response 32 of 87:

Oct 3 00:19 UTC 2001

Bingo, that's it.

response 34 of 87:

Oct 3 13:29 UTC 2001

I haven't examined this closely, but you could probably produce
a compressed file with less quantization error than the original
CD by using auto-correlation to distinguish the signal from the
quantization noise, then compressing the result.  Adding a few
bits to the volume field of a wavelet descriptor (or whatever
the compression scheme uses) doesn't increase the file size
nearly as much as the compression of many samples into a small
descriptor decreases the file size.

Quantization error comes out as noise, mostly.  The dynamic range
(loudest possible level above the noise) of a CD using 16-bit
samples is already 96 dB or more.  Your ears can't use that much
very effectively, so it's questionable what an improvement there
would add to the perceived quality.  Fewer artifacts and better
handling of transients would probably do a lot more.

Has anyone hacked a personal MP3 player to handle .OGG files?

response 36 of 87:

Oct 3 19:38 UTC 2001

The RIAA and the MPAA sue the file swapping operations Music City, 
KaZaa and Grokster:
 
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7389552.html?tag=nbs
 
These three firms are the leading successors to Napster, in terms
of number of users.
All three firms use a peer-to-peer file swapping program 
from a company called FastTrack.  The software is Gnutella-like, in 
that searches propagate from user to user without going through a 
central directory as Napster did.   This means that the software 
will continue to operate even if these firms are shut down.

MusicCity is based in the US.  KaZaa is based in the Netherlands, and 
Grokster is based in Nevis, in the West Indies.  Quote:
> Perhaps more than any previous legal action, the 
> latest lawsuit will test the ability of courts
> and one nation's system of law to reach across international 
> borders for an online issue--and
> over technological hurdles that many techno-libertarians 
> have deemed all but impassable. 

The RIAA is considering also suing the venture capitalists who funded
MusicCity.

Quote, repeating stuff we've said before:
> Consulting firm Webnoize estimated that 3.05 billion files 
> were downloaded using the
> FastTrack-based network, Audiogalaxy, iMesh and the Gnutella 
> network during August. That
> compared with a similar estimate of 2.79 billion files 
> downloaded through Napster in February
> 2001, the peak of that service's popularity. 

response 38 of 87:

Oct 3 21:15 UTC 2001

http://www.dotcomscoop.com says they have leaked copies of the 
RIAA's legal strategy and analysis of the FastTrack-based networks, 
plus a boring letter from the RIAA's Hilary Rosen.  Both are posted.

http://www.dotcomscoop.com/riaa1003.html

My summary:
The RIAA thinks they can flip the software company FastTrack to get 
the evidence needed to win the case against FastTrack's customer
Music City, the one defendant based in the US, and then get FastTrack's
cooperation to subvert the other two networks operating outside US 
jurisdiction by enlisting FastTrack to break the encrypted links
involved in the system.

response 40 of 87:

Oct 4 20:49 UTC 2001

Re 35.  On the real estate restrictive covenant tangent: racially and
other such covenants were ruled to be void as against public policy by the
U.S. Supreme Court in Shelley v. Kraemer, 1948.  More broadly, most states
have laws which provide that covenants are not enforceable unless they
have expiration dates, usually limited to 40 years or so.  (I could go on,
but this is the wrong item.)

response 42 of 87:

Oct 9 22:38 UTC 2001

The Register moves another alarmist story.  According to their 
leak sources, the RIAA held a secret meeting last week with 
the record label heads, movie studios, US Senators Fritz Hollings
and Ted Stevens (sponsors of the SSSCA), and the heads of Toshiba
and Matsushita.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22087.html

Some highlights:
 
Hilary Rosen of the RIAA said, "we are working with sound card manufacturers
to implement technology that will block the recording of watermarked content
in both digital and analogue form."  ((That would have to be backed up 
with a SSSCA requirement that all sound cards use this system, of course.))

The RIAA intends to push for the adoption of a hard drive specification
similar to the rejected CPRM (Content Protection for Recordable Media)
rules.

Rosen wants ISPs to be liable for the copyright violations of their users.

Disney's Michael Eisner wants to gut privacy rules:  he said, "Privacy 
laws are our biggest impediment to us obtaining our objectives."

response 44 of 87:

Oct 10 13:27 UTC 2001

Re #23: Recording a CD you own to MP3 files for your own use is one of 
the things record companies would like to prevent you from doing.  
(It's already technically illegal.)

What the record companies really want to see is for something else to 
replace the CD.  They're hoping for this for two reasons:  it'd give 
them a chance to come up with a format that's more difficult to copy, 
and they think it would allow them to sell everyone another copy of all 
the albums they own.  They made out like bandits when people converted 
from LPs to CDs, and they're hoping they can do so again.  Under some 
schemes I've seen, you'd actually need to buy more than one new copy; 
some of them would license the copy to the player, so that, for 
example, you'd need to buy one for your home stereo, one for your car, 
and one for your portable...

Re #42: The Register has published a retraction of that story here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/31/22138.html
It's likely the meeting never happened.  I'm guessing the Michael 
Eisner quote was probably made up -- even if he thinks that, I don't 
think he'd actually say it out loud.

response 46 of 87:

Oct 10 17:08 UTC 2001

I heard that the largest representative of recording artists has agreed to
make all their music available on line from a source for a fee as yet to be
determined.

response 48 of 87:

Oct 10 21:05 UTC 2001

It doesn't surprise me.  It's not clear that the money paid out in
the Payback for Playback program ever helped create much revenue 
for mp3.com.  I chalk it up as another failed dot-com business model.

response 50 of 87:

Oct 15 18:59 UTC 2001

The outrages keep on coming...  From Declan McCullagh & Wired:
 
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47552,00.html

The RIAA wants to be immunized from any liability if they break into 
computers or networks in search of illicit MP3 files.  
They want immunity from consequential damages if they screw up your 
system.
 
So far their attempts to slip this into anti-terrorism bills have failed.
But it does show that the RIAA's thinking in terms of vigilanteeism.

((The RIAA's spokesman in this matter is lying weasel Mitch Glazer. 
Glazer is the former Senate staffer who betrayed his trust by 
slipping the "work-for-hire" changes into copyright law, thus 
drastically revising the ownership rights for recorded music without
any responsible legislators realizing what was going on.  
Glazer was rewarded for his betrayal of the Senate's trust with a 
plum position at the RIAA. ))

response 52 of 87:

Oct 15 21:28 UTC 2001

LA Times story on the same subject, with a tad less outrage:
 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000082201oct15.story
 
LA Times also carries a report about Department of Justice antitrust 
invesigators looking at the creation of the authorized music download
systems for the major labels.  I get lost every time I read about anti
trust law, though:
 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000082195oct15.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines
%2Dbusiness

response 54 of 87:

Oct 16 19:06 UTC 2001

ZDnet on the RIAA's plan to launch denial of service attacks against
users running file swapping software:
 
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2818064,00.html?chkpt=zdnnp1t
p01