Thursday, July 11, 2002 :::
The Somewhat Irritated Clam (I think he's calmed down a bit recently) had a link to some trading cards for those who read the paper- the American Crusade 2001 series. One of the more inflammatory cards compares the WTC to the Reichstag fire (for those of you not caught up on your history, the Reichstag, German Parliament, was set on fire and allowed Hitler to suspend civil liberties as the Nazis gained power. It is believed that while the arson was labeled a communist plot, the fire may have actually been started by the Nazis. Read more about that here.) Many of the cards are funny, though, like this one which compares our President to The Tick.
::: posted by Andrewski at 4:37 PM
Marc Shapiro has returned to In the Meantime from his sabbatical, and he chimes in on the RIAA debate:
In response to your blog, the main problem I see with the industry is the pricing. You're right, no one's going to buy a $20 CD (that costs less to make than cassettes ever did) when you can burn it for practically nothing. I think though, that if CD prices were cut 40-50% on average, they'd sell infinitely more, and thus not ruin the companies' profit margins. The record companies are beginning to experiment with this, putting "up and coming" bands on sale with deep discounts, some down to 6 bucks each. People will realize that the money they spend on these cheap CDs is probably worth it, if only for the quality of a professionally produced CD, the liner notes, etc. So, while the record industry is probably now incapable of stopping mp3 flow, they do have tools at their disposal to compete.
Check out Marc's site for three cool new posts about Gore, White House backdrops, and baseball strikes. Welcome back, Marc.
::: posted by Andrewski at 3:17 PM
Wednesday, July 10, 2002 :::
In a related story, Gnutella pioneer and Berkeley student Gene Kan committed suicide last month, sadly unnoticed by much of the media.
::: posted by Andrewski at 8:43 PM
Here's an intriguing ethical dillemna- for years, patrons of P2P ("peer to peer") file sharing devices such as Kazaa and Bearshare (and the now-defunct Napster) have been hearing that downloading mp3s is, basically, stealing from artists. This is the first time, however, that I've seen the Recording Industry is "pleading" with consumers to stop downloading.
What does this mean? The stats now show, at least in Germany, that 182 million blank CDs were sold and only 185 million music CDs were sold. If we assume that every blank CD counts for a "lost" sale, that does add up. The ethical question- when it's as simple as typing an artist's name into a search engine, is that really shoplifting? Depends, of course, on who you ask.
The fact is, though, that who's willing to pay $20 for a new CD anymore when you can download the whole thing in seconds with a high speed internet connection, for free? The RIAA's (Recording Industry Association of America) biggest mistake, I believe, was brushing off mp3 downloading as pure piracy, instead of considering how they could profit from this.
There's no turning back. People will not give up their P2P programs, especially not after having gotten a taste of it already. If the industry is worried about plummeting sales, they need to consider a new way to look at the situation. What will be very interesting is when the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) gets involved. Movies such as Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Spiderman have been receiving national attention for being pirated and distributed long before their release in theaters. What we're seeing is a huge clash of interests- the consumers, who want it all for free, and the Industry, which wants to (justly) provide a good/service for a price. Without some sort of government intervention (jailtime for Kazaa users?), the situation will only grow.
I don't advocate making mp3 downloading a crime, but that's the direction I see it going. This problem can't be ignored forever, and at some point the free ride will end. When it does, the fallout will be spectacular- and who knows, maybe we'll return to a simpler time when CDs were sold in stores, not copied from P2P servers.
::: posted by Andrewski at 3:51 PM
Sunday, July 07, 2002 :::
Ever heard of ALICE? She's a true artificial intelligence, a chatbot who won the Loeber prize in A.I. for two years in a row. The creator of ALICE, Dr. Wallace, is an interesting fellow with a turbulent life- he even got himself banned from stepping foot on UC Berkeley. Read all about it in the NY Times magazine interview.
Also, Earth has about 48 years to live. Gee, good thing we've got a spare in the trunk, huh? The way I see it, that gives us about 43 years to make good use of the AIDS vaccine. Estimated date of delivery: 2007.
::: posted by Andrewski at 11:23 PM
