Tue. August 30, 2005
Up Your Ass
Saturday's New York Times detailed the rising battle between Apple Computer and the recording industry over pricing of digital music downloads. Apple, Digital Music's Angel, Earns Record Industry's Scorn [New York Times]. Apparently, the music industry dislikes the $0.99 fixed per-song price pioneered by Apple as part of its iTunes Music Store.
Now that's quite a metaphor. Seems that Lack is saying that his revenue stream is someplace where the sun doesn't shine. Perhaps the record labels need a proctologist? I represent these guys (at the FCC), but I still can't understand their business strategy. Before iTunes, they were nowehere in the digital domain. But I guess for content in today's information economy, it's acceptable behavior to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or even some other part of the anatomy.
Thu. May 12, 2005
ET Phone Home
Microsoft's Bill Gates says the raging popularity of Apple's iPod player is "unsustainable." Gates Sees Mobile Phones Overtaking iPods [Reuters.com].
Yeah, right. Just like the "Tablet PC" was going to make laptops extinct and Microsoft's "Media PC" is going to take over the family room entertainment centers of the world. Can I have some of what he's smoking?
Tue. April 19, 2005
Fooling the World
The Michael Jackson child abuse trial in California has been somewhat surreal from the beginning, but it's taken on a whole new aura of weirdness recently, The mother of the boy in question -- who starred in the infamous video documentary where Jacko protested how "normal" and "loving" it is to share one's bed with a child -- was called as a prosecution witness to corroborate her son's allegations. Tom Meserau, Jackon's long-haired (and very cool) defense attorney, came after her like a pit buill, trying to establish that the family had concocted the entire story to extort money from the music superstar. Accuser's Mom: Jackson "Managed to Fool the World" [NYDailyNews.com].
But the confrontation failed miserably. We can't see it on television, so here's the media summary, related to the claim that Jackson imprisoned the family at his Neverland Ranch:
Way to go, Tom! You violated the first rule of cross-examination by asking an open-ended question (one should ONLY ask leading questions on cross) and got burned, bad, as a result. Maybe that's because your client is a lying pervert.
Thu. March 10, 2005
Pajamas In Court
I am away due to a death in the family, but even so had time to watch the riveting drama of this morning's fiaso in California when Michael Jackson failed to show up for court on the day his teenage accuser was due to testify to the sexual abuse perpetrated by the rock star. The presiding California state court judge revoked bail and issued a bench warrant for Jackson's arrest, but stayed it for 60 minutes (until 9:35 PST), during which MSNBC was live with an "arrest countdown clock." Jackson eventually arrived, 10 minutes after the deadline, wearing pajamas, slippers, a T-shirt and looking like he'd been drugged. As Dan Abrams latrer described:
The excuse was (once again) a medical one, this time that Jacko had back pain and went to the emergency room. As if someone who makes tens of millions of dollars a year doesn't have a personal physician to prescribe medication for back pain!! But unlike last time, when the judge told the jury Jackson was "really sick" with the flu, this time he just informed them that trial was delayed due to Jackson's medical condition and urged the jury not to infer Jackson's guilt from his behavior. A very clever -- and completely legally correct -- instruction, which the jury will and should promptly ignore. Because getting (or pretending to be) sick on the day a criminal defendant is to confront the main witness against him is too incriminating -- like fleeing a crime scene is evidence of consciousness of guilt -- to be ignored. Jacko is his own worst enemy. His own frail psyche is now the chief evidence that he is actually the pedophile Peter Pana wannabe the prosecution claims he has been for years.
Now the only really sad part is that, at the end of the day, the judge did not, as he had threatened and was fully empowered to do, put Jackson in the slammer for the duration of the trial. That may be a smart judicial move, in order to demonstrate no bias against the defendant, but it is not very satisfying. Put this wierdo in a cell for months and when he does take the stand, he'll crack like a nut in public!!
Mon. March 7, 2005
Western Samurai
Last week's observations here that Sony has lost its way must have been heard in Tokyo, because the Japanese consumer electronics giant has picked an American as its new CEO. But I still think seppuku is probably the better answer.
Tue. March 1, 2005
Lost in Translation
Twenty years ago Sony was the king of consumer electronics. No more. Thus, it was rather surprising to find this headline in a UK online publication. Say Goodbye to Your iPod [ThisisLondon.com].
