When it comes to what it would take to keep me buying CDs, it would have to be a lower price and no DRM, as many others have already mentioned. A combination of price and selection (there are few new CDs that I'm interested in) have led me to seek out used CDs.
Something that I think has not been considered is that the demise of the CD might lead to the death of the modern music business. One of the reasons that DRMed downloads have been successful is that they are not the only legal option available to buyers.
It is not just the iTunes Music Store that is a factor in the iPod's success, it is also the ability to easily rip the music from your own CDs onto the device. How successful would the iPod have been if the only music that could be put on the device was music that you could download from iTunes?
But what happens when DRMed downloads, that are tied to a specific device, and cannot legally be transferred to another type of player are the only option for buying music? One of the best reasons for buying a CD is that I am the one who decides what bit rate, encoding method, and device I choose to use to listen to my music. I don't have to settle for what the music industry decides what is good enough for me.
If the end result of DRM was that I'd have a live band following me at all times, I'd be all for it.
Wont that make traveling by air rather expensive?
Also, what would happen if everyone decided to take their music on the flight. What if your band didn't respect you (ala Sir Robin in Monty Python and the Holy Grail)?
Thus, if you consider the convenience of downloading compressed audio as worth the loss of quality compared to buying a CD (for almost the same price new, and actually less if you buy used) and ripping it yourself to something like FLAC - At least keep the original and never, ever transcode it. That means, if you want to really "own" your collection, you have the sole option of directly stripping out the DRM. Any other method will sacrifice quality for the convenience.
Three of my strongest reasons for buying my music on CD are: (1) I can choose the compression method and quality myself rather than having to settle for what is available from the legal download sites, (2) I can choose the program and device I wish to use to create and listen to my music files, and (3) having the actual CD provides me with hard proof that I actually purchased the music (and are also my backup).
Re:Twenty years from now...
on
An Ode To Al
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· Score: 1
Robotech_Master wrote as part of a post:
I saw a quote in a signature file or blog entry or something that went something like:
"If someone had told you in 1984 that in 2006 Michael Jackson = flameout and Weird Al = still relevant, you would have laughed your head off."
It's just so true.
This appeared on a bumper during Adult Swim on Cartoon Network after a recent episode of Robot Chicken that featured Weird Al's "Weasel Stomping Day" It was an outstanding video (the poor weasel raising the white flag was just perfect).
Way to add extraneous detail without actually letting on what the hell you're talking about.
I apologize for not being clear. I was providing an answer to why someone would wear lantern on their ring, and then went into the differences between the different rings to provide a contrast.
I don't get it. Why would you want a lantern hanging from your ring? And a green one on top of that..
I think the lantern on the Alan Scott ring is a replica of the lantern that was used to charge his ring. It is green because that was the color of the metal used to form the ring, and Scott was guided to give the ring that form when he created it. The form of the ring's charger, in turn, was based on a old railroad lantern. Scott wears a logo on his chest of the same type of lantern.
The rings that Jordan and Stewart wear (and Rayner used to wear) are based on the Green Lantern icon worn on the uniform, and reflects the central power battery on Oa. The reason Rayner's ring looks different is that his ring was an improved version with no yellow weakness and no 24 hour time limit on its charge. He is the only Lantern that comes to mind that has a ring of that design, the other Lanterns wear a ring of the Jordan/Stewart design.
Rayner recently evolved as a Green Lantern, becoming The Ion. His ring and power has been internalized and he is much more powerful than the other Green Lanterns. He is the next step in the evolution of the Green Lantern Corps.
On the ring mentioned at the beginning of post, I like the design and think that it is how a green lantern ring would look in real life.
I think standard CD is the most reliable audio format, and the one format that you can be sure will play. It also has the advantage that you can use it to make music in the other formats without conversion errors, which I think you would get converting an MP3 file into another format.
Besides being readily available, MP3 is the least encumbered format as far as the end user is concerned. So many other formats have so many restrictions that they hinder their use as a long-term format. Due to this, I would not be surprised that most, if not all, current non-MP3 formats are not usable in a decade.
In the 1990s Todd Rundgren released a disc for the CD-I system called "TR-1" that allowed you to modify the mix. You could choose change the producer, the mix, and the speed of the album on the fly.
