*HOT* Tech News And Downloads, I Would Read This Thread And Post Any Good Info

AMD to introduce hardware DRM with new GPUs?
By Justin Mann, TechSpot.com
Published: April 12, 2007, 5:39 PM EST


Is AMD planning to incorporate DRM into future GPUs? I certainly hope not, but a statement from them makes me think otherwise. It seems with future GPUs, they will have the ability to block access to the framebuffer in hardware, allowing access only to certain software from certain vendors. The purpose? To control what content can and can't be viewed on that particular card. If you control the framebuffer, you control anything that can be displayed:

There is a short list of parties who will be unauthorized to access your frame buffer: You. There is a long list of parties who are authorized to access your frame buffer, and that list includes Microsoft, Apple, AMD, Intel, ATI, NVidia, Sony Pictures, Paramount, HBO, CBS, Macrovision, and all other content owners and enablers that want your machine to themselves whenever you’re watching, listening to, reading, or shooting monsters with their products.
The immediate impact of this would be vendor-locking when it came to, say, playing back a movie. Without the proper software, for instance from the vendor in question, a Blu-ray disc might be totally worthless. Potential circumvention aside, one must wonder what AMDs intentions are. Obviously they aren't looking out for the customers at this point, because the backlash DRM is facing only grows each year. Criticisms aside, it seems they are pandering to content providers – the last thing a company trying to compete with Intel and Nvidia should be worried about.

Think twice, AMD. It isn't Sony who brings in your bread and butter.
http://www.techspot.com/news/24929-a...-new-gpus.html

 

99 Commands the Windows XP Command prompt can run.

Here is a list of commands that you can run off from the Run Command prompt in XP:

Go to Start Menu > Run… and type in the command to run
undefined

Application = Command

Accessibility Controls = access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard = hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs = appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools = control admintools
Automatic Updates = wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard = fsquirt
Calculator = calc
Certificate Manager = certmgr.msc
Character Map = charmap
Check Disk Utility = chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd
Command Prompt = cmd
Component Services = dcomcnfg
Computer Management = compmgmt.msc
Date and Time Properties = timedate.cpl
DDE Shares = ddeshare
Device Manager = devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)* = directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter = dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility = cleanmgr
Disk Defragment = dfrg.msc
Disk Management = diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager = diskpart
Display Properties = control desktop/desk.cpl
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility = drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility = verifier
Event Viewer = eventvwr.msc
File Signature Verification Tool = sigverif
Findfast = findfast.cpl
Folders Properties = control folders
Fonts = control fonts
Fonts Folder = fonts
Free Cell Card Game = freecell
Game Controllers = joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) = gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game = mshearts
Iexpress Wizard = iexpress
Indexing Service = ciadv.msc
Internet Properties = inetcpl.cpl
IP Configuration = ipconfig
Java Control Panel (If Installed) = jpicpl32.cpl
Java Application Cache Viewer (If Installed) = javaws
Keyboard Properties = control keyboard
Local Security Settings = secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups = lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows = logoff
Microsoft Chat = winchat
Minesweeper Game = winmine
Mouse Properties = control mouse
Mouse Properties = main.cpl
Network Connections = control netconnections
Network Connections = ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard = netsetup.cpl
Notepad = notepad
Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed) = nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager = packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard = osk
Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed) = ac3filter.cpl
Password Properties = password.cpl
Performance Monitor = perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor = perfmon
Phone and Modem Options = telephon.cpl
Power Configuration = powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes = control printers
Printers Folder = printers
Private Character Editor = eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed) = QuickTime.cpl
Regional Settings = intl.cpl
Registry Editor = regedit
Registry Editor = regedit32
Remote Desktop = mstsc
Removable Storage = ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests = ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) = rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras = sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks = control schedtasks
Security Center = wscui.cpl
Services = services.msc
Shared Folders = fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows = shutdown
Sounds and Audio = mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game = spider
SQL Client Configuration = cliconfg
System Configuration Editor = sysedit
System Configuration Utility = msconfig
System File Checker Utility = sfc
System Properties = sysdm.cpl
Task Manager = taskmgr
Telnet Client = telnet
User Account Management = nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager = utilman
Windows Firewall = firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier = magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure = wmimgmt.msc
Windows System Security Tool = syskey
Windows Update Launches = wupdmgr
Windows XP Tour Wizard = tourstart
Wordpad = write
http://www.xpressionsz.com/2006/05/21/99-windows-xp-run-commandsdos/

