There’s been a little (perceived) snowballing happening in the digital rights management discussion space lately… and it’s very interesting! Steve Jobs wrote an open letter claiming that the iTunes music store would “drop DRM” if the record labels didn’t require it. Yet another study was released showing that file sharing... Read more...
Happy New Year, Apple
This is very interesting indeed. If Apple loses this one, will it open the door for greater interoperability among portable media players — and possibly formats — in general? What, if anything, will it mean for DRM? Read more...
Learn About Creative Commons
Check out this short animated video explaining what Creative Commons is... Read more...
Reflections: Podcast and Portable Media Expo 2006
When the first Expo came around last fall, I had been podcasting for a year. That didn’t mean anyone had actually heard my podcast… but it did mean I was viewed by some as one of the “old men” of podcasting. Even so, I still felt like a grade-A cadet,... Read more...
Day of the Long Tail
This is funny, and beautiful, too. “The audience is up to something…” Watch it on YouTube. Read more...
It’s An Honor To Be Nominated!
I just discovered that the podcast edition of my first book, "Brave Men Run - A Novel of the Sovereign Era," has been nominated for a Parsec Award in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Long Form) category! Read more...
DRM Meets Multi-Level Marketing = Unholy Alliance!
BurnLounge is a soon-to-launch online music store, currently in beta, that allows users to build their own music stores and earn points toward purchases for every sale they make. Or, they can sign on at progressively more expensive levels and earn a commission from the sales of members they sign up, and members they sign up. Read more...
“The Cyber Safety For Kids Act of 2006″
Boing Boing has alerted us to this: Two senators, Mark Pryor (D - AR) and Max Baucus (D - MT) have proposed a bill that would call for the creation of a new top-level domain, .xxx. If the bill is enacted into law, any website featuring material "harmful to minors" would be required by law to move to the new .xxx domain, or face penalties that are yet to be determined. Read more...
Losing AMPperage
I'm trying to write this... trying to decide if I should approach it as a mentor, a critic, a curmudgeon, all of the above... or not at all. Read more...
Don’t Let Them!
I've made it no secret -- in fact, I'm pretty darn vocal about it, perhaps stubbornly so, if you give me half a chance -- that I am opposed to digital rights management and corporate or government control over how we use creative media that we own. Read more...