Seems that Sony will soon introduce a cellphone that can hold (wow!!) 12 whole CDs of music. Ah, folks, that's hardly 1GB, which the tiny iPod Shuffle does for $99. Maybe Japanese teenagers want their phones to hold a few songs, but any serious music fan knows that carrying one's whole music library in a small, white container is WAY better than some second-rate cellphone gadget. The company that invented the Walkman has lost its way. For the Londoners to say Sony has developed "the phone that could mean the end of the iPod" is just plain crazy.
Thu. February 24, 2005
The Anti-Social iPod?
Andrew Sullivan (from the Daily Dish) has an op-ed in the Sunday Times of London, titled Society is Dead, We Have Retreated Into the iWorld. It's a rant against what he views as the anti-socializing effects of the iPod MP3 music player. Sullivan thinks that iPod owners "walk around the world like hermit crabs with our isolation surgically attached."
That's hardly the case. I would wager that more spontaneous conversations, and flirtations, have begun about iPods and what their owners are listening to than about anything since blotter acid in Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s. More to the point, the world is a great place when it has a soundtrack. It makes people smile, and smiles make for pleasant social interactions. If you ask me -- and Andrew hasn't, but I will tell him anyway -- it's the folks who are tethered to their wireless headsets and talk on cell phones while walking down the street who are really anti-social. A decade ago that behavior (mumbling to one's self in public) would have been regarded as delusional or schizophrenic. Maybe it still should be!
Tue. February 22, 2005
He's Really Sick
Michael Jackson "Really Was Sick" Judge Says [Reuters.com]. It's a good thing juries decide these cases, because Jacko's "flu-like symptoms" hardly justify a week-long delay in jury selection in his child abuse trial. It's also probably a really stupid defense tactic, as it allowed the jury pool to watch ABC's "Michael Jackson's Secret World" last Thursday night, with all its pedophelia overtones and weird behaviors, filmed and otherwise, about the pop music legend. And remember, the child by his side at that 2002 interview -- where Jackson unabashedly spoke about sharing his bed with young boys -- is the same boy who is now the centerpiece of this criminal trial.
Maybe the judge got the tense wrong. It's not that Jackson was really sick last week, it's that he is really sick.
Sun. January 30, 2005
Little Boys
Michael Jackson says "Please keep an open mind and let me have my day in court. I deserve a fair trial like every other American citizen. I will be acquitted and vindicated when the truth is told," he added. Jackson Protests Leaks, Predicts Acquittal [USAToday.com].
That's what Scott Peterson claimed, too. And this time there's no fishing alibi, because the gloved one from Neverland admitted on national television that he likes to have little boys sleep in his bed. Sadly, the next time we see this M.J. it will be when they handcuff him after his conviction for child molestation.
Posted by glenn at 03:08 PM
Mon. December 20, 2004
Women and iPods
Betsy Shifman writes in Forbes, in an article titled Music Machine For iPod Resisters, that
Well, Betsy, if you can say that it proves you've never tried an iPod and know nothing about them. iPods work perfectly, never crash, synch instantly and stand head-and-shoulders above the pale imitations that Creative and Sony are peddling. Shit, those devices don't even have FireWire connections and still can't synchronize to your music collection. The Creative "Nomad" 5GB player in 2001 was so bad -- running on Linux -- that for me it lasted just 5 days before dying and never got more than three hours of battery life.
The lesson obviously is simple: never believe advice from a woman on high-tech gadget issues!
Mon. November 29, 2004
Product Life Cycle
iPod Adoption Rate Faster than Sony Walkman. This isn't really news, considering that the iPod, one of my personal favorite devices, has become a social icon in itself. But they will be studying this in B-schools for years, as the accelerating rate of "early adopters" for Apple's iPods outpaces anything about the product life cycle witnessed in American marketing before now. Seems like the iPod is one of the very few successful examples of the viral growth phenomenon talked about so often during the days of the Internet bubble.
