From the pics on the site and the crappy quality video they gave us, I'm of the opinion this is a hoax. I'm willing to bet it's just a really good rendering job... maybe if I had a higher res video I could be more sure though.
This is true, but the moment they even publish a download on the web, not just sell it they're obligated to release the source. If these guys used a little foresight, they would clearly see that contributing back, in some way, will only benefit them in the end.
Whether we like it or not, Xbox2 is going to be pretty big hit. Microsoft is making some pretty smart choices and some pretty dumb ones too. They may even have a very slight chance of coming out on top of Sony this go round? I'm just worried about what XNA is going to do to smaller/independant developers mainly... although I haven't heard if it's a required purchase to be "allowed" to make games for Xbox2. Then again, I'm also of the opinion that this next generation isn't going to do so well, at least not at first. With ever rising prices, quite a few smaller developers will probably continue supporting the current consoles and casual gamers probably won't be able to see enough of a leap in graphics between these two generations to justify a $300+ system. It will certainly be an interesting time...
"Hi! I'm Mr Massive P2P Downloader and I just have one thing to say. "Your characters, story, levels, music and graphics", just want to be free. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Might I recommend McDonalds work. I haven't figured out a way to download that...yet."
Hi Mr. Massive P2P Downloader....I could care less if you pirate one of my games, I doubt you would have ever played it all if you hadn't stolen it anyway. So, You make no difference in my profits;)...and it looks like I'm not alone.
Well, I'm sorry but I don't agree with you either. Go look at the new engines coming out these days... the Doom3 engine, Unreal3, etc.... we're about to hit a huge plateau as far as graphics go. The engine you are using will no longer matter, it will be what you do with that engine that matters. Besides, gameplay is always more important than technology.
Well, if you are using these engines for your games, it's going to be in your best interest to contribute back to them. As more developers use these tools, more can contribute back and everybody benefits... it's a little idealistic, but fairly realistic.
I think we will see a shift in the industry where instead of paying for a specific piece of software, companies will help fund it's development. This is still cheaper in the end, and much more productive for everyone.
hmm.... maybe my memories gone but I'm pretty sure I saw a Mark Shuttleworth dissing on autopackage somewhere recently, on a debian discussion I believe...although I may have read it wrong.
If you want to make money with Open Source, build your low level stuff completely open, gpl'd and all of that...then sell your higher level version with all the bells and whistles, and tech support.
Example, video games... you make your graphics engine, physics engine and whatnot all completely open source and public, but you keep your characters, story, levels, music and graphics proprietary...
Mindawn and Magnatune are really two completely different things. Magnatune is a record label, and they only sell their own artists' music, as while mindawn is more akin to iTunes in that it will sell anything and everything.
Here's the problem... The open-source/free-software movement is similar to an organic evolution/adaptation system, while the proprietary software industry is just that, like industrial/factory systems. Because of the factory like mechanics, proprietary software is easy to package and pump out. Open source goes in all different directions and it's an electronic survival of the fittest. If someone comes out with a better piece of software, people will tend to use it instead. If someone comes out with a better distro or packaging system, it's the same thing. Only thing is... since it all goes in a million different directions, there are alot of "extinct species" along the way. This is our trade-off for the freedom vs. convenience. However, if we can find a way to get the best of both worlds (LSB, FreeDesktop.org, Autopackage, and other open standards)....things could really get exciting.
Apple has a "we only carry record labels" policy for iTunes unfortunately. If your school could convince them they're a record label, maybe? That what CDBaby did...
Copyrights are fine when used properly. It's when giant corporations own them and the artists ignorantly sign their rights away b/c they feel it's their only option that it becomes a problem. But yes... make sure you decide what kind of copy rights you would like to retain and then have it posted on your site along with your music downloads. It's just as valid as any other printed media. I'd suggest looking through your options at the creative commons first too.
There are quite a few successful online-only artists these days. First off, sell your CD's through CDbaby.com. They take a very small cut of your profits and will put your stuff on iTunes for you (you also get a larger cut than the standard artist there as well via cdbaby). Next, put free downloads on your site. The only way people will know if they like your music or not is if they can hear it, right? Now...I would suggest putting them in a slightly over-compressed format. Meaning, it's a high enough quality to hear your music properly, but not quite high enough for them to be satisfied with just that file. I'd suggest either a 96kbit MP3 or Q0(~64k) Ogg Vorbis file... Now they can proceed to buy your CD or download a high quality file from something like Mindawn.com. The next step, and it's the hardest one...is to get advertising of some sort. You can have the best music and the best site, but if no one knows about it, no one will ever see/hear it. This is the music industry's trump card currently, but it is possible. My current favorite band, Celldweller, does all their stuff themselves, sells primarily online, and are doing pretty well (they had a song featured in the Spiderman 2 trailers last year). They even have a small distribution deal to get their stuff in mainstream stores like Best Buy and whatnot. Good luck!
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Have you seen an Xbox or a Gamecube lately?
From the pics on the site and the crappy quality video they gave us, I'm of the opinion this is a hoax. I'm willing to bet it's just a really good rendering job... maybe if I had a higher res video I could be more sure though.
This is true, but the moment they even publish a download on the web, not just sell it they're obligated to release the source. If these guys used a little foresight, they would clearly see that contributing back, in some way, will only benefit them in the end.
