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Grex > Music3 > #169: The Seventeenth Napster Item |  |
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| 25 new of 102 responses total. |
tod
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response 13 of 102:
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Jan 16 23:30 UTC 2004 |
This response has been erased.
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krj
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response 14 of 102:
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Jan 18 18:35 UTC 2004 |
Richard pointed me to this:
New York Post runs a non-news story about the non-sale of Tower
Records. The article says Tower is running out of time to find a
buyer. They are already months beyond the original deadline set
by their creditors.
Sun Capital Partners is reported to still be interested "in
the Tower name;" that phrasing sounds like they aren't interested in
the ongoing business any more, but it could just be my pessimistic
speculation.
http://www.nypost.com/business/15750.htm
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willcome
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response 15 of 102:
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Jan 18 19:05 UTC 2004 |
It's not news.
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krj
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response 16 of 102:
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Jan 18 20:01 UTC 2004 |
Dan Gillmor sends a column from the Consumer Electronics Show.
He amplifies on the coverage of HP's pledge to tie down their customers,
arguing that this ideology is now sweeping the industry which was
previously built on empowering users.
"Companies tossing aside consumers' freedoms"
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7739841.htm
Quote:
>> "Another sign of where we're heading came during a panel I moderated
at CES. The speakers were top executives from America's cable and
satellite TV companies, and the topic was high-definition TV.
"They didn't disagree when I suggested that customers' rights would
be sharply limited when the transition to HDTV takes place. We will be
able to time-shift programming (record it to watch later), watch it on
different devices, or watch more than once only if the copyright
holder says we can." <<
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gull
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response 17 of 102:
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Jan 18 22:13 UTC 2004 |
I wonder how restrictive copyright holders will want to be? It seems
like disallowing time-shifting could really cut down on viewership, and
advertisers wouldn't like that.
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mcnally
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response 18 of 102:
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Jan 18 23:43 UTC 2004 |
But allowing time-shifting allows the viewers to use those pesky
recording devices (VCRs & PVRs) which allow them to skip the
commercials and advertisers don't like THAT.
Plus allowing people to make their own digital recordings might
affect the ever more lucrative DVD market or television series.
Care to guess how many DVD sets of the Sopranos HBO has sold at
$60 a pop?
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twinkie
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response 19 of 102:
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Jan 19 04:56 UTC 2004 |
re: 18 - Advertisers really don't like that at all. It's had some recent
coverage in Wired, and other publications.
I don't think it really carries over to DVD's, though. They generally have
added value, with outtakes, commentary, deleted scenes, "lost" episodes, etc.
Consider HBO's rival Showtime, and their sales of Queer as Folk box sets.
Showtime embeds TiVo smart tags on their commercials, to make it even easier
for people to record their programming.
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gull
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response 20 of 102:
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Jan 19 14:17 UTC 2004 |
Interesting but admittedly only marginally-related item that came up on
Bugtraq recently:
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~1882929,00.html
According to the article, Adobe Photoshop CS contains a routine that
recognizes when you're trying to open an image of a piece of currency
(U.S. dollar bill, etc.) and blocks you. Discussion on Bugtraq reveals
that some HP printer drivers contain code to stop you from printing
currency images, as well.
The anti-currency-copying technology was apparently designed by a
consortium of central banks. In the EU, there's a proposal to make this
mandatory.
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twinkie
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response 21 of 102:
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Jan 20 01:55 UTC 2004 |
re: 20 Surprisingly, Photoshop CS also blocks images that have a substantial
percentage of US currency's color scheme (both old and new). Though some
workarounds have been established, it's rather irritating.
Though I don't envision it ever becoming a problem for what I tend to use
Photoshop for, I'm disappointed that such flawed technology is built in to
a $649 software application and can't be turned off.
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mcnally
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response 22 of 102:
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Jan 20 03:34 UTC 2004 |
Agreed.. And though it's not a replacement for Photoshop, you can always
use Gimp for your counterfeiting projects..
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bhoward
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response 23 of 102:
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Jan 20 07:30 UTC 2004 |
Open source to the rescue, once again :-)
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remmers
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response 24 of 102:
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Jan 20 12:53 UTC 2004 |
Don't be too blase'. Open source is what they might try to regulate
next.
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bhoward
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response 25 of 102:
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Jan 20 13:54 UTC 2004 |
Not blasé so much as reasonably optimistic that any attempted regulation
would prove quite difficult to implement, let alone enforce.
