RIAA did not cause the rise of Piracy

Likely causes of the fall of the music.

The fall of the music industry might be due to the RIAA and their promotion of pop stars over rock bands. Probably not.  A bigger problem is that most mainstream musicians don't write their own music.  Why do acts such as Depeche Mode, NIN, Tom Petty, Metallica, U2, Madonna, Prince, etc stick around?  They write their own music.

I don't think piracy can be the true downfall of the music industry.  In almost every venue there is the 80/20 rule.  80% of downloads are done by 20% of the people.  20% of the people might affect a song or album billboard standing from 1st to 5th or 6th if they were only downloading the one album.  Likely they are affecting all billboard tracks the same.

DRM is not the problem with Amazon and iTunes.  It is the file quality.  Beatport, NIN official torrents and some other sources provide files that are high quality.  The same or better than a CD.  Audiophiles’ (who are likely the 20% that buy 80% of non-compressed music) buying habits have not really changed.

Piracy and legal downloads are not without their problems. 

First thing to consider is quality.  Sure an MP3 might be good enough for those iPod ear-buds in the gym.  These files are nowhere near good enough quality for a DJ.  A Lossless file that is of high enough quality for a DJ will be a larger file that is too big for many people.

Bandwidth is a problem with piracy as with paid downloads.  It can be a bigger problem for pirates because they likely are downloading more.  Without the bandwidth to download the highest quality lossless files a newer better version (like DVD -> Blu-Ray) will show up.

Also storage space tends to be an issue for pirates.  If you were to try to download every file available on just one piracy network or from The Pirate Bay you would quickly run out of space no matter how much hard drive space you have.  This also causes problems for people who get tons of iTunes gift cards.

Make Outlook Connector sync deleted messages

Microsoft Outlook Connector will not sync deleted messages.  Deleting messages in Microsoft Outlook will not delete these messages from your Hotmail/Live Mail web interface.  Windows Live Support will direct you to the Microsoft Outlook Connector Support team.  There is no solution for this.  Perhaps a new version of Outlook Connector will finally fix this.  Until then I found a work-around that is not clean, but it works.

 

1. Manage folders in Windows Live Mail

2. Create a New Folder

3. Name it how you want

4. When using Microsoft Outlook “Move to Folder” instead of deleting

5. Back in Windows Live Mail you can delete the folder.

 

While this in no way is a clean solution it is faster than the alternative of deleting all the messages a second time after Outlook Connector does not synchronize them.  If you are moving email to say a Gmail account you will have to copy them to your Gmail account instead then move them to your temp delete folder.

 

Know a better solution?  Share it in the comments.

Firefox 3.5

Firefox 3.5 came out of beta and release candidates today.  First thing this morning i did my due and downloaded it.  Don’t have it yet?  Get it now.  My computer now has Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari.  Nobody really needs all the different browsers.  I keep Safari around for one site only.  Since that site is job related i can’t quite replace that site with something better.  The site does not work well in Firefox 3.0.  Elements don’t load in the correct spots.  I think it is the collection of GreaseMonkey scripts and Adblock Plus filters that mess the site up. 

Perhaps 3.5 will let me rid myself of Safari.  Safari is such a resource hog that i have to close everything just to use it.  Even IE does not bring my system to a halt like Safari does.  I need more memory but until then Safari is near unusable.  So how does Firefox stack up to Internet Explorer and Chrome?  IE uses more memory and makes my system noticeably slower.  I don’t have to close everything else to use it.  Firefox with IE Tab seems to be more responsive.

This leaves Chrome.  Chrome is still improving.  User script is nice.  But Chrome does not seem grown up to me yet.  Firefox took time to replace Netscape as my browser of choice.  Chrome is on its way but it is missing some quality add-ons that i won’t live without.  When X-Marks and Adblock Plus work on Chrome….

Windows 7 Beta –> RC1

Yesterday i reinstalled Windows.  I beta test software and so i reinstall Windows 2-5 times a year.  This reinstall was to replace Windows 7 Beta with Windows 7 Release Candidate.  Since i do this consistently i am pretty quick when it comes to backing up my system and reinstalling Windows.  In the past i used to make Windows Slipstream discs.  This let me install Windows by inserting the disc and walking away.  With the amount of customization i do i’d spend more time prepping a disc than i’d save.  Now the process is relatively simple.

The process is rather simplified with Windows 7.  Fewer inputs during the install leaves the system waiting for me less.  Most settings were left at default anyway.  With each install i get faster at backing up the system.  The biggest time saver is keeping my documents stored on an external hard drive.  Once the system is up i point the My Documents folder at my docs folder. 

Also on this drive i have a folder with the installs for all my standard software.  This folder has FireFox, Office 2007, OpenOffice, Acrobat, 7-zip, K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, iTunes, Songbird, AVG, other apps, and the most recent service packs for the OS and each application.  I may not reinstall everything on each of my computers every time.  Having these packages saves the download time.  It does add an extra step of replacing install packages when i upgrade software.  Overall still a time saver.

These time savers let me repartition the hard drive with each install.  The mental peace of mind of having a fresh install is like putting on fresh underwear right out of the dryer.  With some small planning i can complete the entire process in under 3 hours.  Time spent this time, between 80-120 minutes; I was done before i finished the laundry.

Why you should not buy a Kindle DX

The Amazon Kindle DX was announced to press with big fanfare on 06 May.  This new device is a small upgrade over the Kindle 2.  Sure is has a bigger screen, more storage space, better battery and pdf support.  It also has a bigger price tag.  This device is being targeted to college students and as a newspaper savior.  Many analysts don’t think this device will advance the ebook reader further into the mainstream.  One only thinks the DX will survive due to piracy.  I don’t feel the upgrades are worth the upgraded price.

The biggest features that people are clamoring for are color and a touch screen.  When you add color and a touch screen you will be adding $100 - $150 to the cost of the DX.  Now you are looking at a $550 device.  The first of the netbook tablets (Asus T91) comes to market this summer and has a price point of $525.  It has the touch screen, color, pdf support, storage space.  It beats the Kindle DX in every aspect except the battery life and the e-ink display.  The argument of e-ink vs the LCD for reading seems to stem around the length of time you will spend reading on the screen at one time.  So last is battery length.  Will the T91 last long enough for you?  The T91 also has GPS and TV Tuner built in.

If you are buying or looking to buy I recommend the T91 over the DX.  First is the added computing power.  You can do more than just read books with the T91.  Most everyone is looking for more than just the book functionality.  If you are looking for reducing bulk for textbooks i recommend the T91.  The better highlighting capability of Acrobat or any other PDF reader on the computer beats the DX and the T91 battery should last through a couple classes.  If you are looking for a text-to-voice reader i recommend the DX.  Amazon has done a better job on this than any PDF reader on the computer.  So unless your only desire is text-to-speach get a T91.  And by the time you are actually looking for one other tablet netbooks might just be on the market giving you more options.