especially labels than can provide classical basic repertory (though there are some wonderful contemporary and historical recordings available).
Bottom line: while EMusic has its flaws, I believe its basic model is the way of the future. I'm waiting for ELiterature, an e-book service that uses the same kind of business model. Any entrepreneurs out there?
Sadly, I've seen plenty of project disasters like this in the private sector. It should be a no-brainer that such a project starts with an understanding of the existing process and a vision of the new process. This leads to a written description of the process, including the collection, manipulation and display of data. From here, one can create a data model that describes and supports those needs.
All too often, what happens is that someone either sits down and knocks out a database out of thin air (with no understanding of the underlying business needs), or a team sits down with the latest and greatest methodology and tool set and forces the process into their pet methodology and tool set (again, with no understanding of the underlying business needs). I don't think perceptive/.ers need to be told what happens next.
But why does this happen? IMHO, we have dismissed the value of generalists, those who understand the underlying business model, the people and processes involved and the technical means available. At best, most teams have a business expert, a development expert, a database expert and a project manager, who likely does not have business expertise and, hence, cannot act as a proper liaison between the business and technical sides.
The generalist, being neither fish now fowl, and being more mature/older to boot, tends to be the target of early retirement and layoffs. And yet, these are the very people most needed by both public and private sectors. They are the ones who can make sense of the customer spec and present it to the team in a fashion that makes sense. They are the ones who can explain development realities to the business side in language that they can understand.
Does this mske sense, or is it the nostalgic longing of a generalist?
After the Spanish-American War, the United States entered a phase where we, for all intents and purposes, began an American Empire. The primary focus of this empire (under Theodore Roosevelt) were the Philippines, Cuba and Central America. While Cuba is clearly out of our sphere of influence for the moment, the Philippines is very much in it, and has been for most of the 20th and 21st Centuries. The Central American relationship has been somewhat more complicated, but those countries are still very much influenced by U.S. policy.
To clear up a couple of misconceptions about EMusic:
They are now encoding CDs with Lame as VBR MP3s. I've downloaded several of them; the sound quality is quite good. The watermarking, I believe, is to allow them to track illegal uses of the files (on Kazaa, for example).
A working Linux DLM should be out next week. I hate having to boot to Win2k for the sole purpose of downloading my music, but I'm willing to put up with the temporary inconvenience for the sake of the music I can get. While EMusic's initial response to the problems with the 2.0 DLM was not very good, the message board moderators are becoming more open.
Granted, the selection leaves something to be desired. However, new music and labels are being added weekly. I've been able to find Messiaen, Partch, Wuorinen and other composers, as well as some wonderful jazz. Since the entire collection is available for visitors to search and sample, it certainly won't hurt to give it a try.
Yes, the search engine sucks (especially for classical music). However, I've used that to my advantage to find new artists by browsing through their lists (something like perusing card catalogs in a library). That's how I discovered Cat Power, the single most depressing singer I've ever heard (and that's meant as a compliment).
Is EMusic perfect? Of course not. Is it worth a look? Definitely.
There is an alternative for those who want to have their cake and burn it, too: EMusic. For $10/month, subscribers can download reasonably high quality, VBR MP3s and do with them as they wish, short of sharing them with the world.
The catch: if all you want is the latest ClearChannel dreck, you'll have to look elsewhere. The labels on EMusic are not the Big 5/Top 40 pablum. However, if your taste runs to the esoteric and the adventurous, as well as to college station material, you may want to check it out. 30 second samples of their entire collection is available for visitors to sample.
I don't really know why this service doesn't get more publicity. IMHO, it's close to the perfect model for online music.
Slashdot Mirror
some just flat-out suck
Yes, let's have a hyperfast internet where everything is free, free, free...I'm sure we can work something out. We only need two things:
Some government to print 80 bajillion currency units (if it's free, we can't tax anyone to build it)
A bunch of /.ers willing to spend the next three to five years of their lives working for free (if the service is free, we can't pay the people who are building it, after all)
My apologies to the above poster is this is sounding churlish...it's too early in the morning for me to be reading yet another such wishful posting.
