bignumone 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: At $15,000 Will Best Buy's Smart Home In A Box Also Paint My House Blue And Yellow?

    bignumone ( profile ), 26 Dec, 2006 @ 12:50pm

    The Pope was right

    People get sucked into these things. It is not going to make you happy, folks.
    Just save $14,990 and buy a six of your favorite malt beverage and watch monday night football on your 14" using rabbit-eared "peasant-vision". Watching a fuzzy picture builds character!

    Better yet, save $14,995 and go to church and put $5 in the poor-box so someone can eat.
    Sheesh
    The Pope was right!

  • On the post: NPR Sick Of Howard Stern Butting In; Wants FCC To Recall FM Modulators

    bignumone ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2006 @ 07:02am

    It happened to me

    I personally can't stand Howard Stern, and I'll be darned if it happened to me.
    I was riding down the highway with no one around for miles. When suddenly, breaking over MY FM-modulator was Howard Stern, interrupting my TWiT pod cast to spew some of his disgusting crap. I looked around and couldn't see anyone except headlights around 1/4 mile away. As this truck approached (at a speed well over the limit) the signal became stronger. Then s/he blew by and as s/he disappeared over the horizon, the signal faded and went away.
    That is ridiculous!

  • On the post: Where Did TiVoToGo Go?

    bignumone ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2006 @ 06:01am

    Why even have TiVo?

    I have been questioning the value of TiVo for a while now. There are a lot of alternatives available that cost nothing to run.
    Why pay a monthly fee?
    They track everything I do, put unwanted ads on my box, limit what I can do with the material I record.

    I don't want to sell my recorded content, I just want to record it on DVD so I can watch it on the road or in another location. What is wrong with that?

  • On the post: RIAA Still Feels Entitled To Scour Everyone's Hard Drives

    bignumone ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2006 @ 07:31pm

    Isn't this a violation of our civil rights

    The last I heard, the RIAA is not a criminal justice unit. Nor is it elected or appointed by the people of the United States or their elected representative...or even by appointees of the elected representatives.
    Doesn't this amount to one citizen demanding to search the private property of another person because the searchee might have stolen some property?

    Come on, the police can't do that with-out a warrant. Why would we let these wing-dingy people do it. We need to put our foot down now, or we will all be subject to the whim of very wealthy people!

  • On the post: Third Way To Get RIAA To Drop Lawsuit: Accuse Them Of Extortion

    bignumone ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2006 @ 07:34am

    Re: lets play..."what if it were me"

    The real problem really is not the DRM, they can make it work. It is what ARE the rights of the consumer. The recording industry does not want you to have the right to even back up or copy the product for yourself. They claim it is so the music can not be pirated in mass quantities. If they put on the dust jacket a statement that you are paying for that ONE copy, that is fine. You know what you are buying and how much you are paying for it. But they know people will not want to pay $20 for a disk that once it is scratched or worn-out is gone for good. People like to COLLECT the music.
    As for your game, if you had exclusive rights to BUILD that bike for $50 and put it out front for sale at $1000 (and it is popular), don't you think it likely that some people would copy that design for themselves? Yet others would make them and sell them? And do you actually LOSE money when you do that? What they are calling a LOSS is keeping them in mansions and jet aircraft...how can that be?
    Sell that same bike for $150, a 300% markup and people would be much less likely to steal the idea. (BTW normal retail markup on average is 35%)
    Not that I find that justification to steal, but they are getting pretty heavy-handed with 12 year-olds.
    Hey! Maybe they should go after the larger pirates and stop the biggest amount of theft first!

  • On the post: First Rule About RIAA Court Cases: You Don't Talk About RIAA Court Cases

    bignumone ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2006 @ 03:50am

    RIAA

    I think it is wrong to steal music, and if someone were stealing my product I would go after them. So, RIAA, go after the real pirates. Not some kid recording their music from a friends CD, but the people selling 1000's of copies or more after mass copying. (I think there is court precedence allowing you to copy things for yourself because of audio and video tapes)
    I do think, however, that the wholesale theft the music (and movie) industry is seeing should tell them their product is over-priced. If they made their prices more reasonable, there would be no real market for large-scale pirating. I don't believe they would be hurt. Look at how these people live! And the artists are making pennies on the dollar when compared to the producers.
    There is gold in them thar pipes!
    I think the way to stop it is to stop buying the product all together. It will never happen, we are addicted to it. I am included in that catagory!

  • On the post: Latest Threat To The Music Industry: CDs

    bignumone ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2006 @ 03:40am

    My comments on these comments

    Having read a few of the comments, I would like to know. Why do you think the music industry wants to put very restricted limits on what we can do with the CDs we buy?
    If the music you want is not worth what they are charging, don't buy it. If everyone did that, a CD would be priced more reasonably or have more value (better mix of songs). Because something is overpriced does not justify stealing it!
    You may be young and don't understand this right now, but some day, you will make something or be involved in making something. You may get "downsized" because people start stealing the product and justifying it by saying it costs too much. You will feel different!