Re:Not just a *little* power --- ZERO
on
The eBook, Mark 2
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· Score: 1
innocent_white_lamb wrote and included with a post:
It consumes ZERO power to hold the current image on an E-Ink screen.
What about holding the book itself in ram (or whatever), though?
Considering current technology, it is likely that the reader will store the book in flash memory (I don't know but it seems likely) so the book will be remain in memory even if the reader's battery goes dead.
I read ebooks on my Palm. That's all that I use it for, actually. I went through a period a while ago where I read a bunch of books-on-paper for several months and didn't turn the Palm on. When I did, the battery was flat and the whole thing was wiped out. I recharged it, reset it and restored it from the image on my computer. But the point is, my books were all gone on that device.
That is one of the biggest uses for my Palm too. One of the limitations of the older Palm handhelds was that everything was stored in active powered memory. This is one of the reasons that the older Palms were fairly fast, they were always on and ready for immediate use but if the battery died the contents were lost. For Palm handhelds that used replaceable batteries, you had about one minute to safely change out the battery before the contents were in danger of being lost.
But by hotsyncing your Palm on a regular basis the data is retained. I have data on my current handheld that has been through more than five handhelds over the past five years. Basically your computer retains a complete backup of your Palm's contents as of the last hotsync.
Will books disappear from this device like that as well?
As mentioned above, it is likely that the ebooks will still be retained even if the device's battery is completely discharged. I hope that Sony provides the ability to backup your ereader's contents to a memory card as a backup.
One thing I'd like to add is the ability to put your own content on the ebook reader. I am interested in buying commercial ebooks, but if that is all that is available for an e-book reader then I will pass on it.
One of the best things about the Palm Reader is that PalmOne also offers a program called "Palm Ebook Studio" that allows you to easily make your own ebooks from documents in the following formats: plain text, RTF, and HTML.
I think the environmental impact of ebook readers will depend on the device itself. If an ebook reader is designed to use replaceable rechargeable batteries, then the waste factor is limited to the batteries themselves. If properly designed then the device itself would have a long useable life.
Another way that an ebook reader could reduce waste is to reduce the need to print short term documents, like newspapers and monthly magazines. Rather than having to dispose of a daily newspaper after reading it, it could be distributed electronically and deleted when you are finished reading it. This would significantly reduce the amount of paper that needs to be disposed of each day.
I think Palm made the mistake of standing still technologically. I really don't think Apple is going to make that mistake. Palm was somewhat stagnant, being pretty slow to offer high-res screens, color, audio and things like that. I really don't think their Palm Desktop software was as nice as it could have been, and maybe what really hurt them was poor or lacking integration with Office and Exchange.
I think the following factors have also hurt Palm:
The move to OS5. With the introduction of this OS they moved to a new processor. The new processor was faster and allowed for more memory, but it made many older applications incompatible with the new OS. I purchased a Palm TX and many of the applications that I made regular use of with my old Palm Handheld were not useable with the TX.
The loss of Graffiti handwriting system. I'm a long-time user of Graffiti and was fairly competent at it, to the point where I could accurately write rapidly without having look at the screen while attending meetings. I compare the move to the Graffiti 2 handwriting system to rearranging the keys on a keyboard. I found Graffiti 2 so awkward that I ended up buying a program called TealScript that allows me to use Graffiti 1 penstrokes on my handheld.
Shortened battery life: With the move to better screens and more features battery life has become much shorter. A big factor in this is that most screen now must have the backlight on to be able to read the screen. Older handhelds, like the Palm V, had screens that were very readable under most light without the need for the backlight and would run for a week of average use on a single charge. Using my Palm TX like I did my old Palm V would require me to charge it at least once a day.
The final factor I will mention are cell phones. Many cell phones have the same features as PDAs and negate the need to carry a PDA. I think that for many people, the main advantage a PDA would have over a cell phone is a larger screen, and that might not justify carrying a second device.
What I've decided to do is only purchase actual CDs, meaning CDs are in accordance with the Red Book Standard. If a CD contains copy protection or cannot be played on all CD players, whether a portable unit, a home player, or a computer, I simply won't buy it. If I do buy a CD with the official CD logo and it turns out to have copy protection, I will return it.