TANSTAAFL
While it's easy to find current news on the Web, finding old news (useful to put current stories in context) is almost impossible. Due to storage limits, most information providers don't keep a lot of old information. Yet, it's exactly this "old" information that is so useful in research. I, for one, would be glad to pay $5/month for a useable archive of information.
The question now is: does the KeepMedia content qualify as a useable archive of information? The magazines they have at the moment are actually promising. Aside from the trade journals (a great source of information for activists and other investigative types), there are some interesting magazines, including Mother Jones, one of the better muckraking magazines in the U.S.
I think I'll try the 7 day trial and see how much value I derive from what's available. If I wind up with the equivalent of 4-5 magazine subscriptions plus a library's worth of back issues of other material, this could be a bargain.
To further chomp down...I recently visited my favorite used CD/DVD store and what did I find on the rack? "Faces of Death 4" in all its DVD splendor. I've seen this series in video rental stores for at least ten years. While it's a vile concept, IMHO (and something I've never wanted to see), it's not a new, Internet-only attack on America's youth. While such material perhaps should be banned, the fact is that, today, it is available via brick and mortar. Don't attack the medium for the message.
I need money. You offer me money in exchange for my television. I sign a contract giving you the television in exchange for money. Later, my neighbor, who has been coming to visit me to watch my television, is outraged that I gave it to you. Since he's been watching it at my house, he goes to your house and demands to watch it there. You say no. Since you're denying him his right to watch television, he breaks into your house and watches the television whenever he wants. If you ask him to leave, you're obviously a greedy SOB. Sound familiar?
I don't care for the current state of IP law in this country. However, it is the law. As a citizen, I have the responsibility to obey it or change it by peaceful means. Those who suggest my desire to listen to whatever music I want to for free requires civil disobedience to free us from government tyranny do a great disservice to those who have used, and continue to use, civil disobedience to accomplish noble and worthy goals.
Here's the way it is, folks: the musicians who sign away their rights for a bowl of lentil stew do so voluntarily. No one put a gun to their heads and forced them to do so. No one put a gun to their heads and forced them to become musicians. They chose to make music and they chose to market it in a certain manner. Now, they have to live with the consequences of those decisions. This is called being an adult.
How do I deal with the RIAA? Simple: I don't buy CDs I feel are not worth the cost. Neither do I steal the music via P2P. If it's on EMusic, I download it legally. If it's on the radio, I listen to it legally. If it's available at a used CD store, I buy it legally.
The latter is important, since the right to do so was established in a court of law after a challenge by the RIAA. No matter your feelings about the current legal system, it's the best we have at the moment. With time, and the proper case, sanity will prevail.
In the meantime, have the courage to act on your principles, not your appetites. If you object to paying outrageous prices for junk music, don't pay; but don't steal it. Instead, do the principled thing: listen to music that's offered to you on your terms. Better yet, learn to make music yourself...they can't take that away from you.
Imagine a device that would allow any family member to design and create his/her own toys, for their own use or for gifts. Consider the possibilities: what a great tool for teaching/stimulating creativity amongst children. Imagine a thriving network of toy P2P. Imagine these capabilities in a device that sells for $300-$500 with refills at $100. There is a market for this, and I think it may dwarf the videogame market in time.
I stand corrected.
It doesn't make enabling software illegal, but it does require such software to post a conspicuous notice to the user before it's installed. In that case, how could an operating system be preloaded on a computer without violating that provision of the bill?
IANAL...perhaps some /. legal ace can clarify my interpretation of the verbiage.
In order to get the most benefit out of this bill, I guess the labels will be raising the retail price of their CDs to $250.
''For purposes of section 2319(b) of title 18, the placing of a copyrighted work, without the authorization of the copyright owner, on a computer network accessible to members of the public who are able to copy the work through such access...''
Those who wish to demonize the bill should read it first. It's not that long (in its current form) and will provide a much more solid base for the demonization.
''(b) As used in this section, the term 'enabling software' means software that, when installed on the user's computer, enables 3rd parties to store data on that computer, or use that computer to search other computers' contents over the Internet.''
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't any modern operating system be considered 'enabling software' under that definition. If so, how will computers with preloaded OSes comply with this section of the law? Is it possible that all OS providers will now become felons?
