Rosedale 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: MPAA Shows How Teachers Should Record Movies By Camcording Their TVs

    Rosedale ( profile ), 07 May, 2009 @ 01:00pm

    presumes you have a camcorder

    This presumes that you have a camcorder. So rather than likely having everything you need within your computer they want you to go out and buy a camcorder just so you don't circumvent drm? Actually isn't this technically circumventing? Besides that they get all up and arms about camcorders in any other situation this is a double standard. How absurd!

  • On the post: Cat Stevens Claims Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida' Was Copied From His Song, Not Satriani's

    Rosedale ( profile ), 05 May, 2009 @ 12:56pm

    Not Plagiarism

    So when I was in grad school (music major) I was taking a composition class. A friend of mine was in the class with me. He decided to play his composition for me. When he first started playing I immediately liked it, well he played to an abrupt stop simply because he hadn't dictated the rest of it. When he stopped I finished the phrase for him. He yelled out, "How did you know?" Then it hit me that it was a song we both knew. I played him the recording and he had dictated it almost exactly verbatim.

    Now of course this was absolutely plagiarism, but it was quite unintended. He of course changed his tune, but I think this illustrates something. His subconscious assimilated that tune and out it came. Until I pointed out the original he had no idea that he was literal plagiarizing the tune. But this is pretty much how all composition work. It might be a fragment of a melody or a chord progression, but usually it is not an asserted effort to plagiarize, but rather a natural subconscious happening. I can't tell you the number of times I start humming what I think is going to be a lovely new melody to suddenly break out in the song with which it was inspired.

  • On the post: Apple's Arbitrary Rejects Hit Nine Inch Nails App

    Rosedale ( profile ), 04 May, 2009 @ 11:24am

    His response

    Reading the response makes me happy. That is so good and so true. Since flash isn't enabled on the iPhone it might be hard to get at some objectionable content, but who is Apple to say what I may or may not find objectionable. I think the best solution to this whole ordeal is to allow a parental control or something. That way Apple can filter at the parents request and the rest of us don't need to be mothered.

  • On the post: Newspapers, The Recording Industry And A Misplaced Sense Of Entitlement

    Rosedale ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2009 @ 01:19pm

    Preach it!

    Preach Mike ;-)

    I couldn't agree more. When I read the original quote about Google feeling entitled I about screamed at my monitor (yes in the office) about how absurd and backward that is. I am glad you focused on it because truly anyone looking at this would know it is the legacy players that feel entitled. That is really what this whole battle is about.

  • On the post: This Is Ironic: Reporter Cites Bogus WSJ Stats To Claim Bloggers Are Untrustworthy

    Rosedale ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2009 @ 09:00am

    needless dichotomy

    I love how she boils down "Outrageous" to two forms and pornography is one of them. Seems to me, of course this is unsubstantiated, that some of the biggest internet phenomena which generate traffic are neither pornography nor extreme opinions. But maybe that is just me.

    "The column goes on to say that the way to generate traffic to an Internet site is to make it as outrageous as possible. "Outrageous" on the Internet usually comes in one of two forms: 1) pornography or 2) wildly unsubstantiated, extreme opinions."

  • On the post: Lawyers Realizing That Suing Gripe Sites Might Not Make Much Sense

    Rosedale ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2009 @ 07:48am

    Consumerist.com

    So back in the day when it was run by Gawker I used to read it all the time. We would go off on a company for doing something bad, but if a company actually rectified the situation (take the final step mentioned above) it would be all the rage. You could see in the comments everyone would change and think it was cool. Since it happens so little when a company did it peoples ideas of that company immediately changed (unless the company was deemed so immoral that there was no hope anyway for it).

    So I see that strategy working and makes sense. People feel wronged...whether that is right or wrong isn't the issue...what is the issue is that it needs to be fixed.

  • On the post: Bands That Take Selling Seriously

    Rosedale ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2009 @ 09:26am

    Live shows

    I went to a live show here in Boston. The group I wanted to see was second to last. After the show they came out into the audience and hung out with us listening to the music. You felt a little awkward trying to start a conversation...but even if you didn't do that it was neat to see them hanging out and enjoying the music. It was very memorable. I thought, "this is the way to do it." They connected...now had they been the closer, I am not sure if we would have gotten the same thing, and if the venue hadn't have been a small club (probably fewer than 150) it would have been different, but still.

  • On the post: Music Industry Folks Worried About iTunes Variable Pricing

    Rosedale ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2009 @ 08:56am

    I agree this is a bad move

    I said when they first announced it that only Apple can make a price increase a price decrease. They tried to convince me that they were dropping prices, but in reality this is raising it.

    I like variable pricing. I was a huge fan of Allofmp3 when it was available. That is the lesson the music industry needs to follow. The price should be far lower and variable by quality of music not whether it has DRM or not. Get with it people.

  • On the post: Mark Cuban Declares War On Free TV Online… But Misses Out On The Economics

    Rosedale ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2009 @ 08:21am

    moral outrage absurd

    This is absurd "We pay for the content. We should be able to get it where we want it, and when we want it. Those who want it for free ? They should pay too. "

    No you don't get the content where you want or when you want. You get it where cable wants it and when the TV stations want you to have it. If you go stream it online for free you get it where you want and when you want. Anyone with half a brain should be able to figure that one out.

    Right now I get basic cable and that is it, and I don't pay a dime for the first year. $10 is about all I can stomach to pay for television. So when the time comes for me to pay there is a good chance we'll just drop it, now huge reason for that is because of all the online streaming we can do, but without that streaming I know we wouldn't do any over the basic cable.

    So the obvious question here is this guy paid for by cable companies?

  • On the post: Why Do Newspapers Keep Publishing Bogus Piracy Numbers From Lobbyists As Fact?