 

EDIT

 

New Sony DVDs Not Working In Some Players


Posted by kdawson on Sunday April 15, @05:33PM
from the DRMed-out dept.
Sony Media Movies Entertainment
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that the most recent DVDs released by Sony — specifically Stranger Than Fiction, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness — have some kind of 'feature' that makes them unplayable on many DVD players. This doesn't appear to be covered by the major media yet, but this link to a discussion over at Amazon gives a flavor of the problems people are experiencing. A blogger called Sony and was told the problem is with the new copy protection scheme, and they do not intend to fix it. Sony says it's up to the manufacturers to update their hardware."

http://sonystrikesagain.wordpress.com/

 

USB Turntable
You spin me round like a record (being transferred to a PC)



more info here
http://www.firebox.com/index.html?d...duct&pid=1401&src_t=t20&currency_conversion=1

 

NVIDIA takes DirectX 10 to the mainstream with budget cards.

By Eric Bangeman | Published: April 17, 2007 - 01:45PM CT

DirectX 10 goodness can now be had without giving up an arm and a leg. NVIDIA today launched a new lineup of DirectX 10-capable cards using NVIDIA's new G84 GPU (a less-powerful variant of the G80) with prices starting as low as $90 for the 8500.

New to NVIDIA's product lineup are the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT, GeForce 8600 GT, and the 8600 GTS. The 8500 GT starts at $89, while the 8600 GTS tops out at between $199 and $229. All three of the new Series 8 cards offer DirectX 10 support as well as NVIDIA's PureVideo HD technology, which handles HD DVD and Blu-ray playback.

"DirectX 10 means higher performance and better-looking PC graphics," said Chris Donahue, Microsoft's group manager of Games for Windows in a statement.

The Series 8 GPUs include all required hardware functionality as per Microsoft's Direct3D 10 spec, and offer full support for Shader Model 4 and the DirectX 10 unified shader instruction set. The cards themselves use the new G84 GPU which is a bit lighter on the shader hardware than the G80.

The 8600s have 32 stream processors (compared with the GeForce 8800's 128); the GTS is clocked at 675MHz while the GT runs at 450MHz. The GeForce 8500 has 16 stream processors and is clocked at 450MHz. All three cards come in 256MB configurations, while the 8500 will also have a 512MB flavor.

Performance-wise, the 8600 GTS and GT fared respectably on AnandTech's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion benchmarks. The GTS churned out 34.7fps at 1024x768 using the ultra high quality setting, trailing only the 8800 GTS, which clocked in with an impressive 58.6fps. The 8600 GT fell just behind the 7950 GT at 30.6fps. The Radeon X1950 Pro was the best performing ATI card at 28.5fps. AnandTech benchmarked the cards with an Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPU and an EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard. The cards didn't fare as well on the Battlefield 2 tests, however, with the X1950 Pro, GeForce 7950 GT, and GeForce 7900 GS outperforming all of them.

It appears that for most applications, the new NVIDIA cards won't blow the competition out of the water. But if you want something that will support DirectX 10—once applications that utilize it come along—they are the only game in town as we wait for the ATI R600 cards to arrive.

For the full lowdown on the cards' performance, you can check out reviews from AnandTech, Elite Bastards, Hot Hardware, and Tech ARP, among others. NVIDIA claims that the 8500 is available immediately, while the 8600 will hit store shelves in a few weeks.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...x-10-to-the-mainstream-with-budget-cards.html

 

Ireland, I checked out the usb turntable, I have waited so long on trying to optain something simple to copy my albums to cd, I checked out many other products and just to complicated for me, this one seems simple, I have so many lp's from the 60's and 70's and many havent even been open yet, after reading the ad, it doesnt say anything about transfering anything to cd only mp3 which I dont know anything about or care for, am I wrong here or can this thing do it on cd's as well, I hope so, if so I will place an order even though it says out of stock but you can still place an order.

 

FredBun.. I can really help you out with an answer to that question..

I use Audacity, the application they mention in the article http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
It will rip analog audio into many formats from pretty much any analog source you can think of. It all depends on the codecs you have installed..

While you can't burn directly from vinyl to cd (unlike popping a tape into a deck and doing a live recording) it will rip to the highest quality into wav, flac, mp3, ape and a few other music formats.
it's very similar to one of my favourite windows apps dbpoweramp, which has a line in recorder of excellent quality.

