E-Dribble

In December of 2008, the RIAA first told Congress and then the world that they were through with lawsuits against the end user.  It had served it’s purpose, but things were changing, people knew theft was wrong and they no longer had to resort suing dead people, pets and infants.

Since their congressional and public declaration, they have sued hundreds more.  62 cases have been filed in April alone.

Keep it up, guys.  It makes me smile inside.

Tanya Andersen was one of those people you heard about in recent years…  she was a disabled single mom being sued by the RIAA.  The RIAA did everything they could to destroy her but it didn’t work out the way they had hoped.  She was a likable person, the judge didn’t happen to be on their payroll and they had no evidence.  So, after a couple of years of trying to put her in the pokey, they dropped the case.

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I have to admit that I don’t pay much attention to politics, but just being present and conscious in public settings ensures that you’ll pick up all the important bits of information that you need to know. For instance, did you know that Barack Obama is black? Well, half black. It looks to me like there was a honky in the woodpile at one time. I had no idea until I visited the book section of Target and saw 11 books about him in the children’s section. Obviously, it’s a big deal.

Never once think however, that I miss all the important things that occur in the administration though. I’ve got my ears to the ground, and on that note:

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First, Facebook backtracked on their partnership with TPB.  Then, Some of the big wigs got sent to the pokey.  Now ISP’s are beginning to block access to TPB.

Everyone that is surprised that an entity that facilitates illegal file sharing is being picked on.  Ok, all of you that raised your hands… you’re idiots.  Don’t breed.

Since Napster took a dirt nap, everyone that was awake understood that any system that had a hub that could be targeted…. would be targeted.

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The NY Times reports that the all-American couple, the Obamas, gave the Queen of England an i-Pod filled with music and pictures from her 2007 visit as a gift.

I would absolutely love to hear the RIAA’s thoughts on the President giving the Queen some music. How would the entity that has sued household pets and corpses for sharing music feel about music being passed from one hand to another in this fashion with nary a concern for the owner’s rights? How would the RIAA write up the resulting press release when they notify the American public that our President is a pirate?  It would be a fantastic read, I’ve no doubt. Aww, come on. I can’t be the only one that would find comedy gold in “RIAA vs. Obama”.

And the Queen?  Well, now she thinks we’re all mindless sheep that pirate music.

The recording industry is mad.  Steaming mad.  The people with the hearts of gold got taken for a ride yet again by the nefarious villains that always manage to pull the wool over their eyes.

You see, they signed contractual agreements with the makers of “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” allowing them to use the music in the video games.  They just didn’t realize that the games would be popular(sound familiar?  It should).  Oh, and they didn’t realize that the music would be an integral part of the game.

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vexatious: vex·a·tious

Pronunciation: \-shəs\
Function: adjective
Date: 1534

1    a: causing vexation : distressing <vexatious delays>
b: intended to harass <a vexatious lawsuit>
2: full of disorder or stress : troubled <a vexatious period in her life>
- vex·a·tious·ly adverb
- vex·a·tious·ness noun

Are we clear on the definition of vexatious?  I’m hoping so, otherwise you won’t know why everyone is laughing so hard.

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New Hotness: Paying to not have any rights to the song at all.

Werner Music Group is in a pickle.  They want you to start buying their music again but they also think that DRM isn’t quite restrictive enough. Sure, they already tell you what players you can listen to your music on, they tell you how many times you can listen to it and on how many different devices.  They even have the ability to take away those rights at any time with a simple shutting down of a DRM server when they don’t feel like honoring the license agreement any more.

As I’m sure you’d agree, WMG feels that you have too much freedom with your purchased music.  To help curtail the rampant piracy allowed by previous draconian measures, they’ve come up with LaLa.  What is LaLa?  It’s simple. With LaLa, you can pay ten cents per song.  You then get absolutely nothing.

Seriously.  You pay them ten cents and they will allow you to listen to the song from a browser tab on their site.  Much like you listen to a song on M-TV or the radio, only that’s free.  This allows you to pay for that privilege.  You do feel privileged, don’t you?

While Michael Roberts is more diplomatic than I am about the whole affair, he doubts it will fly.

Imagine that.

Customers using the Microsoft Windows Media Center operating system found themselves unable to record certain shows on the NBC Network. No official response was initially given. The issue kept gaining steam until MS finally acknowledged that it was blocking the content.

They state that they were following the “regulations” set forth by the FCC. If that is the case, then why is DirecTV, Tivo and every other DVR system able to record the same shows that WMC can not?

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Some may think that I have it in for Microsoft.  Not true.  I use many of their products and I’m not trying to spearhead a lynchmob.

It’s just that they make it so easy, sometimes.

Take the latest news involving the Zune.  It’s likely that a future software update will install a copyright protection scheme that will block any unapproved media from being uploaded to it.  This means that Microsoft will determine whether you purchased it via approved channels.

That dvd you ripped at your house?  That’s almost guaranteed to be an “unapproved channel”.

The only thing that keeps me from being incensed is that we all get to choose which player we will use and if you get screwed by Microsoft, it’s because you wanted to.