Thu. November 18, 2004
Top 500 Rock Classics
OK, so what sort of an insane "top 500" list for rock and roll would put The Eagles' Hotel California at number 49 and place The Who's My Generation -- admittedly, a masterful early rock anthem of youthful rebellion -- above their classic, powerful and clearly best piece, Baba O'Reilly? Rolling Stone Names "Top 500 Songs". And to top it all off, you can read about the list in news reports, but there's absolutely nothing on the Rolling Stone web site at all.
Rolling Stone used to be a great magazine. Since they started putting provocative sex kitten photos on the cover, however, I think Jan Weiner and company have just lost it. This list proves they're living so far in the past they don't even remember the '70s. A sad end to a once-proud legacy.
Wed. October 27, 2004
iPod Photo
I don't know precisely what this means, but Apple's annnouncement yesterday of a new iPod Photo, with 60GB and the ability to store, sync and display 25,000 photos, surely means yet another revolution in personal digital multimedia. If the iPod changed music listening from albums to playlists -- which it most definitely has -- what will this new device do to snapshots, photography and slide shows? Wait and see, but I believe it will be significant and perhaps unexpected.
Tue. October 12, 2004
Disrespect This
So Michael Jackson is "irked" by a new Eminem music video, "Just Lose It," calling for it to be banned from MTV and such. The stinging Eminem clip shows the mischievous rapper, dressed as Jackson, sitting on a large bed as young boys play behind him. The Gloved One was furious when he got wind of the offending video, calling Eminem's latest work "outrageous and disrespectful."
Hey, if you want respect stop molesting young boys, Michael. Neverland is a fantasy, not a place to live out one's repressed sexual fantasies. Who gives a shit what this warped (and formerly talented) soul thinks anyway. Go get him, Em!
Fri. October 8, 2004
Microsoft and DRM
In a move to prevent Microsoft from using its dominance in PC operating systems to control the burgeoning field of digital rights management (DRM), European regulators are considering blocking the company's acquisition of an influential DRM patent holder. EU Wants Windows Cleaned of DRM [Wired News]. The European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into Microsoft's and Time Warner's acquisition of the digital rights management company ContentGuard.
The issue here in reality is not DRM, but rather the anticompetitive use of patents. Proprietary technologies and standards are OK, indeed beneficial -- witness VHS v. Beta, etc. -- and even firms with market power are permitted to benefit from the protections accorded by patent law. On the other hand, where a monopolist uses patent acquisition to foreclose entry, especially in "innovation" markets, antitrusters are naturally and properly worried.
Having said that, this is no different from Microsoft's historic patterns. The company has never invented anything, rather buys up technologies (like DOS, Internet Explorer, PowerPoint, etc.) and excels -- no pun intended -- at commercializing new ideas and integrating them into its dominant Windows operating system. Microsoft's Windows Media Player and proprietary A/V format are still losing in the battle with Real, QuickTIme and the protected AAC format used by Apple's iTunes Music Store. So instead of building a better mousetrap, Redmond buys one. (Whether it's better or not of course remains to be seen.) Par for the course.
Wed. August 18, 2004
Jacko and Probable Cause
Michael Jackson's lawyers lost their attempt to suppress evidence gathered in a search of his Neverland Ranch when the presiding judge ruled today -- based on the complaint filed by a 13-year old boy alleging sexual abuse -- that police had probable cause to believe a crime had been comitted. Judge Rules Police Had Probable Cause To Search Michael Jackson's Ranch [MTVcom].
This was a no-brainer. Yet another illustration of why some lawyers, who are content to make ridiculous arguments, give my profession such a bad public reputation. Oh, and the defense attorney was fined by the court for refusing to halt a line of cross-examination the judge ruled was irrelevant. That's both unprofessional and silly. Makes the lawyer, his client and the whole system of justice look bad. Maybe it is.
Mon. August 2, 2004
Music Going Wireless?
The technology has been around for awhile, but the clebration of convergence between cell phones and MP3 players is way overblown. The Cellphone's Next Makeover: Affordable Jukebox on the Move [NYTimes.com].
People said the same thing about cell phone cameras and games. Yes, they're cute and sometimes fun. But the inherent limitations of the cell phone form factor makes these multi-function devices either larger than useful (see Treo and BlackBerry PDA/phones) or far short on quality (see most Sprint phone cameras). That won't stop folks from trying them out, but I think the idea of a single, portable device that does everything is destined to failure because the devices don't do anything WELL.
