I think Mike missed another important point: One of the major selling points for the Kindle (at least, for me and many people I know) is that there are hundreds of free public domain eBooks that Amazon offers. The first thing I did when I got my Kindle was "buy" more than 100 of these free books and load them onto my Kindle. I'd imagine that many Kindle owners do the same thing. Also, many authors "sell" free short stories or older books in some series they write (to entice people to pay for the later books in the series).
I get receipts for these free books, and that leads me to believe that as far as Amazon is concerned, they "sold" me that free book. If that's the case, their eBook numbers are even more meaningless.
I went through a phase when I was in college when I wanted to make a bunch of music using music samples (royalty free bits of 2-10 second long instrumentation that I combined to make songs). The software was expensive, and I wasn't sure I'd really get any use out of it or stick with the hobby. So, I pirated the software.
Well, I did stick with the hobby, and after about a year of making lame music I went out and bought the software. I already had the pirated software, but I went and bought the real software anyway. The real software was less buggy, had access to updates and free music samples, and had access to support/documentation. Plus I wanted to support the makers of the software I thought was so great.
You know what else? I worked at Best Buy at the time, and whenever someone asked me about that sort of software, I recommended the software I'd used pirated.
So, the software maker's profit if I hadn't pirated? $0. There's no way I would have spent the money on a whim, and their free trial software was too limited for me ever to make the plunge and actually buy. Piracy made them money. Seems like horribly bad accounting to count my pirated copy as a net loss when it actually made them at least three purchases worth of money.
Lol, pathetic attempt at advertising your (presumably crappy) Web filter with a comment that adds nothing to the conversation. Not only that, but you should do your research; everyone who reads Techdirt already knows that Web filters are fairly pointless and easily circumnavigated.
I'm no expert on broadband, but this info doesn't seem surprising or concerning to me. I thought speeds were largely based on how many users were online. In a less affluent country, fewer users would be using the Internet, and they'd use it less often. That means speeds would be faster for everyone using it. Am I wrong?
I was thinking the same. 15,000 seemed huge to me for a paywall. If they weren't excited by that or really were expecting more, they truly were deluded. I was expecting far fewer people to pay. I'll be interested to see how quickly it plateaus or starts declining.
The original article links to a Bing cache of the thread, but apparently Bing has since purged the cache. I loved the fact that they deleted it and yet it still existed for anyone to read ... [Sad face]
Frankly, I was wondering the same thing. I find it interesting that Mike doesn't say that North Face doesn't have a legal leg to stand on, he simply jumped to, "They should offer him a license," with an implied, "and he should accept!" Why should he pay them for an unnecessary license? Parody is allowed, especially when you're selling a product that could NOT be confused for the actual product by an idiot in a hurry. Even if his line becomes popular somehow and starts getting offered in stores (which is obviously incredibly unlikely), there is still no danger of someone grabbing a South Butt jacket thinking it's from North Face.
Am I way off? I don't get the omission on Mike's end...
Ever since the judge told BlueBeat to take down the Beatles music, it looks like the entire site is down. Or is that just me? I keep getting "timed out" errors. Was the entire site taken down by the domain host?
"No one's buying Apple hardware because it syncs with iTunes. They're buying it for many other reasons"
Indeed. I own an iPod and iPhone, and I HATE iTunes. I'm buying their devices because I like them, not because I can (/have to) use them with iTunes. I don't buy music from iTunes, and I don't organize/listen to my music on it, except for the purpose of syncing my devices. Allowing a Palm Pre to sync with iTunes wouldn't make me give up my iPhone. Making a Palm Pre BETTER than an iPhone would make me give up my iPhone.
I was wondering the same thing. My local paper has been trying to get me to subscribe by throwing their Sunday paper on my driveway for free each week. Problem is, I don't give two craps about newspapers, and I usually pull into my garage and close the door before I even leave my car, so that newspaper sits out there for weeks (joined by the next week's free paper), ticking off my neighbors. It's the same with phone books. Why is it legal for them to throw something that I have to dispose of on my property? Can I go to the Las Vegas Review Journal and throw an unwanted, non-functional refrigerator on their driveway? Hey, they might want it. And if not, no big deal, they can just throw it away.
I just realized that this is the same Charles Nesson who advocates poker as a skill game, an issue dear to my heart. I work for a poker media company, so having him on our side is a big deal, and I had a lot of respect for him because of his stance. Now that I realize that he's pwning the RIAA, as well, I kinda want to have his babies.
Mike, I usually agree with you, but this time you're way off. It may be a "small matter," but it's the principle of the matter. Booting up and getting their computers ready is PART of their job. If it isn't, then they should't have to do it. It's certainly not personal time, I'll tell you that much, and it certainly does add up in the end, as another reader pointed out.
If the computers take too long too boot up, and the employer has an issue with employees being on the clock while they set up the tools they need to do their jobs, then the employer should buy faster computers or allow employees to leave their computers booted up and ready overnight.