The disadvantages of the Walkman:
- max. 90 minutes of storage (120min just wasn't reliable)
- more storage meant more physical space
- relatively bad sound quality
- difficult to find songs
I don't fault the Walkman for the above limitations, it was a limitation of the cassette format itself. Considering the slow speed and narrow tape of cassettes, it was amazing that their sound quality was as good as it was. Also, the quality of tapes you recorded yourself from an album/single tended to be better than the commercially available cassettes of the same music.
I think a factor that made the Walkman a success is that it allowed you to privately listen to your music on the go. Also, compared to the other formats of the time (LP, 45 single, reel-to-reel, 8-track), cassette took up much less space and they could be easily changed. Although 90 minutes isn't much time by today's standards, one 90-minute tape containing just the songs you want did save space over having to carry several albums that contained the songs that you wanted.
The disadvantages of the Discman:
- max 80 minutes or the length of an album
- more storage meant more physical space
- not shockproof, even shockproof versions could scratch cd's.
- quite large
With the addition of the ability to play MP3s, improved skip protection, reduction in size (many modern CD/MP3 players are barely larger than the CD they hold and are as thick as two stacked jewel boxes), and extremely long battery life (most players run for more than 24 hours on a set of AA batteries) I find CD/MP3 players a viable alternative to hard drive players like the iPod.
The disadvantages of the iPod:
- non-replaceable batteries
I agree that the inability of the user to replace an iPod's battery is the biggest disadvantage of the iPod. I think it would be less of a disadvantage if the iPod lasted longer on a charge.
If the iPod had a battery that lasted at least 24 hours under less than ideal conditions, then you could use it all day without having to worry about battery life. Likewise, if the battery was replaceable then you could simply carry a spare when needed, ensuring that you had power all day.
The iPod solved the major problems of its predecessors. It enables me to take 3300+ songs with me (15GB) on a very small device. Of course, it's not perfect, but I don't see how the availability of new technology will change the perfect music player radically like it did before.
I think the next big change in music players (already in process) will be the move to high-capacity players that don't use a hard drive. Already the capacity of flash-type players has at least equalled the smaller capacity hard drive iPods (the hard-drive-based iPod Mini had a capacity of 4GB). Once you get rid of the need to spin a hard drive, I think that battery life will cease to be an issue with a player.
I think the iPod will remain a dominant player for a while, barring any missteps by Apple. What I think will happen is that the iPod's dominance will drop as other players are introduced. But its ease of use will keep the iPod foremost with many users.
The problem with mixing the characters/ships from different series is that they have their own logic that alters the premise for both stories. Another series to consider is Star Blazers, an anime series from the 1970s. In one story I read, the Enterprise encounters the Argo (the main ship from Star Blazers). The Enterprise does massive damage to the Argo, then the Argo fires the Wave Motion Gun. The Enterprise is completely destroyed and the Argo travels on. You could get the same result by combining many series.
#Kirk may have beaten up a Klingon with his bare hands, but Picard has the balls to stand in the middle of an entire roomful of Klingons and ARGUE with them!
Not only that, but Picard has challenged a Klingon to one-on-one combat in one episode (when he told a Klingon he was welcome to challenge the assumption that a Starfleet officer would not fight). He also took on three Norsicons and received a blade through the heart.
It was entirely (afaik) Spiner's decision, basically for that reason, that he was getting too old to play Data (hence his appearances as Soong in ST:ENT)
Spiner's decision makes sense, although it is somewhat undercut by the introduction of B4 in Star Trek - Nemesis. It seemed to give us an ending without an ending.
If they were to eliminate Data due to Spiner bowing out, I think a better way would have been to have Data's body be destroyed to a point where it couldn't be repaired, but his brain is intact. The brain is put into a new body. This allows a new actor to take over the role.
But seriously, unless I've missed something important, any idiot should be able to outrun the Borg on foot. Why are they scary, again?
One thing I've noticed about The Borg is that they can withstand and adapt to all sorts of energy weapons, but an old-fashioned physical attack (club, breaking their neck ala Data) always works. They never seem to adapt to that kind of attack.
Note to the next starfleet captain to encounter The Borg: Issue your crew baseball bats.
