"Couldn't find the "Nuclear Bombs for Dummies" book at the bookstore. A tin-pot dictator from N. Korea bought all the copies."
Yes. In fact, it was the title of this book which inspired his drive to build the bomb, and due to translation problems he thinks the title refers to a proposed trade, not a type of reader. He hopes to trade the bombs for something he can really use: sex dolls.
"Woke up this morning with the brilliant idea of building home made nuclear to protect my home from those pesky neighbors."
1) Build nuclear reactor in home
2) Melt down reactor
3) Turn into giant radiactive monster
4) Take next door neighbor's lawnmower and plasma TV while you are hulked out. Not a damn thing he can do about it.
5) Profit!
You did not spell "basically" in the correct fashion. The word "Nazi" should be capitalized. Your second sentence should have started with "I am expecting" not the "me expecting". Maybe later I will link to the definitions of those three words.
Yes, let's call a shovel a shovel. Affirmative action is racism. By abolishing it you don't fix all of the racial problems of the United States. However, you do fix one big one. I don't want it abolished because "all the racial disadvantage problems in the United States have been fixed". I want to abolish it because it IS one.
How can any reasonable human being defend discriminating against people for having the wrong skin color? Yet, that is exactly what affirmative action demands. We need less discrimination, not more.
I use the old Winamp. When I last tried iTunes, I got rid of it due to the bad user interface (this was during the unfortunate "Aqua" fad when Apple desingers actually thought it was a good idea to have a GUI made of light-blue letters on light-blue backgrounds)
We fed the troll, but I have seen attitudes like this expressed elsewhere, expecially with so-called "mom and pop" stores that have terrible customer service and rip you off and then whine and blame Wal-Mart when they have to close.
Once we peel back the "plain and simple" affirmation, we find an entirely incorrect statement. It is technically and legally impossible to steal via p2p.
"As a record store owner, My business faces ruin"
Why say records when you mean CDs?
"CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago"
Where is the blame being helped in iTunes, which is NOT filesharing, but is definitely eating into your business? Also, did you ever think that your unwillingness to serve your customers is part of the problem? I bet there might be a Wal-Mart nearby that will sell someone a CD at 10:30 at night, but you are could not be bothered, so you open late and close early.
"take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked"
I wonder what else is going on there, if this indicates your basic attitude toward customers.
"Some people are offended by my blacklist system. I may have made my store less popular for pirates and sympathisers, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to save my industry from destruction"
BR>
So, basically, you are the captain of a sinking ship. Not only is the ship sinking, but you are down in the bilges with an axe chopping holes in the hull so it will sink faster. Tell me, have you hung the big sign "F*** OFF, CUSTOMERS!" in the window yet, or is that going up next week?
"A consumer is a person who buys something then consumes it"
There is now a gap between the term "consumer" and the idea "one who consumes". Media/content is simply not consumed, unless it is some expiring pay-per-use program. See the definition: there's no devouring, destroying, or expending going on.
"Someone who doesn't buy something, but consumes it anyway is usually referred to as a "pirate", "leech", "theif", "i'll pay you tommorrow guy", or "one of those open source hippies"
Actually.... those leeches neither by nor consume.
I don't care about iTunes, actually. One big advantage appears to be video (which Nano does not have). After I left my message, I went to Amazon, and there are more than 200 reviews, which takes care of your last point.
There's that Sandisk player that looks more appealing than the iPod Nano it competes with. I wonder what might be wrong with it? I have to admit a prejudice against Apple for all those years then their products were known as being twice as expensive, lacking features, and being quirky and hard to use. I know they are better now.
Theft (stealing) and copyright infringement are two different situations (or crimes). Pointing this out is not an "argument that people use to justify taking content for themselves". It is merely pointing out that the definitions are different. If someone points out that a rape is not murder, then (using your logic) they are trying to justify the rape. Besides, no content is taken (your word) in copyright infringement.
"But then selling it for a profit with none of the correct amount of compensation going back to the rights owners?"
That sounds like a type of fraud, but not theft.
"Copyright infringement - stealing by misappropriating copyrighted content, or taking/using such content without payment"
Your burglary and embezzlement examples are correct. However, your above sentence is incorrect, since stealing does not occur. Nor does any sort of appropriation or taking. If I make a copy of your Porsche and drive away in the copy, I have not (mis)appropriated your Porsche, nor have I stolen or taken it.
