With ID a little under the weather, and as a follow-up to my earlier ramble on downloading music, here's an interview with Cory Doctorow (of Boing Boing and the EFF) on why DRM is likely be the downfall of anyone who relies on it.
TheFeature :: Closed Systems = Closed Opportunities
Archive for January of 2005
Why DRM sucks
January 28, 2005I'm not down with downloading
January 23, 2005
According to figures released this week, paid-for music downloads jumped 1,000% percent from 2003 to 200,000,000. Copyright violations meanwhile dropped from 900,000,000 to 870,000,000. Looking over the top 10 downloaded and traditionally purchased singles of the year shows in interesting dichotomy in the respective tastes of downloaders (U2's generic-rock Vertigo) and shoppers (Eamon's gormless Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)) - sharing only the guilt-boosted sales of Band Aid 20's Do They Know It's Christmas between them - but little hint that legal downloading will free music from the clutches of Big Music and usher in the music revolution desired by so many.
Myself, over 2004, I downloaded one track and was not impressed. I decided to try out a few sites today and have come to the conclusion that there are essentially four reasons why the current model sucks.
Myself, over 2004, I downloaded one track and was not impressed. I decided to try out a few sites today and have come to the conclusion that there are essentially four reasons why the current model sucks.
Ten random tracks
January 15, 2005
An interesting idea. Mine turned out to be:
- “Just Out of Reach” by Jesus and Mary Chain (from Barbed Wire Kisses)
B-side of “You Trip Me Up” from their debut Psycho Candy - “Ice Cold Man” by Probot (from Probot)
Dave Grohl's trad-metal side project - “Upside Down” by Jesus and Mary Chain (from Barbed Wire Kisses)
First single from the feedback-awash Scotsmen - “Eyes-Radio-Lies” by Orgy (from Vapor Transmission)
From the second album - their third hasn't been released in the UK - “Biko” by Peter Gabriel (from Hit)
PG's classic - “Beautiful Love” by Helmet (from Betty)
In my opinion, their best album; Aftertaste and Size Matters don't quite match up - “Love Under Will” by Fields of the Nephilim (from BBC Radio 1 Live)
Album no longer available; there are rumours Carl McCoy's releasing a new Neph album in 2005 - “Waiting To Happen” by Marillion (from Holidays in Eden)
Neither they nor Fish really recovered from the split - “Bulletproof” by Afghan Whigs (from Black Love)
I don't think they ever really bettered Gentlemen - “Zeqk HOPQ” by Wire (from Document and Eyewitness)
From Wire's final bizarre concert - random shouting over some noise; probably best avoided
I hate sites that resize my browser window
January 14, 2005
Unfortunately, Muse's official site is one. You can - on advice - go directly to the appropriate flash or basic html sites, but this jams the page up in the left hand corner and, I'll be honest, it doesn't look as nice as when centred.
So I wrote a page that puts the flash in the middle. It uses one table, seems to work in both IE and Firefox and doesn't resize your browser to do it. You can find it here.
So I wrote a page that puts the flash in the middle. It uses one table, seems to work in both IE and Firefox and doesn't resize your browser to do it. You can find it here.
Personal Radio
January 08, 2005
I just splashed out on a month's sub to Last.fm so I can keep listening to my personal radio station. Basically, it works like this: you pick your favourite songs, or have AudioScrobber automatically load up the songs you're playing in your player of choice (currently Rhythmbox for me since I moved the oggs to the Fedora box - though I wish it could do gapless playback). Then, Last.fm can stream you back your tracks from anywhere you can get on the Internets.
The main drawback is that they don't have everything available. Of "my" top artists, they're missing everything by Curve, The Wonder Stuff, Bush, The Wedding Present and Green River. On the other hand, they have at least one of Glenn Branca's albums, so it's not like they're stacking it with only the popular artists.
If you don't want to stump up a little cash for the personal radio service (you get a free 30 day trial when you join), you can also use the profile radio which is like a music recommendation service crossed with streaming radio - instead of playing your artists, it plays tracks by people who like the same stuff you do... so you may hear something interesting.
Click the buttons if you want to try it out - you need to sign up, but they don't ask for an email even then.
Reading this back makes me sound like I've been bought by them... but really, I haven't... I'll take the cash in used notes please.
The main drawback is that they don't have everything available. Of "my" top artists, they're missing everything by Curve, The Wonder Stuff, Bush, The Wedding Present and Green River. On the other hand, they have at least one of Glenn Branca's albums, so it's not like they're stacking it with only the popular artists.
If you don't want to stump up a little cash for the personal radio service (you get a free 30 day trial when you join), you can also use the profile radio which is like a music recommendation service crossed with streaming radio - instead of playing your artists, it plays tracks by people who like the same stuff you do... so you may hear something interesting.
Click the buttons if you want to try it out - you need to sign up, but they don't ask for an email even then.
Reading this back makes me sound like I've been bought by them... but really, I haven't... I'll take the cash in used notes please.