As people have said above: You pay a monthly fee for access to their full catalog (which is hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of music) just like Rhapsody. The difference is that the illusion of having the actual song is stronger, as you can see it on your HDD in your library, unlike Rhapsody where its hidden in an ecrypted folder.
I think this service is perfectly acceptable, and if Apple was offering it Im sure slashdot would be rejoicing. I think the difference between Itunes DRM and MS DRM is that MS DRM actually works, and is very effective at managing Digital Restrictions. I still have to see Hymn for Napster.
But Slashdot, remember, you can still use the Line-in hack;)
It needs to get a bit cheaper, but I already use Rhapsody (which works great with Total Recorder btw) and would consider using this service as it would be even easier to take my tunes with me.
Thats such nonsense. Billg doesn't even use a PDA. He has a real Personal Assistant to remind him of appointments. The handheld department of MS has always been treated as the bastard child, with little resources and little ongoing development. Despite this it has been quitely successful, especially as it now transitions into the phone device market (e.g. Treo like devices).
In the end though every MS PDA/smartphone sold only makes MS $5 while the laptop it replaces (with office) may have made bill $200. Do the maths yourself. They certainly have.
Many use TV like people used to use radio; as a background distraction. This is especially true when someone is at home all day e.g. housewife or retired.
So try the TV running 10-16 hours per day contineously. Thats only 3.5 to 7 years life from that 20 000 hrs!
Accept the ones who use the MS OS gets the codecs for free, while alternate OS users will have to license them individually, which may cost more in the end.
Nothing illegal about doing this, but this is the advantage of getting your codec admitted as a standard.
Your country is only 300 years old. Nearly everyone there are immigrants within the last 6-9 generations, and some, like the Irish a lot earlier.
So now that you've made it, you want to slam the gates shut, to preserve you way of life, built up on the cheap labour of immigrants in the first place!
Of course its human nature to look after Number One, but dont think it makes you admirable in any way.
This will likely be implemented in WMP 10 for mobile devices, allowing rented music and movies. Microsoft is moving hard into that area, and they have the media companies on their side.
The thing is, this is a feature, and people will be begging to have it.
<sarcasm> Nice slashvert, isnt it, and the instructions are so clear, so any newbie like us would know how to use the Lightscribe (TM), obviously the only device that can do this. How revolutionary!!
What would we do without slashdot to inform us about upcoming products to spend our dollars on!</sarcasm>
Too many palm loving mods suppressing intelligent comments
Palm is a dieing breed (Score:-1, Troll) by fzammett (255288) on Sunday December 12, @08:15PM (#11067719) ( http://www.omnytex.com/ ) Seriously, it is. Even the worst PocketPC is far more functional, and they are quite stable and reliable.
And that doesn't even mention Linux-based devices, which really haven't taken hold yet. I think it's just a matter of time before they do, although there needs to be a good shell around it. I thought the Zaurus was a good start, but (a) they just aren't big in the states, and (b) they aren't up to snuff yet.
Simply put, a PocketPC is what you want, well, in your pocket, these days. Palm used to be king, but it's stagnated, and even in it's heyday it was difficult to write applications for, so even though you saw a lot available, 98% of it was crap (and still is). Sure, there's plenty of crap for PocketPC's as well, but there's a higher percentage of actually useful software.
Forget Palm. History will do the same, soon enough. -- If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pair?
Win CE *is* about $5 a pop, for most applications, including pocketpc's. $5 is not far from free, and Win CE is open source to the OEM's, to modify as they see fit. Further more there are a lot of drivers available for Win CE already, and they get supported by microsoft. Its not too bad a deal.
And we KNOW microsoft is salivating over getting into the 3rd world cheap computer market before Linux and other free software takes hold, robbing them of future revenue forever.
I'm reading Ian M. Bank's Algebraist currently. Its a huge 700 page hard cover. It is was available in e-book format I would have finished it long ago on my pocketpc. I could have read it easily in bed with the lights off, while waiting for others to arrive at a meeting, in a queue. It is too big, bulky and heavy to cart around, so currently its lying next to my bed, and has been for last 2 weeks.
I really cant understand why Sci-fi authors dont get behind the idea. Its described enough in their novels for them to understand the concept, isn't it?
Look, I wouldn't worry, Ace: When we elect ineffective presidents who wear their religion on their sleeve, as we did in 1976 with Jimmy Carter, they're not around for a second term...
"Please name the "wrong way" to question the US president. And exactly what are the consequences you're implying? I don't think you mean not being allowed back into a presidential press conference, so what are you saying?"
Stop being so paranoid! He is saying exactly that. The press fear losing access, and self-censor because the government does not like critisism.
