Apple has zero credibility for me with music. The one time I bought an album from them, I was so frustrated with the hoops and hacks necessary to move the tracks from my work machine to a cd for my commute, or heaven forbid another machine that I gave up on them. The way they block 3rd parties from getting into the Ipod part puts them on a par with every other company in the market, perhaps a bit worse because of the smug borderline dishonesty of it all.
For all their fancy advertising and mantra of usability, their approach to DRM and content usability is in lockstep with the worst of corporate marketers. Seller-focused, not biased toward user needs.
With emusic, it's cash and carry. You download the tracks and get to play with them. Burn a cd for the car, pop it on a flash drive for a work mix, whatever. No draconian file lock downs or feature crippling via built in "protection." It's music, not the NSA! It really amazes me how people jump up to defend paying the same price as physical product music, for digital downloads that have 1/2 the usability of a good old cd or lp.
I've been on Emusic for years - it really can't be beat, unless you're really after that latest Christina Aguilera track. For independent stuff it's terrific. I have a grandfathered 90 track a month/$20 subscription and I'm always out of tracks by mid-month. No DRM, no hassles, I burn a cd for the car, put some tracks on my work computer and manage my library at home. Not being treated like a criminal makes me keep with them; I've never even looked for an alternative.
Emusic is everything Apple isn't - mainly honest and straightforward.
Captain Latin America. A berry berry good idea.
Actually, that Marvel helped fake Captain America's death because he was about to be outed as an online buyer of HGH.
You make good points on the principle that the one company (in this case the Lake Express) shouldn't enjoy government favor over another (SS Badger). The problem I have with this assertion is not on the fundamental premise but on the "facts" you rely on.
Perhaps I was being a bit obtuse with my earlier reference to Millions of dollars of free money the prior owners of the Badger received in the 1970's to save the ship from the scrapyard. It is fair enough to point out that this did not directly benefit the current ownership.
That said, the "new" owners, for all of their complaining about unfair advantages afforded through government support, sure don't adhere to their principles. On day one they took advantage of $500,000 of Manitowoc money given to them to upgrade their terminal. Take a look at the Ludington Daily News archives online and make note of the money received on that side. $500k for Michigan side dock upgrades. Nearly another half million for marketing. And the list goes on and on. In just a few minutes I was able to come up with roughly $2 million in donations to the SS Badger company, under its current ownership. Not loans mind you, but flat out donations of tax money.
If the Badger folks worked half as hard on their operation as they do on misleading the public with bogus news stories, "balanced opinion" websites and Wikipedia edits, they wouldn't have to whine about the state they're in financially.
The irony of what you're saying lies in the fact that the Badger went under in the 1970's due to millions of dollars of yearly operating losses and resulting debt. Didn't run for a while and then was brought back by millions of dollars of taxpayer payouts, from the pockets of Wisconsin and Michigan taxpayers (in 1970's dollars -- we're talking Dr. Evil Millions) - direct payments not loans. Very public stuff that the Manitowoc critics conveniently forget when they cry foul.
Really, if the Badger folks had any of the virtue they claim in regards to funding, they'd be a thirty-year-old memory right now, not a bitter old complainer grasping for headlines.
In Milwaukee the newspaper folks just can't get enough of the Wikipedia war. Maybe it's because the Brewers now appear to be out of the race and the Packers are already a lost cause that the writers are hoping to rally for at least one win from a Milwaukee team.
Editorial coverage continues:
When credibility departs:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=488622
Wikipedia lake ferry entry has lots of back and forth
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=488688
Absolutely agree - pretty petty to think that anyone is going to go 2 hours out of their way to ride either of the "competing" lines, regardless of what is said in the news. The decision for most is likely go or don't go. Too bad the Badger folks don't realize this while they waste their time pissing on a whole industry out of petty insecurity.
It was a railroad car loaded with coal -- in the 1960's or 1970's I believe. Only reason it hasn't made wikipedia is that the stories are all on microfilm and wouldn't pass muster with the citation police.
I guess this is either a problem or advantage (depending on your perspective) of having a 50+ year old company (and history) in the digital/wiki age.
"The operators of the SS Badger deny responsibility for all the postings, and also say they aren't Internet savvy enough to alter a Wikipedia article."
The folks at the SS Badger may not be smart enough to do it themselves, but they sure as heck thought it was a good idea to do it when they first hired their SEO/domain squatter/adwords bottom feeder "consultant" to stir up bad publicity online. This story's a good lesson on what happens when half-brains hire low-class bottom feeder "new economy" douchebags to game the online system.
Regarding the Badger's guy, Christopher Van Oosterhout, here's his game:
1) register mispell and keyword domains
2) build keyword spamming websites to skim traffic of legitimate businesses/websites.
3) sell advertising to competitors of the company whose traffic is being leached.
4) run adwords for CPM and CPC money.
