Feeding The Beast.

The following is a piece of speculative fiction and should not be seen as either an admission or acknowledgment of any activities, legal or otherwise.

So buy.com opened up their new music store. Hot on the heels of Apple, who have won over a ton of converts due to their remarkably friendly policies regarding transfer of the music to CDs, portable devices and other computers. So I took a look at their site, and ran smack into the wall of coporate America. First off, the files are in Windows Media Format. Second, if you do what the sevice intends [buy a lot of music from different artists] you're going to need a separate database to keep track of the limitations bulit into the tracks. Certain songs can be moved to as many different computers as you want. Some allow only 3 burnings onto a CD, and some can only be transferred to a portable device once.

So what did I do?

What millions of people are still doing. Clicked on a filesharing program [with new blocking features to prevent spying] and downloaded a high quality file that I can do anything with.

For free.

Unfortunately, I think we've passed the point of arguing about the legailty of file-sharing, swapping, or whatever you want to call it. [lawsuits and subpoenas notwithstanding] Whatever 'high ground' the music industry seeks to claim has been shattered by their labeling of what should be their biggest supporters as thieves and criminals.

Free is a powerful word. And if you want anyone to start paying for something, you need a better 'carrot' than jail time.

I don't know if this is just rationalizing or not.

Mmmm..More Comics.

A quick list of the better comics that came out this week

Fantastic Four 501
Off the heels of "Unthinkable" Mark Waid continues to impress with his take on Marvel's First Family. After their battle with Dr. Doom, the scars [mental and physical] are still fresh.

Thor: Vikings
Zombie Vikings. Garth Ennis. Not for the sqeamish.

Batman 617
Jim Lee.

Transformers 4 and Transformers: More than Meets the Eye 4
As a child of the 80's, the reurgence of the Transformers is pure fun.

Take care folks.

MikeG