Nero can handle converting the resulting files into a normal cd format.. in fact the possibilities for what you can do with and to your recordings are endless.. It looks like a very good buy for somebody with a lot of vinyl and no turntable.. If you have an old turntable the line out (record out..tape or something) from your amplifier can be fed to the line in on your sound card... That's how I do it. No extra equipment needed..

Hot words?

mp3 tags
monkeys audio
mp3 editing
flac

 

try here or put the words USB Turntable and search..

i use a usb pinnacle system to bring the toons in as a wave file


http://www.compuplus.com/i-Numark-B...rface-TTUSB-1006907~.html?sid=yni20g5u5d5n50z
Description:
Featuring Plug and Play USB compatibility with both PC and Macintosh computers, the TTUSB turntable makes digitizing one’s vinyl record collection a breeze. More Info & Product Specification

More Info & Product Specifications:
# Equipped with an adjustable anti-skating control for increased stereo balance, support for 33.33 and 45 RPM playback speeds, ± 10% adjustable pitch control, and a 1/8-inch stereo minijack input connector to facilitate the transfer of cassette tapes, Numark’s TTUSB is the perfect tool for digitally archiving one’s record collection.
# Combined with Audacity’s software (PC and Mac compatible) for removing clicks and other noises, the TTUSB is an easy-to-use, comprehensive solution to the challenge of transferring one’s record collection to a computer or portable music player.
# Anti-skating control for increased stereo balance
# Support for both 33.33 and 45 RPM playback speeds
# 10% adjustable pitch control
# RCA line outputs
# Plug and Play USB compatibility with both PC and Mac
# Packaged with all necessary cables to interconnect with both a computer and stereo playback system
# Ships with Audacity software (compatible with PC and Mac) for removing clicks, pops, and other undesirable characteristics of vinyl
# Audacity supports high-speed recording, then returns music to original playback speed
# Audacity software includes ability to export to WAV and MP3
# One Year Mfr. Warranty
# Product also known as: TTUSB, 676762316118
# Compuplus.com Pictures are for illustration purposes only.
# Comp-U-Plus Return Policy: 30 days exchange or money back
# Product includes the full US manufacturers warranty

 

Thanks for the responce guys, janrocks, I did look into what you mentioned, I have in the past looked at many kind of different software products for issues like this but still just to complicated for me, believe me I wish I was on the level of you guys but still no where there yet, but regardliss still mucho appreciated.

Ireland, I found one at circuitcity.com, I read the reviews very carefully, its still not as easy as it sounded but easier than most, my biggest issue with it was that several people mentioned that it hijacks your sound card, thats something I will look deeper into, if something like that was to happin to me stupid computer minded as I am I can just see me trying to recover it, but most people gave it a heads up, I will definatly check it out. Thanks.

 

Sony Fixes Problems With New DVDs

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6434584.html

 

PC makers walk fine line with 'crapware'
http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-6177050.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
For years, computer makers have managed to wring a few extra bucks of profit out of each PC sale by bundling all sorts of third-party software.

While adding software, setting default search engines and including toolbars can all put money in PC makers' pockets, the practice has also alienated some consumers who say all such "crapware" is clogging their hard drives and bogging down their systems.

For the moment, computer makers appear to be trying to walk a fine line, tweaking their approaches slightly but hoping not to have to slay a cash cow. Gateway, for example, offers only one program in each category, while Dell has added an option for some models that allow a user to configure a system with no trial software.

"We've seen the evolution," IDC analyst Richard Shim said. "The desktop became kind of a billboard for Internet service providers and software. Now the pendulum is swinging the other way."

At one time, PC makers thought they might be able to subsidize the whole cost of a PC through a combination of advertising and bounties from signing up ISP customers.

While those dreams have largely faded, companies have continued to make money from including trial software, desktop icons and more recently, by agreeing to include a toolbar or other service from the leading Internet search providers.
Click for gallery

Despite some outcry from consumers, there's still plenty of software being loaded on new machines. In part, that's because the PC industry needs the cash that such deals offer. Even if the companies get less than $1 per software program that they include on a PC, that can still add up to $10 or $20 in revenue.

"On a $400 PC, that's a big thing to get," said Stephen Baker, an analyst at The NPD Group.

In one sense, such bundled software represents free money for the PC industry. But at the same time, if it adds up to support headaches or causes customers to shy away, such software may not be worth adding.

