Michael Jardeen: ...face the music

Tue, 20 May 2003 03:20:48 GMT

Computer failure on Saturday - I am slowly rebuilding it. No fun at all...mj

Mon, 05 May 2003 05:01:05 GMT

Apple steals music...
Apple released the Apple iTunes Music Store this past week. I downloaded my first song the next day. It's slick, it's simple to use, and the list of artist will expand quickly as independents are signed and artist scramble to catch the next wave in music distribution. Over 200,000 songs in the first day - thats half the total number of songs downloaded on the other commercial music services all last year! The next step is for Apple to get the windows version of iTunes released ASAP! They also need to move aggressively to get AOL to add the store to their services. After all Warner Records sells in the store, so why not have AOL add it. Apple could be poised to sweep the rug out from under Microsoft's dreams of taking control of the music distribution with their proprietary Windows Media Format. Apple's simple DRM model gives so much more control to the user then any other legal distribution model (Please quit your crying people. DRM is going stay, it's just a matter of how painful it is). Once again, APPLE ROCKS!!...mj

Mon, 28 Apr 2003 21:16:23 GMT

Week of action
The job hunting is going down to the wire. I have a couple things that are starting to look good. More to say if something happens. I move on Wednesday. I will be getting a new phone number and going from Qwest DSL back to Cable Modem service. I will let you know how that all goes. Sad story today all over the news about the Tacoma Police Chief who shot his wife and then killed himself. At this point she is still alive. I hope for her kids sake that she survives. Another indication indication of the problems of violence in marriage. Why was this case not referred to Internal Affairs for investigation due to the alligations of spousal abuse? More needs to be done to crush the 'protect our own' culture that pervades law inforcement. It will be interesting to watch the local fallout here. Apple launched it's new Muisc service. It's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. It could be the start of a real shot at selling music on the web - if this fails, then we have a bigger problem then the Music Industry can imagine. Postings this week will be very sporadic...mj

Thu, 24 Apr 2003 20:20:05 GMT

Microsoft, Macrovision to halt CD 'ripping
The world's largest software company, along with the firm most involved in protecting the entertainment industry's content, are cooking up a music CD to keep tunes from being 'ripped' and traded on the Net. Macrovision, which already helps Hollywood keep videocassettes and DVDs from being copied, said Wednesday that it is joining with Microsoft and its Windows Media software to allow labels to make CDs that could let consumers make copies for themselves but prevent file sharing...more [Yahoo News] It's so nice to know that Microsoft cares about it's customers, LOL! I want to make this very clear -- I will not buy ANY copy protected CD's. So far none work well, and none allow my 'Fair Use' rights to remain intact. The Music Industry is so happy to blame file sharing for the 7-10% drop in CD sales, yet they're making more money then ever! Maybe the drop in sales is because they're releasing fewer CDs, and maybe it's because there is so little really good new stuff being released. Maybe Apple should buy Universal Record Group. Almost anyone could do a better job at this point...mj

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 15:51:42 GMT

Apple...in Talks to Buy Universal Music
In a pairing that would alter the architecture of the music business, Apple Computer Inc. is in talks with Vivendi Universal to buy Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, sources said. Such a seemingly unlikely combination would instantly make technology guru Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and chief executive, the most powerful player in the record industry....more [LA Times] I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I think Jobs and his vision could transform the industry. On the other hand, I am not convinced that the industry is going to survive in a form anything like today's bloated dumb beast. If Jobs could make this work, he would do what SONY has been trying to do for years -- take advantage of the synergy created by it's many parts. So far it hasn't worked for SONY, only time will tell if Apple can do better...mj

