wessman
September 17th, 2002, 04:01 PM
Musicians vs. RIAA At USA Today |
| from the the-battle-lines-grow-deeper dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday September 16, @10:13 (money) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/1214231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "[0]USA Today has an [1]article about the
growing friction between recording artists and the 5 major labels which
make up the RIAA. Many issues are covered, including copyright reform,
fraudulent accounting on the part of record labels, and how selling a
quarter million albums can leave you owing your label $14,000."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/1214231
Links:
0. http://www.usatoday.com/
1. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2002-09-15-artists-rights_x.htm
Microsoft Planning Digital Restrictions Server |
| from the one-server-infrastructure-solution-to-bind-them-all dept|
| posted by michael on Monday September 16, @13:01 (microsoft) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/1641237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Jon James writes "Microsoft is pushing further into digital rights
management with a [1]plan for a DRM server due to go into beta testing
later this year, eWeek is reporting. Microsoft has already applied for a
patent for a DRM operating system but would not say if the DRM server
would be based on this. In an interview last week with eWeek, Jim
Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president for platforms, said a DRM
server is but one of three server infrastructure applications coming next
year."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/1641237
Links:
0. mailto:bayboy7320@yahoo.com
1. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,536995,00.asp
Pioneer warns of "hot" DVD drives
By Richard Shim
Special to ZDNet News
September 17, 2002, 10:36 AM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-958255.html
Pioneer Electronics said Tuesday that its DVD rewritable drives can cause PCs or DVD players to overheat when recording on certain high-speed disks.
Representatives from Philips Electronics USA, based in Long Beach, Calif., said that writing to blank 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW discs can cause its DVD-Rewritable PC drives and DVD recorders to freeze.
If the drives or recorders remain frozen for longer than five minutes, the optical lens, which writes to the discs, can overheat and render the hardware inoperable.
To fix the problem, a user must download new software that can manage the system's hardware. The update is available on the Pioneer Web site. Owners can also have a disc with the fix mailed to them by calling 1-800-421-1623.
Pioneer's drives, which are also marketed under the name "Superdrive," are used in personal computers from Compaq Computer, Apple Computer and Sony Electronics. Andy Parsons, senior vice president for Pioneer, says PC makers plan to release their own fix for the DVD problem soon.
Drives and recorders that are affected include Pioneer's DVR-A03, DVR-103, DVR-A04, DVR-104 computer drives and Pioneer's DVR-7000 DVD and PRV-9000 Professional recorders.
Pioneer has sold over 1 million computer drives and about 10,000 recorders in the United States, according to Parsons.
Cheap PCs get boost with DVD burners
By John G. Spooner
Special to ZDNet News
September 17, 2002, 12:15 PM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-958289.html
These holidays, budget PC buyers could land a once-luxury DVD burner as computer makers use lower prices to chase sales.
At the beginning of the year, recordable DVD drives were a high-end item found only in top-notch desktops. But by the end of the year, consumers will likely be able to get them in $1,000 machines. The gloomy state of the economy and fears about terrorism mean PC manufacturers may be driven to sell new PC holiday releases--even high-end models with DVD burners--at bargain prices.
In a sales season with dismal prospects, a $1,000 PC with a DVD+RW drive "might be a compelling enough reason to get people out to buy," said Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Techworld.
Computing giant Hewlett-Packard, which zoomed to the top in retail sales a few years ago in part as a result of adopting CD-rewritable (CD-RW) drives early, will likely offer PCs with DVD-rewritable drives for prices of about $1,000, Baker said. HP currently sells such desktops for about $1,350. By comparison, at the beginning of the year Apple released an iMac with a DVD-recordable drive for $1,799.
How the holiday sales season will turn out is "anyone's guess right now," said Anne Wilcox, vice president of marketing at Emachines. "We think the modest price points will do well, because they have always done well. People feel better about buying a more modestly priced PC...because they didn't just (buy) a $2,000 PC that will be priced at $1,499" soon.