There is a really simple solution to most of the visual processing and AI problems self-driving cars face: Dedicated lanes and roads,
If we cant make a system competent to deal with the complex real world, we usually simplify the world. Make one lane on the interstate or motorway self-drive only, and expand the system as more and more cars switch over. 5 years later ban the production of cars without Self-Drive, and 15 years later ban cars that cant self-drive.
In the mean time upgrade the infra-structure to make roads safer and simpler, with road-side barriers and intelligent sensors in the road.
When we replace human craftsman we dont replace them androids, copying their every move. We replace them with a different processes that are simpler, cheaper and faster. I dont see why we cant do it here. (and until we have true AI I dont think we should expose self-drive cars to an urban environment with children etc).
Ok, you caught me out. I am in the UK, and out top speed limit is 5mph faster that yours. The road rules are essentially the same though (accept on the other side of the road)
About educating the USians, I often feel I know much more than I really need to know about America, its rules, laws, politics and even court cases that I should really need to. It does give you a feeling that you are living in a global village. And there are many people who see the UK as the 51st state in any case.
The difference is that Americans often dont (and as the only remaining superpower dont really have a need to) know much about the rest of the world but they may have faced the same problems, and may have tried to solve them already.
Knowing the mistakes other people have made is always educational.
I dont have a car "to be free". I have one to do what I want and need to do when I want and need to do it. I dont fear our government, and feel that if I did something wrong, I would be unfair of me to insist that the government grants me rights to make it easy for me to escape justice (e.g getaway cars that cant be disabled remotely).
As another poster said, for the system to work all your fears would in fact be mandated. It would need to centrally and intimately controlled, and the level of maintenance would HAVE to be of a very high standard (meaning backyard garages would not quite cut it).
As long as the CONVENIENCE of having a car is preserved, and the cost does not increase dramatically, I would love to have an electronic chauffeur drive me around. It would just be another example of technology supplying us cheaply with the conveniences only the elite used to be able to afford.
Hang on. So you telling me all this talk about "Speed Kills" is just propaganda?! And that they decided to irritate everyone with foolish speed limits instead of legislating improved fuel consumption targets?
Now I agree that 'keep right except to pass' is supposed to increases road capacity, but only by sanctioning speeding. If we all drove the speed limit we could FULLY utilise all the lanes. Instead we are supposed to keep right, so you could exceed the speed limit, jumping from one space (left for following distance) to another. Its to compensate for your behaviour of the selfish people who always want to go faster than everyone else that the 'keep right except to pass' rule exists in the first place.
Liability is a concept (and a new one), not a right. Sometimes accidents are excusable, and as long as can COMPENSATE some-one FAIRLY for the damages (from a central fund) then no real harm is done.
If this technology on average saves lives, exemption from liability can be legislated, and it would in fact be the moral thing for the government to do, if they were really serving the population. There are other technologies like nuclear fission power generation which are already treated in a similar way, where the government is the insurer of last resort.
If I am driving the speed limit, you should NOT be trying to pass me, whichever lane I am in.
And no, flashing your lights are not going to make me get out of your way. In fact its going to make me slow down. What are you going to do, smash your expensive BMW on my bumper?
If everyone drove the speed limit (whatever it happens to be) there would be less traffic jams caused by self-important pricks who want to get their home or office 30 seconds before everyone else.
You have got to be kidding. When was the last time you saw a TV or print advert for a pocketpc without a price attached. I still remember the Palm adverts with the couple on the two trains quite well. Didn't they have Claudia Schiffer in one of their campaigns. Palm also has enormous mindshare. Any handheld computer is still a Palm Pilot to the uninitiated.
I know you think MS is backing pocketpc's with billions, but remember they are part of the same devision as X-box, which is definitely making a loss. Also palm still has billions in the bank from their IPO during the dot-com boom.
I wish MS would take a larger interest in their creation, and do some more promoting. Instead they are all over the place, with separate implementations for media players and the x-box, when they could have made one integrated platform. Despite their lack of support the market has chosen, and it has chosen versatility and power over "simplicity" and "ease of use".
I think the pocketpc vs palm battle has reached a tipping point. At this stage people will start to think of buying into an OS with a future, which will lead to accelerating movement away from Palm OS. Think of Netscape VS IE. The remarkable think is that in this case it occurred without any underhanded tactics from MS, and even quite lacklustre support. The main advantage has been the assumption that hardware will catch up with OS demands, while Palm aways tried to live within hardware limitations, resulting in limited product, optimized for 33Mhz.
Slashdot Mirror
As people have said above: You pay a monthly fee for access to their full catalog (which is hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of music) just like Rhapsody. The difference is that the illusion of having the actual song is stronger, as you can see it on your HDD in your library, unlike Rhapsody where its hidden in an ecrypted folder.
;)
I think this service is perfectly acceptable, and if Apple was offering it Im sure slashdot would be rejoicing. I think the difference between Itunes DRM and MS DRM is that MS DRM actually works, and is very effective at managing Digital Restrictions. I still have to see Hymn for Napster.
