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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 104 responses total. |
gull
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response 64 of 104:
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Aug 26 12:56 UTC 2002 |
Hardcore audiophiles also buy special oxygen-free speaker cables that
cost $20/foot, and think resistors wound with silver wire sound better
than ones wound with nichrome.
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mcnally
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response 65 of 104:
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Aug 26 17:21 UTC 2002 |
re #63: bought a recording on LP or cassette tape lately?
once a clear winner emerges from the battle between
new "secure" digital formats, expect the record companies
to start cutting back on which parts of the catalog they
release on CD. that won't compel CD owners to upgrade
their existing collections, but it will force much of the
market towards the new format.
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tod
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response 66 of 104:
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Aug 26 17:24 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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twinkie
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response 67 of 104:
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Aug 26 19:56 UTC 2002 |
re: 63
I have. They tend not to "border" on being pretentious ;-)
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gull
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response 68 of 104:
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Aug 27 13:05 UTC 2002 |
An article talking about how the RIAA is continuing to blame file
sharing for the drop in CD sales. It rather sarcastically suggests
several alternative reasons.
http://www.theregus.com/content/6/26099.html
'"Though other factors like the decline in consumer spending have played
a role, Cary Sherman, President of the RIAA, said that illegal music
downloading was the main culprit in the drop in sales," the lobbying
group explains.'
'Clearly the RIAA knows its enemy, and has the numbers to "prove" it. We
just wonder who they'll blame if they ever achieve their
government-mandated DRM copyright paradise, and sales continue to
disappoint.'
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tod
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response 69 of 104:
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Aug 27 15:58 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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orinoco
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response 70 of 104:
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Aug 28 01:45 UTC 2002 |
"The RIAA and PWC can shove that argument up their own posteriori."
....beautiful. Just beautiful.
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gull
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response 71 of 104:
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Aug 30 13:07 UTC 2002 |
Thompson Multimedia has changed their MP3 licensing policy in a way that
makes it GPL unfriendly. Apparently it's still free if you're producing a
free application, but royalties are due if the application is sold. Or so
they say; they've removed the old language that exempted free players
entirely, so there's no longer any official assurance they won't exercise
their patents against free applications.
http://www.theregus.com/content/4/26136.html
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krj
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response 72 of 104:
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Aug 30 13:19 UTC 2002 |
The New York Times has an article on the commercial launch of the
teensy tiny DataPlay discs, which we've discussed here before.
The article is not too optimistic about the DataPlay's chances
for wide adoption for music; at best, says one analyst, it may end
up a marginal product like the MiniDisc. The music industry wants
the product to succeed because it includes copy prevention features.
There is a nice picture of the DataPlay disc next to a CD.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/29/technology/circuits/29RECO.html
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polytarp
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response 73 of 104:
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Aug 30 16:39 UTC 2002 |
fag.
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randyc
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response 74 of 104:
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Aug 30 19:00 UTC 2002 |
DO you always gotta do everything that jp2 dares you to???
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polytarp
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response 75 of 104:
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Aug 30 20:50 UTC 2002 |
fag.
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mcnally
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response 76 of 104:
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Aug 31 04:35 UTC 2002 |
I read the NY Times article that Ken refers to in #72 a few days ago
and while I'd agree that the article is "not too optimistic about
DataPlay's chances" after reading the article I'd go even further and
say flat out that the DataPlay format will never succeed as long as
these "features" as mentioned in the article are part of the bargain:
1) pre-recorded discs several dollars more expensive than CDs
2) playback devices and blank media very expensive.
3) except for media size, no obvious advantage over CD format
4) potentially cumbersome anti-copying restrictions in recorders
My own belief is that for a new format to supplant CDs, one of two
things needs to happen. Either
1) record companies all stop releasing recordings in the CD format, or
2) the new format will have to be either much better, or the recordings
much cheaper than CD. Probably the new format will have to be both
better *and* cheaper.
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tpryan
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response 77 of 104:
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Aug 31 20:41 UTC 2002 |
Well, the same thing is happening with DVD audio discs. Might
be better quality, but the cost per disk is like $24.95, where the
CD version might sell for $17.98 or in some cases, is in the mid-price
catalog, list as $12.99, common at $9.99. Of the stack I seen recently
, probably Best Buy, a small catalogue of titles, and it did not
include the new Bruce Springsteen title. If the record companies
really wanted to sell DVD audio, 1) the price per disk would not be
more than $1 more expensive, 2) new titles need to be supported
immediatly. 3) Nothing that would sonicly ruin the music to
prevent copying.
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russ
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response 78 of 104:
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Sep 1 11:53 UTC 2002 |
I don't know who the RIAA thinks they're fooling, but it's not me.
I'm trying to send them a message by buying anything good I can find
so long as it's under $10. I just found another Tom Waits CD for
$7.99, which is reasonable given the cost of production etc. If
they try to jack the price up to $25 I won't be buying any new music
from them at all. What I buy now is almost exclusively from little
indy labels for $15/disc or less.
I'm sure there are a lot of indie artists who will continue to publish
on CD even if the RIAA goes to something more expensive. This will
just make the indie artists more attractive to listeners and get them
to stop buying from RIAA members and their retail channels. Oops...
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krj
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response 79 of 104:
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Sep 2 15:01 UTC 2002 |
In today's news: two companies see different directions for
music and the Internet.
