Ballmer Says iPod Users are Thieves 1108
A 'music thief' (apparently) writes "According to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft: "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
He appears convinced Microsoft will lead the way in Digital Rights Management and also believes Microsoft will steal a march on Apple in making the digital home a reality because Apple "doesn't have the volumes".
"There is no way that you can get there with Apple. The critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next-generation video device," he said."
Ballmer and FUD? Who would have thought?! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't understand the "corporate America" distinction. Is he talking about people downloading stuff to their iPod from the computers at work and stealing it that way? Because just about every Windows user I know has a computer at least 50% full of stolen shit (usually including the OS itself). MSFT is somehow not supporting theft because they don't have an iPod clone and their OS has DRM? I would go so far as to claim that PocketPCs support piracy but MSFT didn't create the hardware they just created the software. I guess you have to do both to support the thieves.
Sorry, that doesn't make me think any less of the iPod and it certainly doesn't make me think any more highly of Windows.
He's got a keen business sense (Score:5, Insightful)
But... (Score:5, Insightful)
Too late in the game (Score:5, Insightful)
Volumes/Next Generation (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems to me that Apple is a lot more successful in pushing large volumes of next generation devices than MS.
Re:Pot... (Score:5, Insightful)
Especially when you consider the fact that most iPod owners are Windows users, and the music they've uploaded was previously on their PC.
Part of the reason people steal music is money, but some of it is that the DRM stuff out there has not been that easy to use.
Found this quote interesting, does it really state that people want to use DRM to copy music at home, but can't quite figure out how to use it?
Taken out of context... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm either being synical (Score:5, Insightful)
Mp3s -> Mp3 Players -> ???? -> Profit ?
I may not be speaking for the masses, but the key thing about having my music in my player of choice (Archos AV340) is the fact that I can take the music from *any* source, and because I choose to download the mp3s rather than re-recording from original Vinyl, ripping from CD, remastering from cassette, 8track etc Is purely a matter of my taste and value of my time.
Prevent people from using music easily that they ALREADY LEGAL OWN in one format or another, and see that format/player go the way of the BETAMAX.
Owning an iPod I find I buy more (Score:5, Insightful)
Unreal. (Score:5, Insightful)
From the article:
"We've had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
Because everybody knows windows is all about security. If you put a pirated mp3 on a windows box, the drm system won't allow you to access it. All the windows boxes running eMule and Kaaza are merely figments of your imagination. They're iPods. Honest.
Where have I heard this before... (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't get to there from here. You have to go somewhere else first.
Seriously, he has a point about Microsoft having the market share and audience already. But they're also the Evil Corporation (even to some of my non-geek friends that don't read Slashdot). Their products are reknowned for their ability to crash and break. Things are hard to use. People can't support them.
Why would you want the computerized house when they can't get a freaking desktop PC to work right? Sorry hon, I think our refrigerator is broken. Let me see if there's a Windows Update for it.
Re:He's got a keen business sense (Score:5, Insightful)
His target "customers" are people like the music industry which he is not alienating. He knows that users are stupid for the most part and will buy what's cheaper and more popular so he doesn't mid alienating them.
FUD and nothing more (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because someone COULD steal something doesn't mean they will, and doesn't automatically make the something stolen.
Re:Volumes/Next Generation (Score:5, Insightful)
I've not see anything exciting come from Microsoft in a very long time. I don't believe people are all that interested in the sort of "Digital Home" Microsoft seem to envision, either.
The most common format of music... (Score:5, Insightful)
Balmer, "iPod" can easily be replaced with "Windows" in your preceding statement. MP3 has been the de facto standard for music files for 7-8 years now, maybe longer. Were iPods around 7-8 years ago? No. What were they played on? Windows, under Winamp. The masses have understood how to rip their own (un-DRM'd) CDs since the turn of the millenium. Napster, Limewire, Kazaa, eDonkey and many more of flourished (til legal proceedings crush each) with trading of these files. I don't recall using my iPod to access any of these services. Oh yes, that's right. I used my Windows-running PC.