If apple does come out with a iPod phone, I'm sure people wouldn't mind carrying around a 2nd battery to compensate for the higher energy use. Do current iPods allow you to change out the battery?
Unless it is different with the very newest iPods, no iPod allows you to change the battery yourself. This has been one of my biggest complaints about the iPod since my only option when the battery wears out is to: (1) recharge it (which isn't an easy option away from home), (2) carry an external battery pack that adds to the weight of the player and won't fit in the case, or (3) carry a second iPod for use when the battery on the first one dies. It would be so much better if I could just pop in a new set of AA batteries that I can buy anywere.
With the Zune, I think that a mistake Microsoft is making is trying to make it do too much. I think the factors that made the iPod a success when it debuted are: (1) it was just a music player and concentrated on making sure that it was outstanding in that function, and (2) it had seemless integration with iTunes which allowed users to easily load and manage their music.
In order for the Zune to succeed, it is going to have to be more than just a good music player, it is going to have to give new buyers a reason to choose it instead of the iPod and other more established players, and to give iPod users a reason to give up their iPod. This second group is going to have the least reason to move to the Zune due to their investment in the iPod. It is the same situation that Windows users face when considering a move away from Windows.
But that's perfectly O.K. Didn't you know that any movies produced before 1923 are out of copyright? Anyone watching those will be unfairly marginalizing the current copyright protected remakes!
This sounds similar to a situation involving movies and books. In the case of movies, many old silent movies are being lost due to the unstable film stock that was used at the time. The films are literally disintegrating on the shelf and will be lost unless they can be transferred to a more lasting film stock.
I wasn't aware that of the specific date that copyright protection ended. With the continuing extensions of copyright, I would not be surprised if it was retroactively extended backward before that year. It seems that a strong effort is being made to ensure that everything remains in copyright, including to return it there even if it has dropped into the public domain.
I don't have a problem with a remake as long as it remains true to the original (The Fugitive). But when a remake completely alters the original and loses the original movie's point (The Stepford Wives) it is a different matter. To nutshell it, the maker of a remakes is only harmed if the remake is not good, not because of the existence of the original.
I agree with you; one of the strangest things about our "intellectual property" fetish is that it's creating -- in my opinion -- a situation where 20th century arts are likely to be unavailable/unimportant to the rest of human history. I know you can quite easily go rent The Lion King now, but in 2019 you'll have a watch that can copy any non-DRM'd movie into any machine you want. The Lion King will be comparatively Difficult to Find, and will have another 75 or so years of copyright protection before it gets much easier.
This sounds similar to a situation involving movies and books. In the case of movies, many old silent movies are being lost due to the unstable film stock that was used at the time. The films are literally disintegrating on the shelf and will be lost unless they can be transferred to a more lasting film stock.
With books, for a time (I think it was 50 years) many books were printed on paper that was prepared via a process involving acid. Due to this, the life span of these books are limited and as with the movies mentioned above, thousands of books will be lost forever. I remember reading somewhere that this will result in the biggest loss of information in history.
Finally, this is also an issue with computer files. Although copy protection is not much of an issue in this case, many files are no longer accessible because the program used to create them no longer exists. This has become a big problem with historical documents since they need to be accessible decades from now, and in some cases centuries from now.
I find it ironic that the thing which will supposedly save the music industry, DRM, will actually destroy music while the music with out DRM, which will supposedly kill the music industry, will actually save the music.
The five reasons cited are fluff. If Zune kills iPod it will be because, "Vista isnt done, till iTunes wont run".
It seems like there are so many people devoted to the iPod that taking away the ability to use it with Windows now would drive people away from the Windows platform, rather than giving up their iPods. This would give people a reason to try other platforms.
I think the Zune has a chance for success as long as Microsoft does not do something to kill it. Just because it hasn't/didn't take down the iPod doesn't mean that it didn't succeed. It could be that many new users (those who are purchasing their first compressed audio player) choose the the Zune over the iPod, while experienced users stay with the iPod. I think there is room for both (and other) compressed audio players.
Among the things that could kill the Zune is if it will only play DRM songs. In fact, a great selling point for the Zune would be if it had the ability to play just about every audio format out of the box, including Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and MP3, in addition to its own format.