To spend more than $2,000 on a PC in the holiday season, it looks like consumers will have to buy a high-end notebook, a massive desktop system or a newfangled tablet PC.
For holiday sales, Emachines plans to refresh its desktop lineup in October. It will hold to existing prices, which start at $399 after rebates, but improve the technology found inside its machines. The company is also working on a new, relatively inexpensive, flat-panel monitor that will be available in both 15-inch and 17-inch sizes later in the fourth quarter.
Wilcox declined to offer more details on Emachines' new lineup. But sources familiar with the company's plans say its new top-of-the-line system will be based on Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon XP 2200+ processor and will sell for about $1,000.
For its holiday push, HP is also expected to introduce several new PCs by mid-October. In the first major overhaul of the entire consumer computer line since the merger with Compaq was completed, the new models will reflect HP's strategy for diverging its two consumer PC brands, the HP Pavilion and the Compaq Presario.
Although it's still too early too tell, it appears that HP may move toward a strategy where the Pavilion line features new, fancy technology while the Presario gets targeted at bargain-hunters.
HP's new Media Center PC will become its flagship offering for the holiday season. The PC uses a special version of Windows XP that allows it to double as a TV tuner or digital video recorder operable by remote control. These types of systems are expected to sell for around or above the $2,000 mark, depending on the configuration.
Several new Compaq boxes, meanwhile, will take on Emachines at the low end with prices starting under $500, said sources familiar with HP's plans. The computer maker's current low-price PC is the $529 Pavilion 502n.
Another planned HP holiday release is a tablet PC, which is a mobile computer with handwriting recognition and a touch screen that can be written on like a paper pad. HP's tablet PC was developed originally by Compaq and will be sold under the Compaq Evo brand.
The preparations for the holiday season follows sluggish back-to-school sales for PC makers, which offered a host of rebates and promotions for the educational market. But even the low prices made possible by these promotions weren't enough to save unit sales during the back-to-school season, analysts said. Unit sales of desktop PCs decreased by about 10 percent the previous year, while notebook PC sales, which account for about a third of the total PC market, increased by about 10 percent, according to preliminary numbers from research firm NPD. The average retail price of a desktop is around $800.
"August didn't come through the way I think we thought it would. Even notebooks could have been stronger," said NPD's Baker. "I think back-to-school got whacked by the economy and by the stock market. I think people were cutting back...trying to make ends meet."
Perens Pushes "Sincere Choice" for Software |
| from the choose-wisely dept. |
| posted by michael on Monday September 16, @15:03 (news) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/1814256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]jalefkowit writes "Looks like [1]Bruce Perens has found something to
keep him occupied, now that he's parted ways with [2]HP: [3]the Register
is covering his launch of a new political platform, [4]"Sincere Choice",
which he wrote to clarify the distinctions between the values of the
open-source community and the Microsoft-funded [5]Institute for Software
Choice. Sincere Choice addresses several issues in critical to open
software, including interoperability, competition by merit, open
standards, and copyright."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/1814256
Links:
0. mailto:jalefkowit@NOSPAMaol.com
1. http://perens.com/
2. http://www.hp.com/
3. http://www.theregus.com/content/4/26320.html
4. http://sincerechoice.com/
5. http://www.softwarechoice.org/
Fighting Music Piracy with Glue |
| from the morons-morons-morons dept. |
| posted by chrisd on Monday September 16, @06:08 (music) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/0647232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Scott Granneman writes: "The New York Times (Free Blah-di-blah) is
reporting that Epic Records, in an effort to prevent reviewers from
creating mp3s or even playing the preview CD in anything they don't
control, is not disseminating the new Pearl Jam and Tori Amos CDs inside
Sony Walkman players that are [1]glued shut. Oh yeah ... the headphones
are glued to the players too, to prevent any authorized output. A
low-tech answer to a high-tech issue."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/0647232
Links:
0. mailto:scott@granneman.com
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/16/business/media/16EPIC.html