Tue, 08 Apr 2003 18:59:26 GMT

RIAA Hits Students Where It Hurts
The Recording Industry Association of America apparently took a page from the military handbooks of coalition forces in Iraq this week when it attempted to "shock and awe" college music pirates by hitting them with hefty lawsuits. The trade group is suing four students for operating Napster-like file-sharing services on their campus networks. "This round of suits is intended to send a message to other students who are engaging in this type of behavior," said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs at the RIAA. "There will be no one free pass."...more [Wired] No Matt, it's more like Moff Tarkin watching more planets escape as he squeezes harder. The music industry has a death wish that is going to be satisfied. The chance for them to avoid a massive restructure from the oncoming wave of change is in the past. Instead they now spend time attacking customers. Going for the small fish to try and spread fear and uncertainty. Sadly it is too little, too late. When business schools study this in the years to come, it will stand as a testament to the futility of hubris. ...mj

Tue, 08 Apr 2003 18:34:38 GMT

Disney...shifting its anti-piracy stance
Walt Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Eisner said Monday that his company won't let the threat of piracy keep it from aggressively pursuing business strategies based on new digital technologies, even if that means rethinking its current business models...more [SiliconValley.com] If Eisner is serious about this and not doing the FUD dance, then this would be a nice shift from the company that is legendary for it's protection of it's intellectual property. The tough part is that the Music industry is the one who really needs to get moving on this. I hope that the rumored Apple music service will be a big step in that direction...mj

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 02:42:37 GMT

'Dark Side of the Moon' turns 30
For the 30th anniversary of one of the best-selling recordings of all time -- a recording that spent 741 weeks, or a total of 14 years, on Billboard's Album Charts -- EMI/Capitol has produced a gift for its fans: Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." It is being released today for the first time in full 5.1-channel surround sound...more [MSNBC]

Many would argue that this is the greatest rock album of the last 40 years. There are a few contenders to that crown, but no other album in history has had the kind of staying power, and popularity that this one has had. Straight, high, drunk, or vegging, this album defined the experience of the 70's rock scene. It's a journey to a place far removed from this world, yet it speaks to many concerns in the human condition.

Us and Them
"Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do.
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died.
And the general sat and the lines on the map
moved from side to side..."

Breathe
"...Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be..."

Long live Pink Floyd...mj

Sat, 22 Mar 2003 19:12:31 GMT

Exposing the lies
Check out the information and facts put together by Dan Bricklin. He tackles the numbers from ten years of CD and Cassette sales (91-01). The numbers are pretty damning. Bricklin then goes on to attack the way the industry has used those numbers. It's not a pretty picture. As CD's have taken over from Cassettes as the dominant media format, the amount of money the industry makes has risen dramatically. Revenue per unit sales went from $9.78 to $14.19. That's a revenue increase of 45%!! The real problem here is discontent over price structure, and an industry that is hell bent on ticking off it's customers, and killing it's future. Perhaps they might want to go kill computers, game boxes, cellphones, and other items people spend disposable income on....mj

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 19:24:55 GMT

Real Irony: Gates & IP protection
Microsoft and Intel have set on a course to release a version of the Windows platform that allows for Big Media to control what we do with the content we buy. It will give them the ability to take away our "Fair Use" rights. They will claim that it is all about Intellectual Property and Copyright, but the truth is, that it's really all about maintaining a cash cow. It's about protecting a business model that died two years ago, it's just taking a long time for the signal to reach the industries brain.

You have to find it ironic, that the entire Bill Gates empire is based on one thing: Intellectual Property theft.

You may have heard the story of how Gary Kidall's ex-wife, and business partner threw out the IBM suits over their request that she sign a (then rare, now common) non-disclosure agreement. IBM went back to Bill Gates and asked him if he had an OS they could use, he said yes even though he didn't (you have to love the audacity of Gates to lie to IBM). So Bill went off and bought QDOS from Seattle Computer Products. Where did SCP get the software from? They claimed that one of their employees, Tim Paterson, wrote it. In six weeks...

That's pretty amazing considering that it took Kidall three years to write CP/M! For proof of the fact that Peterson stole the code look no further then the fact that the first 36 DOS system calls mirror the original CP/M calls EXACTLY. Nearly 20 years after the fact, Caldera (the last owner of CP/M) won an out of court settlement from Microsoft over that theft, too little, too late.

