Posts by Russell Brown
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
maybe we'll see DRM go away not because it's too annoying for the user but because it's too annoying for the music industry ....
I think that's what you're seeing happen. DRM has been used as a lever in a way that not only has little to do with the consumer, it sometimes doesn't have much to do with the copyright owner.
Interestingly, although the majors' current tactical shift is aimed at iTunes, I think it also hurts Microsoft, which has consciously sacrificed usability to pursue a DRM-based approach.
-
This is weird -- election year 2008, and the Federal Election Commission has shut down as a result of a Senate stalemate on appointments:
The FEC's shutdown could affect the election in a number of ways. The first and most obvious is the oversight role it plays with third party groups, such as 527s and nonprofits that spend tens of millions of dollars each election. But there are other -- probably greater -- ramifications.
For instance, the FEC disburses public matching funds for candidates. Since its shutdown, it's prevented from doing that. And since John Edwards is the highest profile candidate to participate in that system, it might become a problem for him.
The assumption is that Edwards can borrow money until the FEC comes back. But, wow ...
-
Not a bad tactic at all. You can see why young people are flocking to him.
It's not just the MLK cadences, but the cool. He seems assured and natural, which I think lends him credibility. I can't help but find him quite exciting. Matthew Yglesias is electrified.
He should hope Huckabee keeps on and wins, because Huckabee would make questions around Obama's experience just go away.
Instapundit et al are very sour tonight, which in my book is a good sign.
-
Superb speech by Obama ...
I'm not completely clear on his policies, but my god he has charisma ....
-
The upside will be that whoever it will likely bang much of it online everywhere for an easy return, DRM free. The downside is that they are unlikely to care much for obscure corners of the vast catalogue from NZ.
The other goss is that Warners will flick the FN catalogue. What do you reckon it would be worth? Wanna start a syndicate?
-
From the WaPo discussion: biggest Democratic turnout ever.
-
From TPM:
**META-STORY**
Beyond who won on each side, there's a very big partisan message out of tonight. Just under 220,000 Democrats caucused tonight. About 115,000 Republicans did. That is a very big vote in itself.
-
Like what, the potential for intimidation, bullying, and thuglike behaviour?
The traditional candidate selection process in New Zealand, then?
-
This means you can't give the track to a mate, but you can put it on any of your devices and play it.
But I got the music bug by taping my mate's older brother's LPs and playing them endlessly. I'm kind of embarrassed by what I played (Supertramp? Uriah Heep?) but it certainly got me on the road to spending tens of thousands on music in the years to come.
I do tend to draw a distinction between an MP3 blog that encourages its readers to download the file but buy the album and some faceless Pirate Bay torrent of an artist's entire catalogue. But how do you prevent the latter? Pirates will always break your technology -- it's reasonable people who get messed around.
-
I'm wondering why you think its a good stance to paint DRM as evil when in fact it is that the current versions of DRM are shit and constrict the legal purchasers rights to free maneuverability of their property
I actually don't dismiss it entirely, and I find iTunes DRM fairly painless (the bitrates on anythng bar the iTunes Plus material is another thing), but I've been hearing about how DRM is going to be good for everyone from industry people for nearly a decade now, and it really hasn't been good for anyone.
It doesn't prevent piracy, and meanwhile you end up with crap like Microsoft selling songs with "Plays for Sure" DRM right up till the Zune launch -- and then saying that they wouldn't play on the Zune.
You also see it being used as a way to manipulate markets, which Apple has done, and now Warners is doing. The consumer doesn't really come into it.
Maybe a portable, open-source DRM format would be good, but I think there's a level of music where you've got more to gain from network effects than you have to lose from piracy. Hype Machine runs a very blurry line on copyright, but do you want your tune to come up big on Hype Machine? You sure do.
But my main point was that there are places that certain back-catalogues should be and they can't be there because of the majors' blanket policy on DRM. Bird Nest Roys would be brilliant on eMusic -- get someone from Pavement to write the review -- and the part of the Nun catalogue that isn't considered worth keeping in print would be a real signature offering.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 … 2279 Older→ First