5) if that doesn't work, run negative information and try to extort money in an effort to sell the domain/site to the company he's targeted.
The Badger got in bed with Van Oosterhout (of Torresen Marine) on the promise that his 5-pronged approach would be used to damage the Lake Express and only now are feeling upset as the public at large are getting a taste of their manipulation scheme. Christopher's info will follow at the bottom of this post.
How the SS Badger and Van Ossterhout worked in 5-point fashion here:
1) milwaukee-muskegon.com was registered
2) content is added to the site to build keyword relevance and pagerank - much of the content pulled from Lake Express materials or worded to reflect keyword searches. Cached at : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&sa=G&q=site :www.milwaukee-muskegon.com
3) SS Badger advertising banners were featured promiently on the milwaukee-muskegon.com website, especially on pages that featured "passenger" complaints and testimonials centered around the Lake Express.
3b) the same content was posted on Wikipedia, by "anonymous" editor 24.11.28.42 (An IP/editor that also worked on adding Wikipedia links to a Torresen marine sales site). The IP belongs to Comcast in Muskegon, MI - home of Torresen and VanOosterhaut.
4) adwords appeared throughout the site.
5) in the article, Van Ooosterhaut admits that he attempted to sell the site to both the Lake Express and SS Badger, although the claim of trying to sell to the Badger seems a bit far fetched as the value of Milwaukee-Muskegon.com for a company running a Manitowoc-to-Ludington route seems a bit odd. Seems like a botched cover story that directly implicates him of working for the Badger.
A nice added touch is that Van Oosterhaut offered "free" Lake Expres photography through his keyword spam/ shakedown site. Free Lake Express photos -- all you have to do is link to this site. A pagerank and keyword spam (on "Lake Express") tactic.
Here's hoping there's a special place in hell for these squatter-email/search spammer types and the people that hire them.
As promised, here's my notes on the guys behind this scam/wikipedia attack:
Domain name: TORRESEN.COM
Registrant:
Torresen Marine, Inc.
3003 Lake Shore Drive
Muskegon, MI 49441
US
Administrative Contact:
VanOosterhout, Christopher domains@torresen.com
3003 Lake Shore Drive
Muskegon, MI 49441
US
+1.2317598596 Fax: +1.2317551522
Domain name: MILWAUKEE-MUSKEGON.COM
Administrative Contact:
Muskegon, Milwaukee christopher@vanoosterhout.com
Milwaukee Muskegon
Muskegon, MI 49442
US
231-206-0551
Don Clingan
vice president of marketing for Lake Michigan Carferry
lmcdon@ssbadger.com
Slashdot Mirror
Apple has zero credibility for me with music. The one time I bought an album from them, I was so frustrated with the hoops and hacks necessary to move the tracks from my work machine to a cd for my commute, or heaven forbid another machine that I gave up on them. The way they block 3rd parties from getting into the Ipod part puts them on a par with every other company in the market, perhaps a bit worse because of the smug borderline dishonesty of it all. For all their fancy advertising and mantra of usability, their approach to DRM and content usability is in lockstep with the worst of corporate marketers. Seller-focused, not biased toward user needs. With emusic, it's cash and carry. You download the tracks and get to play with them. Burn a cd for the car, pop it on a flash drive for a work mix, whatever. No draconian file lock downs or feature crippling via built in "protection." It's music, not the NSA! It really amazes me how people jump up to defend paying the same price as physical product music, for digital downloads that have 1/2 the usability of a good old cd or lp.
I've been on Emusic for years - it really can't be beat, unless you're really after that latest Christina Aguilera track. For independent stuff it's terrific. I have a grandfathered 90 track a month/$20 subscription and I'm always out of tracks by mid-month. No DRM, no hassles, I burn a cd for the car, put some tracks on my work computer and manage my library at home. Not being treated like a criminal makes me keep with them; I've never even looked for an alternative. Emusic is everything Apple isn't - mainly honest and straightforward.
Captain Latin America. A berry berry good idea. Actually, that Marvel helped fake Captain America's death because he was about to be outed as an online buyer of HGH.
Radio Shack - you've got questions, we just want your phone number
You make good points on the principle that the one company (in this case the Lake Express) shouldn't enjoy government favor over another (SS Badger). The problem I have with this assertion is not on the fundamental premise but on the "facts" you rely on. Perhaps I was being a bit obtuse with my earlier reference to Millions of dollars of free money the prior owners of the Badger received in the 1970's to save the ship from the scrapyard. It is fair enough to point out that this did not directly benefit the current ownership. That said, the "new" owners, for all of their complaining about unfair advantages afforded through government support, sure don't adhere to their principles. On day one they took advantage of $500,000 of Manitowoc money given to them to upgrade their terminal. Take a look at the Ludington Daily News archives online and make note of the money received on that side. $500k for Michigan side dock upgrades. Nearly another half million for marketing. And the list goes on and on. In just a few minutes I was able to come up with roughly $2 million in donations to the SS Badger company, under its current ownership. Not loans mind you, but flat out donations of tax money. If the Badger folks worked half as hard on their operation as they do on misleading the public with bogus news stories, "balanced opinion" websites and Wikipedia edits, they wouldn't have to whine about the state they're in financially.