"Ask Bill (Gates) why the string in function 9 (in DOS) is terminated by a dollar sign. Ask him, because he can't answer. Only I know that".
-- Gary Kildall (1942-1994)

Kidall died in a seedy bar on July 8, 1994 of a massive heart attack. He died a broken man, still believing that his ex-wife and Gates had denied him his destiny...mj

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 18:55:11 GMT

Apple online music service wins kudos
Top executives at the major record companies have finally found an online music service that makes them excited about the digital future, sources said Monday. The new service, developed by Apple Computer, offers Macintosh users many of the same capabilities that are already available from services previously endorsed by the labels. But the Apple offering won over music executives because it makes buying and downloading music as simple and nontechnical as buying a book from Amazon.com, one source said...more [SiliconVally.com] This could be huge, it could be the killer app to move more people over to Macs. The conflict between SONY and Microsoft over control of DRM technology could give Apple a very nice inside track to this market, and a great window of oppertunity...mj

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 04:21:23 GMT

Kewl Music...
Today I found some songs by a band called Nightwish. The music is simply amazing. It reminds me of Renaissance, with some Dead Can Dance, and a pound of metal. I found the name while looking at some desktop images and saw a picture of the lead singer. That got me interested, since the person was raving about the band. The band is from Finland and is pretty approachable for a metal band...mj

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 18:23:54 GMT

Disney, Eldred, Fair Use, and Mr. Valenti
The bigger problem that Eldred exposes, is that the entertainment industry is hard at work making sure that you do not have fair use. Fair use will be whatever the copyright holder chooses it to be. As an example the copyright holder, could decide that they are willing to give you full use, or they could encode it that after one copy is made you no longer have the ability to copy the material, or perhaps no copy priviledge at all. In other words, you will no longer have control. Macrovision is kiddy stuff compared to where we are going. Under Intel and Microsoft's vision of the future your computer will run all of your home entertainment needs. It will also have serious encryption and digital rights management. Disabling any of these (Palladium/TCPA) will be illegal. The key to this is control. With the defeat of the Eldred case yesterday, the industry has gained another foothold on perpetual copyright. David Bowie; always a visionary (albeit a weird one at times), has stated that he is taking the money while he can. He feels that the industry is blind to the realities of what is going on, and instead of looking for new avenues for revenue, it clings on to an outmoded structure that can not survive. He sees a future where copyright will only be what you make of it. Let no one think that this is about money to the artist. That is one of the biggest lies in this whole string of lies. When audited, the Record Industry has never been found to overpay an artist on royalties. In fact, in over 95% of cases they underpay. The Industry signs new artist to contracts that insure that most will make almost no money off their talent. Only older established artist see the fruits of their recording labor. That is why; for most recording artist, only tours pay them any real income. The MPAA is led by Jack Valenti. This is the man who in 1983 testified to congress that the VCR should either be outlawed, or not allowed to record. He described the VCR by saying that, "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." Valenti's been in power too long (since the 1960s); he needs to be replaced by someone who can think about the future. The amazing thing about this is that they are so fixated on these goals that they are willing to destroy their own industries. The Record Industry is on a downhill spiral because in 1984 they lied to us, and said that CD prices were only high because it was new technology, and that prices would come down as the market accepted the product. The reality was something entirely different. The industry failed to deal with the marketplace, instead they've operated from a position that is greed based rather then survival based. Instead of working on a new distribution model, they cling to the dieing embers of the old one. They really don't have a clue...mj

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 04:47:20 GMT

Disney wins...boo hiss!
I will not rehash it all. You can find links to much of the information and commentary. I will say that this is a sad day for Public Domain, and a happy day for large corporations who want unlimited copyright. It also may be the event that starts to motivate epople to look at the larger issues...mj

Tue, 17 Dec 2002 18:50:59 GMT

Screwing customers doesn't work...
The is how blogs work. I was reading Doc's blog, which led me to Craig's blog and then off to an article in the Rocky Mountain News. Mark Brown has written a peice that says that the Music Industry as we know it, is fading away. As we watch it's death, let's not forgive it for the errors that were made. In killing Napster, they killed the best chance they had to make it. In keeping CD prices high, they set the stage for their own demise, screw em...mj