I know it's FUD, but this is just plain lousy FUD. Anyone with half a brain can see right through his attempt to link Windows with anti-piracy.
Re:Taken out of context... (Score:2, Insightful)
What's his f'ing point? (Score:5, Insightful)
Uhh, yeah... And the most common format of music on a Windows PC iiiiiissss...........? Uhh huh, yeah.
So, if ANY company is accountable for music theft -- OBVIOUSLY it's Microsoft - they have the 'volumes,' right?
Bah!
So what? (Score:5, Insightful)
And then again
Well he is right (Score:1, Insightful)
Once again..... (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, and? (Score:5, Insightful)
Music is a commodity these days. It isn't special like it was in the 50's. People expect music at all hours, but it isn't priced right to meet the current usage of music, so people download the extra music they need to fill in the gap.
I don't see how Microsoft can claim any kind of moral superiority over Apple. Apple at least had the decency to offer reasonably priced legal music quite some time ago. Per-song pricing allows you to take a small risk to discover new music, or just get the 2 good songs on a modern pop album that are any good. MSN Music is a lot more recent.
I can only assume that Microsoft will be designing Media Software that will not play non-MS-approved content. Otherwise how can it tell whether a song you are playing is something you ripped yourself, or downloaded? Surely you could burn a CD and re-rip if Microsoft enforced that type of requirement?
These big companies are only pissed off because online music sharing allows people to discover new music that isn't on the big labels, and then spend money on that music instead of HypedTrash. Most studies show that music purchasing hasn't dropped since file sharing started, at the worst it fluctuated in line with the economy, at best it has actually soared over what it should have been.
He is right (Score:4, Insightful)
Tragedy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Jobs Says Windows users are Dorks (Score:5, Insightful)
And unlike Ballmer in everything he's said in those two articles, Jobs would be damned right.
-- james
He's got the wrong business sense (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the higher-ups at Microsoft have completely lost the sense of how to do business in a healthy market.
That's why everything Microsoft does fails or produces massive losses when not being pushed by the PC domination.
Just look at Hailstorm. Or XBox. Or Windows/Alpha.
Apple beat them to it (Score:5, Insightful)
The thought that Microsoft can compete with "better" DRM is laughable. Show me a user that will switch to another DRM system, because, you know - it's better at limitting your freedom better, so you should switch to it, you filthy thief, right?
My thoughts for Ballmer: good luck in alienating your potential customers!
The biggest threat to MS (Score:5, Insightful)
Ballmer's appointment marked a switch from customer focus and innovation (all the GNU type people should go off and hate me quietly in a corner at this point) to concept focus and buzzwords. It's amazing to think that there was a time (early-mid 90's) when if I wanted a vendor who'd actually listen and do stuff, I wanted MS. Now, they literally can't make a single statement without chanting a mantra -- 'developers! xml! digital nervous system! drm!' and getting actual action from them is like blood from a stone. Actual development units remain largely unchanged -- but they simply aren't running the show now.
It's a tragedy of classic proportions, with Microsoft as the protagonist and Ballmer as the hubris that drives him to his fatal excesses -- and maybe IBM/Linux as the nemesis waiting around the corner.
I am _so_ not looking forward to everything being run by IBM again
Ok, I call. What've you got? (Score:1, Insightful)
So put your money where your mouth is, Steve. How hard would it be to put a mandatory install on Windows Update that would prevent all P2P programs from running correctly under Windows? Sure, someone would poke a hole in that immediately, but it would at least show that you...what's the phrase du jour? "Care about the artists"? Yeah, I think that was it. Until you're ready to do that, STFU.
Re:In other news, (Score:4, Insightful)
hahahah (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess its a good thing that Windows users are responsible and would never do something like steal music and put it on an iPod... even though Windows makes up around 90% of the installed user base.
Stop the propaganda (Score:2, Insightful)
Piracy is another propaganda word.