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twinkie
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response 26 of 102:
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Jan 20 14:40 UTC 2004 |
It would be impossible to regulate and keep open source, unless they created
some magical encrypted libs that people would figure out how to decrypt (or
just remove before compilation).
While GIMP is nice for the price, it's not Photoshop. It's also less than
functional on OS X.
Though, it seems to be "getting there" slowly. I'd love to not pay $649 for
Photoshop.
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bhoward
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response 27 of 102:
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Jan 20 14:43 UTC 2004 |
Go to Hong Kong. USD5.00 has pretty good software purchasing
power in them there parts.
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ryan
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response 28 of 102:
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Jan 20 17:22 UTC 2004 |
This response has been erased.
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gull
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response 29 of 102:
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Jan 20 19:27 UTC 2004 |
Paint Shop Pro is pretty good, though it too is "not quite Photoshop,
but getting there." It's a bit ahead of GIMP on most platforms. It's
much, much cheaper than Photoshop.
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ryan
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response 30 of 102:
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Jan 20 20:15 UTC 2004 |
This response has been erased.
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orinoco
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response 31 of 102:
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Jan 20 21:37 UTC 2004 |
Oh, hell yes. I hadn't realized just how painful bad interface design could
be until I started trying to learn to use the GIMP.
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krj
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response 32 of 102:
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Jan 21 02:28 UTC 2004 |
Washington Post has an article on the newfangled audio disc formats,
DVD Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). The executive summary: neither
format is doing significant business, and there is no reason to
expect them to survive. There are no portable players
or car players for these formats. It seems that consumers value
portability (mp3s, AAC and Windows Media) over the improved sound
quality of the new disc formats. It also may be that consumers
reject the new formats because of their resistance to digital copying.
The formats have been on the market for three years. Three years after
the introduction of the CD format, sales were starting to explode.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30490-2004Jan19.html
"Audio Formats Stumble In Quest To Replace CDs"
Quote:
>> "During the six-month period ending in June 2003, only 100,000 DVD-
Audio discs were sold, compared with 245 million CDs, the Recording
Industry Association of America reports. Even traditional vinyl
records outsold DVD-Audio -- by a factor of six to one.
>> "Rather than growing, sales of DVD-Audio discs are actually down
from the same period a year ago. The RIAA does not track SACD
sales. "<<
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mcnally
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response 33 of 102:
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Jan 21 02:49 UTC 2004 |
They might have better luck introducing their "superior" DRM-ed
formats if they didn't commonly charge another $5-20 over the
already outrageous price of a CD recording. There just aren't
many albums that I love enought to pay $25-30 for when a "good
enough" CD version is available for $15-$20.
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gull
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response 34 of 102:
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Jan 21 02:58 UTC 2004 |
I have mixed feelings about GIMP's user interface. After using it for a
while, it really annoys me that in Photoshop (or PSP) I have to truck my
mouse clear over to the edge of the image window every time I want to
switch tools, instead of just right-clicking.
I agree that Photoshop is excellent...I'm not sure it's good enough to
justify its outrageous price, for most people, though. Comparing the
student discount price to the commercial price should give an idea of
just how huge the profit margin on that software is.
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scott
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response 35 of 102:
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Jan 21 14:06 UTC 2004 |
I use GIMP, and I've never tried Photoshop. While GIMP is non-obvious to
learn, it is pretty efficient at least compared to most computer apps. If
I used it a lot I'd end up memorizing all the keyboard shortcuts and get
pretty fast.
(I'm using the Linux version, which of course is the most stable)
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gull
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response 36 of 102:
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Jan 21 14:52 UTC 2004 |
Yeah, I actually like GIMP, but it punishes new users.
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krj
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response 37 of 102:
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Jan 21 23:54 UTC 2004 |
The RIAA files another 532 lawsuits. Because the RIAA can no longer
used the "expedited subpoena" power of the DMCA to uncover the
identity of IP addresses it believes are being used to share files,
the RIAA has filed these as "John Doe" lawsuits naming IP addresses,
presumably with dates and times attached.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,61989,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1
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A Michigan Daily story says that nine U. Michigan students have had their
identities subpoenaed by the RIAA. This makes little sense to me, as the
DMCA subpoena process against file sharing users was thrown out last
December, and it's too early for the new John Doe lawsuits to have
been processed down to the University. ???
http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/01/21/400e279425891
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