I'd like to see a player that doesn't require elaborate software to manage the library, such as the player simply mirroring a directory on your hard drive. One of the nice things about a using a CD/MP3 player is the simplicity of it, create the files with the program of your choice, burn them to a disc and use it.
At least that's how it has worked for me with comics. An increase in the comics I download has resulted in a direct correlation of an increase in the amount of comics I buy (HINT: Before I started downloading I bought 0 comics).
I don't see why the same can't be said for the music industry. I'd say the reality is that something else has increased in the years that this study looked at. How about an increase in music just sucking? Naaah. COULDN'T be that.
I purchase more comics today, and the reason is simple: Today's comics are better written and drawn, and are much more interesting to read. On-line is not much of a factor to me, other than finding out what new series are coming up.
In the same way, the number of CDs I have been buying has dropped due to the lack of new music that interests me. Scanning the posts on this topic, it seems that is a very common reason that people give for the drop in CD sales.
Another factor I would suggest is "Why buy a $11.99 CD when you can buy the three songs from the CD that you actually like for ~$1 each? How many times do you actually like every single song on a CD? I would contend that legal downloads are an essential component in any such study, and that there is a multiplier effect on revenue from legal downloads. I'd GUESS that it's in the range of 3X. It would be interesting to see a study of this:
(total # of songs from CD downloaded)/((# of unique downloaders) X (# of songs on CD))
This is going to be the biggest change the music industry is going to have to face, the inability to sell songs that buyers don't want just so they can get the songs they do want. In fact, I would not be surprised that in the future most "albums" will simply be collections of an artist's hit singles.
With the return of the focus to the single, one disadvantage I can see is that there will be less "risky" music. Current albums do provide a place for an artist to try songs that might not have broad appeal, supported by the more popular songs.
We bought the movie "Chicago" on DVD a month after it was released at the grocery store for $9. My wife wanted a CD to play in the car, the cheapest we could find it was for $18.99. Just the audio for twice the price of the audio+video is ridiculus.
I agree and I think that, more than file sharing, that the following factors have caused the drop in CD sales, such as:
The cost of CDs.
Lack of music that is interesting to buyers, regardless of what "those in the know" think people want.
The ability of people to buy just the songs they want, rather than having to buy an entire album for a single song.
While I think each of the above factors is important, I think that the ability to buy individual songs is the most important. Before CD came along, you had the ability to purchase 45 singles of the songs you wanted in addition to being able to buy the entire album. When CD came along it seemed like singles became unavailable, requiring you to purchase the entire CD to get a song.
I think the ability to buy specific songs is what is hurting CD sales. A personal example for me is that I recently found an automated kiosk that allows you to have a custom-made CD of the songs for a $1 a song. Through it, I was able to purchase eight songs that I would never have bought the full albums for, sales that would not have happened otherwise.
Since the 1960s the album has dominated music. Now I think the single is going to dominate music in the future. The good songs will sell the best, and the other songs won't.
Slashdot Mirror
When it comes to what it would take to keep me buying CDs, it would have to be a lower price and no DRM, as many others have already mentioned. A combination of price and selection (there are few new CDs that I'm interested in) have led me to seek out used CDs.
Something that I think has not been considered is that the demise of the CD might lead to the death of the modern music business. One of the reasons that DRMed downloads have been successful is that they are not the only legal option available to buyers.
It is not just the iTunes Music Store that is a factor in the iPod's success, it is also the ability to easily rip the music from your own CDs onto the device. How successful would the iPod have been if the only music that could be put on the device was music that you could download from iTunes?
But what happens when DRMed downloads, that are tied to a specific device, and cannot legally be transferred to another type of player are the only option for buying music? One of the best reasons for buying a CD is that I am the one who decides what bit rate, encoding method, and device I choose to use to listen to my music. I don't have to settle for what the music industry decides what is good enough for me.
Also, what would happen if everyone decided to take their music on the flight. What if your band didn't respect you (ala Sir Robin in Monty Python and the Holy Grail)?
pla wrote as part of a post:
Three of my strongest reasons for buying my music on CD are: (1) I can choose the compression method and quality myself rather than having to settle for what is available from the legal download sites, (2) I can choose the program and device I wish to use to create and listen to my music files, and (3) having the actual CD provides me with hard proof that I actually purchased the music (and are also my backup).