Re:The most common format of music... (Score:1, Insightful)
Fortunately for MS he's directing his comment to the music industry which he hopes will help Microsoft crush Apple's success in this market.
Dunno. Might work. The music industry has an amazing capacity for both stupidity and greed!
Re:Too late in the game (Score:3, Insightful)
"Thems are all thievesessss! Stolen music in their pocketsessss!"
This makes no sense. (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
But that logic doesn't follow, because iPod's "paid" format ("Protected AAC") contains DRM (though in Apple's implementation is probably more forgiving and transparent than some alternatives). The "stolen" format he must be referring to is, therefore, MP3, a format that is also supported by all portable music players that support Windows Media!
Since Apple's music store - which only works with iPod - has by far the largest market share of all online music stores, there is actually more legitimately purchased downloaded music (to say nothing of legally purchased CDs that have then been ripped) in use on iPods than on players that support Windows Media. If there are "stolen" MP3s in use on iPod, then there are stolen MP3s in use on ANY player that supports MP3 in the same proportions. And even if we concede that there might be physically more stolen music on iPods, in numbers of songs, it's only because iPods so ridiculously vastly outnumber any competitive player...not because iPods somehow magically enable more easy theft, when it's MP3 - not the iPod's "scary different non-Windows Media format", which IS DRM'ed - that constitutes the "theft", which is possible on ANY other player! [1]
So, to sum up: nuthin' but FUD.
[1] Except perhaps Sony's.
Re:Probably true (Score:5, Insightful)
And what does this prove? I could level the exact same claim at Windows users - most home copies of Windows are pirated (unless OEM) - and anyway, how does the music get onto the iPod?
Hmm, maybe via a computer. And Windows users are using the iPods too!
What MS embraces is less important than what consumers embrace, and they have a habit of not embracing restrictive formats. Like DIV-X (the old version, where you had to connect to get permission to play your movie); and DVD-A / SACD.
Jobs has said that he will open up AAC playback if the iPod market share drops below #1. Similarly, he will consider putting WMA playback on the iPod if the iTMS falls below #1.
But right now, despite the absolute lack of competition, the cheaper songs/players elsewhere - the iPod is #1, and so is the iTMS. Every time a consumer chooses either, they create a barrier for themselves to using another service. Who wants to change all their music formats, etc over?
Yeah, or Microsoft procrastinating in the OS market. Your analogy is flawed. Apple have created this market with one product - the product has defined the market. People don't want a music player, they want an iPod. And which music store is the only one to work with an iPod when they want to try legal downloaded music?
You guessed it.
Your point being? I think Ballmer's way off, and it is reflected by Microsoft's market share in this market. Consumers don't want MS DRM, and Apple has a better product all round.
-- james
Re:Taken out of context... (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't about music piracy. This is about Ballmer taking a shot at Apple because they have a product which is user focused, whereas MS have a product which is RIAA focused.
Else, he would have just said that "more digital music is pirated than not". But he didn't, did he?
-- james
most MS software design is "appropriated" (Score:4, Insightful)
Thieves... (Score:2, Insightful)
Right on Steve! Better rub that shining fucking head of yours harder for your next big idea!
These MS tards are getting to be beyond belief. Honestly... now because MS didn't "capture" the market first everything else is the product of thieves, terrorists, whatever.
Listen, MS will NOT capture the livingroom because their technology is still either too fucking complicated (VCRs flashing 12:00 anmd black tape) or too fucking useless. And if consumers really want that functionality they'll buy it in a box that simply plugs into their TV (TIVO) not into their home network.
Ballmer should pay more attention to his kid (Score:5, Insightful)
Digital Rights Management is all about preventing people from using the tools they have paid for in the ways they want to use them. Often, DRM prohibits perfectly legal activities.
Digital Rights Management is one of the most serious threats to the general purpose computer, and to the freedom it affords us. The general public must be educated to the fact that the purpose of DRM isn't to protect them, but to protect large corporations from them.
