response 45 of 87:

Oct 10 16:18 UTC 2001

Well, my face is slightly red.  Apologies for distributing disinformation
in resp:42.

response 47 of 87:

Oct 10 20:47 UTC 2001

  Weblog Plastic (www.plastic.com) featured a link recently to a story
  reporting that Vivendi Universal, which has just taken over management
  of MP3.com, announced immediately after the takeover that it would be
  reducing the sites "Payback for Playback" payments (which reward artists
  with the most popular downloads) by 80%.  The link pointed here: 
  http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/p4p.html

response 49 of 87:

Oct 11 14:05 UTC 2001

Re #45: That's okay.  I got "taken" by it, too...I think it says 
something about the RIAA that so many people found the story believable.

response 51 of 87:

Oct 15 19:23 UTC 2001

Whoa. So they could come onto my PC and search for MP3's even though I 
have never downloaded an MP3 in my life, break my system and then have 
no liability? That doesnt sound too good. 

response 53 of 87:

Oct 15 21:30 UTC 2001

  Surely if you have nothing to hide.. 

  <whack!>

response 55 of 87:

Oct 16 23:04 UTC 2001

Forgive me for not clipping in the URL on this one...  there are news 
stories in many sites today suggesting that the Justice Department
antitrust probe against the major labels is heating up, with more 
subpoena-like inquiries flying.  There's also a report that 
European Union antitrust regulators are considering blocking the 
MusicNet and PressPlay services from opening.

response 57 of 87:

Oct 18 13:48 UTC 2001

Are RIAA DoS attacks the reason the Internet's been so unreliable 
lately? ;>  I've been having trouble getting to just about anything on 
the west coast, and a friend of mine on the west coast is having 
trouble getting anywhere else...

response 59 of 87:

Nov 1 00:32 UTC 2001

This Napster parody is a couple of years old, but I just found it and 
it's too funny not to pass on:

http://boingboing.net/alifecomics/Alife-020.jpg

response 61 of 87:

Nov 4 16:49 UTC 2001

Does ReplayTV's device facilitate such sharing? That is, does it have direct
Internet access hooked into the product, so that anyone, naywhere, can pull
programs directly off my ReplayTV machine, or do I have to transfer the files
to my computer?

I assume it's the latter; if so, then the similarities between this and
Napster are few. Further, Napster included the sharing of items only available
commercially; ABC, CBS, and NBC's programs are available *for free* to anyone
with a TV set and within range of a broadcast antenna. The only added bonus
to on-line trading of programs is that viewers can choose when they watch a
program, but this is equally true of anyone owning a VCR.

So Replay TV will allow people who don't have VCRs or TVs with antennas/cable
to watch programs on those networks. In the United States, it seems to me that
the number of people who don't own VCRs or don't have access to those nets
via the airwaves, but who DO own computers with Internet access, would be very
low. The only "threat" is the international issue, but I'm not sure what role
US courts should really have in that.

response 63 of 87:

Nov 6 03:16 UTC 2001

        Maybe a firewire connection?

response 65 of 87:

Nov 14 21:25 UTC 2001

There are some reports coming out of the U.K. about the copyright-protection
scheme used on Natalie Imbruglia's newest CD, WHITE LILLIES ISLAND. 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22759.html
http://www.fatchucks.com/corruptcds/z.natalieimbruglia.whitelilliesisland.h
tml

response 67 of 87:

Nov 20 20:55 UTC 2001

Wow, thanks for this, Mickey.  Cnet also had a good story on it.
This is a big defeat for the major labels.

response 69 of 87:

Dec 1 00:36 UTC 2001

Salon reviews a new book:  "Sonic Boom," by John Alderman.
Subtitle: "Napster, MP3 and the New Pioneers of Music."
 
http://salon.com/tech/books/2001/11/30/sonic_boom/index.html

Quote from the review:
   "In his book, John Alderman remembers attending one of the first 
    online music conferences in the mid-1990s where an industry executive
    declared that the Net should be immediately closed down.  
    Copyright protection had to take precedence over technological 
    innovation.  ...   The music industry has no veto over its future.
    Its lobbyists and lawyers can only slow down the spread of peer-to-peer
    computing."

The review also discusses the concept of the "gift economy" and how it
is "the heart of the Net."

As I read the review, the book author argues that the music industry 
had a very narrow window to try to build a money economy out of the 
sale of music files with some sort of encryption attached; but because
they did not wish to gut their CD sales, they dithered, and the MP3
trading system got too well established.  

-----

The Financial Times of London has an overview essay which will have 
little new to faithful readers of these Grex items:
 
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3QP3V2HUC&li
ve=true
"Music Industry Burned By The Blank Generation"
 
The IFPI (international version of the RIAA) says that the number of
illicitly sold CD-Rs now matches the number of legitimate CDs sold.

Younger users are now totally committed to burning CDs and downloading
music for free and they are unlikely to return as paying customers.

Quote:

>  Some hardware manufacturers recognise the "troublesome" 
>  impact their products are having on the record
>  companies. For example, Sony and Philips have agreed not 
>  to make machines able to replicate high-quality
>  super-audio discs (SACDs). This at least means the music 
>  industry can offer a distinct premium product. 
>
>  The IFPI complains that the makers of CD burners do not want 
>  to enter into a debate about their part in the growth
>  of unauthorised copying - just as gun-makers disavow themselves 
>  of responsibility for fatal shootings. 

(((  Please, please, please do not start gun control arguments here.
     Thank you.  )))