But Slashdot, remember, you can still use the Line-in hack
It needs to get a bit cheaper, but I already use Rhapsody (which works great with Total Recorder btw) and would consider using this service as it would be even easier to take my tunes with me.
Surur
Thats such nonsense. Billg doesn't even use a PDA. He has a real Personal Assistant to remind him of appointments. The handheld department of MS has always been treated as the bastard child, with little resources and little ongoing development. Despite this it has been quitely successful, especially as it now transitions into the phone device market (e.g. Treo like devices).
In the end though every MS PDA/smartphone sold only makes MS $5 while the laptop it replaces (with office) may have made bill $200. Do the maths yourself. They certainly have.
Surur
Many use TV like people used to use radio; as a background distraction. This is especially true when someone is at home all day e.g. housewife or retired.
So try the TV running 10-16 hours per day contineously. Thats only 3.5 to 7 years life from that 20 000 hrs!
Surur
Also I tried the webroot online scanner, and the thing reported two keyloggers and three adware programs.
However on investigating the system I found no trace of these things. Maybe webroot is better at scaring people into buying their product?
Surur
Accept the ones who use the MS OS gets the codecs for free, while alternate OS users will have to license them individually, which may cost more in the end.
Nothing illegal about doing this, but this is the advantage of getting your codec admitted as a standard.
Surur
Hello, are you stupid?
Your country is only 300 years old. Nearly everyone there are immigrants within the last 6-9 generations, and some, like the Irish a lot earlier.
So now that you've made it, you want to slam the gates shut, to preserve you way of life, built up on the cheap labour of immigrants in the first place!
Of course its human nature to look after Number One, but dont think it makes you admirable in any way.
Surur
This will likely be implemented in WMP 10 for mobile devices, allowing rented music and movies. Microsoft is moving hard into that area, and they have the media companies on their side.
The thing is, this is a feature, and people will be begging to have it.
Surur
Too many palm loving mods suppressing intelligent comments
Palm is a dieing breed (Score:-1, Troll)
by fzammett (255288) on Sunday December 12, @08:15PM (#11067719)
( http://www.omnytex.com/ )
Seriously, it is. Even the worst PocketPC is far more functional, and they are quite stable and reliable.
And that doesn't even mention Linux-based devices, which really haven't taken hold yet. I think it's just a matter of time before they do, although there needs to be a good shell around it. I thought the Zaurus was a good start, but (a) they just aren't big in the states, and (b) they aren't up to snuff yet.
Simply put, a PocketPC is what you want, well, in your pocket, these days. Palm used to be king, but it's stagnated, and even in it's heyday it was difficult to write applications for, so even though you saw a lot available, 98% of it was crap (and still is). Sure, there's plenty of crap for PocketPC's as well, but there's a higher percentage of actually useful software.
Forget Palm. History will do the same, soon enough.
--
If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pair?
Just think how much rice $380 of AMD computer would buy. Somehow I dont think $5 for rice is much of an issue.
Surur
Win CE *is* about $5 a pop, for most applications, including pocketpc's. $5 is not far from free, and Win CE is open source to the OEM's, to modify as they see fit. Further more there are a lot of drivers available for Win CE already, and they get supported by microsoft. Its not too bad a deal.
And we KNOW microsoft is salivating over getting into the 3rd world cheap computer market before Linux and other free software takes hold, robbing them of future revenue forever.
Surur
I'm reading Ian M. Bank's Algebraist currently. Its a huge 700 page hard cover. It is was available in e-book format I would have finished it long ago on my pocketpc. I could have read it easily in bed with the lights off, while waiting for others to arrive at a meeting, in a queue. It is too big, bulky and heavy to cart around, so currently its lying next to my bed, and has been for last 2 weeks.
I really cant understand why Sci-fi authors dont get behind the idea. Its described enough in their novels for them to understand the concept, isn't it?
Surur
What! Have you been sleeping since 1 November ?
Surur
"Please name the "wrong way" to question the US president. And exactly what are the consequences you're implying? I don't think you mean not being allowed back into a presidential press conference, so what are you saying?"
Stop being so paranoid! He is saying exactly that. The press fear losing access, and self-censor because the government does not like critisism.
Surur
Thats a 40 000mm bridge made from carbon nanotubes of course
(Damn, why cant one edit posts in slashdot?)
Surur
This is as much proof of concept as that climber crawling up 290 feet up a ribbon - in other words exactly NOTHING!
As many people have said, show me the 40 000 mm bridge over the stream and I'll start believing in the possiblity of a 40 000 KM cable.
Proving things we know can work already (without developing new technology) proves nothing at all.
