MP3 Player Ban for Young(Canadian) Drivers?
The Canadian Automobile Association says iPods, cell phones and the like are dangerous for your health. So it wants younger drivers to be banned from using them while they’re on the road.
“Restricting the use of electronic devices, such as cell phones, MP3 players and wireless hand-held devices, [allows drivers to] truly focus on the driving [...]
‘Pirate’ iTunes rival enrages music industry
A Russian Web site that lets visitors download albums for less than $1 is a smash hit with music fans — but not with U.S. trade and music industry officials.
The site is a pirate, they allege, and say Russia’s failure to close it down presents a direct obstacle to the country’s negotiations to join the [...]
Pearl Jam remains web-friendly with CC licensed video
Ah, it’s good to be back! A stay in Cancun and some Interweb problems back home have kept me from my column for a couple of weeks but I’m back and ready to go.
Not long ago, Pearl Jam made history by releasing the first-ever single to have topped the charts thanks to online distribution, providing [...]
RIAA vs. MP3 vs. Adam Smith
Great look at the economics of file sharing. Pull quote:
In the RIAA-vs-MP3/Napster/Kazaa/Etc situation, the RIAA represents a small cartel of producers who are currently selling their goods (music CDs) at approximately ten times their marginal cost of production. They are doing this by producing only enough quantity of units to satisfy the demands of those [...]
Windows Media Player 11 Reviewed
Yesterday, much like many of you out there no doubt, I got my hands on a beta copy of the new Windows Media Player 11. Though no big Microsoft fan, for reasons far too endless to note, I have to say that I am by in large impressed with this new version. From visual appeal [...]
Chili peppers “hurt’ and “devestated” by leak of new album
Flea of the Chili peppers has come out with the bands thoughts on the leaking of their new album Stadium Arcadium. While not as aggresive about their copyrights like lets say Metallica, Flea was quoted as saying “if you down load it now off one of these file sharing sites you will be getting a [...]
Russian ‘Legal’ Music Services offer More ‘Bang-for-Buck’
AllofMP3.com is one of the top ‘legal’ download music services in the United Kingdom. AllofMP3 is a semi-legal Russian mp3-download service. They operate with no agreement from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) or any other lobbying group representing the major music labels.
Russian laws do not actually apply to digital [...]
New MusicBrainz acoustic fingerprinting
MusicBrainz, the music tagging database has partnered with MusicIP and will start using their PUID fingerprinting technology to replace the former TRM fingerprints. This will potentially mean mean much improved look-ups based on acoustic properties.
MusicIP provides:
Free fingerprint lookup services for official MusicBrainz projects. The fingerprint services are entirely hosted by MusicIP, which removes the [...]
Getting to Know Your Audio Files
If you ever wondered what the heck a FLAC or an OGG file is, this guide will tell you everything you need to know, as well as compare and discuss the quality of audio file conversion rates.
This is a guide to all the different types of audio files out there, as well as a [...]
Audio Video CODECS
CODECS have long plagued those simply wanting to play video files either on their PC or home entertainment system. The term CODEC means Compressor-Decompressor’, ‘Coder-Decoder’, or ‘Compression/Decompression algorithm.
It basically applies to the ability of a program to transform a data stream or signal. CODECS encode a stream or signal for transmission, storage or encryption and [...]