The bottom line: If I'm at work at the time my employer tells me I need to be there to do something that needs to be done to do my job...I'm damn well getting paid for that. That's called work.
Also, Ima Fish, you misread his "Once you start that process, can't you just leave?" comment. He was referring to shutting down, not booting up.
Agreed. Steam has been incredibly good to me. I've purchased many games on Steam, and I'll usually find a game that I want to buy and then immediately check to see if it is on Steam before going to Best Buy or Amazon. BTW, for what it's worth, I'm one of those old-schoolers who hates not having a physical copy of something as expensive as a video game, and yet I happily buy from Steam.
The bottom line is that it is easy, unobtrusive, non-invasive, and from a company that I highly respect.
On the post: Don't Be Confused By Amazon's Ebook Sales Claims
Do Free Ebooks Count As Ebooks Sold?
I get receipts for these free books, and that leads me to believe that as far as Amazon is concerned, they "sold" me that free book. If that's the case, their eBook numbers are even more meaningless.
On the post: Indie Game Developer Points Out That It's Better To Give People Reasons To Buy Than Worry About 'Piracy'
Pirates as Free Trial Users
Well, I did stick with the hobby, and after about a year of making lame music I went out and bought the software. I already had the pirated software, but I went and bought the real software anyway. The real software was less buggy, had access to updates and free music samples, and had access to support/documentation. Plus I wanted to support the makers of the software I thought was so great.
You know what else? I worked at Best Buy at the time, and whenever someone asked me about that sort of software, I recommended the software I'd used pirated.
So, the software maker's profit if I hadn't pirated? $0. There's no way I would have spent the money on a whim, and their free trial software was too limited for me ever to make the plunge and actually buy. Piracy made them money. Seems like horribly bad accounting to count my pirated copy as a net loss when it actually made them at least three purchases worth of money.
On the post: Rupert Murdoch's Paywall Disaster: Readers, Advertisers, Journalists & Publicists All Hate It
Re: Re:
On the post: Rupert Murdoch's Paywall Disaster: Readers, Advertisers, Journalists & Publicists All Hate It
Re:
On the post: Comcast: We Sped Up Your Internet... Oh, No, Actually, We Didn't
lol
That actually would have earned my respect on account of the lols.
On the post: US 27th In Broadband Speeds? Slower Than Kyrgyzstan
But doesn't this actually make sense?
On the post: Report Claims Only 15,000 Signed Up For The Times Paywall
Re: Disappointing?!
On the post: Apple Deletes Thread About Consumer Reports Not Recommending An iPhone [Updated]
Awww ...
On the post: AP Summarizes Other Journalists' Article; Isn't That What The AP Says Violates The Law?
Re:
On the post: North Face Didn't Get The Message; Sues South Butt
Re: Why does he need a license?
Am I way off? I don't get the omission on Mike's end...
On the post: Does Bluebeat Actually Have A Legal Basis For Its Claim Of Copyright Over Beatles' Songs?
So...is BlueBeat down?
On the post: Why Apple Should Let Other Devices Connect To iTunes
Other reasons
Indeed. I own an iPod and iPhone, and I HATE iTunes. I'm buying their devices because I like them, not because I can (/have to) use them with iTunes. I don't buy music from iTunes, and I don't organize/listen to my music on it, except for the purpose of syncing my devices. Allowing a Palm Pre to sync with iTunes wouldn't make me give up my iPhone. Making a Palm Pre BETTER than an iPhone would make me give up my iPhone.
On the post: Fine, Let Newspapers Collude
Re: Re: Some news has a negative value
On the post: Forget Video Games... Look At The Evil Influence Of The Board Game Monopoly
Re: Psshh
On the post: As Expected, Warner Agrees To Fork Over Tons Of Cash To Fox For Watchmen
Re: Has anyone here even read it?
"That's it, I'm not going to see Watchmen now.
The movie studios will look up and shout "Save us!"
And I will whisper back "No.""
On the post: Judge Approves Public Broadcast Of RIAA Lawsuit
Nesson and poker
Nesson founded the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, which we talked about at my site.
On the post: Companies Sued For Not Paying For Time Spent Booting Up A Computer
Hmm..disagree
If the computers take too long too boot up, and the employer has an issue with employees being on the clock while they set up the tools they need to do their jobs, then the employer should buy faster computers or allow employees to leave their computers booted up and ready overnight.
The bottom line: If I'm at work at the time my employer tells me I need to be there to do something that needs to be done to do my job...I'm damn well getting paid for that. That's called work.
Also, Ima Fish, you misread his "Once you start that process, can't you just leave?" comment. He was referring to shutting down, not booting up.
On the post: Sega Apparently Learned Nothing From EA's Spore-DRM Mistakes
Re: Re: Obviously no-one learned from Half-Life 2
The bottom line is that it is easy, unobtrusive, non-invasive, and from a company that I highly respect.
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