The NY Times writes about AOL's plans to become a major force
in music marketing -- sort of the next MTV, perhaps, since MTV isn't
very interested in music any more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/02/technology/02MUSI.html
Meanwhile, there are lots of stories reporting that the Bertelsmann
conglomerate (BMG in music) is about ready to give up on the Internet.
Bertelsmann is expected to shutter its online book & CD selling
ventures, and close down what's left of Napster.
This follows in the wake of the ouster of Thomas Middelhoff,
the former Bertelsmann CEO who was a champion of the online stuff;
the corporate board dumpe Middelhoff in large part because of the
online losses.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-956225.html?tag=fd_top
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bru
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response 80 of 104:
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Sep 2 20:45 UTC 2002 |
read an article last night about the new laser techinology that lets you store
4 times the data curently storeable on a cd by using blue instead of red
lasers. Sony is pushing this as opposed to several otehr formats that are
coming out doing a similar function. So combine that with the the dataplay
and think of the amount of music or data you can stoer on it.
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gull
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response 81 of 104:
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Sep 3 13:01 UTC 2002 |
An update on the piece I posted earlier about Thompson Multimedia's MP3
license changes:
http://www.theregus.com/content/4/26153.html
MP3 royalty scare over - not many dead
By Andrew Orlowski in London
Posted: 08/31/2002 at 05:30 EST
Thomson Multimedia, who license the MP3 format have confirmed that
software players are not under threat, and can remain free.
The disappearance of a specific opt-out for software from Thomson's
licensing page caused great alarm earlier this week. Thomson's licensing
page had indeed changed, and an opt-out of free decoders had vanished.
But Thomson says the decoder royalty refers to hardware devices, such as
CD players capable of playing MP3 data files, and the policy is unchanged.
"Thomson has never charged a per unit royalty for freely distributed
software decoders. For commercially sold decoders - primarily hardware
mp3 players - the per-unit royalty has always been in place since the
beginning of the program," a spokesman said.
"Therefore, there is no change in our licensing policy and we continue
to believe that the royalty fees of 75 cents per mp3 player (on average
selling over $200 dollars) has no measurable impact on the consumer
experience."
A Thomson spokesman told NewsForge's Robin Miller that it was a ruse by
Ogg Vorbis advocates to get publicity.
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krj
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response 82 of 104:
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Sep 4 12:38 UTC 2002 |
Many media reports: the bankruptcy court judge overseeing the
Napster case has blocked the proposed sale of Napster's remains
to Bertelsmann. Here's Cnet's story:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-956382.html?tag=fd_top
Bertelsmann's proposal was to forgive the $85 million
already loaned to Napster and pay $9 million for its remaining
assets. This was opposed by the record industry and the music
publishers -- in my view, because they are pursuing a scorched-earth
policy against Napster and anyone who did business with it,
in particular its lawyers.
The judge ruled that because Napster's CEO Konrad Hilbers had
ties to Bertelsmann, there was a conflict of interest in the sale.
With Napster's advocate Thomas Middelhoff gone as CEO of Bertelsmann,
the media group indicates it has no further interest in pursuing the
matter.
Napster is proceeding to a fire-sale liquidation which will yield
pennies for its creditors -- the Bertelsmann deal was better than
anything likely to appear now. Napster laid off all remaining
employees except for a small staff overseeing the bankruptcy.
Visit the napster.com site, while it lasts.
I'll probably continue titling these summaries as "Napster items." :)
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krj
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response 83 of 104:
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Sep 5 21:22 UTC 2002 |
The music industry gets an injunction to force Aimster/Madster to
shut down immediately:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54950,00.html
The Washington Post has a nice overview on the dispute between
the RIAA and Verizon, and the RIAA's attempt to bend the DMCA to
force Verizon to disclose a user's identity without any due process:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38034-2002Sep4.html
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krj
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response 84 of 104:
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Sep 13 05:14 UTC 2002 |
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,55006,00.html
"Digital Rights Outlook: Squishy"
Buried in the story is a report that Thompson Multimedia has plans
for a Super MP3. The Super MP3 will include a "tracking signature ...
that will identify the PC that made it." No implmentation details
are offered, but there's a quote from a Thompson Multimedia VP
so presumably this is halfway thought out.
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gull
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response 85 of 104:
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Sep 13 13:10 UTC 2002 |
Interesting. Must be intended to help record companies track down people to
prosecute. It won't work, though, no one will use it.
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gull
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response 86 of 104:
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Sep 13 16:09 UTC 2002 |
A new paper by Sandvine, Inc. finds that between 40 and 60 percent of all
Internet traffic is now generated by Kazaa and Gnutella.
http://rtnews.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/tech/RTGAM/20020906/g
tcybsept6/Technology
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mcnally
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response 87 of 104:
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Sep 14 02:03 UTC 2002 |
I'll have to read the article but that claim has set my bullshit detector
buzzing.
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gull
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response 88 of 104:
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Sep 14 03:04 UTC 2002 |
The article unfortunately doesn't have many details. There's a link to the
paper, but it requires some kind of registration.
I'm not sure it's so far-fetched. Have you ever tried Gnutella? It's
incredibly inefficient. The amount of traffic when you aren't even doing
anything is amazing. It's enough to swamp a 56K modem link all by itself.
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