RIAA or (Rip-off Innocent Americans Association) is at it again

The Washington Post has a great write-up about the RIAA (Rip-off Innocent Americans Association), this time they are saying that if you go to the store to buy a record, and then you transfer that record to your computer, or perhaps your music server, or transfer that music in any way, you are breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages.

I think it’s pretty clear what needs done. We need to start a fund to help protect these innocent Americans instead of paying the RIAA. I think it’s pretty obvious if every single record company goes broke, the world will be a better place. Artists will not fail to survive and sure, there might be a few artisits whom are deeply hurt by this. When you tell me I can not take a CD I just purchased from you, and use it how I want, then I am no longer your customer, and you are in fact my enemy because you not only have a bad track record of not respecting other’s copyrights, but you go after innocent American’s and you use dirty scare tactics. Our nations college students need left alone so that they can graduate and get a job and support your companies. Many college kids eat "Ramon Noodles" and try to get by on as little as 20 dollars a week. Sure, some of them are pursuing illegal activities, but that’s not to say that those same people are not the ones who purchase music more than the rest.

Update:

Duncan Riley at Techcrunch agrees that the RIAA is greedy and he points out that our congress is trying pass "The PRO IP act" and don’t seem at all interested in serving the American public when it comes to copyright and personal use. This isn’t about stealing music anymore, the RIAA wants to sell you a song for each device you have instead of you owning the entire song for life. I think the RIAA needs taken out of commission, I’m going to cancel my music subscription account which is going to be tough, and then I’m going to not ever buy another CD in my life unless the money goes entirely 100 percent to the artist.

Update 2: Alan Patrick at broadstuff.com says something pretty interesting about the RIAA’s new tactic (making most of the United States a criminal) He says:

The worrying thing is if it does actually get a positive ruling, because this, along with the various attempts at extending copyright and IP law into areas it was never intended to go shows a level of intellectual protectionism that is certainly bad news for new innovators, and probably bad news for the US economy overall – any information economy relies on creation, not ossification.

I’d absolutely agree, the United States needs to get out of the way of this entire argument and let digital media innovation happen. The new music stage is the digital stage, and crowding it with rules is only red tape which will slow the progress of artists being found and subsequently paid.

Technorati tags: boycott RIAA, RIAA, Coolition for the protection of our nations college students from rich greedy executives

del.icio.us tags: boycott RIAA, RIAA, Coolition for the protection of our nations college students from rich greedy executives

What is the ROI with Online Website Registration?

Publishing 2.0 has a Great Article which asks, "What Is The ROI Of Requiring User Registration To Access Online Content." Where is the point in which a Web Service returns great value? Is it only at the top where the property owner owns a very large database of dedicated of users who frequent the site and share a large amount of intervention with them?

My best guess would be that it depends on:

How much paid human intervention is Required

Divided by

The amount of Interaction by the customer

I would imagine it’s the amount of interaction with a site that matters the most. Anything that requires input or collaboration or manipulation of any sort. Digg is the great example, they are the company which besides Google have their company name used as a verb the most. Digg, which was really just a creative redo of Slashdot which also seems to do fine.

But how can companies create value in the future with the competition in such a race to provide a better service?

The entire industry is interested I would imagine, how much money does the NYT’s make selling all of that info that gets put into the forms on the NYT’s homepage as well as how do I get more from my users in the form of retention. The most basic form of interaction and the oldest form is the simple hyperlink which doubles each visitors value if it’s a link to additional relevant content which is also owned by your company.

Industries moving forward are going to have to be very clever if they want success which comes only when you have a lot of users whom you know a lot about, and they actually "need" you for some type of reason. 

What good does it ask me to answer a form that I know benefits me and not the advertiser. If you ask me how much money I make a year, my phone number and my street address, please remember to at least ask me about what I like to do in my spare time, what books I’ve read, what shows I watch, or something that makes sense for me. Why? There must be a purpose other than just acknowledging your identity unless there is a monetary interaction involved. 