"Also, "stealing", by definition, contrary to popular opinion, does not require deprivation"
Stealing is a specific word, not generic. And yes, it does require deprivation (taking).
"The only thing "broken" here is the chain of logic justifying it"
That is very true of the logic of those who use the word "stealing" without regard to its actual meaning. The usual logic is: stealing is wrong and copyright infringement is wrong. Therefore, copyright infringement is stealing. I'm not even bothering to justify the logic that copyright infringement is not wrong. I've never argued that. It is in fact a straw-man argument on your part. However, I'm trying to impress upon you the fact that there are other things that are wrong besides theft, and just because it is wrong does not mean it is theft.
" but whatever the new catchphrase, it's code for "only plays with MS stuff). "
Why would they even want to claim this? Buried in the specs is the fact that it plays the music-file standard of MP3 files....something far different from the Microsoft controlled WMA etc.
"Buried in footnote 4 of its press release, Microsoft clearly states that "Zune software can import audio files in unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC; photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264" (from here
"Apple still doesn't have any real competition to the iPod. And each "iPod killer" that has come has also, well, gone"
Each one, gone? I was at a few stores last weekend and found several brands of "Ipod killers" on the shelves along with the iPods. They've not succeeded in their mission of killing the iPod, but they do linger on.
Slashdot Mirror
Yet another device with FM but not AM. Somehow, half a radio is more frustrating than not having a radio at all. By the way,
" understand that all the progressive over there might scare you"
There's nothing truly progressive about the partisan, reactionary left. No more and no less than the partisan, reactionary right.
How Karl Rove pulled off that whole Dan Rather fiasco, I have noooo idea....
"And the Kurds just gassed themselves..."
Clearly you understand the power of "BushCo" to fake documents anytime, anywhere.
Your NYT link did not lead to the NYT, but instead led to just another kook partisan blog.
We know by now that Saddam Hussein never ever had any WMD.
"Couldn't find the "Nuclear Bombs for Dummies" book at the bookstore. A tin-pot dictator from N. Korea bought all the copies."
Yes. In fact, it was the title of this book which inspired his drive to build the bomb, and due to translation problems he thinks the title refers to a proposed trade, not a type of reader. He hopes to trade the bombs for something he can really use: sex dolls.
"Woke up this morning with the brilliant idea of building home made nuclear to protect my home from those pesky neighbors."
1) Build nuclear reactor in home
2) Melt down reactor
3) Turn into giant radiactive monster
4) Take next door neighbor's lawnmower and plasma TV while you are hulked out. Not a damn thing he can do about it.
5) Profit!
If you set it off, does it result in 404 errors everywhere? Or is it a more powerful version of a Googlebomb?
Can't Apple come up with a name that is not already used by the biggest commercial television network in the UK ?
You did not spell "basically" in the correct fashion. The word "Nazi" should be capitalized. Your second sentence should have started with "I am expecting" not the "me expecting". Maybe later I will link to the definitions of those three words.
Yes, let's call a shovel a shovel. Affirmative action is racism. By abolishing it you don't fix all of the racial problems of the United States. However, you do fix one big one. I don't want it abolished because "all the racial disadvantage problems in the United States have been fixed". I want to abolish it because it IS one.
How can any reasonable human being defend discriminating against people for having the wrong skin color? Yet, that is exactly what affirmative action demands. We need less discrimination, not more.
I use the old Winamp. When I last tried iTunes, I got rid of it due to the bad user interface (this was during the unfortunate "Aqua" fad when Apple desingers actually thought it was a good idea to have a GUI made of light-blue letters on light-blue backgrounds)
We fed the troll, but I have seen attitudes like this expressed elsewhere, expecially with so-called "mom and pop" stores that have terrible customer service and rip you off and then whine and blame Wal-Mart when they have to close.
"It also has an FM radio and voice recorder,"
That actually bugs me, because of how it is incomplete. I'd much rather have an AM tuner than an FM one. What good is half a radio...
"Just curious... what music player do you use?"
The answer? None. Still considering getting one some day.
"Filesharing is theft. Plain and simple"
Once we peel back the "plain and simple" affirmation, we find an entirely incorrect statement. It is technically and legally impossible to steal via p2p.