    Rosedale ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2009 @ 07:53am

    Streaming legal content should be a bigger worry

    Do you really need to crack the system? I mean unless you really want to get your hands on 500 stations showing reruns of the cosby show and full house you can stream just about everything else. I think their bigger concerns moving forward aren't going to be piracy of the dish network, but legal streaming of the content they provide. This is the same with cable as well. I can't stomach paying over $20 for a good many stations that I'll never watch. You get all those stations and there is still nothing on when you need it. No I am happy streaming the majority of my TV and honestly I already watch too much.

  • On the post: If Your Business Model Revolves Around Taking Some Feature Away From People, You're Doing It Wrong

    Rosedale ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2009 @ 08:26am

    DVD Extras?

    I have to admit I just don't buy DVD's and very rarely view the extras. I usually just want to watch the DVD, return the movie, and that is it. I own less than 10 DVD's. Now if it was a funny movie and they have a gag reel or something I might watch, but generally don't poor over extras. I understand the people that do I just don't. So this move won't really be noticed by me. I mean I might see that there aren't any extras, but it won't bother me.

    My question is if the extras aren't there does that mean we don't get the previews? Cause that would be just plain awesome. Most DVD's put that in the extras so my logic stands right...no extras=no previews.

  • On the post: Will Newspapers Start Selling Special Printers Now?

    Rosedale ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2009 @ 08:21am

    People would actually do this?

    I do read one printed news paper. It is free and handed to me as I get on the Subway. The only reason I read this is because I don't have an internet connection for a good majority of the trip. If I am at home or somewhere with an internet connection and the news is right in front of me on a screen why on earth would I print it? I see very little value in this at all. Crazy talk and doomed to fail.

  • On the post: Groups Again Take Aim At Cellphone Subsidies

    Rosedale ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2009 @ 08:24am

    I'm willing to pay

    Honestly I would be willing to pay full price for my phone if I could take it to any network and use it. $500, $800 yea sure why not. Honestly the competition between handset makers will likely drive the price down for all but the sexiest of phones (iPhone Palm pre ect). So I support breaking the lockin even if that meant paying more for the handset.

  • On the post: Amazon Gives In To Ridiculous Authors Guild Claim: Allows Authors To Block Text-To-Speech

    Rosedale ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2009 @ 07:25am

    banged my head too much

    I have already banged my head too much for the day so I am not going to read it. It started off reading the latest from the TPB trial.

  • On the post: Recording Industry, Politicians Continue To Give Bogus Reasons To Support 3 Strikes In New Zealand

    Rosedale ( profile ), 25 Feb, 2009 @ 07:58am

    Worrisome

    Politicians don't need sound logic they need money.

    A funny thing I saw on Twitter the other day was: Politicians need to wear NASCAR like suites so they can advertise what corporation they are funded by. Wouldn't that be nice.

  • On the post: British Charities Discover Web Filters Don't Work

    Rosedale ( profile ), 25 Feb, 2009 @ 07:57am

    Is Child Porn that prevalent in UK?

    Man I don't know, but I am pretty sure that my ISP in US is not blocking any of those sites and I blissfully avoid them every time I am on the internet. I think child porn is reprehensibly, but is it so prevalent in their society that it warrants a universal block aid of it? Not everyone on the internet is a nefarious lowlife. Stop treating them like kids and go after the real problem (which is to say go after the nefarious lowlifes).

  • On the post: Associated Press Considers Locking Up Its Online Content

    Rosedale ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2009 @ 08:13am

    metro news

    I don't know what cities they run in, but in Boston there is the metro news publication (I know they have them in NYC). I was thinking about it this morning. Metro gives away their paper for free. It is pretty handy for me walk in to my T stop in the morning on my way to work and someone is there handing them out. Since there is a good chunk of my trip underground without cell reception I am left with listening to music, playing a game, or reading the news. They always have great information about local happenings. So I am looking around and I'd say at worst it is every 3rd person has a paper, but some mornings every other and I'm talking about full cars.

    Now I obviously don't know what their business model is nor how well they are doing, but to have so many people reading their print says something for a business model. And for sure if you want to advertise in Boston that is a good way to do it.

    Don't know exactly where I was going with this other than to say they are doing something right. The one slight unfortunate thing is their online presence is very lacking, but then again that isn't their target audience is it? http://www.metro.us/us/home/

  • On the post: Hollywood Shoots Itself In The Foot… Again; Removes Content From Boxee

    Rosedale ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2009 @ 11:00am

    That is what is so absurd

    Your final paragraph shows just why this is so absurd. I was working to put Boxee in place at home, and probably still will, but for Hulu content I can simply kill boxee and watch it via FF on my computer. Once the stream is full screen it probably won't look a bit different. Are the content owners really that dense? This is absolutely absurd.

  • On the post: Massachusetts Wants GPS Driving Tax, Too

    Rosedale ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2009 @ 04:27am

    Lastest from MA

    This is interesting, all of this is about raising revenue because of huge deficits. It seems that the governor is brainstorming and all of it gets reported. The latest is that he wants to do a variable registration price per car. You wanna know who pays more? "Gas Guzzlers." So the idea is that if you have a gas guzzler you should pay more, but that is absurd because since it uses more gas they are already paying more. Of course the governor will be able to say he is a "green" governor and tried to ween the evil SUV owner from his wicked ways. As of now there are no details what constitutes a "gas guzzler," but the whole thing seems absurd.

    As of the last few weeks there have been tons of ideas proposed to raise revenue, which is what leads me to believe that he is just brainstorming.

  • On the post: Massachusetts Wants GPS Driving Tax, Too

    Rosedale ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2009 @ 10:52am

    Re: Re: Boston Media

    I second that, spend less and meet the budget. But that doesn't really fit in the MA spirit.

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