Wed. July 28, 2004
Apple and Interoperability
Well, here we go again. Two decades after losing out on the Macintosh due to proprietary technologies that Steve Jobs refused to license, Apple Computer now has a dominant share of the digital music market -- both for downloaded songs (iTunes Music Store) and players (iPod). Many are claiming that if it refuses again to license, Apple will lose this advantage to "open standards." Meanwhile, competitors like Real Networks are already trying to crack or hack the Apple code in order to sell protected music files that play on iPods.
But I prefer to think of this like Peter Burrows of BusinessWeek, who writes that "the market for legal digital music may be an exception" to conventional wisdom that open standards are better economically. To my mind, if a company wants to keep its technology proprietary because it thinks it has built a better mousetrap, it is entitled to a marketplace test of that proposition. Recall Beta v. VHS. No one says Sony will die just because it keeps the formats for its MediaStick proprietary, instead of using open-standard digital storage devices.
More importantly, open standards really only work in markets with "network effects," where the more people on a platform -- whether a telephone network or a computer operating system -- the more valuable it is for any individual user. (It's actually more complex than that, because network effects markets will only "tip" to a single standard or provider if there are scale economies, but leave that economic theory aside.) There's nothing in digital music that makes it seem like a network effects market -- and most digital files use the open MP3 format anyway -- so Apple may become the "Windows" of AAC, its DRM-encoded product that finally convinced the major record labels to make their libraries available for online sales.
Oh, and Microsoft has done pretty well with Windows, which for sure is not an open standard. And it's nowhere with the WMA format (also prorietary), like Real itself, which pioneered streaming Internet audio and still maintains a proprietary standard. We can and should ignore the hypocrisy of Apple's rivals. But perhaps the analysts are right that Apple is poised to become the "Microsoft of music."
Tue. July 20, 2004
iPod Nation
I haven't had a chance to read the article yet, but this week's Newsweek cover story about Apple's iPod MP3 player has a simply wonderful title -- "iPod, Therefore iAm." Go Steve!
You're No Good
Reacting to news stories that Linda Ronstadt was roundly booed off-stage and then fired by the Alladin Casino for making nice comments about Michael Moore during her show, morons.org observes ironically "we all know that True American Patriots go completely batshit insane and start angry mobs whenever somebody says something they don't like." Ah, tolerance is something special, but just something some Americans forget about from time to time.
Thu. July 15, 2004
iPod Mastery
As an iPod owner since the first version came out three years ago -- and before then a denizen of Nomad Jukebox MP3 players -- I am thrilled to see that Apple's music devices and online iTunes music store have lifted the company's profitability. As Cythnia Webb writes, "Apple has been transforming itself into an entertainment company from a pure computer maker." Apple Thanks Its Lucky iPods [TechNews.com]. This is a shift that has been years in the making, and is a great development. The "digital hub" is becoming reality.
Thu. April 1, 2004
P2P Lawful In Canada
According to Toronto's The Globe and Mail, a federal court up north has ruled that peer-to-peer file sharing is lawful. "The mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution," concluded Justice Konrad von Finckenstein. Hey, this is a better reason than the Vietnam War to move to Canada, eh?
Tue. February 17, 2004
Elton As Liberace?
Elton John has taken over Celine Dion's show a Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas. Some critics may like it, but I think having this rock icon star in a Vegas Strip act makes him a tragic figure. Las Vegas may have changed over the years, but the biggest performers in that desert wasteland have always been Wayne Newton and Liberace. One would have hoped that the legendary musician who penned "Funeral For a Friend," "Your Song," and "Candle In the Wind" -- among many other hits -- would be a little bigger than those two-bit, untalented has beens.
Mon. February 9, 2004
Back In the USA
No, they never sang that Chuck Berry classic (unlike Roll Over Beethoven), but The Beatles are a hit once more 40 years after their first appearance in the USA on the Ed Sullivan Show. Here's an interesting list from CNN of the 40 best Beatles songs of all time. Boy, they were good. Yesterday's Grammy winners Beyonce and Outkast will be long gone in a year or two, but John, Paul, George and Ringo will rock on for many more decades.