Samir Bhavnani, an analyst at market researcher Current Analysis, said one option computer makers should consider is letting buyers order a software-free system but charge a premium to make up for the lost revenue. Bhavnani figures an extra $25 should be enough to cover the company's shortfall.

"It would be so simple for them to come out with an anticrapware PC," Bhavnani said. "People would love them for it. The question is, who has the (guts) to do it?"

Apple, for its part, is trying to take advantage of the growing outcry, highlighted in a recent column by Walt Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal. In a new ad that debuted this week, the "PC guy" played by John Hodgman appears so bloated he can barely move.

"It's all this trial software," Hodgman says in the spot. "They pack my hard drive full of it, all these programs that don't do very much, unless you buy the whole thing...it really slows me down."

For the record, Macs do come with trial versions of Microsoft Office and Apple's iWork, though all other included applications are full versions of programs, including the company's iPhoto and iMovie, as well as third-party titles such as Comic Life.

Plus, Bhavnani said, Apple systems sell for far more than the average PC. "They make more money on the box than (Hewlett-Packard) or Dell does," he said. "That's why they are able to do that."
CONTINUED: Willing to pay extra for no extras?...


Ultimately, consumers are going to have to decide whether it is worth paying more to get their new computers clutter-free. The addition of trial software and other offers, along with falling component prices, is what has made PCs so cheap.

"One of the reasons is, they are being basically subsidized with billboards," Bhavnani said. "It would be like driving around in a car that you save 10 percent on, but with a big Google sticker on it."

There was some thought that the debut of Microsoft's Vista might have shaken things up a bit. On the one hand, there were concerns that PC makers wouldn't have time to test all their programs and that they might ship software that didn't even work with the new operating system.

Others thought that with Vista adding more features, such as DVD burning and desktop search, there might be less of a need for add-ons. In the end, though, most computer makers are shipping about as much extra software as they did with XP.

Gateway said it is shipping roughly the same amount of preloaded software on its Vista machines as it did with the prior operating system.

HP, meanwhile said it took the opportunity of Vista's debut to rethink its software bundles and pare things down a bit. "The exact answer varies country by country, but most customers will find we are shipping fewer software titles with our Vista PCs," an HP representative said.

Dell said it has started letting customers have more say about which programs are loaded onto its systems. It says that in many cases, consumers are choosing the free programs, including trial software.

"I think that speaks volumes for the fact that, despite a large discussion around 'bloatware' and that all this stuff is garbage...there are a fair number of people out there that see value and want this on their system," said Jeremy Friedlander, the senior manager for the software that goes on new Dell PCs.

For retail customers, there is less ability to change what's in the box, but shopping around can help. A recent stroll through a CompUSA in San Francisco showed just how widely the systems varied. At one end of the extreme were notebooks from Acer that didn't have much more than a Yahoo toolbar, two disc-burning utilities and Norton security software from Symantec.

On the other hand, Sony crammed several of its laptops with an array of software, including dozens of software trials, special offers and links to Internet services. The desktop is filled with several icons for AOL, as part of Sony's broad agreement with that company. Sony also loads four full-length movies onto the hard drives of many models, but it charges users who want to watch any of the flicks.

Even its tiny 4.5-inch UX series handheld Windows machine is packed full of trial software.

Much of the software just isn't useful, NPD's Baker said, noting that high-end laptops are still being sold with trials for dial-up Internet access, something very unlikely to be needed, or for services no longer really needed by today's PC user.

"The way it's designed right now is guaranteed to make it crapware," he said.

One of the biggest offenses, Bhavnani said, is when companies load multiple, competing products. In particular, dueling security programs can be hard for the average user to sort out.

"That's where it gets really confusing," Bhavnani said. "You have no idea which one is which and what to do."

CNET News.com's Tom Krazit contributed to this report.

 

FB.. I checked a little more and found because of the rca outputs at line level (1v 600 ohms) and audio grabber software will work..

audacity is pretty complicated.. http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ has a line in audio record feature which is simple..

Or if you don't mind paying a small amount for alternative software there is http://www.ripvinyl.com/ which is very simple to use..

Is there a freeware equivalent of this?

