I hate to be pessimistic, but I find this doubtful. The government has become very good at making sure the public in general is too content to make any serious noise. If no one is demanding change to laws when 15 year old girls are getting charged with creation and distribution of child porn, the creation of "free speech zones", people are being searched and detained at airports for forgetting to take off their cell phone at the security check point, and the government is basically admitting to torturing unlawful enemy combatants (read POWs), then they sure as hell aren't going to give a rats ass about a few people getting the pants sued off them for uploading mp3s. Until large groups of citizens are willing to get arrested, bludgeoned by police, and publicly humiliated like they were in the civil rights movement and the women's suffrage movement, there will be no extraordinary change.
Magnatune already does this, but they operate somewhat in their own bubble. They don't play on the same field as the big hitters, I assume because of money. The big labels know how to promote, I'll give them that much. If Magnatune could promote on a level playing field with everyone else, the tides might change.
Sell wavs or mp3s (and flacs and vorbis for the nerds) through an old fashioned traditional shopping-cart store, and you have an instant market that doesn't cost you anything in R&D. Any random webmonkey can have something for you with a single day's labor.
Amazon already did this, and they are nowhere near being a serious competitor to the iTunes music store despite being the #2 source for purchasing electronic music. Several others have pointed this out, but I'll reiterate it here. iTunes doesn't just sell music. Their business is selling a convenient service. You buy music, it's automatically downloaded to your playlist, and you can add it to your iPod (the market dominating mp3 player) all in one program with a fairly intuitive user interface.
The experience (convenience) is what Apple sells most. I'm not saying that they need to manage mp3 devices, but they will need a model that offers something starkly compelling that Apple doesn't. Amazon offered DRM free music when Apple didn't, but it was more expensive and somewhat clunky. Now the prices are comparable, but Amazon is still clunky. So why use Amazon when iTunes is more convenient? A 10 cent price difference on Amazon will not lure people away from convenience. At this point, any serious competitor to iTunes will need to interface with iTunes at least in some minimal way to prevent people from turning away because of being inconvenienced. That could be something as simple as automatically adding songs to a user's iTunes playlist when you download them.
It takes a lot of time to develop an application as usable and stable as iTunes. So unless the labels formed a coalition to develop a strong competitor in top secret conditions, they would constantly be in fear of being removed from the iTunes store in the meanwhile. Not to mention that any competitor coming to the market right now would have to compete with a serious branding problem. Everyone knows iTunes and subconsciously accept it as the only option. Any new outlet would need to be able to offer something compelling that iTunes doesn't or better yet, can't.
Even if you weren't serious, it's not a bad idea conceptually. I would love to see a new label come out that has the power to make the old big names sweat.
Apple opening it's own record label would put it at serious odds with the the other labels that it sells. A better solution would be for Jobs to start his own record label completely independent of Apple. The single song electronic sales business model has already been forced onto the music industry, so the only purpose of a new record label would be to explore the other flaws in the system, like constructed pop stars.
No, but I wouldn't mind Bundesrepublik Germany. The Netherlands arn't bad either except for the ridiculous cold. Why is is that the worst of humanity are usually presented as the only options. And no, I'm not moving to any of those countries. I would prefer to make my own country better.
The commercial was disappointing as a whole. With those descriptions, I was expecting something bordering softcore. Instead I got some mediocre crap that left me convinced that these studies they refer to are completely bunk. Nerds have hotter sex than that.
I used to work with a guy who regularly performs at bars and taverns. Between that and his music lessons, he makes a pretty decent supplemental income. He can't make a living at it, but not too many musicians can make a living with performing music. That has always been the case, and no musician is entitled to be able to make a living at it. If you're an indie band, you will make a lot more money performing than you ever will from record sales with or without piracy. This even holds true for many big hit music name. Sell your records when you perform and if people copy them, you should be happy that your name is getting out and your patronage has a good shot at increasing.
My comment was mostly in reference to your statement of
but anyone watching network television over the airwaves is likely not going to have access to those other means
Arguing a lack of access to other news outlets is ridiculous. You can get an AM/FM radio for cheaper than you can buy a converter box with a coupon, and the local library usually carries newspapers.
This was a decision passed down on the CPPA. The government shortly after passed the PROTECT Act which once again outlaws cartoon and simulated child porn. SCOTUS has yet to rule on this law and people are being convicted of posession of drawn child porn.
DAs ignore crimes all the time. There just isn't enough time for DAs to prosecute all known crime. For example, with the war on drugs and terror picking up, white collar crime prosecutions have been declining. You can make all of the conspiracy theory claims about that as you want, but the fact remains that the man hours just aren't there. DAs often have to pick and choose which crimes they will move forward with prosecuting.
Who is actually surprised that consuming large amounts of a brain stimulant can cause hallucinations and paranoia? It should be no shocker that when you are over stimulated, your brain starts finding new outlets.
I went to public school and did not engage in extra curricular activities because they were all boring sports and band crap (at least boring in my opinion). Many home schooled kids do in fact engage in extra curricular activities. In larger areas, there are home school organizations that organize such things for those who belong to the organization. That's how a lot of home schooled kids engage in phys. ed. as well.
If you want to fix the problem through extra curricular activities, you'll need to demand better offerings at the public school, otherwise you will get garbage in/garbage out.
Slashdot Mirror
They won't have to sue helpless people. They'll just let the State arrest them instead! (Not sure if you were being sardonic)
I hate to be pessimistic, but I find this doubtful. The government has become very good at making sure the public in general is too content to make any serious noise. If no one is demanding change to laws when 15 year old girls are getting charged with creation and distribution of child porn, the creation of "free speech zones", people are being searched and detained at airports for forgetting to take off their cell phone at the security check point, and the government is basically admitting to torturing unlawful enemy combatants (read POWs), then they sure as hell aren't going to give a rats ass about a few people getting the pants sued off them for uploading mp3s. Until large groups of citizens are willing to get arrested, bludgeoned by police, and publicly humiliated like they were in the civil rights movement and the women's suffrage movement, there will be no extraordinary change.
