ONLY because I heard some of their music online. Crossposted from PM, because it's highly relevant to Music...
They're at it again. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) has revised the "Anticounterfeiting Amendments of 2002" bill to include DRM. The original intent of the bill was to update anti-counterfeiting law, which applied to things such as holograms, etc... Now they've added the usual Hollywood wishlist. It's $25000 PER INCIDENT. The bill has some rather interesting ramifications...
From the ZDNet story on the bill:
Quote:Biden's new bill would make it a federal felony to try and trick certain types of devices into playing your music or running your computer program. Breaking this law--even if it's to share music by your own garage band--could land you in prison for up to five years. And that's not counting the civil penalties of up to $25,000 per offense.
http://rss.com.com/2100-1023-947072.html?type=pt?=rss&tag=feed&subj=news
Sounds sad until you realize they're going for the legal right to hack Joe Q. Public's computer themselves.
See also my post on the DMCA/SSSCA board under PM.
Two very interesting articles:
THE INTERNET DEBACLE - AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW
FALLOUT - a follow up to The Internet Debacle
Now this is interesting: A report by Forrester Research says that "Downloads Save The Music Business". They are btw not alone with their opinion.
But the RIAA disagrees of course.
Christ...
Okay, I download music for my personal use (You hear that, you RIAA/Lars Ulrich b*stards? Not everyone is selling bootleg copies of cds!)
Had it not been for Kazaa (and the lite version, which has no spyware, but operates the same as Kazaa), I would not know of a lot of artists I now consider to be favorites of mine:
I fell in love with Metallica's music on Napster (though, again: Kiss it, Lars), and I still love them.
I discovered Rammstein (beyond the Matrix soundtrack), whom I now love. I own 2 of their cds, and plan to buy their DVD next week.
The only things I would know about Carlin & Leary is that they're on Leno sometimes, and are both funny as hell.
I also discovered: NIN, Marilyn Manson, Billy Joel, Dean Martin, and several others.
I have bought several CDs as a direct result of listening to music that I downloaded. I now have several CDs of Berlioz, Greig, and P.D.Q. Bach ONLY because I heard some of their music online.
Me too. Unsung Heroes, Nick Drake, and several others. I BOUGHT (legally paid for, you RIAA gits) their CDs after hearing a song or two (or three) of theirs from Napster, Audiogalaxy, and KaZaa. I'm nowe currently saving to buy The White Stripes, Clinic, and Andrea Parker (not the actress from The Pretender, the electronica artist) CDs now for the same reason.
So, don't give the RIAA any more money. Don't buy albums for a while.
On the other hand, boycotts won't work because the RIAA will simply claim that their revenues are down because of the Evil Content Pirates™.
Yeah, and the fact the economy is in the dumps has NOTHING to do with the lowering slaes of albums. And the fact that most of what we put out is utterp krap with an aserisk, which is why the NOW compilations tend to sell better than whole albums also has nothing to do with it.
IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS!
The RIAA has changed their opinion concernening P2P and MP3 completely. They even offer downloads now directly from their site!
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RIAA against music sharing? Not anymore!
RIAA to sue music sharers? Not Anymore
With the legal file sharing service kazaa still online, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today announced that it intends to offer the latest albums for download from riaa.org.
As you are probably aware, the RIAA has been pursuing a policy of preventing this activity in recent months
We have recently become aware that this approach is yielding only limited results and in some cases may in fact be harming sales and the artists' revenue stream.
The RIAA wishes to apologise for the heavy-handed manner in which the popular chinese site Listen4Ever was closed down, and would like to present the following items for free download as a token of its goodwill.
Of course the list is relatively small, but please be patient - we expect to offer over 300 next week. We also intend to offer pre-released movies in the coming months.
If what you want isn't on the list, then please try Kazaa Lite - available here
# # # #
Tracks available:
[...]
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Hehehe, it seems Hilary has been hacked. 
.
Hehehe, according to this story the first hack already happened on Wednesday. Too bad that they are still running outdated and insecure M$ software.
The fun continues - the hacked server is still online. Obviously SecurityNewsPortal is right. A mirror of Wednesday's hack is here and useful additional info here.
Happy reading!
Yuck, the RIAA has shut down their MP3 service again. But they are still running the obsolete M$-IIS4.0 - not exactly a bright idea.
The glorious page is archived here and here.
Not that I don't think they may be that $tupid, but do I smell a trap. Those servers are poisoned honey pots. I know few people play chess, but ever hear of the poisoned pawn?
BMG is now claiming that they will no longer release "unprotected CDs".
Even worse, they use the CDDA logo, and claim to be Redbook compliant.
I hope Phillips sues their @sses off.
The RIAA's new slogan: We're more powerful than the US Navy!!!
"Or perhaps the truth is less interesting than the facts?"
Not only is it bad grammer, but it makes no logical sense. In other words, a perfect RIAA quote.
An excerpt from a Slashdot conversation I was involved in...
P2P Killed Elvis.
Math the RIAA Way.
Just like their accounting. For those who don't bother reading links, the RIAA claimed that they confiscated [the equivalent of] 421 CD burners in a raid. However, there were only 156 burners. The RIAA rationale? Some of them [the burners] were faster than average.
Today's "Foxtrot" comic strip was very appropriate to this topic. You can read it here:
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ft/2003/ft030425.gif
np - Nudeswirl - Nudeswirl
"It's all the same song" - Neil Young
Finally. Score one for common sense.
Common Sense: 1, RIAA/MPAA: about 50.
Couldn't find a board for Napster (it's probably over on PM or something)...
Metallica will be on MTV tomorrow. Make sure that you Pay Lars if you tape the show!
"Pay Lars"? Given that I have eight Metallica CDs, went to a Metalllica concert in '93 and bought a t-shirt and button, Lars has more than enough of my money, thankyouverymuch. Too much of it, in fact.
np - Lynyrd Skynyrd (box set) - Lynyrd Skynyrd (Ironically, the song playing is "Mr. Banker".)
"It's all one song." - Neil Young
Arr Matey,
The RIAA will get IP address of those it downloads a song from. So ye swabs ye be setting up to not upload and shiver me timbers. Avast there be a problem with no one uploading anything but ye can find a way to wriggle out of the noose lad. Arrr.
P2P Killed Elvis!
Finally found it! My original comment and the origination of "P2P Killed Elvis"
Posted here for lack of a better place.
Do not -- repeat DO NOT -- purchase music under the Sony/BMG label. I do not call them CD's because they do not conform to the CD-DA spec published by Philips.
They contain a DRM rootkit which, if you have autoplay enabled for your CD-ROM, will automatically install (even if you say NO). This rootkit also creates security vulnerabilities on your machine.
Of course, Linux and Mac users are immune.
This software will do nothing to prevent piracy, and puts legitimate *PAYING* customers at risk. Please teach Sony a lesson by not purchasing from their label.
You know me, I don't republish hoaxes. Feel free to google for "Sony rootkit", if you wish to double check.
Nerdcore post-punk laptop rapper MC Lars (who said that it was really hard to get into that genre as he had to invent it first) did a song about the whole file sharing controversy. It's called "Download This Song" so I think you can guess where the stands on the issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zTPDVkVFOs