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 18:38:03 GMT

Piracy, the truth is way out there
Sit down and read "Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution" by Tim O'Reilly. It's a good read on the effects of piracy and the illusion that getting rid of it is going to help artist and authors...mj

Thu, 28 Nov 2002 20:25:48 GMT

Thanksgiving and freedom...
What am I thankful for today? I am thankful that I have a healthy son. I am thankful just to be here. I am thankful to know so many wonderful people. I am thankful for my family and friends who have helped me so much over the years. I am thankful for so many things. I am also thankful that I still live in a free country, in spite of the efforts of this administration. Eighteen months ago I was having a debate over an issue on a mail list. It was on topic, but bothered some people to the point that they threatened to leave the list. They wanted pabulum. They wanted to avoid the uncomfortable. My response was simple:
"I am not sorry in the least that I may have offended the sensibilities of a few of you, if so good! A fear of dealing with painful subjects was one of the things that allowed a lousy former artist to build brick ovens in the 40's. It is what allowed a junior Senator to ruin thousands of lives in search of enemies. In comfort we will find no solace"
Keep you head up, but always watch where you walk. Don't let the clouds obscure your dream...mj

Fri, 08 Nov 2002 15:14:41 GMT

New Audio Formats Come With Price
These DVD-Audio discs, released by Warner Bros. Records, offer a higher sound quality than common music CDs, but also contain a digital watermark that prevents the owner from making perfect copies. Two new digital audio disc formats touted by the music industry for their stellar sound are nowhere near as consumer-friendly as regular old CDs: They're engineered to be copy-proof. The proposition thrills digital piracy-fearing record executives. But many audiophiles are cool to the virtual padlocks, which could prove the undoing of one or both formats...more [MSNBC] Ah, the recording industry, they just don't get it! Consumers do not want crippled formats and screwed up non standard technology. Why buy something that takes away convenience? Am I really going to hear the difference? Am I gaining anything by using this technology? If the entertainment industry would just focus on delivering value and a better product they would do just fine. They screamed about TV destroying the movie industry. They screamed how the VCR was going to destroy the movie industry. They screamed how DAT was going to destroy the music industry, so they crippled it, and we didn't buy it. There's a message in all this that they just don't hear, adapt or die, but don't delude yourself into thinking that evolution will stop just for your needs...mj

Thu, 24 Oct 2002 18:52:09 GMT

A Little Mouse Irony...
In the battle over copyright and the protection of intellectual property one of the most vocal enemies of fair use and restricted copyrights has been the Disney corporation. If an extention were not granted, then over the next few years the early works of Walt's company would pass into public domain. This includes 'Steamboat Willie', the first appearance of Mickey Mouse. I have to thank Larry for being subtle about getting this ball rolling. Disney has benefited more than any other company in America by taking stories and ideas from the Public Domain, and turing them into billions of dollars! Most of the major Disney movies have come from stories in the public domain: Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Pinocchio, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Black Cauldron, Tarzan, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Hercules, Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Winnie The Pooh, Adventures of Huck Finn, Heidi, The Jungle Book, The Three Musketeers, Tom & Huck, Treasure Island, and more. Imagine if all of these works had been locked up with perpetual copyrights. Would Disney have been able to use them? Coming soon to a theatre near you will be Treasure Planet (wonder where that idea came from?). Over the years Disney has gone out of its way to pilfer from the public domain. I guess it takes one to know one...mj

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 19:54:55 GMT

Tuning Out the Customer
With their defensive posture on digital piracy, media companies are damaging their long-term interests. Something has gone terribly wrong in the relationship between media companies and their customers... ...Says Jerry Michalski, long one of the smartest analysts of the digital age and now a consultant on customer relationships: "Because media companies see intellectual property as their only asset, they're willing to risk totally alienating their entire customer base in order to protect that asset." He says that instead the companies should learn to view their the customers themselves as the asset and figure out ways to partner with them, or treat them as what he calls "co-participants, rather than an inert audience that merely consumes media"...more [Fortune.com] This is an excellent article that I found thanks to Doc. THis is a strange war in which an industry has declared against it's own customers. The Big Media has been clueless to date, and has chosen to have a one direction conversation with their customers that says "we do not trust you, we only want to use you." THey better wake up soon, or they will join the buggy whip makers...mj

