p.s. And on top of all those other things, I don't like paying a price to see a movie in the theater, when for the same price or a little more I can buy a copy of the movie a year after it's been out and let my entire family watch it...
You mean instead of 6 paragraph stories with the occasional grammatical or spelling error, we'll start seeing 2 paragraph stories with tons of grammatical and spelling errors?
No one is arguing that it isn't happening, or that it's not effective, but that it's _corrupt_. Music promotion is not based on merit or popularity but bribery and extortion. That's why most people hate commercial radio. I stopped listening to radio around '91 or '92, except for talk radio or the classical station. I know the chances of finding music I'm interested in are near 0%, and the "classic rock" stations have a playlist that is miniscule compared to my personal music collection... most of which is _not_ classic rock. Did you know the Doors had more than 2 popular songs? Or that Lynyrd Skynyrd had more than 3? Then you didn't learn that from radio since 1990. I actually heard a DJ on-air apologize for playing the wrong track (a very interesting Bob Seger track I'd never heard before) on a "classic rock" radio station that used to brag about their massive library of music.
I could load a 1GB iPod and have more variety without commercials... as it is I own an 80GB Neuros packed to the gills... I buy new music all the time but music radio has nothing to do with it, nor is it a medium that provides me with any entertainment.
In the 80's I could put on the radio and leave it on all night and hear all kinds of neat stuff, including new stuff. Now the music is generally much blander and the variety is greatly constricted... and from my point of view, there is much more interesting music coming out now than when radio was great in the 70's and 80's.
I blame payola, as well as massive consolidation, which is essentially the same thing (only less unethical). I understand that a lot of pop music is kinda dumb because a lot of people like that, but that can't explain the success of so many artists who lack even a modicum of talent... events like Ashlee Simpson disaster on Saturday Night Live only go to show how thin the veneer of slick production and savvy marketing needs to be to promote someone (who is famous apparently because her sister has big boobs) whose talent is negligible.
If satellite radio didn't require subscriptions, and it possibly won't at some time in the future, traditional analog radio would have gone the way of mechanical TV broadcasts in the 1930's by now. As it is, I imagine that analog music radio in 2010 will make AM music radio today look mainstream. And just like broadcast TV, they have no one to blame but themselves. Heck, one of the biggest competitors to broadcast TV is reruns of old broadcast TV on cable or on DVD's.
The world is changing and the media companies are usually the last to admit it, but since they are so powerful and rich, they can exert a ridiculous amount of pressure on Congress and the market to perpetuate their failing business models when in a freer market they would just die out.
But that's just my 2 cents... I'm not in the business nor do I know much about it. Just a consumer who long ago switched to alternatives and never regretted it.
If I'm going to pay for something, I want something I can watch over again. That's why people like DVD's of their favorite shows.
I will not pay for a single viewing, seeing as how hardware failures, network failures or software crashes are virtually guaranteed to make me lose my money at some point in the future.
I would gladly support a model that distributes shows freely like Bittorrent does but with the commercials still in. I don't hate commercials that much, but the fact of the matter is that no system like that will ever work. In fact, no system relying on DRM will EVER work, but that won't stop them from saddling us with this baggage for the next 20 years while TV viewership continues to decline.
Just the fact that the networks can't even keep to a schedule has decreased my TV watching by about 50%. If I don't know when it's on, then it's too much work to find out. Period. The Simpsons has run for 16 years on exactly two time slots. They switched to Sundays after a couple of seasons. I know when it's on and can count on it. Therefore, they can count on me watching it. Futurama on the other hand got moved around and pre-empted so often that I managed to miss almost half of the last season and I was TRYING to watch it every time.
The media folks are going to have to realize that the less convenient viewing is, the less many people will watch. If I have a TV show on my harddrive or DVD player that I can watch and pause and re-run to my heart's content, I will gladly pay. But take any of those features away and you've lost a customer. I simply won't watch. I'm got other things to do. If you want my eyes, then you need to work for ME.
I was writing code like that in 1986... and I bet you could find examples from 1966!