Mediums for music aren't responsible for thefts... (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft's player is dead in the water! (Score:5, Insightful)
It sounds to me that Microsoft's Portable Media Player will NOT play MP3s. However, if it ONLY plays DRM invested WMA files it will NOT sell.
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you're missing the point here. Basically, this can never be anything like a representative suvey. This is because:
Re:Ballmer and FUD? Who would have thought?! (Score:2, Insightful)
For you maybe. But that just indicates what sort of company you prefer.
Uh-oh. You know what this means. (Score:4, Insightful)
The RIAA and MPAA hve done an incredible amount to UNDO what was purposely done - allow the consumer to copy their own stuff. But thanks to Billy G & co, there's this new notion of licensing vs. purchasing. So how long until you don't "buy" your CDs, you "license use of them?"
The whole thing stinks. This is bad news for the rights of the consumer.
Come on now, Steve (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ballmer and FUD? Who would have thought?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Ballmer never let facts get in the way of PR. (Score:5, Insightful)
1. 100% Legal
2. DRM, but with restrictions that people can actually tolerate.
3. Sold over 130,000,000 songs to date (in less than 2 years since it's launch)
and that:
4. iPods are legal, and support a DRM format, unlike most MP3 players out there.(There is no problem with not supporting a DRM format either, are we all suddenly theives for not encoding DRM in our fair-use music rips?)
and also that:
Apple have supported more DRM in Quicktime before MS even bothered to see it as a market.
Then I really don't see any justifcation for any of the comments made about Apple computer. Sounds more like a technique to add some attention to his announcement.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
'Windows users are OS thieves' says Amigori (Score:4, Insightful)
As far as volumes are concerned, Apple sells pretty much every iPod they can produce. It was the thing on kids back to school want lists, it will be the thing on many people's Christmas lists, and it will continue to be the de facto standard for portable music players. Sony's new Walkman, what a joke! I'm not converting everything to their proprietary format. Everyone else? What do you see marketing campaigns on MTV, CNBC, CN, etc. for? Rio, nope. iRiver, nada. Dell, not really. Apple's iPod in clever, catchy ads. Apple's iTMS servers handle the demand smoothly and are never /.'d. And to increase volume, the main piece to worry about is the bandwidth, easy enough.
The article is merely propaganda for those who are too damn ignorant to understand. "DRM...years" "DRM...not been that easy to use" "My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear..." Sounds to me like he's shooting himself in the foot and doesn't understand what his customers want. Oh well, that's Microsoft for you.
Amigori
Way To Go Steve! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Ballmer and FUD? Who would have thought?! (Score:2, Insightful)
I just cant believe Ballmer took his mouth off Bills apparatus long enough to say something.
Did anyone ask what Bills toadie thought?
Does it really matter what Bills toadie thinks?
What does Ballmer really do behind closed doors with latex toys,small animals and mp3s?
What does anyone really care at microsoft about non-business use of unauthorized installs?
or at most software companies?
Lets examine this:
People work in businesses.
Businesses use licenced software(ok bear with me on this one)
People generally do not buy this software for use at home but will use WaReZ because demo versions are a waste of time.
Businesses need people who KNOW how to use the software.
People know how to use this software well because theyve been using it at home.
Business is where software is sold.That is the business model for the PC and has been since the PC boom in the 80s.
Complaining about home use piracy is smoke and farts in the wind.They really dont care.
Microcrud only toots the DRM horn now because they stand to profit by doing so.
Microcrud will always be able to play mp3 because someone will always circumvent DRM.
No One Really Cares especially Steve "hoover" Ballmer.
Guns are used to kill (Score:2, Insightful)
Trench coats are used to conceal bombs
Sex creates babies which grow into lawbreaking adults
Human brains are used to plan crimes...
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the flawed system that promotes the greed of the corporation which causes the RIAA and MPAA to sue ordinary citizens. So-called 'piracy' is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
Freeloaders who show no appreciation or respect for musicians hard work
Sounds likes you are describing the labels & RIAA to me.
