RasterWeb!

Napster tells us about the iPod and Napster, and wants us to “Do the math” about the costs…

From what I know, the iPod is a hardware device, and I can put MP3 files on it. I can get these MP3 files from digitizing my existing music collection on cassette, vinyl, or CD, as well as buy audio from a variety of places, and convert that audio to a non-DRM‘d format that allows me to do with it what I please. After the initial cost of purchasing an iPod, the amount I spend is completely up to me, which is quite different than $10,000, which is what Napster thinks 10,000 song will cost.

In contrast, our good friends at Napster tell me that I can access 1 million songs using (only) my (compatible) computer and (compatible) portable player for $15 (per month) for as long as Napster stays in business, and the software/hardware continues to work. I will assume I can buy a new portable player to replace my old one if it’s lost or destroyed, and it’ll all work out, right? So, 1 year of Napster would be $180, and if we can assume they never raise the price, then after 10 years I’ve only spent $1800 to have access to Napster. After 20 years it’s only $3600, again, assuming they never raise the price. 20 years shouldn’t sound outrageous, I have albums and cassettes that are that old, or even older, and most of the CD’s I own are over 10 years old.

Now, maybe it isn’t as bad as it all seems, because Napster says that people:

…can purchase tracks at a Napster subscriber discount, burn their music to CD and import it into iTunes to put the music on their iPods…

Bravo! All I have to do is subscribe to get access, then pay to purchase stuff, then work around the DRM, and I’m all set. It sounds similar to the iTunes music store, but without the subscription… Really that’s the whole issue I think a lot of people have, is that they want to create a subscription service where people are not used to it. We’ve had how many years of the old “I bought this music, I own it” mentality (where “own it” basically means being able to listen to it without having to pay each month, or worry about it working on the device that is “approved” to play it.

Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

(And yes, it would be nice if Apple opened up a bit more to other devices, parties, services, etc…)

(See Also: Daring Fireball’s Subscription Small Print)

I’ve been contemplating changing my title. I mean, I don’t have any sort of real or official title, I usually just go by “computer nerd” or “web geek” or sometimes “hacker” though in the past I did dabble with “SmartFriend” on occasion…

What about “Computer Genius” – does that sound pretentious? Hmmm, maybe I should just stick with “hacker” as it’s sort of a good catch-all without getting too specific or typecasting what I do.

I know these guys who were planning on implementing VoIP at their employer, which I thought was very cool. They even dabbled with Asterisk, which again, I thought was very cool…

Fast forward a few months and when I get an update, I find out they’ve choosen a vendor, solution, what-have-you, and while it’s VoIP, is what I call VoIP The Wrong Way.

By that I mean, while they can use any hardware phones, and they’ve choosen some nice ones, they have a solution that only works with the softphone provided by the vendor (lock-in) which, by the way, only runs on Windows (more lock-in.)

Granted, they are a bit of a Windows shop, but they’ve now limited softphone use to people who have Windows. Their plan included people who might have to work from home or the road using softphones, which means people who run Mac OS X or Linux are out of luck. That also means that they are tied to the vendor for the softphone they use, and while it appears to be a solid piece of software today, who knows how that may change in the future. It’s a shame they won’t be able to just swap softphones if a better once comes along. (Note that I don’t have all the details here, it may actually just be the codecs supported that limit the softphone used.)

I honestly don’t mean to condemn, or say anyone made the wrong choice. There are many factors at play in such a decision, but I’m one to avoid lock-in whenever possible, at the operating system level, and at the vendor level, unless the reasons for choosing lock-in are so compelling as to be worth the risk. Who knows? That may be the case in this situation…

Last night I attended a talent show at the local gradeschool. Some kids danced, some played piano or guitar, heck some of them even sang. One little girl sang what is commonly know as “Happy Birthday” and that’s where the trouble began…

First off, I realized that she was publically performing the song, which is fine, I mean, I assume the little girl (or her parents) paid the neccessary royalties to allow her a public performance of the song, right?

But what happened next was unthinkable! She encourage everyone in the audience to sing along! Now, I don’t know if this kid’s royalty payment covered everyone in attendance so I sat quiet, and told my kids to do the same, expecting the ASCAP lawyers, or the Thought Police, or someone to come busting in at any minute.

Am I making this up? Am I being extreme? Let’s check with Snopes, and a page titled Happy Birthday, We’ll Sue:

…royalties are due for public performance, defined by copyright law as performances which occur “at a place open to the public, or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered.”

See? I’m not making this stuff up. Sorry, but you gotta protect yourself these days, you can’t just go around willy nilly singing “Happy Birthday” without expecting some consequences.

(Of course you shouldn’t do anything willy nilly, right?)

I think the only thing that makes me more sad than not implementing (or just plain ignoring) standards is when someone comes just that close to actually implementing standards, or even does implement some standards, and then completely ignores others, or does 90% of the work, or adds in their proprietary crap on top that makes it non-standard, and makes little babies cry.

And then there’s the whole lock-in thing, don’t get me started on that one!