Read this article now.

If you read [[Courtney Love’s Speech]] about the evils of the recording industry and were unconvinced, then read this!

[Napster] opened the door to the Future, not only for distribution, but for music as a whole. As Napster was a free service, practically any musician now had the ability to taste exposure, without the ridiculous cost of hiring agents, producers, etc. They no longer had some label trying to mutate their work to fit into the Mainstream. Even established musicians, such Ice-T, The Grateful Dead, Public Enemy, Beck, TLC, Smashing Pumpkins, and a plethora of others, began to format their music to be available online. They now had the opportunity to see what their fans thought of music that they’d created, but didn’t make the grade in their labels’ opinions…

Sadly, the RIAA had grown comfortable with the luxury that was afforded them at the expense of musicians. They held a powerful dominance over the music industry, and the thought of losing that sustenance was terrifying. So, instead of embracing this advent, the RIAA filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Northern California against Napster on December 7, 1999. Fanning, who generated minimal income from his program, was faced with charges of copyright infringement, and the RIAA was asking for up to $100,000 per song that traveled through the Napster community…

It’s OK to laugh about these things. It’s OK to laugh at the arrogance of Clear Channel and the RIAA. The truth of this matter is that, despite their apparent triumphs, the RIAA is losing this war. For decades, they have been feeding off of artists, controlling what they do, and sucking them dry. But the damage that pioneers like Napster and Audiogalaxy did to this system has given musicians a new frequency on which they can be heard. It won’t be long before all music is available to enjoy, and the RIAA will soon shrivel up and die.

This is another article written by a musician that’s had enough.

Read the whole thing… it just might change your mind!

This is the first thing in a long time from Apple that pisses me off.

I just bought an external DVD-R/RW drive, and I love it. It’s the coolest thing I’ve had on my computer in years.

###Extortion

However, because it’s external, and wasn’t bought from Apple, I can’t use [[iDVD]]. The big problem with this is that I have an older iMac that didn’t even have an option for a DVD-R when I bought it. Now Apple tells me that I have to buy a whole new computer just to use their software?

I called their tech support on this, and they said that my only options is to buy [[DVD Studio Pro]] for $999!

This reaks of the same kind of extortion that I’ve always hated Microsoft for. Who do they think they are?

***I’m sure I’ll figure something else out!***

It’s a bit of a mixed bag so far.

Hopefully Apple will get the problems ironed out. I think that this is really going to be the first consumer ready version of OSX.

I guess the players realized that they were just being a pain.

With little time to spare, baseball negotiators who talked through the night reached a tentative agreement on a labor contract that averted a strike threatened for Friday.

This is good news and bad news: Good news because we’ll get a world series, and bad news because the Red Sox won’t be in it again!