I've said it before: Some company is going to patent something really basic, like the for loop, and then proceed to hold the entire U.S. economy hostage, and by the time the courts work it all out and people get serious about Patent reform the stock market will be down 3000 points and half the software developers in the country will be out of work.
Why don't we just give California to Mexico? It would increase the average common sense of U.S. citizens by 50%.
I thinnk we should also just rename the U.S. Congress to "Disney presents: The U.S. Congress"
I can't figure out who's the legislature over there: The California Supreme Court with its kooky non-sequitur rulings, or the MPAA/RIAA who simply have made the legislature their bitch (much like they have with the U.S. Congress).
Our system of government is being turned upside-down and no one seems particularly alarmed.
According to articles the record companies colluded to overcharge me $5 per CD. If I ever do get that check, it will amount to a little less than 2 cents per CD.
And, by the way, shouldn't this suit have resulted in lower prices? Naaah, that would make sense.
The article has it right... there is no incentive to actually give real information. In fact, there is a strong disincentive to give identifying information because it will simply be used to harass you, and not in an intelligent way.
The way I see it, if the data becomes dirty enough they will stop collecting it. If that means that once free content must be purchased, then that's fine with me, because at least the real terms of the exchange are stated up front rather than getting something at the price of being harassed by spam or have your mailbox crammed full of dead trees for the rest of your life.
The amount of physical junk mail that goes straight in the trash can is a travesty, because in addition to all the reasons spam is bad, it's also adding huge amounts of waste to our landfills. But it's not going away anytime soon.
Virginia citizen calls for ban on stupidity in legislators.
I know this is less likely to happen, even though more people want it. Isn't it a shame that most of the people drawn towards politics are the worst kind to be in politics?
On the post: You've Already Paid $2,000 For A Fiber Connection You'll Never Get
Re: this crap
On the post: Movie Industry Problems: Not My Fault
Re: we are not all that bad
Unfortunately, it's a bit far to drive to whatever alternate dimension you live in because there are no theaters like yours near me... ;-)
On the post: Movie Industry Problems: Not My Fault
Re: Movies
On the post: The Newspaper Of Tomorrow To Look A Lot Like The Web Of Today?
More like the Web news...?
On the post: Does Payola Still Matter?
Re: Payola
No one is arguing that it isn't happening, or that it's not effective, but that it's _corrupt_. Music promotion is not based on merit or popularity but bribery and extortion. That's why most people hate commercial radio. I stopped listening to radio around '91 or '92, except for talk radio or the classical station. I know the chances of finding music I'm interested in are near 0%, and the "classic rock" stations have a playlist that is miniscule compared to my personal music collection... most of which is _not_ classic rock. Did you know the Doors had more than 2 popular songs? Or that Lynyrd Skynyrd had more than 3? Then you didn't learn that from radio since 1990. I actually heard a DJ on-air apologize for playing the wrong track (a very interesting Bob Seger track I'd never heard before) on a "classic rock" radio station that used to brag about their massive library of music.
I could load a 1GB iPod and have more variety without commercials... as it is I own an 80GB Neuros packed to the gills... I buy new music all the time but music radio has nothing to do with it, nor is it a medium that provides me with any entertainment.
In the 80's I could put on the radio and leave it on all night and hear all kinds of neat stuff, including new stuff. Now the music is generally much blander and the variety is greatly constricted... and from my point of view, there is much more interesting music coming out now than when radio was great in the 70's and 80's.
I blame payola, as well as massive consolidation, which is essentially the same thing (only less unethical). I understand that a lot of pop music is kinda dumb because a lot of people like that, but that can't explain the success of so many artists who lack even a modicum of talent... events like Ashlee Simpson disaster on Saturday Night Live only go to show how thin the veneer of slick production and savvy marketing needs to be to promote someone (who is famous apparently because her sister has big boobs) whose talent is negligible.
If satellite radio didn't require subscriptions, and it possibly won't at some time in the future, traditional analog radio would have gone the way
of mechanical TV broadcasts in the 1930's by now.