Garbage in Garbage out, I have no proof, just a theory that over 90 percent of those standard forms are filled out with lies. I could be "WAY" off though, who knows, it’s hard to base a theory on something you know so little about (the other 2billion of you) Try to start a conversation with us users, or try to find a purpose for not thinking about something else. I should study like a group of 50 different registration forms and then return with what I would think could improve on all of them or at least some of them.

Technorati tags: Media Registration ROI, Publishing 2.0, Scott Karp, User Registration, Registration Style, User Registeration forms

del.icio.us tags: Media Registration ROI, Publishing 2.0, Scott Karp, User Registration, Registration Style, User Registeration forms

Apple is Gunning for Vista and Visa?

Brian Caulfield at Forbes.com has a story about a few of Apple’s latest patents. (He calls them innovations) These Scenarios have been tossed around by Microsoft for years, but Microsoft has of late turned into Sun Microsystems, the company with the vision, and no execution. Apple has the execution it seems lately, and with each customer they get, the influencers are turning into haters. Anyhow, I think Apple could actually replace visa and Vista in one fell swoop if what Steve Jobs is planning what I think he is planning.

A credit/debit card is a fantastic piece of plastic, but it hasn’t evolved much since its inception. Originally, a credit card was the evolution of the "Fuel Card." way back in 1938. If you listen to what Steve Job’s said at the "All things D" conference this year, he said that the one thing he always admired about Bill Gates was "Microsoft’s ability to partner with all types of companies and make them advantageous relationships." Since then, we have found out that while you sip your mocha Frappity yapper crap (Fair trade I hope!!!) you would be able to download the song which is playing at your local Starbucks.

Brian goes on to talk about Apple’s latest Patents. He says that the patents describe a device and means in which to order a coffee via your iPhone (presumably) and a means for you to cut in line, a means in which to have your preferences saved on the device and/or the store’s computers. This is the meaningful evolution of the credit card in my opinion and I think Apple will start expanding in a way in which scares even the likes of Visa and maybe even Vista!

My wife and I both now own the iPhone, and I must say I love the device more than any 1200.00 device HTC could ever throw at me. Apple is turning into a consumer company for sure, I even own a mac these days. (There isn’t a major OS in my home LAN that I’m not running though.) How did that old record you could get at McDonald’s go? Big Mac, Mc BLT, Quarter Pounder with an iPhone please! (not)

Technorati tags: iPhone = Credit Card Evolution, ITMU = Credit Card, ITMU VS PayPal VS Google Checkout, Mobile Payment Methods, Mobile Advertising, ITMU Expanding

del.icio.us tags: iPhone = Credit Card Evolution, ITMU = Credit Card, ITMU VS PayPal VS Google Checkout, Mobile Payment Methods, Mobile Advertising, ITMU Expanding

Brian Westbrook’s “no touchdown” ends my Fantasy Year

Brian Westbrook, a great multi purpose running back for the Eagles in the NFL had a clear line for a touchdown and decided it was best to secure the teams win by a very small fraction by sacrificing his own stats as an NFL player. This isn’t something you see very often, but I think there is a bit of anti "Tom Bradism" going on in the NFL.

I suppose this isn’t geek related, but I do play fantasy football. In a game dominated these days with Ego gods that who feel they are the only reason why everyone has come to see the game…. I totally understand and admire what Westbrook did, he laid down on the two yard line. I lost by two points in a league with a pot at almost 1.5k and the money going mostly to the number one position. I am a little bit tired of rooting for the athletes and I want to get back to rooting for the teams. Westbrook is a class act, a polar opposite to Tom Brady who goes for it on 4th down when up by over 30 points just to artificially inflate his stats.

Technorati tags: Fantasy football, Westbrook, Time to get back to rooting for teams, End of fantasy football for me

 

del.icio.us tags: Fantasy football, Westbrook, Time to get back to rooting for teams, End of fantasy football for me