Robotech_Master wrote as part of a post:
This appeared on a bumper during Adult Swim on Cartoon Network after a recent episode of Robot Chicken that featured Weird Al's "Weasel Stomping Day" It was an outstanding video (the poor weasel raising the white flag was just perfect).
Anonymous Coward wrote:
I apologize for not being clear. I was providing an answer to why someone would wear lantern on their ring, and then went into the differences between the different rings to provide a contrast.
Anonymous Coward wrote:
I think the lantern on the Alan Scott ring is a replica of the lantern that was used to charge his ring. It is green because that was the color of the metal used to form the ring, and Scott was guided to give the ring that form when he created it. The form of the ring's charger, in turn, was based on a old railroad lantern. Scott wears a logo on his chest of the same type of lantern.
The rings that Jordan and Stewart wear (and Rayner used to wear) are based on the Green Lantern icon worn on the uniform, and reflects the central power battery on Oa. The reason Rayner's ring looks different is that his ring was an improved version with no yellow weakness and no 24 hour time limit on its charge. He is the only Lantern that comes to mind that has a ring of that design, the other Lanterns wear a ring of the Jordan/Stewart design.
Rayner recently evolved as a Green Lantern, becoming The Ion. His ring and power has been internalized and he is much more powerful than the other Green Lanterns. He is the next step in the evolution of the Green Lantern Corps.
On the ring mentioned at the beginning of post, I like the design and think that it is how a green lantern ring would look in real life.
I think standard CD is the most reliable audio format, and the one format that you can be sure will play. It also has the advantage that you can use it to make music in the other formats without conversion errors, which I think you would get converting an MP3 file into another format.
Besides being readily available, MP3 is the least encumbered format as far as the end user is concerned. So many other formats have so many restrictions that they hinder their use as a long-term format. Due to this, I would not be surprised that most, if not all, current non-MP3 formats are not usable in a decade.
In the 1990s Todd Rundgren released a disc for the CD-I system called "TR-1" that allowed you to modify the mix. You could choose change the producer, the mix, and the speed of the album on the fly.
innocent_white_lamb wrote and included with a post:
Considering current technology, it is likely that the reader will store the book in flash memory (I don't know but it seems likely) so the book will be remain in memory even if the reader's battery goes dead.
That is one of the biggest uses for my Palm too. One of the limitations of the older Palm handhelds was that everything was stored in active powered memory. This is one of the reasons that the older Palms were fairly fast, they were always on and ready for immediate use but if the battery died the contents were lost. For Palm handhelds that used replaceable batteries, you had about one minute to safely change out the battery before the contents were in danger of being lost.
But by hotsyncing your Palm on a regular basis the data is retained. I have data on my current handheld that has been through more than five handhelds over the past five years. Basically your computer retains a complete backup of your Palm's contents as of the last hotsync.
As mentioned above, it is likely that the ebooks will still be retained even if the device's battery is completely discharged. I hope that Sony provides the ability to backup your ereader's contents to a memory card as a backup.
One thing I'd like to add is the ability to put your own content on the ebook reader. I am interested in buying commercial ebooks, but if that is all that is available for an e-book reader then I will pass on it.
One of the best things about the Palm Reader is that PalmOne also offers a program called "Palm Ebook Studio" that allows you to easily make your own ebooks from documents in the following formats: plain text, RTF, and HTML.
I think the environmental impact of ebook readers will depend on the device itself. If an ebook reader is designed to use replaceable rechargeable batteries, then the waste factor is limited to the batteries themselves. If properly designed then the device itself would have a long useable life.
Another way that an ebook reader could reduce waste is to reduce the need to print short term documents, like newspapers and monthly magazines. Rather than having to dispose of a daily newspaper after reading it, it could be distributed electronically and deleted when you are finished reading it. This would significantly reduce the amount of paper that needs to be disposed of each day.
Jeff DeMaagd wrote as part of a post:
I think the following factors have also hurt Palm:
What I've decided to do is only purchase actual CDs, meaning CDs are in accordance with the Red Book Standard. If a CD contains copy protection or cannot be played on all CD players, whether a portable unit, a home player, or a computer, I simply won't buy it. If I do buy a CD with the official CD logo and it turns out to have copy protection, I will return it.