As it is, I imagine that analog music radio in 2010 will make AM music radio today look mainstream. And just like broadcast TV, they have no one to blame but themselves. Heck, one of the biggest competitors to broadcast TV is reruns of old broadcast TV on cable or on DVD's.
The world is changing and the media companies are usually the last to admit it, but since they are so powerful and rich, they can exert a ridiculous amount of pressure on Congress and the market to perpetuate their failing business models when in a freer market they would just die out.
But that's just my 2 cents... I'm not in the business nor do I know much about it. Just a consumer who long ago switched to alternatives and never regretted it.
On the post: Treating People Like Criminals Doesn't Help The Movie Going Experience
Re: Honestly...
I think we need a new government entitlement!
On the post: Huge Planet Found Beyond Pluto
Re: Pluto a planet?
Besides, based on that criterion, Mercury and Venus aren't planets.
On the post: Would You Pay $1 To Watch A Commercial Free TV Show?
paying for TV shows
I will not pay for a single viewing, seeing as how hardware failures, network failures or software crashes are virtually guaranteed to make me lose my money at some point in the future.
I would gladly support a model that distributes shows freely like Bittorrent does but with the commercials still in. I don't hate commercials that much, but the fact of the matter is that no system like that will ever work. In fact, no system relying on DRM will EVER work, but that won't stop them from saddling us with this baggage for the next 20 years while TV viewership continues to decline.
Just the fact that the networks can't even keep to a schedule has decreased my TV watching by about 50%. If I don't know when it's on, then it's too much work to find out. Period. The Simpsons has run for 16 years on exactly two time slots. They switched to Sundays after a couple of seasons. I know when it's on and can count on it. Therefore, they can count on me watching it. Futurama on the other hand got moved around and pre-empted so often that I managed to miss almost half of the last season and I was TRYING to watch it every time.
The media folks are going to have to realize that the less convenient viewing is, the less many people will watch. If I have a TV show on my harddrive or DVD player that I can watch and pause and re-run to my heart's content, I will gladly pay. But take any of those features away and you've lost a customer. I simply won't watch. I'm got other things to do. If you want my eyes, then you need to work for ME.
On the post: Microsoft Patents Reading 20 Records At A Time
1996?
I've said it before: Some company is going to patent something really basic, like the for loop, and then proceed to hold the entire U.S. economy hostage, and by the time the courts work it all out and people get serious about Patent reform the stock market will be down 3000 points and half the software developers in the country will be out of work.
Just say no to the USPTO rubber stamp.
On the post: More Ridiculous Hollywood Backed Laws In California
California...
I thinnk we should also just rename the U.S. Congress to "Disney presents: The U.S. Congress"
I can't figure out who's the legislature over there: The California Supreme Court with its kooky non-sequitur rulings, or the MPAA/RIAA who simply have made the legislature their bitch (much like they have with the U.S. Congress).
Our system of government is being turned upside-down and no one seems particularly alarmed.
On the post: State AGs Rejoice Over CD Refund Publicity Opportunity
Wow, I feel vindicated...
And, by the way, shouldn't this suit have resulted in lower prices? Naaah, that would make sense.
On the post: Companies Collect More Customer Data... Much Of It Wrong Or Useless
why should we?
The way I see it, if the data becomes dirty enough they will stop collecting it. If that means that once free content must be purchased, then that's fine with me, because at least the real terms of the exchange are stated up front rather than getting something at the price of being harassed by spam or have your mailbox crammed full of dead trees for the rest of your life.
The amount of physical junk mail that goes straight in the trash can is a travesty, because in addition to all the reasons spam is bad, it's also adding huge amounts of waste to our landfills. But it's not going away anytime soon.
On the post: Can You Classify What Makes Music Good?
Re: No Subject Given
On the post: California Lawmaker Wants Gaming Ban For Kids
Virginia citizen
Virginia citizen calls for ban on stupidity in legislators.
I know this is less likely to happen, even though more people want it. Isn't it a shame that most of the people drawn towards politics are the worst kind to be in politics?
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