Whether we like it or not, Xbox2 is going to be pretty big hit. Microsoft is making some pretty smart choices and some pretty dumb ones too. They may even have a very slight chance of coming out on top of Sony this go round? I'm just worried about what XNA is going to do to smaller/independant developers mainly... although I haven't heard if it's a required purchase to be "allowed" to make games for Xbox2. Then again, I'm also of the opinion that this next generation isn't going to do so well, at least not at first. With ever rising prices, quite a few smaller developers will probably continue supporting the current consoles and casual gamers probably won't be able to see enough of a leap in graphics between these two generations to justify a $300+ system. It will certainly be an interesting time...
I guess I better dump all my mp3s down the memory hole...
"Hi! I'm Mr Massive P2P Downloader and I just have one thing to say. "Your characters, story, levels, music and graphics", just want to be free. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Might I recommend McDonalds work. I haven't figured out a way to download that...yet."
;) ...and it looks like I'm not alone.
Hi Mr. Massive P2P Downloader....I could care less if you pirate one of my games, I doubt you would have ever played it all if you hadn't stolen it anyway. So, You make no difference in my profits
Well, I'm sorry but I don't agree with you either. Go look at the new engines coming out these days... the Doom3 engine, Unreal3, etc.... we're about to hit a huge plateau as far as graphics go. The engine you are using will no longer matter, it will be what you do with that engine that matters. Besides, gameplay is always more important than technology.
Well, if you are using these engines for your games, it's going to be in your best interest to contribute back to them. As more developers use these tools, more can contribute back and everybody benefits... it's a little idealistic, but fairly realistic.
I think we will see a shift in the industry where instead of paying for a specific piece of software, companies will help fund it's development. This is still cheaper in the end, and much more productive for everyone.
hmm.... maybe my memories gone but I'm pretty sure I saw a Mark Shuttleworth dissing on autopackage somewhere recently, on a debian discussion I believe...although I may have read it wrong.
that was a bum link...anyone know where that discussion occurred?
If you want to make money with Open Source, build your low level stuff completely open, gpl'd and all of that...then sell your higher level version with all the bells and whistles, and tech support. Example, video games... you make your graphics engine, physics engine and whatnot all completely open source and public, but you keep your characters, story, levels, music and graphics proprietary...
Mark, if you want Ubuntu to be an easy to use distribution, how come you are so against Autopackages?
Mindawn and Magnatune are really two completely different things. Magnatune is a record label, and they only sell their own artists' music, as while mindawn is more akin to iTunes in that it will sell anything and everything.
I'm talking more about the ideals behind it rather than what it actually is right this moment.
See post above...
Will the DRM madness ever end!? What do we have to do to let these guys know we won't stand for it?
Here's the problem... The open-source/free-software movement is similar to an organic evolution/adaptation system, while the proprietary software industry is just that, like industrial/factory systems. Because of the factory like mechanics, proprietary software is easy to package and pump out. Open source goes in all different directions and it's an electronic survival of the fittest. If someone comes out with a better piece of software, people will tend to use it instead. If someone comes out with a better distro or packaging system, it's the same thing. Only thing is... since it all goes in a million different directions, there are alot of "extinct species" along the way. This is our trade-off for the freedom vs. convenience. However, if we can find a way to get the best of both worlds (LSB, FreeDesktop.org, Autopackage, and other open standards)....things could really get exciting.
Apple has a "we only carry record labels" policy for iTunes unfortunately. If your school could convince them they're a record label, maybe? That what CDBaby did...
Well, if it's open source software, the source code would be released as well. C'mon guys....
www.mindawn.com is pretty nice too. It's about the only place that sells songs in a lossless audio format (FLAC).
I think he's more worried about another band stealing his songs and claiming them as their own...
Copyrights are fine when used properly. It's when giant corporations own them and the artists ignorantly sign their rights away b/c they feel it's their only option that it becomes a problem. But yes... make sure you decide what kind of copy rights you would like to retain and then have it posted on your site along with your music downloads. It's just as valid as any other printed media. I'd suggest looking through your options at the creative commons first too.
Well, if you're that paranoid with your software, you can just wait for your distro to put it in their own repositories.
There are quite a few successful online-only artists these days. First off, sell your CD's through CDbaby.com. They take a very small cut of your profits and will put your stuff on iTunes for you (you also get a larger cut than the standard artist there as well via cdbaby). Next, put free downloads on your site. The only way people will know if they like your music or not is if they can hear it, right? Now...I would suggest putting them in a slightly over-compressed format. Meaning, it's a high enough quality to hear your music properly, but not quite high enough for them to be satisfied with just that file. I'd suggest either a 96kbit MP3 or Q0(~64k) Ogg Vorbis file... Now they can proceed to buy your CD or download a high quality file from something like Mindawn.com. The next step, and it's the hardest one...is to get advertising of some sort. You can have the best music and the best site, but if no one knows about it, no one will ever see/hear it. This is the music industry's trump card currently, but it is possible. My current favorite band, Celldweller, does all their stuff themselves, sells primarily online, and are doing pretty well (they had a song featured in the Spiderman 2 trailers last year). They even have a small distribution deal to get their stuff in mainstream stores like Best Buy and whatnot. Good luck!