The irony of what you're saying lies in the fact that the Badger went under in the 1970's due to millions of dollars of yearly operating losses and resulting debt. Didn't run for a while and then was brought back by millions of dollars of taxpayer payouts, from the pockets of Wisconsin and Michigan taxpayers (in 1970's dollars -- we're talking Dr. Evil Millions) - direct payments not loans. Very public stuff that the Manitowoc critics conveniently forget when they cry foul.
Really, if the Badger folks had any of the virtue they claim in regards to funding, they'd be a thirty-year-old memory right now, not a bitter old complainer grasping for headlines.
The forking editors are causing the problems -- forking wiki, forked wiki, it's all the same.
In Milwaukee the newspaper folks just can't get enough of the Wikipedia war. Maybe it's because the Brewers now appear to be out of the race and the Packers are already a lost cause that the writers are hoping to rally for at least one win from a Milwaukee team. Editorial coverage continues: When credibility departs: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=488622
Wikipedia lake ferry entry has lots of back and forth
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=488688
Absolutely agree - pretty petty to think that anyone is going to go 2 hours out of their way to ride either of the "competing" lines, regardless of what is said in the news. The decision for most is likely go or don't go. Too bad the Badger folks don't realize this while they waste their time pissing on a whole industry out of petty insecurity.
I guess this is either a problem or advantage (depending on your perspective) of having a 50+ year old company (and history) in the digital/wiki age.
The folks at the SS Badger may not be smart enough to do it themselves, but they sure as heck thought it was a good idea to do it when they first hired their SEO/domain squatter/adwords bottom feeder "consultant" to stir up bad publicity online. This story's a good lesson on what happens when half-brains hire low-class bottom feeder "new economy" douchebags to game the online system.
Regarding the Badger's guy, Christopher Van Oosterhout, here's his game:
1) register mispell and keyword domains
2) build keyword spamming websites to skim traffic of legitimate businesses/websites.
3) sell advertising to competitors of the company whose traffic is being leached.
4) run adwords for CPM and CPC money.
5) if that doesn't work, run negative information and try to extort money in an effort to sell the domain/site to the company he's targeted. The Badger got in bed with Van Oosterhout (of Torresen Marine) on the promise that his 5-pronged approach would be used to damage the Lake Express and only now are feeling upset as the public at large are getting a taste of their manipulation scheme. Christopher's info will follow at the bottom of this post.
How the SS Badger and Van Ossterhout worked in 5-point fashion here:
1) milwaukee-muskegon.com was registerede :www.milwaukee-muskegon.com
2) content is added to the site to build keyword relevance and pagerank - much of the content pulled from Lake Express materials or worded to reflect keyword searches. Cached at : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&sa=G&q=sit
3) SS Badger advertising banners were featured promiently on the milwaukee-muskegon.com website, especially on pages that featured "passenger" complaints and testimonials centered around the Lake Express.
3b) the same content was posted on Wikipedia, by "anonymous" editor 24.11.28.42 (An IP/editor that also worked on adding Wikipedia links to a Torresen marine sales site). The IP belongs to Comcast in Muskegon, MI - home of Torresen and VanOosterhaut.
4) adwords appeared throughout the site.
5) in the article, Van Ooosterhaut admits that he attempted to sell the site to both the Lake Express and SS Badger, although the claim of trying to sell to the Badger seems a bit far fetched as the value of Milwaukee-Muskegon.com for a company running a Manitowoc-to-Ludington route seems a bit odd. Seems like a botched cover story that directly implicates him of working for the Badger.
A nice added touch is that Van Oosterhaut offered "free" Lake Expres photography through his keyword spam/ shakedown site. Free Lake Express photos -- all you have to do is link to this site. A pagerank and keyword spam (on "Lake Express") tactic.
Here's hoping there's a special place in hell for these squatter-email/search spammer types and the people that hire them.
As promised, here's my notes on the guys behind this scam/wikipedia attack:
Domain name: TORRESEN.COM
Registrant: Torresen Marine, Inc. 3003 Lake Shore Drive Muskegon, MI 49441 US
Administrative Contact: VanOosterhout, Christopher domains@torresen.com 3003 Lake Shore Drive Muskegon, MI 49441 US +1.2317598596 Fax: +1.2317551522
Domain name: MILWAUKEE-MUSKEGON.COM
Administrative Contact: Muskegon, Milwaukee christopher@vanoosterhout.com Milwaukee Muskegon Muskegon, MI 49442 US 231-206-0551
Don Clingan vice president of marketing for Lake Michigan Carferry lmcdon@ssbadger.com