Pete Braven 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (30) comment rss

  • On the post: Once Again, How Does DRM Benefit Anyone?

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2010 @ 08:42am

    DRM (Digital Rip-off Music)

    I bought a couple of music album downloads from a 'reputable source' and they came in WMA format only with DRM code. Oh great, so I want to play them in my car as mp3 format,.. and the attempt to convert wiped out the DRM code and they now don't play in anything.
    Total waste of money!

  • On the post: LucasFilm Skips The Jedi Mind Trick And Just Straight Up Sues 'Jedi Mind'

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2010 @ 08:27am

    Ah, religious zeal!

    I can't help but smile at this one. In the last census in the UK, so many people entered 'Jedi Knight' as their religion, it had to become a recognised faith!
    Just maybe, Lucas now thinks he is God an will punish all unbelievers?
    Next thing will be the use of the word 'force' in teaching physics or maybe the Itallians will retrospectively sue for the use of 'Empire' on behalf or the Romans?

  • On the post: Madonna Sued For For Selling Clothes Under 'Material Girl' Brand

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2010 @ 08:19am

    "we-are-living-in-a-trademarked-world"

    I just wonder why an artist's management didn't pick up on the use of the song title when it's been collecting revenue in advertising for years? (Including one of the trademark owners)

  • On the post: Is Malware To Blame For Plane Crash That Killed 154?

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2010 @ 08:08am

    Some things get lost in translation

    Unfortunately, the notion that a flight computer is completely 'stand-alone' in only true until the aircraft commits to an automatic landing approach, at whch time it is very definitely synched to the ground control systems or the airport.
    Pointing the finger of 'blame' at any operating system is pretty meaningless; the blame in this case lies square on the idiots who think it's cool to compile malware of any kind. This is not an isolated incident either. A hospital computer was hacked but in doing so, cross-linked patient files resulting in the wrong medications being given. They 'killed' several who would have survived but the individual responsible was never identified, instead they sacked three doctors and IT staff.
    Unfortunately, any system can be compromised even by something as trivial as a bad wiring connection and having worked in avionics myself, I have seen many examples.
    Relying wholy on software is just asking for trouble.

  • On the post: Oregon Tries Claiming Copyright Over Gov't Materials Again

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 31 Oct, 2009 @ 10:09am

    'Copyright Law'??

    Ah,.. so I suppose the end result of this mindless farce will be that all laws become 'copyright' protected which will mean they never get out of some library dungeon and on-body will have a clue what copyright law actually means anyway,..
    If you take that to the silliest extreme, the fist record of written laws dates back to Moses so is Israel gonna be in with a chance to sue the entire world for 'copyright infringement'??
    Oh FFS!!!!!

  • On the post: Wait, So The iPhone's Browser Can Access The Sun's Page 3… But If Another App Does, It's Obscene?

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 09 May, 2009 @ 04:49am

    It's Obscene?

    Oh great,.. next we'll have some idiot saying that babies must be blindfolded while breast-feeding? :P

  • On the post: No Musicians Have Ever Been Guaranteed To Make Money Selling Music

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 09 May, 2009 @ 04:35am

    No Musicians Have Ever Been Guaranteed ANYTHING!

    Just a couple of points,..
    Copyright is really about someone nicking material and putting their own name to it. If fans like your music so much they spread it all over the place by sharing the one or two CDs they did actually buy, that's the sort of advertising money simply can't get!

    Any musician/songwriter who is signed up to a major label can and frequently does have their material held by 'the company' which can even be given/accredited to another artist on that label. Yes that sounds nuts but there are cases in court where artists are trying to get their rights back all over the world. A great record deal is in most cases a rip-off which is why so many stars end up on drugs or living in the bottom of a bottle!

    I am a performing artist myself. I have been for years and I enjoy entertaining my fans. Yes I know they copy and share my tracks but I make money from selling tickets to gigs,.. and playing a gig is the biggest buzz I get out of it, even playing a free 'open-mic'.

    If anyone thinks they are owed money for sitting in some bedroom/garage and churning out music on CD from a computer with no live performance,... honestly,.. get a f**in life!

    Music is a LIVE PERFORMANCE art-form and historically, most artists are only famous after they are dead!! If you need a 'business model' for that fact, take a look at classical music. Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Paganini, Brahms, Rachmaninov, Debussy,.. did any one of them make a single recording? Nope, so how come they are such icons of music history then? Simple, Millions of musicians play (copy/re-arrange) their art!

  • On the post: Court Rules Part Of Copyright Act Unconstitutional

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2009 @ 02:25pm

    Re: Baby and Bath Water

    If the incredible tangle of 'copyright' was reduced to common sense, it would basically follow the same rules as say a thesis for a doctorate. If you quote someone else's work say so, with a reason but the bulk of the thesis must be original work or,.. you get thrown out of university!
    Universities have applied that rule in a global sense for years and it works just fine! It's pity publishers are a little less ethical.
    Lawyers just confuse the issue to make meggabucks out of the cases they drag through the courts!

  • On the post: Just Add Diesel: How Unintended Consequences Rob Taxpayers Blind

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2009 @ 02:10pm

    Add diesel to,...

    The trouble with most laws is that anyine with half a brain can usually find a way to break them. It takes a corporate 'genius' to apply the letter of the law and rake in a chunk of the people's taxes,.. just take a look at the money bank CEOs have lifted from the bail-out funds when they run for retirement in some off-shore haven they stashed our investments into!
    Unfortunately, very few law makers have a corporate genius on the payroll to tell them "That one will backfire badly." This is because the corporate genuis wouldn't be caught working for a living!

  • On the post: Can We Please End The Myth That Anyone Is Trying To Take Away 'The Right Of Musicians To Get Paid'?

    Pete Braven ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2009 @ 01:25pm

    Original vs Fake

    As a musician and songwriter myself, I frequently go out and play for free but those performances invariably result in paid gigs. I also produce recordings and sell those with the rather painful knowledge that every single copy I sell, will generate a load of copies itself,.. for which I get nothing other than more people who like to listen to my music. (Fans)
    Having my performances 'taxed' by any form of licence shows that the people who administer these get-rich-quick-off-the-backs-of-other's-labours schemes have absolutely no idea what goes into putting on a live gig or recording an album in the first place!
    The cost of simply getting myself and my gear to a gig with the cost of fuel is crazy. Add the advertising and promotional stuff and most of the money goes in expenses. I don't play any cover versions, just my own music which also takes hours of work to make it presentable and sound original. Licensing always used to be for things like discos, piped music and commercial cover-version bands,.. it never used to apply to original artists. It's a bit like saying that because there are poster prints, post-cards and JPEG versions of a famous picture, the original on canvas is worth peanuts even if it is in the Tate Gallery!
    The cost of putting on a live performance is now ridiculous in the UK, security, safety, promotion, all have to be met and even for a completely original band, the license fees go where? To the local council,.. from them to God knows where because we, the performers, never see a penny of it.
    Taxing entertainment is a really sad idea, musicians pay more out in taxes and costs that if we were manufacturing weapons to sell to third-world countries. Maybe I should go for that instead and have the benefit of investments from all the numpty MPs who hate rock 'n' roll anyway?