Fri. January 16, 2004
4o Years Ago Today
As they wrote (sort of) in Sgt. Pepper's, it was 40 years ago today that the Beatles burst onto the American scene. Exhibit Marks Beatles' Journey to U.S. [Yahoo! LAUNCH]. Woah. A lot has changed since then. The relative innocence of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is just astounding in hindsight. But those four lads from Liverpool changed the world, began the youth culture that still pervades our society, and wrote some music that still resonates today.
Wed. January 7, 2004
Mr. Britney
Local Girl Leaves Town, Makes Good, Breaks Heart [NYTimes.com]. "She, like, broke his heart," is what locals in Kentwood, Louisiana say about Britney Spears' quickly-annuled, 55-hour marriage to an old friend from kindergarten. Britney got an annulment on Monday for the impulsive ceremony at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, in which she wore ripped jeans and a baseball cap to wed Jason Alexander, football star and son of an auto mechanic. He says they were just chilling at 3:30 a.m. watching "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" in her hotel room. I can think of a lot better things to do than that with a girl of Britney's stature -- and they don't include either movies or wedding ceremonies!!
Sat. December 27, 2003
XM Rocks
I got XM Radio this week for my cars and have thoroughly enjoyed the service. It made me wonder why I hardly ever listen to music on the radio anymore, even though I am a devoted iTunes Music Store customer and have 20GB of digital music on my MP3 player.
Well, Stephen Holden, music critic for the New York Times, answers that in his article Critic's Notebook: High-Tech Quirkiness Restores Radio's Magic. Music beamed by satellite has resurrected "the thrill of musical discovery," he says, that has all but vanished on regular FM (terrestrial) radio.
Yes, XM rocks. But this helps explain why. Even the old stuff is new on XM. It's fun to listen without endless commercials and overly-loud DJ voice-overs, as well. At bottom, though, it offers a sense of variety and newness that one just cannot get on commercial FM radio these days. Blame Clear Channel or whatever, but that's a sad fact.
Mon. December 22, 2003
RIAA Unplugged
Well, another arrow has been shot into the rotting corpse of the Recording Industry Association of America. Even though their lawsuits against P2P file-sharing consumers had looked like they were becoming very successful, RIAA could only sue by using private subpoenas to force ISPs to reveal the names and addresses of their customers. Now, a federal court has said it can't do so anymore, that the DMCA does not allow subpeonas against ISPs unless the ISP itself is serving up the allegedly infringing material. RIAA: Shot Through the Heart? [TechNews.com]
I am sure RIAA will be back with some new strategy, but the tide has turned. As the court said, their argument "borders on the silly." But that has never stopped them before!!
Mon. December 8, 2003
Teach the World To Sing
Coca Cola's television commercials used to say that it "would like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony." Now, 30 years later, Coke has announced it will begin offering a digital music download service for the UK. [Reuters.com]. This time it's hardly idealistic, though, as this more recent initiative is just a belated reaction to Pepsi's deal with the Apple iTunes Music Store, in which the arch-rival soda maker will give away 100 million free song downloads. So put those love beads away and take the flowers out of your hair, people!!
Mon. December 1, 2003
Downloadable Music Coming of Age
The New York Times ran a story this morning, titled "Music At Your Fingertips," discussing how online music distribution -- legitimized by Apple's iTunes Music Store -- is changing the business models of the record companies. Says the Times, "music labels and retailers [will] compete more aggressively online, offer[ing] more obscure titles and recordings of live performances that could find a paying audience through downloads but make no financial sense to distribute on CD's." As one who has been ripping CDs for five years now, this is a very welcome development, but it remains true that if "You've got a portable music player that can fit 10,000 songs on it . . . [n]o one will spend $1 a track filling it.'' Well, maybe if they chart this course the labels won't become extinct after all.
Tue. September 30, 2003
RIAA's Nazi Tactics Are Winning
Today's news indicates that P2P file sharing has dropped 45% since the RIAA started suing indiviuals a few months back. That is despite that fact that only 261 lawsuits were filed and that settlements accepted have been just a few thousand dollars each. Settling in With the RIAA [TechNews.com].
