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Technology, Spirituality, Collaboration, Connectivity

New Media DRM and what to do

June 22nd 2008 23:09
Everyone loves the iPod right? It saved Apple as a company and gave us one of the slickest little toys ever invented. It also introduced the quandaries of managing digital music for users and record companies. Apple and other services use what is called Digital Rights Management on all of its tracks so that it limits the user on what you may do with the tracks. Depending on the service you may only be able to move your songs between you computer and your MP3 player. Some may allow you to burn them to CD, some may not. The issue here is what you can or cant do with the songs, you paid for them, right? The problem is that the record companies impose fees on the music provider (Apple for instance) so that they can sell them to you. They work out all the DRM details in the contract with the provider. So why should you have to buy the tracks multiple times in order to have it in multiple places? The answer is you shouldn't, its a rip off!!. The more choices we have in our music providers, the more flexibility you have with the management of the tracks. This is not a post to promote music services (I have those on Fridays ) my goal is to inform the consumer. Here is a good little article explaining the types of DRM from other services and there are some alternatives in the article as well. I guess the point of this post is that if you are buying music or video online. BUY DRM FREE!!

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Check out Napster- AGAIN!

June 14th 2008 01:17
Today we will focus on the one that started it all, Napster!
The renaissance that this service has undergone is quite amazing. It has a lot of great features including:

* Unlimited subscriptions, although a little higher than most at 14.95 a month it has one of the biggest catalogs on the web. As a cheaper option, for 9.99 you can have a tethered subscription. These songs cant be burned though and if you cancel the subscription they will expire.

* Ability to transfer songs to more than one device- @ MP3 players and 3 computers (this is key if you ever erased your iPod by trying to sync with another install of iTunes.


* NapsterLink- Search for a track and email or IM it to a friend for them to check out.

* Free Music- WHAT!?!, yes you can listen to any track 5 times for free at 32 KBPS and it is ad based. Hey what do you want, its free!

* When it first came out the music catalog wasn't the greatest but it is now as big as iTunes.

* Personalization- Once you have downloaded the software to your windows PC (sorry no Mac support) it gives you a "Playlist of the day" on your home screen. Very cool feature that allows you to explore at your leisure.

* XM Radio integration- Ability to listen to XM via the napster software and sync with an XM portable device.

If you remember the old days of the first napster client (man that seems like a million years ago) and haven't checked out the new stuff then this will be a welcome adventure. This service is packed with features and the size of the catalog puts it up there with any other service on the web.

Drop me a comment and tell me what you think and what service you use to manage your music and why you love it or hate it.

Peace,
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Are you mad at Steve Jobs?

June 10th 2008 22:48
So the World Wide Developers Confernece was yesterday and as expected the new iPhone was announced. Although the new iPhone sounds pretty cool, faster networking, Exchange integration, GPS and a lower price I cant help think that the millions of folks who bought the first round of iPhones have to feel cheated.

I admit, if apple had signed the exclusivity agreement with Verizon I probably would have been in line for one myself. I don't own an iPhone but I have lots of friends who do and I think its a beautiful consumer device that may one day turn into a good business device.

For now I NEED a phone for business that is proven so I have been back and forth between Blackberry and Windows Mobile for years. For my money Blackberry does all it needs to very well while Windows tries to be all things to all people and does a lot of things OK.

So now all those people who paid 4 or 500 bucks for a phone are now seeing a better device come out at a huge price reduction. I must say I would get what I coule for my 1st generation phone and getting in line for the July release. How bout you?

Peace.
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Most geeks would be familiar with the fantastic Mac versus PC advertisements. This concept has been taken to a whole new level of geekdom, with these parodies. They pit against each other Marvel and DC, the two iconic comic book companies, with most of the content relating to their recent forays into film. Not being a comic aficionado, I can't really comment on the legitimacy of the claims made within the videos, but they are still a fun watch.


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My Civil War Banner

October 8th 2006 11:54
So, Marvel's Civil War is in full swing.

There have been parody banners going around the ol' 'net for a while now. I've only just decided to jump on the bandwagon. So here is is


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Warren Ellis is writing......

October 8th 2006 00:14
The New Thunderbolts!!!!

Brilliant


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Comic Book Silly-ness

October 5th 2006 00:37
Deleted
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No longer available
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Send in the Clones

September 20th 2006 07:08
Insert witty caption here

Well here we are. This is the cover to the record breaking run of Brian Bendis and Mark Bagely on Ultimate Spider-Man.
In the Clone Saga, peter has encountered many clones, and we can see them before you in the picture. Lets have a run through of these little fellows shall we? Yes we shall


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Back in Black

September 13th 2006 13:39
Missing
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