Fri, 04 Oct 2002 17:04:17 GMT

Mr. Hollywood Lives in Washington
Commentary by Lauren Weinstein Hollywood may be the entertainment capital of the world, but the real song and dance is being played out in Washington. That's the real seat of power for the entertainment industry, which constantly tries to convince the nation's representatives to push through a continuing array of draconian, anti-consumer proposals, seemingly aimed at turning supposedly valued customers into content-absorbing zombies under their media masters' total control. The thrust of these plans is not merely to protect the quite valid intellectual property rights of the media giants, but to fundamentally reshape and restrict the very nature of digital technology in ways that serve mainly the entertainment titans themselves, and the concepts of fair use and rights of consumers be damned...more [Wired] This is a wonderful commentary that really hits the nail on the head. We are watching an industry that does not give a damn about its customers. It simply wants total control over how we use their product. Another great Wired article to check out is located here...mj

Mon, 30 Sep 2002 16:30:45 GMT

Studios' copyright goal is total control
Jack Valenti says he and his movie-industry employers are all for compromise in the copyright wars. But the solutions they advocate for an admittedly tough dilemma, copyright infringement, are grossly one-sided... ...The major media/entertainment companies believe that control of information -- absolute control over how it can be used -- belongs to the owner of the copyright. They insist, moreover, that copyrights should be able to last indefinitely. This is not a compromise, no matter what Valenti calls it. This is a radical agenda, one that overturns tradition and would ultimately wipe out the public domain, without which our culture would be vastly poorer. At least, you can understand the industry's paranoia. File sharing and other technologies -- all of which have entirely legitimate uses that the cartel would eliminate along with the illegal ones -- are an obvious threat to the business model of the past half-century, a highly centralized and grossly inefficient business that rips off the artists, overcharges the public and limits the market...more [Mercury News] We're locked in a struggle with an industry that would throw out the baby with the bath water. They don't want innovation that they don't control. Remember, these are the same people who tried to kill off VCRs. Valenti himself got in front of Congress back in the early 80's trying to get the video tape revolution killed. These same people thought that TV would kill the movie industry. Do you really want them to have veto power over innovation?...mj

Sun, 29 Sep 2002 18:34:26 GMT

Weird scenes from the goldmine...
My jouney through AOhelL continues. Weird and interesting news to read -- I would love to have this camera, Kazaa seems to be going out of its way to tick off the music industry, and if you can figure out where this idea came from -- please don't tell me --- I have too much data as is. Thank you to boingboing for that little jem, almost ruined by coffee for me this morning...mj

Thu, 26 Sep 2002 15:57:58 GMT

Recording TV shows via PlayStation?
Sony wants console to be all-in-one entertainment hub Now that its blockbuster game console PlayStation 2 is hooked up to the Internet, Sony Corp. is ready to upgrade the machine further so it can record television shows. Sony said although the timing and details of the move have not been decided, it is set to make its game console more like a consumer electronics device. [CNN] Throw in a DVD recorder and you have the ultimate home entertainment hub. Why whould I have to have 2-4 devices, when one will do just fine? MS is heading the same direction -- they want it all running on Windows. Here's hoping they fall short, because we need competition...mj

Wed, 18 Sep 2002 06:41:51 GMT

Postings will be limited over the next 10 days, or until I have full access back to the internet. I am moving into an apartment and dealing with all the joy that goes with that. After nearly eleven years of marriage it's strange to be dealing with all the little irritations. I hate moving, I simply hate it. Add to that the little detail that I found out today that the cable in our building won't support internet access, or digital cable -- oh joy of joys. So who did I get to deal with? My favorite phone company (not!) Qwest -- who assures me that DSL is available. See you all on the other side...mj