I think the lesson here is that the legal process can and often is used solely for purposes of intimidation. RIAA is not even covering its legal fees, and certainly not giving anything back to the artists who may lose royalties where songs are traded instead of bought. But from the user perspective, the randomness of being sued may overpower the relative anonimity of the Internet, where 261 folks out of the many millions utilizing P2P technology are surely just a drop in the ocean. It looks like alot of them are afraid of drowning!!
Fri. September 26, 2003
They're All Dying Young
After Warren Zevon and John Ritter, one could have hoped for a break in shockingly young deaths of entertainment stars. But today Robert Palmer died of a heart attack in Paris.
Another personal favorite, Palmer combined R&B, rock and island reggae into a unique, classy style, with hits such as "Simply Irresistible." He was only 54, but lived hard. So I guess I need to look out for myself in six years or so. Ah, the anxiety of aging strikes close to home at moments like these.
Sat. September 20, 2003
Let It Be ... Naked
Apple Corp. announced earlier this week that The Beatles will re-release their 1970 Let It Be album, this time stripped of the schamltzy orchestration added by producer Phil Spector after the band's break-up. [rollingstone.com]. Originally conceived as a "reality" album to be titled "Get Back," the project was eventually shelved when the guys (and Yoko) started getting on each others' nerves, big time. Paul McCartney says he has waited 30 years to do the album like the group wanted the music to sound.
Most Beatles fans hated Let It Be. Personally, I like it, but think that anything taking Phil Spector out of The Beatles has got to be a positive development. I mean, The Ronettes, The Crystals and the other early 60s girl groups on which Spector made his reputation may have needed his "Wall of Sound," but The Beatles didn't. If you wany Beatles with orchestration listen to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, it defines the genre. Nothing Spector did -- legend or not -- even comes close.
Mon. September 8, 2003
Goodnight to Werewolves
Singer Warren Zevon, a personal favorite, died Sunday in Los Angeles from terminal cancer. [EW.com]. Zevon was the most acerbic member of the singer-songwriter scene that emerged in Los Angeles in the early 1970s and included Jackson Browne, the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. He first gained fame with Ronstadt's cover versions of tunes like ''Hasten Down the Wind'' and ''Poor, Poor Pitiful Me,'' then found success on his own with the 1978 hit single ''Werewolves of London."
Zevon rocked and lived hard and fast for years -- with a morbid sense of irony that characterized songs such as "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" -- then sobered up, pulled himself together and mellowed into middle age. When he gave up alcohol in the mid-'80s, Zevon said he did so to avoid drinking himself to death, something he characterized as a coward's way out. His song "Frank and Jessie James" is one I listen to every time I travel by airplane, for no particular reason, but it has become my own personal tradition over the past 20 years. And his "Lawyers, Guns and Money" graces this blog as the category title for my legal ramblings.
Warren, sleep well, my old friend.
Thu. June 26, 2003
Who You Gonna Sue?
Wired News: Are You in RIAA's Cross Hairs? That's the question of the day, as the recording industry says it will start investigating individual Internet users who offer "substantial" amounts of music online over peer-to-peer networks then file "hundreds" of copyright infringement lawsuits beginning in August. Scare tactics, for sure. But they just may work. More than 70% of P2P users are "free riders" who share no files, and the system would break down if everyone just downloaded and blocked uploads. That's the RIAA game plan.
Sat. June 21, 2003
The Sound of Stolen Thunder
Real CEO Rob Glaser says that the company's Rhapsody streaming music service -- which it acquired with its purchase of Listen.com -- competes with Apple's iTune because "anyone can burn any song to a CD for 49 cents." But that's like saying that you can listen so long as you stay wedded to your CD player, when the whole point of digital music is bringing it with you on your digital device. Sorry, Rob, you just don't get it. Rhapsody is still advertised as "The Internet's Best Radio" because that's all streaming music really amounts to. Until you let people buy music and treat it like what it is, namely something they own, you aren't going anywhere.
Thu. June 19, 2003
Tilting At P2P Windmills
Having won its case forcing Verizon to reveal the names of ISP customers, the RIAA has now sent "cease and desist" letters to five people it says are unlawfully offering copyrighted music via peer-to-peer Internet technologies. [MTV.com]
Hey, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Even MPAA, the movie industry association, has never sued individuals for taping broadcast television or DVDs. There's millions of P2P users on the Internet, and RIAA can't sue them all. What a wild goose chase they've embarked upon.