Buffet pricing ($10/month for essentially all-you-can-listen-to)
Previews of every track they offer, accessible to non-subscribers as well as subscribers
High-quality VBRs
MP3s with sane strings attached: you can burn them all you want and share them with your immediate family, but no one else. This is the sensible and right way to handle distribution.
An interesting selection of labels (especially for indie/alternative and jazz)
Message boards for people to communicate with each other and with EMusic
Recommendations based on an individual's download history
RSN: the ability for members to create and publish their own lists of music
What EMusic needs to improve:
Customer service: fairly unresponsive
Quality control: too many albums are mislabeled and/or have missing tracks
Cataloging: this is a real problem with classical albums and collaborations. OTOH, no one has really come up with a good cataloging scheme for classical MP3s.
Not enough labels: the labels they have are great. It would be helpful to have more, especially labels than can provide classical basic repertory (though there are some wonderful contemporary and historical recordings available).
Bottom line: while EMusic has its flaws, I believe its basic model is the way of the future. I'm waiting for ELiterature, an e-book service that uses the same kind of business model. Any entrepreneurs out there?
All too often, what happens is that someone either sits down and knocks out a database out of thin air (with no understanding of the underlying business needs), or a team sits down with the latest and greatest methodology and tool set and forces the process into their pet methodology and tool set (again, with no understanding of the underlying business needs). I don't think perceptive /.ers need to be told what happens next.
But why does this happen? IMHO, we have dismissed the value of generalists, those who understand the underlying business model, the people and processes involved and the technical means available. At best, most teams have a business expert, a development expert, a database expert and a project manager, who likely does not have business expertise and, hence, cannot act as a proper liaison between the business and technical sides.
The generalist, being neither fish now fowl, and being more mature/older to boot, tends to be the target of early retirement and layoffs. And yet, these are the very people most needed by both public and private sectors. They are the ones who can make sense of the customer spec and present it to the team in a fashion that makes sense. They are the ones who can explain development realities to the business side in language that they can understand.
Does this mske sense, or is it the nostalgic longing of a generalist?
After the Spanish-American War, the United States entered a phase where we, for all intents and purposes, began an American Empire. The primary focus of this empire (under Theodore Roosevelt) were the Philippines, Cuba and Central America. While Cuba is clearly out of our sphere of influence for the moment, the Philippines is very much in it, and has been for most of the 20th and 21st Centuries. The Central American relationship has been somewhat more complicated, but those countries are still very much influenced by U.S. policy.
To clear up a couple of misconceptions about EMusic:
They are now encoding CDs with Lame as VBR MP3s. I've downloaded several of them; the sound quality is quite good. The watermarking, I believe, is to allow them to track illegal uses of the files (on Kazaa, for example).
A working Linux DLM should be out next week. I hate having to boot to Win2k for the sole purpose of downloading my music, but I'm willing to put up with the temporary inconvenience for the sake of the music I can get. While EMusic's initial response to the problems with the 2.0 DLM was not very good, the message board moderators are becoming more open.
Granted, the selection leaves something to be desired. However, new music and labels are being added weekly. I've been able to find Messiaen, Partch, Wuorinen and other composers, as well as some wonderful jazz. Since the entire collection is available for visitors to search and sample, it certainly won't hurt to give it a try.
Yes, the search engine sucks (especially for classical music). However, I've used that to my advantage to find new artists by browsing through their lists (something like perusing card catalogs in a library). That's how I discovered Cat Power, the single most depressing singer I've ever heard (and that's meant as a compliment).
Is EMusic perfect? Of course not. Is it worth a look? Definitely.
There is an alternative for those who want to have their cake and burn it, too: EMusic. For $10/month, subscribers can download reasonably high quality, VBR MP3s and do with them as they wish, short of sharing them with the world.
The catch: if all you want is the latest ClearChannel dreck, you'll have to look elsewhere. The labels on EMusic are not the Big 5/Top 40 pablum. However, if your taste runs to the esoteric and the adventurous, as well as to college station material, you may want to check it out. 30 second samples of their entire collection is available for visitors to sample.
I don't really know why this service doesn't get more publicity. IMHO, it's close to the perfect model for online music.