 

15 Great Free Utilities You've Never Heard Of

You don't need to spend a bundle--or even a penny--for great software. These little-known tools do everything from protecting your PC to managing your media.
Preston Gralla, PC World
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 01:00 AM PDT
The Complete List of 15 Great Free Utilities

Products described in this article are listed in order of appearance.
Security

* SpyCatcher Express
* a-Squared HiJackFree
* VistaFirewallControl
* Tor

System Tools

* What's Running
* Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
* Undelete Plus
* Advanced WindowsCare
* System Information for Windows

Graphics and Multimedia

* Photozig Albums Express
* MediaMonkey
* Google SketchUp

Miscellaneous Software

* RSS Bandit
* ImgBurn
* Azureus
Preston Gralla is a freelance writer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the author of Windows Vista in a Nutshell.

go here to download
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130721-page,6-c,utilities/article.html

 

Beer was responsible for technology

Civilisation as we know it

By Nick Farrell: Wednesday 18 April 2007, 08:08
A BRITISH boff working over the pond claims that humanity's first technological breakthroughs were because of the development of beer.

Charlie Bamforth, who has the dream job of Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, said that computers, the iPod, Silcon Valley and space travel all owe their development to beer.

He says that beer is the basis of modern static civ­ilization. Before beer, humanity wandered around and followed goats.

Then they realized that this grain [barley] could be grown and sprouted and made into a bread and crumbled and converted into a liquid which gave a nice, warm, cozy feeling.

They stayed put while the grain grew and while the beer was brewed, villages were formed from tents, villages became towns, and those towns became cities. With cities came a pooling of talent, specialisation and technological ideas and eventually a booming IT industry.

Bamforth said that to follow the path of beer could lead to humanity's next breakthrough in evolution.

"He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven. The logic is impeccable," he said.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39004
More here. Hic.


ANTIGRAVITY
May 2007 issue
Ale's Well with the World
A yeasty discussion of the science of malt and hops
By Steve Mirsky


Free beer. And thus I found my way to a lecture in late February at the New York Academy of Sciences by renowned beer maven Charlie Bamforth. A man for whom the word "avuncular" was coined, the British Bamforth has three decades of brewing expertise under his belt. Over his belt is what he insists is "a sausage belly, not a beer belly."

"Beer is the basis of modern static civ­ilization," began Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. "Because before beer was discovered, people used to wander around and follow goats from place to place. And then they realized that this grain [barley] could be grown and sprouted and made into a bread and crumbled and converted into a liquid which gave a nice, warm, cozy feeling. So gone were the days that they followed goats around. They stayed put while the grain grew and while the beer was brewed. And they made villages out of their tents. And those villages became towns, and those towns became cities. And so here we are in New York, thanks to beer." Another syllogism ended his address: "He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven. The logic is impeccable."
ADVERTISEMENT (article continues below)

In between came numerous nuggets about what Bamforth insists is "the world's favorite beverage," some of which were at the expense of another popular adult drink. While discussing the simple chemical equation of fermentation, by which a molecule of sugar is converted to two molecules of ethanol and two of carbon dioxide (along with some energy), Bamforth noted that "if the sugars are from grapes, you produce a fine beverage called wine. If the sugars are from grain, it's a superior beverage called beer."

Bamforth decried beer's sometimes dicey image: "Beer is perceived as a bad-boy drink, and beer has been too often marketed in all sorts of strange ways--flatulent horses [an infamous ad during the 2005 Super Bowl, overshadowed by the even more infamous Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction"] and men behaving badly. And wine is perceived some­how as being superior and speaking to a higher quality of life. Really, it's unfair. Beer is more consistent; it's produced with more devotion and care; it's at least as healthy." Plus, human feet are conspicuously absent from beer making.

But fetid feet pale when an ale becomes stale: tinted bottles or talented chemists must be employed to keep beer from becoming "sunstruck." Light converts certain beer bitter acids to the dreaded 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (MBT) compound, a close relative of the malodorous thiols produced by Mephitis mephitis, the striped skunk. In his book Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing (Oxford University Press, 2003), Bamforth notes that some people can smell MBT at levels as low as 0.4 part per trillion. "These poor people," he writes, "would have been able to detect a tenth of a gram of MBT distributed throughout the balloon of the airship Graf Zeppelin II." Eau, the humanity.

So, does the brewski master have a favorite beer? "It depends on where I am," Bamforth explains. "If I'm in an old pub with a ceiling about my height and there's a roaring log fire, cask ale from England is sublime. I wouldn't have an American-style lager. If I'm at a Sacramento River Cats AAA baseball game and it's 100 degrees outside, I could kill for a Bud. I'm not going to drink a Guinness. So it's horses for courses." As long as those horses aren't flatulent.