Update: Just a week after this post, RIIA announced it will starting bringing lawsuits against individuals for file sharing.
Mon. June 9, 2003
iTunes Sharing Back?
iTunes Music Swap Just Won't Die [Wired News]. Apple disabled Internet sharing in iTunes 4.0.1. It only took a week for the hacks to appear, but they're out there already. The lesson is: never bet against technology! Meanwhile, the current rumor is that Apple will make a bid for Napster -- now owned by Roxio -- and its PressPlay affiliate. So will Apple continue to stick to the record labels' line on sharing or are they indicating a desire to set their own course?
Tue. June 3, 2003
Apple Reverses Course on Internet Sharing
I have written before about how Apple's downloadable music service -- the "iTunes Music Store" -- is revolutionizing the lawful distribution of digital music. Part of the original iTunes service, just 30 days old, was the ability of the end user (the music "licensee") to share iTunes files over the Internet with other authorized computers. Now, in an almost hidden part of an update, Apple has discontinued the Internet sharing feature, igniting a storm of controversy. Apple iTunes Update Irritates Fans [BBCNews.com].
Personally, I don't think this is such a big deal, since the number of times I would want to share my music with another computer of mine -- say a laptop while traveling -- are almost non-existent. I can just bring along my iPod, which has all the same digital songs, anyway. But the criticisms and debate are raging on Apple's support Web site, and they're fun to watch.
In any event, chalk up another win for the RIAA and its record label members. The only reason for Apple to discontinue Internet sharing was pressure from RIAA. Yet since this form of "sharing" does NOT involve file transfers, but only listening to the music, it's hard to find a legitimate basis to oppose. Of course, that has never stopped Hillary in the past!!
Tue. May 27, 2003
Thriller Broke
It's gotta be hard to blow through $500 million, but Michael Jackson seems to have done it. E! Online News - King of Pop Going Bust? So he'll have to finance his plastic surgery on credit from now on. It's a shame. And shameful. A waste of what once was a real talent.
Fri. May 23, 2003
McCartney In Red Square
"Sir" Paul McCartney -- still hard to say the full thing -- is finally getting a chance to sing Back In the USSR in Russia. He will be headlining a concert in Red Square that shows just how far the old Soviet Union has come in a mere decade. As the Moscow Times explains:
Update: More than 20,000 people attended the concert, including Russian President Putin.
Thu. May 1, 2003
Four Tracks Per Second
Apple's iTunes Music Store sold 275,000 downloaded songs in its first 18 hours of operations. That's four songs per second. So as Michael Malone of ABC News points out, this suggests that Steve Jobs has done more than create a legal means of distributing "untethered" music online, he's also rung the death knell of the recording industry.
How has the music industry responded to the threat from MP3 and digital distrubution, now estimated at 10 percent of its revenues? Like all dying industries: with more of the same, plus armies of lawyers. They're dinosaurs who just don't realize that the comet has already struck. They're walking extinctions.
Tue. April 29, 2003
Apple's Music Store
Forbes.com - Apple Tunes Up. Not a bad start to a new online music download service from the folks who began the "rip, mix and burn" revolution. 
I tried out the iTunes Music Store last night. At $0.99 per song and seamless integration with iTunes 4.0, it's a real winner. Plus, the DRM features do not limit a user's ability to burn CDs, backup files or share among computers, so the music is virtually the same as MP3s -- and better if Apple is right about the AAC format.
Sat. April 5, 2003
Real-Time Music List
Kung-Tunes, a new "donation-ware" Mac OSX app from Adriaan Tijsseling, is a great tool for adding real-time content to weblogs. Kung-Tunes uses AppleScript to pull MP3 information from iTunes and upload it to an FTP server, with an array of formatting options. I use a server-side include (because it's simpler), which allows my main index page to retain the CSS formatting of its stylesheet.
A very cool application. Far superior to myMediaList.com because it requires no work and isn't limited to the few formatting options available on a remotely hosted javascript. You can see the results in the right sidebar of my main page. Available at kung-foo.tv. Thanks, Adriaan! (I'll be donating soon.)