I'd recommend reading the information available on this site. It should give you a start on blocking spam. It also contains detailed instuctions on complaining and shutting down spamming accounts. It is quite satisfactory to recieve a response from an ISP which says that they have suspended the account of the spammer.
Recently there was an Ask Slashdot regarding the Jabber project. I haven't used Jabber, but supposedly it works with AOL Instant Messanger and ICQ. Seeing that AOL is attempting to prevent 3rd parties from using their service, how will this affect Jabber?
While I am all for the expansion of digitally distributed music and the increased selection that it brings consumers, I'm not satisfied with the quality that 128kb encoded mp3's provide. There is a noticable difference in quality between the CD and the mp3. Unfortunately, it seems that 128kb compression has established itself as the defacto compression scheme. While it is an excellent compression method, it is not adequate for distributing music. I have found that 256kb compression is close enough in quality to the original, but the increased file size hampers distribution. If the music industry jumps onto the mp3 bandwagon (unlikely, but possible) it seems that the consumer will face the prospect of lower quality music. If I had to choose between purchasing a physical CD or purchasing a digital distribution (i.e. They Might Be Giants), I would choose the CD because the CD offers higher quality audio. The loss of quality is not worth the few dollars saved.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd recommend reading the information available on this site. It should give you a start on blocking spam. It also contains detailed instuctions on complaining and shutting down spamming accounts. It is quite satisfactory to recieve a response from an ISP which says that they have suspended the account of the spammer.
Spam Information
Recently there was an Ask Slashdot regarding the Jabber project. I haven't used Jabber, but supposedly it works with AOL Instant Messanger and ICQ. Seeing that AOL is attempting to prevent 3rd parties from using their service, how will this affect Jabber?
While I am all for the expansion of digitally distributed music and the increased selection that it brings consumers, I'm not satisfied with the quality that 128kb encoded mp3's provide. There is a noticable difference in quality between the CD and the mp3. Unfortunately, it seems that 128kb compression has established itself as the defacto compression scheme. While it is an excellent compression method, it is not adequate for distributing music. I have found that 256kb compression is close enough in quality to the original, but the increased file size hampers distribution. If the music industry jumps onto the mp3 bandwagon (unlikely, but possible) it seems that the consumer will face the prospect of lower quality music. If I had to choose between purchasing a physical CD or purchasing a digital distribution (i.e. They Might Be Giants), I would choose the CD because the CD offers higher quality audio. The loss of quality is not worth the few dollars saved.