Most - as in 99.999% of musicians are overworked and underpaid.
This was true long before Napster was born. In fact, it was true long before Shawn Fanning was born.
Re:Ballmer should pay more attention to his kid (Score:3, Insightful)
> do
> more. You license it. This has been the case
> for several decades already.
Your PC and iPod are, however, your personal property.
And I have never seen any CDs with a license agreement on them - they may exist, but I have not seen them. I doubt they'd exist though because, if they did, you could escape the license by taping off the radio.
Re:Quickie Slashdot Poll... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ballmer's rhetoric and the parent of this post are looking at the impressions that they have of what the music world is like. There is the corporate view where the customers are seen as more like thieves and rodents... much like the view taken by that of the monarchy of the people. There is the end user view which seeks as much usability/freedom as possible. Then, there is the Apple view, which is make it usable, but also do your best to keep it legit.
You do your best because you can't control your users' intentions. Using DRM to the point of making your music sound like sh*t(aka CD copy protection which has only a Windows usable crappy WMA file on it is SH*T. Thank god Sony is backing out of this mess. Maybe Final Fantasy and JPOP music will be usable on Macs again.)
What you are missing is the population of computer users who actually want to be law-abiding citizens and would purchase music if it permitted them the same freedoms that purchasing CDs(as defined by Philips) gives them. Ie, the ability to play the disc and/or its contents wherever and whenever they want.
You shouldn't have to pay extra to play it in your car AND your computer AND your portable, which is what folks like Ballmer, MS, RIAA, etc would ultimately like.
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:5, Insightful)
My gripe is not so much how much CDs cost, but how much of it, or rather, how little of the money gets paid to the artist in the end. Let me give you a little inside info (I'm a musician, this is from first hand experience).
A record company will sign an artist, pay them a smallish amount to live off while they record a CD. Usually the deal will be for a couple of CDs, with a time limit. Then they will, ideally, promote the band, pay for the studio time, basicall cover all their expenses. This money is not for free or even in exchange for the band's work. It is a loan to the band, charged at interest rates that would make any loanshark worth his salt's eys water.
Now, lets say the band gets 50c for each CD sold. (For a yet unknown band, this is daydreaming. Some of the top guys, I'm thinking Sting, Celine Dion, Enrique, ect. - artists who often sell millions of CDs per album, might be able to negotiate a slightly better deal, but not much)
The band has to sell CDs until the money they owe the record label is paid in full out of their cut from the CDs. Many artists never manage this, so they remain in debt to the record company, who can (and do) use this to make each consecutive contract worse for the artist. Many artists never manage to repay everything. Sometimes, at the end of the artist's sell-by date, the record company might scrap the debt. Which would mean the artist never made much more than he/she needed to survive and cover their gear, while the record company made a small fortune out of them - remember the other $9.50 did not go towards paying off the artist debt, the record company made that clean.
So, yeah, the Record labels "lose" loads more out of music piracy than the artists, but the artist lose too, and compared to what most of them get paid, they lose a lot more. Most muso are certainly not overpaid, and it's a little unfair to penalise the musicians for the recording industry's greed.
Re:Ballmer and FUD? Who would have thought?! (Score:1, Insightful)
They have 4 letters for you: DMCA.
Re:Ballmer should pay more attention to his kid (Score:2, Insightful)
riiigghhtt.. that's why i'm able to promptly exchange my cds when they get scratched/worn out... or why i'm able to purchase my massive vinyl/cassette collection on CD at a discount (or better yet, for free).. since i have a license to listen. No, my friend, they want it both ways. I hear your point, but until i am able to upgrade my collection to CD for little to no cost.. then, to me, i'm not licensing anything.. it's a purchase. And if i've bought it once, i'm not buying it again just because they want me to.