Answering the charge that beer is empty calories, Bamforth points out that beer is actually rich in B vitamins, except for thiamine. "A famous doctor came up to me," he remembers, "and said, 'Is it true that if we could just boost the levels of thiamine, beer would be a meal in itself?' I answered, 'Even I wouldn't say that. You need a few pretzels.'"

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=E699E9C7-E7F2-99DF-38A7329520CF67D6&colID=15

 

Universal, Amazon mp3 efforts

p2pnet.net news:- While EMI will, "boldly go where no major has gone before and sell its catalog as unprotected digital files, other forces are coming into play that should bolster the potential for a commercial MP3 marketplace," says a Reuters/Billboard story.

EMI? Boldly? Must be a different company ;P

But No, it's that EMI, one of the members of the Big 4 Organized Music cartel, the others being Warner Music, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG.

"Amazon, which is considered the best bet to challenge iTunes' supremacy in the digital world, is shooting to launch its MP3 digital download store in May, a target date it has yet to publicly acknowledge," says the story. (Amazon declines comment.) Meanwhile, sources familiar with the situation say Universal Music Group plans to test the sale of unprotected digital music files, including some of its classical music catalog conceivably including titles by Andrea Bocelli, at the new Amazon store and other outlets."

Wowee!

"Meanwhile, executives within Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group say senior management teams at both companies are unwilling to embrace selling their catalogs in the MP3 format,"according to Reuters/Billboard.

"But whether or not the majors will be involved with Amazon or iTunes unprotected plays, they all say they are waiting to find out if the MP3 model will expand digital sales - and conversely, if it will fuel unauthorized file-sharing or cannibalization of other digital formats such as ringtones."

At the moment, the corporate online download market is virtually non-existent, Apple's iTunes iPod front-end loader notwithstanding, the reason being the Big 4 haven't yet been able to figure out a way to effectively and permanently cannibalise the indie sites and services.

"One indie player says his company is close to signing a deal, but is hung up on what kind of pricing should be applied to what kind of file," says the piece. "That company is willing to sell Amazon 128 byte-rate files at its conventional digital price points, but wants a higher price for better-quality 256 byte-rate files."

For "conventional digital price points" read the grossly inflated wholesale rates at which the the cartel is trying, and failing, to offload 'product,' as it calls its offerings.

Or as Eagles' lead singer Don Henley once summed it up, music is now a commodity and the music business is in crisis but:

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the root problem is not the artists, the fans or even new Internet technology. The problem is the music industry itself. It's systemic.

The industry, which was once composed of hundreds of big and small record labels, is now controlled by just a handful of unregulated, multinational corporations determined to continue their mad rush toward further consolidation and merger. Sony and BMG announced their agreement to merge in November, and EMI and Time Warner may not be far behind.

The industry may soon be dominated by only three multinational corporations.

And of course, when you're talking about the corporate music industry, you know everyone is out to screw everyone else. ASAP, and any way they can. And, while the try to figure out the best ways to do that, customer interests remain right at the bottom of the list.

No worries, though, because while the labels fuss and worry about how to wring the last cent out of consumers, giving back as little as possible in return, things are great in the real world of online music.

There, music lovers in their hundreds of millions are are trading, selling, sharing, swapping, giving away, dishing and recommending songs in their billions while the venal Big 4 look on.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
Reuters/Billboard - Universal, Amazon beef up MP3 sales space, April 16, 2007
now a commodity - Is 'business' killing music?, February 17, 2004
real world of online music - 1 billion songs a DAY shared online, March 8, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12001

 

Bye Bye Tape, Hello 5.3TB eSATA

Julio Urquidi

April 18, 2007 09:16
Introduction

Julio Urquidi has worked in IT for the past 15 years and specializes in server management for the healthcare industry in California. One of the things you should note about this article is its emphasis on things other than performance. In most IT shops criteria such as documentation, operational functionality, system monitoring and vendor support come before performance in selecting hardware and software.

It's amazing how much disk you can buy for 60 bucks. For example, I just walked into a local retailer and purchased an 80GB hard drive for less than what my neighbor paid to fill the gas tank in her SUV...and I still overpaid. Years ago, I would have paid three times the amount for a drive a third the size of my latest purchase. Yes, storage hardware has gotten very affordable over the years and with all the breakthroughs in technology, what was once a data protection pipe dream, backup to disk, has become a stark reality.