:sw
| from the the-battle-lines-grow-deeper dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday September 16, @10:13 (money) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/1214231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "[0]USA Today has an [1]article about the
growing friction between recording artists and the 5 major labels which
make up the RIAA. Many issues are covered, including copyright reform,
fraudulent accounting on the part of record labels, and how selling a
quarter million albums can leave you owing your label $14,000."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/1214231
Links:
0. http://www.usatoday.com/
1. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2002-09-15-artists-rights_x.htm
Microsoft Planning Digital Restrictions Server |
| from the one-server-infrastructure-solution-to-bind-them-all dept|
| posted by michael on Monday September 16, @13:01 (microsoft) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/1641237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Jon James writes "Microsoft is pushing further into digital rights
management with a [1]plan for a DRM server due to go into beta testing
later this year, eWeek is reporting. Microsoft has already applied for a
patent for a DRM operating system but would not say if the DRM server
would be based on this. In an interview last week with eWeek, Jim
Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president for platforms, said a DRM
server is but one of three server infrastructure applications coming next
year."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/1641237
Links:
0. mailto:bayboy7320@yahoo.com
1. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,536995,00.asp
Pioneer warns of "hot" DVD drives
By Richard Shim
Special to ZDNet News
September 17, 2002, 10:36 AM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-958255.html
Pioneer Electronics said Tuesday that its DVD rewritable drives can cause PCs or DVD players to overheat when recording on certain high-speed disks.
Representatives from Philips Electronics USA, based in Long Beach, Calif., said that writing to blank 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW discs can cause its DVD-Rewritable PC drives and DVD recorders to freeze.
If the drives or recorders remain frozen for longer than five minutes, the optical lens, which writes to the discs, can overheat and render the hardware inoperable.
To fix the problem, a user must download new software that can manage the system's hardware. The update is available on the Pioneer Web site. Owners can also have a disc with the fix mailed to them by calling 1-800-421-1623.
Pioneer's drives, which are also marketed under the name "Superdrive," are used in personal computers from Compaq Computer, Apple Computer and Sony Electronics. Andy Parsons, senior vice president for Pioneer, says PC makers plan to release their own fix for the DVD problem soon.
Drives and recorders that are affected include Pioneer's DVR-A03, DVR-103, DVR-A04, DVR-104 computer drives and Pioneer's DVR-7000 DVD and PRV-9000 Professional recorders.
Pioneer has sold over 1 million computer drives and about 10,000 recorders in the United States, according to Parsons.
Cheap PCs get boost with DVD burners
By John G. Spooner
Special to ZDNet News
September 17, 2002, 12:15 PM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-958289.html
These holidays, budget PC buyers could land a once-luxury DVD burner as computer makers use lower prices to chase sales.
At the beginning of the year, recordable DVD drives were a high-end item found only in top-notch desktops. But by the end of the year, consumers will likely be able to get them in $1,000 machines. The gloomy state of the economy and fears about terrorism mean PC manufacturers may be driven to sell new PC holiday releases--even high-end models with DVD burners--at bargain prices.
In a sales season with dismal prospects, a $1,000 PC with a DVD+RW drive "might be a compelling enough reason to get people out to buy," said Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Techworld.
Computing giant Hewlett-Packard, which zoomed to the top in retail sales a few years ago in part as a result of adopting CD-rewritable (CD-RW) drives early, will likely offer PCs with DVD-rewritable drives for prices of about $1,000, Baker said. HP currently sells such desktops for about $1,350. By comparison, at the beginning of the year Apple released an iMac with a DVD-recordable drive for $1,799.
How the holiday sales season will turn out is "anyone's guess right now," said Anne Wilcox, vice president of marketing at Emachines. "We think the modest price points will do well, because they have always done well. People feel better about buying a more modestly priced PC...because they didn't just (buy) a $2,000 PC that will be priced at $1,499" soon.
