the most common type of comment from microsoft executives is …
scott
“The most common format of music on an iPod is ’stolen’.”, according to Steve Ballmer, Microsoft executive. (full story)
It’s amazing to me that people so high up in the tech industry could say such a thing. Do they not realize that no one cares about the legality of the music they listen to anymore? Users are ‘over it’. Sure, it’s the responsible thing to do, but though buying music has become easier and cheaper, expecting end users (read: Aunt Marilyn) to maintain the copyright regulations on their computer is absurd. You try explaining to Aunt Marilyn why she can only listen to music on the computer in her living room, but not the kitchen, and on two CDs, and why she can’t send a copy of her favorite songs to Cousin Mortimer. (Yes, the Fictional family has odd names. I blame it on the Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte.)
The time has come to revamp the digital copyright system. Let’s say you have a copy of a work on your computer. Why shouldn’t you be able to listen to a file on your computer? Should you be able to sell it? No. Should you be able to sample it heavily and claim it as your own? Definately not. But if I can legally record the radio for personal use later on (Rivo?), why can’t Aunt Marilyn listen to Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam…) wherever the hell she wants? QED.
OK, so QED doesn’t actually belong there, but I think it’s a great way to end a ranting argument. Imagine Karen on Will and Grace ending a discussion that way, snapping her fingers back and forth. Wouldn’t that be great?
(QED stands for Quod Erat Demonstrandum, a latin phrase used in logical and other proofs at the conclusion which means “as was to be proven”, sometimes bastardized as ‘quite easily demonstrated’)
I value this time with you, computer, though you know not what I type… These late Friday mornings are the only time I feel like I can really talk to you, sitting together in Starbucks with the random music playing (Willie Nelson, Enya, Natalie Merchant, on an endless loop…).
So the Fraternity was donated a laptop computer, a paleolithic Dell (ok, so its the same spec as a family computer .. PIII-500). The battery doesn’t hold a charge. It has a ZIP drive of all things. It only has an ethernet port on the docking station. Yes, docking station. It’s heavier than my car. It has an absolutely amazing screen, that runs at around 1400×1500 native resolution. It came with Windows 98 on it. Seeing this, and after ceasing my giggles, I put Windows XP on it … and waited … and waited … and was pleasantly surprised. It actually runs decently. I still have yet to put Office on it, and I still have yet to connect it to the (big, bad) internet so it can get it’s dose of spyware, sin and vice. but it’s really not too shabby of a computer for taking Minutes on. And what do I find out today? The power adapter is under recall because apparently, as an added feature, Dell made it catch fire randomly. So at least I get a new power adapter. Yeah.
I’m kind of mad that I can’t listen to the BBC World Service online anymore … I used to listen in the mornings over summer at work, but for whatever reason, the Mac version of Windows Media Player doesn’t do radio streaming, and the RealPlayer stream that BBC puts out (bad move, gov’ner…) is some random mishmash of odd music and regionalized reports. And even on the Really Fast Uplink at SDSU (155Mbps … 100x faster than the average DSL) it skips and cuts out. I blame this on RealPlayer. And I’m disappointed at the BBC for choosing RealPlayer for their streams. And I’m a little mad that Apple didn’t put BBCWS in the iTunes radio list.
Posted on: Friday, October 8, 2004 at 11:12 am 
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