If you need to backup large amounts of data, but aren't all that comfortable with a bunch of relatively slow USB or Firewire drives and you can't afford more expensive NAS and SAN solutions, consider an interesting answer from Highly Reliable Systems, the High-Rely eSATA Backup System. The e in eSata stands for external. This unit consists of a rack mountable chassis that uses seven SATA disk drives. It just might pave the way for future hard drive backup solutions. The important thing to understand about the High-Rely eSATA chassis is that it's not RAID configurable. The chassis simply provides you with 7 high capacity disk drives, each of which can be configured as a separate physical disk drive.

The High-Rely eSATA chassis is one of two seven drive disk backup systems produced by the Reno, Nevada based company. The other seven drive product is a USB based chassis that is just as nice a package as its sibling, but without the high transfer rate of eSATA. Finally for individual users, Highly Reliable also has five and single drive products that come in USB and eSATA models. Resellers can also find eight and ten drive models.

The High-Rely eSATA system I'll look at here includes a seven bay chassis, seven 750GB cartridge enclosed disk drives, a PCI-Express eSATA card, software and accessories.
Description
The Chassis And Related Parts

The High-Rely package includes the chassis, two single port eSATA adapters, a power cable, a dual eSATA cable, drive keys, software CD and warranty.

The eSATA metal enclosure I tested is a black 4U rack mountable device that, populated with drives, weighs in at a sturdy 50 pounds. The model tested has eight available hard disk bays with seven of them configured for disk use while the eighth drive slot has a vented cover. The eighth bay is for the eight disk version of the product available only to resellers.

Noise-wise, if you work in a data center you recognize the not-so subtle hum of a server-like fan. You may want install the device in a spot designated for noisier devices. A well cooled room or closet would be ideal, especially since you're dealing with a machine that houses seven heat producing disk drives.

All the cabling in the eSATA unit interfaces with the chassis from the back. The eSATA cables plug into two separate cards located on the rear of the case. The eSATA cable that comes with the chassis is composed of two separate eSATA lines joined together by a fabric mesh. For the test model, one of the pair of cables had blue tubing at the ends to distinguish it from the other cable.

The chassis is powered by a single 300 watt power supply that uses the same standard PC power cable that most of us collect and keep in our boxes of spare parts. At the front of the chassis is a rocker switch that turns on the power and a single LED that tells you the system is powered on.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/18/bye_bye_tape/

 

First payola, now Dark Payola

p2pnet.net news:- You know all about payola, the Big 4 record label way of making sure they get air-time for what they want, when they want. It's routine.

Here comes Dark Payola, thanks to the Copyright Royalty Board.

"Bay Area leading light SomaFM faces crippling debt and insolvency along with many of its Internet radio peers including Pandora and Live 365 this Spring," says the East Bay Express. "Late last March, the Copyright Royalty Board - three dudes in Washington - raised SomaFM's webcasting rates from $10,000 in 2005 to $600,000 for 2006 (applying retroactively). The ruling is 'fair,' says the top honcho of SoundExchange, the royalty collection group lobbying for higher rates on behalf of the major labels and artists."

But, "Staggering," is more like it, the story has SomaFM founder Rusty Hodge saying. "We were expecting rates to go up 10, maybe 20 percent. It would be painful, but at least it wouldn't put us out of business."

According to SoundExchange, a spin off from Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), webcasters have all kinds of ways of making money so they can pay the new rates.

Like what? Oh, like, banner ads, pop-ups, video pre-rolls, audio commercials, says SoundExchange front man John Simson.

But, "Hodge says he isn't interested in annoying his listeners, and exposure means more than gold to the indie bands he streams," says the East Bay Express.

"One of the most frustrating things about SoundExchange is they're allowed to recoup all their legal costs before they distribute any money to the artists and copyright holders," Hodge told p2pnet, going on:

Which means all the money we've been paying into SoundExchange hasn't gone to the artists like they say it does, but instead goes to paying SoundExchange's legal bills - bills they run up fighting for higher rates for webcasters. The more we pay in royalties, the more money they get to fight for even higher royalties.

Michael Huppe, General Counsel of SoundExchange, says 'It's in everyone's best interest to ensure a vibrant and thriving marketplace for Internet Radio and we intend to work with webcasters towards achieving that goal.' But what he means by vibrant and thriving is saturated with ads, or subscription services that cost $13 a month.