To spend more than $2,000 on a PC in the holiday season, it looks like consumers will have to buy a high-end notebook, a massive desktop system or a newfangled tablet PC.
For holiday sales, Emachines plans to refresh its desktop lineup in October. It will hold to existing prices, which start at $399 after rebates, but improve the technology found inside its machines. The company is also working on a new, relatively inexpensive, flat-panel monitor that will be available in both 15-inch and 17-inch sizes later in the fourth quarter.
Wilcox declined to offer more details on Emachines' new lineup. But sources familiar with the company's plans say its new top-of-the-line system will be based on Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon XP 2200+ processor and will sell for about $1,000.
For its holiday push, HP is also expected to introduce several new PCs by mid-October. In the first major overhaul of the entire consumer computer line since the merger with Compaq was completed, the new models will reflect HP's strategy for diverging its two consumer PC brands, the HP Pavilion and the Compaq Presario.
Although it's still too early too tell, it appears that HP may move toward a strategy where the Pavilion line features new, fancy technology while the Presario gets targeted at bargain-hunters.
HP's new Media Center PC will become its flagship offering for the holiday season. The PC uses a special version of Windows XP that allows it to double as a TV tuner or digital video recorder operable by remote control. These types of systems are expected to sell for around or above the $2,000 mark, depending on the configuration.
Several new Compaq boxes, meanwhile, will take on Emachines at the low end with prices starting under $500, said sources familiar with HP's plans. The computer maker's current low-price PC is the $529 Pavilion 502n.
Another planned HP holiday release is a tablet PC, which is a mobile computer with handwriting recognition and a touch screen that can be written on like a paper pad. HP's tablet PC was developed originally by Compaq and will be sold under the Compaq Evo brand.
The preparations for the holiday season follows sluggish back-to-school sales for PC makers, which offered a host of rebates and promotions for the educational market. But even the low prices made possible by these promotions weren't enough to save unit sales during the back-to-school season, analysts said. Unit sales of desktop PCs decreased by about 10 percent the previous year, while notebook PC sales, which account for about a third of the total PC market, increased by about 10 percent, according to preliminary numbers from research firm NPD. The average retail price of a desktop is around $800.
"August didn't come through the way I think we thought it would. Even notebooks could have been stronger," said NPD's Baker. "I think back-to-school got whacked by the economy and by the stock market. I think people were cutting back...trying to make ends meet."
Perens Pushes "Sincere Choice" for Software |
| from the choose-wisely dept. |
| posted by michael on Monday September 16, @15:03 (news) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/1814256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]jalefkowit writes "Looks like [1]Bruce Perens has found something to
keep him occupied, now that he's parted ways with [2]HP: [3]the Register
is covering his launch of a new political platform, [4]"Sincere Choice",
which he wrote to clarify the distinctions between the values of the
open-source community and the Microsoft-funded [5]Institute for Software
Choice. Sincere Choice addresses several issues in critical to open
software, including interoperability, competition by merit, open
standards, and copyright."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/1814256
Links:
0. mailto:jalefkowit@NOSPAMaol.com
1. http://perens.com/
2. http://www.hp.com/
3. http://www.theregus.com/content/4/26320.html
4. http://sincerechoice.com/
5. http://www.softwarechoice.org/
Fighting Music Piracy with Glue |
| from the morons-morons-morons dept. |
| posted by chrisd on Monday September 16, @06:08 (music) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/0647232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Scott Granneman writes: "The New York Times (Free Blah-di-blah) is
reporting that Epic Records, in an effort to prevent reviewers from
creating mp3s or even playing the preview CD in anything they don't
control, is not disseminating the new Pearl Jam and Tori Amos CDs inside
Sony Walkman players that are [1]glued shut. Oh yeah ... the headphones
are glued to the players too, to prevent any authorized output. A
low-tech answer to a high-tech issue."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=02/09/16/0647232
Links:
0. mailto:scott@granneman.com
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/16/business/media/16EPIC.html
:sw