Something That Happened.

This is

Stories by Harold, in a variety of formats - including text, audio, video, and podcasts.

Featuring several years of
quality archived content!
Expand/Collapse archive

Read an example archived post now!
Expand/collapse example

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!
--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka
When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:
For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Monday, October 17, 2005

I just finished composing a long and (I believe) decent commentary for my VoyagerRadio blog Transmitting to Earth, and I'd like to share it with you here. If you dig this type of commentary - commentary regarding Internet radio and related technologies - please consider subscribing to the blog's feed.
----

To Be, or Not To Be (Dishonest When It Comes to Acquiring Music)

It's amazing how easily you can get fooled (or fool yourself) into nearly engaging in what can be construed as illegal activity on the Internet. I opened up Google's new Blog Search engine and ran a quick query for my current favorite subject, Python. A fellow who sometimes blogs about Python had recently posted some commentary about a project he is working on, in which he plans to develop a Pythonized AllOfMP3.com downloader.

AllOfMP3.com sounded familiar, and I searched my memory seeking to recall where I had heard of this site or service. Drawing a blank (more than usual), I decide to visit the site, figuring it would probably jog my memory. At first I didn't recognize the music downloading service - it is now much more polished and professional-looking than it had been the last time I visited the site (perhaps a year or two ago). A prominent advertisement for Depeche Mode, a band you'd find in my playlist, caught my attention at once; the ad announced that the band's latest release, Playing the Angel, could be ordered "for $1.47 only".

Had I read that right? $1.47 for the entire album? Had I just stumbled upon a music service that had finally got it right? $1.47 seemed a fair price for a digital download of a brand-new release - in fact, it seemed more than fair - yet the price seemed possible, if not probable. My mind quickly accepted the notion that the price was possible since the about-to-be-released album would sell so many copies at that price that the band (or their recording label) would recoup their costs. So I proceed to click the 'Order This Album' link to see what would happen.

I was taken to a login dialog, and I clicked the 'Register' button to continue with the process. I next encountered a 'Terms & Conditions' agreement, which is not uncommon during a registration procedure. Yet something was immediately off about this particular agreement, forebodingly titled 'Liability Limitations and Rules of AllOfMP3.com Services Use':
You agree with the fact that you are not able to use and even to download audio and video materials from Allofmp3.com catalogue if it is in the conflict with legislation of your country.
Yikes. Liability? Conflict with legislation? I knew what those terms meant. This service was probably too good to be true - and that it was, for a cursory glance at the top of the page told me all was not right in Denmark (or Russia, in this case). At the top of the site was an alphabetized listing of recording artists, and to the far right of that listing was a solitary link: 'Russian'. The link led to a Russian translation of the site, which told me this site was probably not within the legal boundaries of the United States; it was a service based in Russia.

That's when I remembered having visited the site before - back when it had been composed almost entirely in the Russian language. The legitimacy of the site had been drawn into question from its introduction, yet now it was polished enough to (nearly) fool the savviest of customers. I was amazed at how close I came to registering for a service that was now, in retrospect, clearly illegal (at least, in the U.S.) And yet, even after realizing the fact, I very nearly went through with the registration. At ten cents a song (or thereabouts), the price was difficult to beat. I use a variety of services to collect my music: iTunes, eMusic, BitTorrent...but each service has its drawbacks in either price, selection, time wasted, DRM or any number of other issues. AllOfMP3.com, though illegal, was tempting due to its response to all of the above. I wanted a music downloading service like this, desperately.

Still, I resisted. I already receive a ton of great music from independent recording artists looking for exposure through my podcast, and I've yet to listen to them all. So I've really no need to spend any more money on music at this time. Yet I can see how easily a service such as AllOfMP3.com can appeal to even the most honest of consumers, and I'm hoping the "legit" download services will take note. We can only be honest for so long when we're being continuously cheated...
posted by Harold  10/17/2005 05:04:00 AM
Comments: Post a Comment



Links to this post:

Create a Link



<< Home

Businesses in Huntsville, Alabama

*

I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? Ads? Oh, hell no! It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.