Based on in-stream ad rates today, which are in the $1.50-2.00 per CPM rate, you'd need to run an average of 8 ads an hour just to cover your royalties. But Simson's retort to that is that you can get higher ad rates by combining banner ads and video pre-rolls - those 30 second video commercials before the music stream starts - in addition to your in-stream audio ads.

Why would anyone listen to internet radio with all those commercials? We'd have to play more commercials than over-the-air stations play now ... and tha'ts assuming they could actually fill all that ad inventory now.

The majority of Americans who don't listen to netcasts should care about all this, because developments in that pond have ramifications for the on-air world, says the East Bay Express post:

"Terrestrial radio stations may soon face Internet radio's two sucky choices: 1) Pay SoundExchange through the nose for whatever the station wants to play, or 2) Save money by making direct, legal deals with record labels to play a label's free "Abomination of the Week." I'm looking directly at you, Korn Unplugged.

It's the opposite of payola but with all the effects, says Hodge. It's Dark Payola.

"They're going after the over-the-air broadcasters next," he says in East Bay Express. "There's no doubt. And if you think media consolidation is bad now, wait till it's back to the old payola days."

Old payola days? Who says they're gone?

Meanwhile, Bryan Adams is among performers who say the CRB decision is bad, bad.

And, "I'm the lead singer for a local Northwest band called Come Back Maggie," said a p2pnet comment post.

"The last thing I need is some guy in a tie taking away outlets for my music. How is it that some non-elected suit has the power to enact sweeping changes like this?"

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
East Bay Express - The Age of Dark Payola, April 18, 2007
bad, bad - Bryan Adams slams Net radio hike April 18, 2007
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/18/bye_bye_tape/

 

Despite revenue slump, RIAA still not getting the big picture

By Eric Bangeman | Published: April 18, 2007 - 01:12PM CT

The Recording Industry Association of America has released its 2006 year-end shipment statistics, and they tell a familiar tale. Shipments of physical media such as CDs continue their decline while the number of downloads continues to soar. Overall revenues continue their slide, as revenues from the increased number of digital sales failed to make up for falling CD sales.

For 2006, the RIAA reports that manufacturers shipped 553.2 million "retail units." That number includes CDs, music videos, vinyl albums, and singles. That's down 12.8 percent from 2005's 634.8 million figure and is just over half of 2000's 1.08 billion shipments. It is not an unexpected trend—last week we noted a study that predicted a continued free-fall for the music industry at least through 2012.

Digital sales—which include downloads, kiosks, ringtones, subscriptions, and music videos—continue to be a success story for the music industry. The RIAA reported a 27.6 percent increase in digital sales versus 2005, and when mobile sales (e.g., ringtones and direct-to-phone downloads) are taken out of the picture, unit sales jumped 63.2 percent. It's a significant drop from last year's 166.2 percent year-over-year growth, but still something the industry should be pleased with.

Data source: Recording Industry Association of America


The RIAA is pleased with how digital sales are performing. "Today's music marketplace has challenges but it also offers reason for hope and optimism," said RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol. "The appetite for music is as strong as ever and a digital marketplace now worth nearly $2 billion has emerged virtually overnight."
Still unclear on the concept

Unfortunately, it appears that the music industry is still having trouble grasping the scope of the challenges it faces. Another quote from Bainwol reflects this: "Our continuing mission is to help level the playing field so retailers and legal services don't have to compete with piracy and to work for parity in a marketplace with increasing convergence between various music distribution and broadcast outlets."

Retailers and legal services will always have to compete with piracy, and no amount of file-sharing litigation is going to change it. File-sharing still goes on, with much of it pushed deeper into the recesses of darknets to evade detection. The music industry will always have to compete with "free," since it remains a viable alternative to millions of music fans, despite the record industry's best efforts to eradicate it.

Some influential figures in the music industry do grasp the necessity of competing with pirates. When he announced that music at the iTunes Store would remain at 99¢, Apple CEO Steve Jobs framed the decision in part by the need to compete with piracy. "If the price goes up, [consumers] will go back to piracy and everybody loses," said Jobs. And he's not the only one who understands it.

The unfortunate fact for the RIAA that Bainwol doesn't seem to grasp is that the game has fundamentally changed forever, and there's no going back to the days of year-over-year revenue growth, at least not for the next five years or so. CD sales are on a downward slope and they're taking the industry's revenues with them.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...p-riaa-still-not-getting-the-big-picture.html

 

janrocks, got your latest info, thanks.