Resurrecting Vinyl in the Age of iTunes
“The digital music age hasn’t been easy on the old formats. The compact disc has been pronounced terminally ill, the woebegone cassette tape has gone the way of the wax cylinder, and long-playing vinyl survives only in the dank basements of pack rats and the climate-controlled collections of diehard audiophiles.
“The demise of these media spells more than just reduced clutter: Digital downloading has shifted focus from albums to individual tracks.
“Yet even as the idea of the album has come under seige, a movement to preserve it has recently been gaining momentum, and in an unlikely field — book publishing. In the past few years, there have quietly appeared dozens of books treating classic pop, rock, and jazz recordings as objects worthy of continued appreciation.”
James Sullivan. Reading Between the Lines. Boston.com. February 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Apple’s iTunes Licenses Cut Against Users
“Our recent discussion about whether licenses should apply to the user or the machine drew many interesting comments about the vagaries of Windows licensing. But it also led several readers to point at a surprising example of a vendor whose licensing policies seem to cut both ways against the user: Apple.
“One reader wrote: [Apple iTunes] ‘licenses each song to the user AND/OR the registered machine. If your hard drive goes down and you lose the songs you have bought Apple gives you no recourse to download the songs you have licensed. So, despite the fact that you have licensed the songs in your name, it’s your loss. This, in effect, licenses the music to your machine and runs contrary to the spirit of an individual license.’
“The reader only discovered that after he’d set up accounts on the same machine for each of his children.
The Gripe Line Weblog. Licenses, Families, and Apple. Feb. 10, 2006.
See also:
Ed Foster. Licensed Users or Licensed Machines? Jan. 24th, 2006.
Apple Computer Inc. iLife ’06 Software License Agreement. No date.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
P2P Software Maker Helps UK ISP
“One of the largest Internet service providers in Britain is teaming with the company responsible for the BitTorrent software to test a new high-speed movie download service, the companies said Friday.
“NTL, the largest broadband provider in the United Kingdom, will be testing the file-swapping service as a way to deliver video more cheaply than traditional downloads. Another company, called CacheLogic, will add its data-caching technology to improve the network’s efficiency.
“The deal is the first public step forward for BitTorrent’s hope to turn its technology, widely used for swapping illegal copies of video, into a tool used by movie studios and ISPs for legal services.”
John Borland. BitTorrent to Power ISP’s Video Service. News.com. Feb. 10, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
USA PATRIOT Act Renewal Comes Closer
“Legislation to renew the anti-terror PATRIOT Act was cleared for final congressional passage Friday when House Speaker Dennis Hastert blessed a day-old compromise between the White House and Senate Republicans.
“Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid also indicated he will vote for the bill when it comes to a vote, possibly next week.
“The legislation gives federal agents expanded powers to investigate suspected terrorists in the United States, and the Bush administration has said it is one of the key weapons in the war on terror.”
Jim Abrams. Hastert Backs Compromise on Patriot Act. WashingtonPost.com. Feb. 11, 2006.
See also:
The New York Times. Another Cave-In on the Patriot Act (Editorial). Feb. 11, 2006.
Nicole Gaouette. Senate Republicans Announce Deal for Renewal of Patriot Act. LATimes.com. Feb. 10, 2006.
Center for Democracy & Technology. PATRIOT Act Deal Fails to Protect Civil Liberties. Feb. 9, 2006.
Marketplace. What Worries Business About the PATRIOT Act? Feb. 10, 2006.
Updates:
LibraryJournal.com. ALA Criticizes Patriot Act Compromise. Feb. 13, 2006.
Annie Braun. Librarians: Patriot Act Has Led to Self-Censorship. AZDailySun.com. Feb. 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
New Google Desktop Puts Personal Info Online
“Google has released a revamped version of its desktop search tool which introduces the ability to search the contents of one computer from another. Previous versions of the tool indexed files on user’s PCs, but using the optional Search Across Computers facility in Google Desktop 3 temporarily stores text copies of searchable items on Google’s own servers for up to 30 days.
“Search Across Computers makes a range of files searchable from other computers. The contents of secure web pages are excluded from the list. Users would log on using their Google password can find data on files they’ve worked on regardless of which PC they used to produce them. Users can also exclude certain file types or locations from indexing.”
John Leyden. EFF Issues Google Desktop Warning. The Register. Feb. 10, 2006.
See also:
Elinor Mills. Google Desktop 3 Criticized. News.com. Feb. 10, 2006.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Google Copies Your Hard Drive – Government Smiles in Anticipation. Feb. 9, 2006.
Tom Smith. Google Desktop: Friend Or Foe? Information Week. Feb. 9, 2006.
Declan McCullagh. FAQ: When Google Is Not Your Friend. News.com. Feb. 3, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Blackberry Maker Announces Workaround
“Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, said Thursday it has made good on its promise to develop a software workaround that would keep its service running if a court bars the use of its current system in a patent dispute.
“NTP Inc., a tiny Arlington, Va.-based company, has convinced a federal jury that RIM’s software infringes on its patents, and is now seeking an injunction that would shut down BlackBerry service for private-sector U.S. users. Legal observers have characterized the chance of a shutdown as slim, partly because NTP would benefit more over the long term by exacting royalties from RIM.”
MercuryNews.com. RIM Develops BlackBerry ‘Workaround’ In Event of Injunction. Feb. 9, 2006.
See also:
Heather Green. Inside the BlackBerry “Workaround.” BusinessWeek Online. Feb. 10, 2006.
Marguerite Reardon. RIM’s Workaround Revealed. News.com. Feb. 9, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Licensing As Personal Finance Strategy
“Holly Baxter was a stay-at-home mom looking for ways to make ends meet when she met Laine Caspi at a parents group. Caspi had recently started marketing a baby carrier that she’d designed, and she offered Baxter a deal: Think of a baby product worth selling, and Caspi would get it to market and give her a percentage of the proceeds.
“Baxter came up with Teeny Towels — all-natural antibacterial wipes small enough to hook onto a keychain. The product is too similar to basic baby wipes to patent, but it’s distinctive enough to package and promote. Last year it paid Baxter $5,000, and the product is likely to produce more in royalties this year because a number of large retailers recently agreed to carry it.”
Kathy Kristof. Parent Inventors Turn Brainchild Into Cash. LATimes.com. Feb. 5, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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