"As a record store owner, My business faces ruin"
Why say records when you mean CDs?
"CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago"
Where is the blame being helped in iTunes, which is NOT filesharing, but is definitely eating into your business? Also, did you ever think that your unwillingness to serve your customers is part of the problem? I bet there might be a Wal-Mart nearby that will sell someone a CD at 10:30 at night, but you are could not be bothered, so you open late and close early.
"take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked"
I wonder what else is going on there, if this indicates your basic attitude toward customers.
"Some people are offended by my blacklist system. I may have made my store less popular for pirates and sympathisers, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to save my industry from destruction"
BR> So, basically, you are the captain of a sinking ship. Not only is the ship sinking, but you are down in the bilges with an axe chopping holes in the hull so it will sink faster. Tell me, have you hung the big sign "F*** OFF, CUSTOMERS!" in the window yet, or is that going up next week?
"A consumer is a person who buys something then consumes it"
There is now a gap between the term "consumer" and the idea "one who consumes". Media/content is simply not consumed, unless it is some expiring pay-per-use program. See the definition: there's no devouring, destroying, or expending going on.
"Someone who doesn't buy something, but consumes it anyway is usually referred to as a "pirate", "leech", "theif", "i'll pay you tommorrow guy", or "one of those open source hippies"
Actually.... those leeches neither by nor consume.
All the bullfighting ballads you can download, for free!
I don't care about iTunes, actually. One big advantage appears to be video (which Nano does not have). After I left my message, I went to Amazon, and there are more than 200 reviews, which takes care of your last point.
Is that an actual thanks, or a sarcastic jab? I have to ask since your "0" rating does imply past trollishness.
There's that Sandisk player that looks more appealing than the iPod Nano it competes with. I wonder what might be wrong with it? I have to admit a prejudice against Apple for all those years then their products were known as being twice as expensive, lacking features, and being quirky and hard to use. I know they are better now.
Theft (stealing) and copyright infringement are two different situations (or crimes). Pointing this out is not an "argument that people use to justify taking content for themselves". It is merely pointing out that the definitions are different. If someone points out that a rape is not murder, then (using your logic) they are trying to justify the rape. Besides, no content is taken (your word) in copyright infringement.
"But then selling it for a profit with none of the correct amount of compensation going back to the rights owners?"
That sounds like a type of fraud, but not theft.
"Copyright infringement - stealing by misappropriating copyrighted content, or taking/using such content without payment"
Your burglary and embezzlement examples are correct. However, your above sentence is incorrect, since stealing does not occur. Nor does any sort of appropriation or taking. If I make a copy of your Porsche and drive away in the copy, I have not (mis)appropriated your Porsche, nor have I stolen or taken it.
"Also, "stealing", by definition, contrary to popular opinion, does not require deprivation"
Stealing is a specific word, not generic. And yes, it does require deprivation (taking).
"The only thing "broken" here is the chain of logic justifying it"
That is very true of the logic of those who use the word "stealing" without regard to its actual meaning. The usual logic is: stealing is wrong and copyright infringement is wrong. Therefore, copyright infringement is stealing. I'm not even bothering to justify the logic that copyright infringement is not wrong. I've never argued that. It is in fact a straw-man argument on your part. However, I'm trying to impress upon you the fact that there are other things that are wrong besides theft, and just because it is wrong does not mean it is theft.
"but I think people are really going to start to feel the pinch of DRM once the Zune and other MP3 phones start to become more popular."
Since MP3 is free of DRM, how could someone with an MP3 phone get pinched by DRM???
" but whatever the new catchphrase, it's code for "only plays with MS stuff). "
Why would they even want to claim this? Buried in the specs is the fact that it plays the music-file standard of MP3 files....something far different from the Microsoft controlled WMA etc.
"Buried in footnote 4 of its press release, Microsoft clearly states that "Zune software can import audio files in unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC; photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264" (from here
"Apple still doesn't have any real competition to the iPod. And each "iPod killer" that has come has also, well, gone"
Each one, gone? I was at a few stores last weekend and found several brands of "Ipod killers" on the shelves along with the iPods. They've not succeeded in their mission of killing the iPod, but they do linger on.