Surur
There is a really simple solution to most of the visual processing and AI problems self-driving cars face: Dedicated lanes and roads,
If we cant make a system competent to deal with the complex real world, we usually simplify the world. Make one lane on the interstate or motorway self-drive only, and expand the system as more and more cars switch over. 5 years later ban the production of cars without Self-Drive, and 15 years later ban cars that cant self-drive.
In the mean time upgrade the infra-structure to make roads safer and simpler, with road-side barriers and intelligent sensors in the road.
When we replace human craftsman we dont replace them androids, copying their every move. We replace them with a different processes that are simpler, cheaper and faster. I dont see why we cant do it here. (and until we have true AI I dont think we should expose self-drive cars to an urban environment with children etc).
Surur
Ok, you caught me out. I am in the UK, and out top speed limit is 5mph faster that yours. The road rules are essentially the same though (accept on the other side of the road)
About educating the USians, I often feel I know much more than I really need to know about America, its rules, laws, politics and even court cases that I should really need to. It does give you a feeling that you are living in a global village. And there are many people who see the UK as the 51st state in any case.
The difference is that Americans often dont (and as the only remaining superpower dont really have a need to) know much about the rest of the world but they may have faced the same problems, and may have tried to solve them already.
Knowing the mistakes other people have made is always educational.
Surur
I dont have a car "to be free". I have one to do what I want and need to do when I want and need to do it. I dont fear our government, and feel that if I did something wrong, I would be unfair of me to insist that the government grants me rights to make it easy for me to escape justice (e.g getaway cars that cant be disabled remotely).
As another poster said, for the system to work all your fears would in fact be mandated. It would need to centrally and intimately controlled, and the level of maintenance would HAVE to be of a very high standard (meaning backyard garages would not quite cut it).
As long as the CONVENIENCE of having a car is preserved, and the cost does not increase dramatically, I would love to have an electronic chauffeur drive me around. It would just be another example of technology supplying us cheaply with the conveniences only the elite used to be able to afford.
Surur
Hang on. So you telling me all this talk about "Speed Kills" is just propaganda?! And that they decided to irritate everyone with foolish speed limits instead of legislating improved fuel consumption targets?
Now I agree that 'keep right except to pass' is supposed to increases road capacity, but only by sanctioning speeding. If we all drove the speed limit we could FULLY utilise all the lanes. Instead we are supposed to keep right, so you could exceed the speed limit, jumping from one space (left for following distance) to another. Its to compensate for your behaviour of the selfish people who always want to go faster than everyone else that the 'keep right except to pass' rule exists in the first place.
Surur
Liability is a concept (and a new one), not a right. Sometimes accidents are excusable, and as long as can COMPENSATE some-one FAIRLY for the damages (from a central fund) then no real harm is done.
If this technology on average saves lives, exemption from liability can be legislated, and it would in fact be the moral thing for the government to do, if they were really serving the population. There are other technologies like nuclear fission power generation which are already treated in a similar way, where the government is the insurer of last resort.
Surur
Ahhh.. Americans.... So ignnorant of the rest of the world.
You do know of course the British have been paying $6/ gallon for a while now.
Its not changing driving habits that much at all.
And even SUV's are starting to catch on here.
Cars are just too valuable (in all their intangible ways regarding personal mobility) for many people to give up (once they are hooked that is)
Surur
Oh how I wish I had mod points!
If I am driving the speed limit, you should NOT be trying to pass me, whichever lane I am in.
And no, flashing your lights are not going to make me get out of your way. In fact its going to make me slow down. What are you going to do, smash your expensive BMW on my bumper?
If everyone drove the speed limit (whatever it happens to be) there would be less traffic jams caused by self-important pricks who want to get their home or office 30 seconds before everyone else.
Surur
You have got to be kidding. When was the last time you saw a TV or print advert for a pocketpc without a price attached. I still remember the Palm adverts with the couple on the two trains quite well. Didn't they have Claudia Schiffer in one of their campaigns. Palm also has enormous mindshare. Any handheld computer is still a Palm Pilot to the uninitiated.
I know you think MS is backing pocketpc's with billions, but remember they are part of the same devision as X-box, which is definitely making a loss. Also palm still has billions in the bank from their IPO during the dot-com boom.
I wish MS would take a larger interest in their creation, and do some more promoting. Instead they are all over the place, with separate implementations for media players and the x-box, when they could have made one integrated platform. Despite their lack of support the market has chosen, and it has chosen versatility and power over "simplicity" and "ease of use".
Surur
I think the pocketpc vs palm battle has reached a tipping point. At this stage people will start to think of buying into an OS with a future, which will lead to accelerating movement away from Palm OS. Think of Netscape VS IE. The remarkable think is that in this case it occurred without any underhanded tactics from MS, and even quite lacklustre support. The main advantage has been the assumption that hardware will catch up with OS demands, while Palm aways tried to live within hardware limitations, resulting in limited product, optimized for 33Mhz.
Thank God for Moore's Law
Surur