MonoSynth wrote:
I don't fault the Walkman for the above limitations, it was a limitation of the cassette format itself. Considering the slow speed and narrow tape of cassettes, it was amazing that their sound quality was as good as it was. Also, the quality of tapes you recorded yourself from an album/single tended to be better than the commercially available cassettes of the same music.
I think a factor that made the Walkman a success is that it allowed you to privately listen to your music on the go. Also, compared to the other formats of the time (LP, 45 single, reel-to-reel, 8-track), cassette took up much less space and they could be easily changed. Although 90 minutes isn't much time by today's standards, one 90-minute tape containing just the songs you want did save space over having to carry several albums that contained the songs that you wanted.
With the addition of the ability to play MP3s, improved skip protection, reduction in size (many modern CD/MP3 players are barely larger than the CD they hold and are as thick as two stacked jewel boxes), and extremely long battery life (most players run for more than 24 hours on a set of AA batteries) I find CD/MP3 players a viable alternative to hard drive players like the iPod.
I agree that the inability of the user to replace an iPod's battery is the biggest disadvantage of the iPod. I think it would be less of a disadvantage if the iPod lasted longer on a charge.
If the iPod had a battery that lasted at least 24 hours under less than ideal conditions, then you could use it all day without having to worry about battery life. Likewise, if the battery was replaceable then you could simply carry a spare when needed, ensuring that you had power all day.
I think the next big change in music players (already in process) will be the move to high-capacity players that don't use a hard drive. Already the capacity of flash-type players has at least equalled the smaller capacity hard drive iPods (the hard-drive-based iPod Mini had a capacity of 4GB). Once you get rid of the need to spin a hard drive, I think that battery life will cease to be an issue with a player.
I think the iPod will remain a dominant player for a while, barring any missteps by Apple. What I think will happen is that the iPod's dominance will drop as other players are introduced. But its ease of use will keep the iPod foremost with many users.
The problem with mixing the characters/ships from different series is that they have their own logic that alters the premise for both stories. Another series to consider is Star Blazers, an anime series from the 1970s. In one story I read, the Enterprise encounters the Argo (the main ship from Star Blazers). The Enterprise does massive damage to the Argo, then the Argo fires the Wave Motion Gun. The Enterprise is completely destroyed and the Argo travels on. You could get the same result by combining many series.
apharmdq wrote:
Not only that, but Picard has challenged a Klingon to one-on-one combat in one episode (when he told a Klingon he was welcome to challenge the assumption that a Starfleet officer would not fight). He also took on three Norsicons and received a blade through the heart.
onosendai wrote:
Spiner's decision makes sense, although it is somewhat undercut by the introduction of B4 in Star Trek - Nemesis. It seemed to give us an ending without an ending.
If they were to eliminate Data due to Spiner bowing out, I think a better way would have been to have Data's body be destroyed to a point where it couldn't be repaired, but his brain is intact. The brain is put into a new body. This allows a new actor to take over the role.
SanityInAnarchy wrote as part of a post:
One thing I've noticed about The Borg is that they can withstand and adapt to all sorts of energy weapons, but an old-fashioned physical attack (club, breaking their neck ala Data) always works. They never seem to adapt to that kind of attack.
Note to the next starfleet captain to encounter The Borg: Issue your crew baseball bats.
aplusjimages wrote:
Unless it is different with the very newest iPods, no iPod allows you to change the battery yourself. This has been one of my biggest complaints about the iPod since my only option when the battery wears out is to: (1) recharge it (which isn't an easy option away from home), (2) carry an external battery pack that adds to the weight of the player and won't fit in the case, or (3) carry a second iPod for use when the battery on the first one dies. It would be so much better if I could just pop in a new set of AA batteries that I can buy anywere.
With the Zune, I think that a mistake Microsoft is making is trying to make it do too much. I think the factors that made the iPod a success when it debuted are: (1) it was just a music player and concentrated on making sure that it was outstanding in that function, and (2) it had seemless integration with iTunes which allowed users to easily load and manage their music.