Disney already has a record company called Walt Disney Records. Their lineup appears to target preteenage and young teenage girls.
Magnatune already does this, but they operate somewhat in their own bubble. They don't play on the same field as the big hitters, I assume because of money. The big labels know how to promote, I'll give them that much. If Magnatune could promote on a level playing field with everyone else, the tides might change.
Sell wavs or mp3s (and flacs and vorbis for the nerds) through an old fashioned traditional shopping-cart store, and you have an instant market that doesn't cost you anything in R&D. Any random webmonkey can have something for you with a single day's labor.
Amazon already did this, and they are nowhere near being a serious competitor to the iTunes music store despite being the #2 source for purchasing electronic music. Several others have pointed this out, but I'll reiterate it here. iTunes doesn't just sell music. Their business is selling a convenient service. You buy music, it's automatically downloaded to your playlist, and you can add it to your iPod (the market dominating mp3 player) all in one program with a fairly intuitive user interface.
The experience (convenience) is what Apple sells most. I'm not saying that they need to manage mp3 devices, but they will need a model that offers something starkly compelling that Apple doesn't. Amazon offered DRM free music when Apple didn't, but it was more expensive and somewhat clunky. Now the prices are comparable, but Amazon is still clunky. So why use Amazon when iTunes is more convenient? A 10 cent price difference on Amazon will not lure people away from convenience. At this point, any serious competitor to iTunes will need to interface with iTunes at least in some minimal way to prevent people from turning away because of being inconvenienced. That could be something as simple as automatically adding songs to a user's iTunes playlist when you download them.
It takes a lot of time to develop an application as usable and stable as iTunes. So unless the labels formed a coalition to develop a strong competitor in top secret conditions, they would constantly be in fear of being removed from the iTunes store in the meanwhile. Not to mention that any competitor coming to the market right now would have to compete with a serious branding problem. Everyone knows iTunes and subconsciously accept it as the only option. Any new outlet would need to be able to offer something compelling that iTunes doesn't or better yet, can't.
Even if you weren't serious, it's not a bad idea conceptually. I would love to see a new label come out that has the power to make the old big names sweat.
Apple opening it's own record label would put it at serious odds with the the other labels that it sells. A better solution would be for Jobs to start his own record label completely independent of Apple. The single song electronic sales business model has already been forced onto the music industry, so the only purpose of a new record label would be to explore the other flaws in the system, like constructed pop stars.
I don't understand why this is modded flaimbait. This is completely true. I refer you all to PETA's Milk Sucks webpage
No, but I wouldn't mind Bundesrepublik Germany. The Netherlands arn't bad either except for the ridiculous cold. Why is is that the worst of humanity are usually presented as the only options. And no, I'm not moving to any of those countries. I would prefer to make my own country better.
The commercial was disappointing as a whole. With those descriptions, I was expecting something bordering softcore. Instead I got some mediocre crap that left me convinced that these studies they refer to are completely bunk. Nerds have hotter sex than that.
I used to work with a guy who regularly performs at bars and taverns. Between that and his music lessons, he makes a pretty decent supplemental income. He can't make a living at it, but not too many musicians can make a living with performing music. That has always been the case, and no musician is entitled to be able to make a living at it. If you're an indie band, you will make a lot more money performing than you ever will from record sales with or without piracy. This even holds true for many big hit music name. Sell your records when you perform and if people copy them, you should be happy that your name is getting out and your patronage has a good shot at increasing.
but anyone watching network television over the airwaves is likely not going to have access to those other means
Arguing a lack of access to other news outlets is ridiculous. You can get an AM/FM radio for cheaper than you can buy a converter box with a coupon, and the local library usually carries newspapers.
They just need to get a radio. You can power many radios from batteries in case the power goes out, unlike TVs.
What about a newspaper? Are we assuming they are illiterate as well? There's always the radio. They still broadcast news on that believe it or not.
Nor does a low User ID => greater age.
This was a decision passed down on the CPPA. The government shortly after passed the PROTECT Act which once again outlaws cartoon and simulated child porn. SCOTUS has yet to rule on this law and people are being convicted of posession of drawn child porn.
DAs ignore crimes all the time. There just isn't enough time for DAs to prosecute all known crime. For example, with the war on drugs and terror picking up, white collar crime prosecutions have been declining. You can make all of the conspiracy theory claims about that as you want, but the fact remains that the man hours just aren't there. DAs often have to pick and choose which crimes they will move forward with prosecuting.
"Think of the children" nut cases think anyone who loves anything under 20 with or without boobs is a paedophile.
And you people mocked my tin hat. Who's mocking now!
Who is actually surprised that consuming large amounts of a brain stimulant can cause hallucinations and paranoia? It should be no shocker that when you are over stimulated, your brain starts finding new outlets.
500 million? We don't even have a population of 500 million.
If you do homeschool I'd really encourage you to find a way for your kids to regularly interact with their peers
There are many home school organizations that put together such programs. I've even seen home school baseball teams.
I went to public school and did not engage in extra curricular activities because they were all boring sports and band crap (at least boring in my opinion). Many home schooled kids do in fact engage in extra curricular activities. In larger areas, there are home school organizations that organize such things for those who belong to the organization. That's how a lot of home schooled kids engage in phys. ed. as well.
If you want to fix the problem through extra curricular activities, you'll need to demand better offerings at the public school, otherwise you will get garbage in/garbage out.