In order for the Zune to succeed, it is going to have to be more than just a good music player, it is going to have to give new buyers a reason to choose it instead of the iPod and other more established players, and to give iPod users a reason to give up their iPod. This second group is going to have the least reason to move to the Zune due to their investment in the iPod. It is the same situation that Windows users face when considering a move away from Windows.
triffid_98 wrote and included with a post:
I wasn't aware that of the specific date that copyright protection ended. With the continuing extensions of copyright, I would not be surprised if it was retroactively extended backward before that year. It seems that a strong effort is being made to ensure that everything remains in copyright, including to return it there even if it has dropped into the public domain.
I don't have a problem with a remake as long as it remains true to the original (The Fugitive). But when a remake completely alters the original and loses the original movie's point (The Stepford Wives) it is a different matter. To nutshell it, the maker of a remakes is only harmed if the remake is not good, not because of the existence of the original.
Mateo_LeFou wrote:
This sounds similar to a situation involving movies and books. In the case of movies, many old silent movies are being lost due to the unstable film stock that was used at the time. The films are literally disintegrating on the shelf and will be lost unless they can be transferred to a more lasting film stock.
With books, for a time (I think it was 50 years) many books were printed on paper that was prepared via a process involving acid. Due to this, the life span of these books are limited and as with the movies mentioned above, thousands of books will be lost forever. I remember reading somewhere that this will result in the biggest loss of information in history.
Finally, this is also an issue with computer files. Although copy protection is not much of an issue in this case, many files are no longer accessible because the program used to create them no longer exists. This has become a big problem with historical documents since they need to be accessible decades from now, and in some cases centuries from now.
I find it ironic that the thing which will supposedly save the music industry, DRM, will actually destroy music while the music with out DRM, which will supposedly kill the music industry, will actually save the music.
140Mandak262Jamuna wrote:
It seems like there are so many people devoted to the iPod that taking away the ability to use it with Windows now would drive people away from the Windows platform, rather than giving up their iPods. This would give people a reason to try other platforms.
I think the Zune has a chance for success as long as Microsoft does not do something to kill it. Just because it hasn't/didn't take down the iPod doesn't mean that it didn't succeed. It could be that many new users (those who are purchasing their first compressed audio player) choose the the Zune over the iPod, while experienced users stay with the iPod. I think there is room for both (and other) compressed audio players.
Among the things that could kill the Zune is if it will only play DRM songs. In fact, a great selling point for the Zune would be if it had the ability to play just about every audio format out of the box, including Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and MP3, in addition to its own format.
I'd like to see a player that doesn't require elaborate software to manage the library, such as the player simply mirroring a directory on your hard drive. One of the nice things about a using a CD/MP3 player is the simplicity of it, create the files with the program of your choice, burn them to a disc and use it.
Anonymous Coward wrote:
I purchase more comics today, and the reason is simple: Today's comics are better written and drawn, and are much more interesting to read. On-line is not much of a factor to me, other than finding out what new series are coming up.
In the same way, the number of CDs I have been buying has dropped due to the lack of new music that interests me. Scanning the posts on this topic, it seems that is a very common reason that people give for the drop in CD sales.
moeinvt wrote as part of a post:
This is going to be the biggest change the music industry is going to have to face, the inability to sell songs that buyers don't want just so they can get the songs they do want. In fact, I would not be surprised that in the future most "albums" will simply be collections of an artist's hit singles.
With the return of the focus to the single, one disadvantage I can see is that there will be less "risky" music. Current albums do provide a place for an artist to try songs that might not have broad appeal, supported by the more popular songs.
SuseLover wrote:
I agree and I think that, more than file sharing, that the following factors have caused the drop in CD sales, such as:
While I think each of the above factors is important, I think that the ability to buy individual songs is the most important. Before CD came along, you had the ability to purchase 45 singles of the songs you wanted in addition to being able to buy the entire album. When CD came along it seemed like singles became unavailable, requiring you to purchase the entire CD to get a song.
I think the ability to buy specific songs is what is hurting CD sales. A personal example for me is that I recently found an automated kiosk that allows you to have a custom-made CD of the songs for a $1 a song. Through it, I was able to purchase eight songs that I would never have bought the full albums for, sales that would not have happened otherwise.
Since the 1960s the album has dominated music. Now I think the single is going to dominate music in the future. The good songs will sell the best, and the other songs won't.