What is Microsoft but the biggest thief? (Score:5, Insightful)
Linux volume? Google volume? (Score:5, Insightful)
What bothers me (Score:1, Insightful)
Ballmer and MS doing a lot of mud slinging (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft should work on making their products more secure (god knows they need to) and save the mud linging for the politicians.
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:3, Insightful)
Movies can be this cheap because, for the most part, they recoup much of their expenses in the theatre. When the DVD hits the shelves any money that the studio is getting is more or less pure profit (after considering the expenses of mastering and producing the DVD, etc).
There are of course films that don't cover their costs with theatrical runs, but do very well on home video (kids movies are big in this), and of course movies that do poorly at the box office and poorly on home video. However, for the most part, DVD sales can be cheap because the investment has been covered by the time the product hits the shelves.
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice attempt at painting with a broad brush there. Pity you're not accurate.
Unlike MS that paid up front for STAC? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Quickie Slashdot Poll... (Score:3, Insightful)
Kettle Black (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:1, Insightful)
It's illegal, I don't care anymore! (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what? I'll even call a spade a spade - I don't have any intention of using iTunes at 99 cents. The record companies dropped the ball, and I am now used to getting for free what I had previously paid 18 bucks a pop for. Do I feel bad? Not in the least.
/. won't like this, but they'll have to accept the fact that we're quietly moving into an era where the consumer - the person that both the creator and the corps rely on - is being returned to his rightful place of power.
They dropped the ball when they made huge scenes at press conferences with Lars and Hilary standing side by side to fight the evil p2p'ers. They dropped the ball when they refused to work towards some mutually beneficial pricing scheme that would *gasp* give both artists and consumers a fair shake! Instead, they charge 1.00 a song, which can run you into paying MORE than you would had you just bought the CD.
Meanwhile, I can get the same thing for free. I provide the bandwidth, they have no packaging costs, why should I pay MORE than I would for the physical media? Because they say so? Fuck them. I know the IP apologists on
What's that? You want to "license" me your content and sign my rights away with a clickthrough EULA? That's so cute... fuck you. In case you haven't noticed yet, you are on the losing end of a battle that has been going on for almost 5 years now. The only way you'll win is to make it easier to buy your shit than it is to steal it. That means *gasp* reduced profit margins for the corps, and *2x gasp!* no more bullshit rockstar lifestyles for the golden idols!
This means that the creation of music, movies, etc. would become...*shudders*...ANOTHER NORMAL JOB that you would actually have to be GOOD at and keep IMPROVING on to keep your position! Holy shit, we can't have that now, can we?!
Re:Ballmer and FUD? Who would have thought?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Quickie Slashdot Poll... (Score:2, Insightful)
2. 0% from iTunes and other online services.
3. 3% from shareable sources, including my own compositions and downloads from artists' own websites.
4. 10% are compilation-type rips of my own CDs, vinyl and cassettes (Approximately 500 albums). I also have a few MP3s of items I once owned but lost to scratches, tape-eating cassette players and stuff-disappearing ex-spouses.
85% of my collection is on legit CD's. But I actively avoid buying *new* CDs on principle: I despise DRM and I don't want to put money in the pockets of RIAA and CRIA.
Apple has proper licensing for its formats. (Score:2, Insightful)
The current iPod has audio support for these formats:
AAC (16 to 320 Kbps) [wikipedia.org], MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR [wikipedia.org], Audible [custhelp.com], AIFF [wikipedia.org], WAV [wikipedia.org] and Apple Lossless [wikipedia.org].
I'm certain Apple pays it's licensing fees for the formats it does not own. Ballmer's comments are nothing but spin to attarct attention to MS.
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:3, Insightful)
But they still got all the chicks, so I don't think anyone here will feel sorry for them.
Microsoft can't make it work, Apple won't push it. (Score:3, Insightful)
Here's a news flash for you, Microsoft... Apple is a LOT closer to the Digital Home than you are. While you're building smarthome showrooms (supported by an IT department) to impress HGTV, Apple has shipped Airport Express, making simple wireless audio distribution a reality. That's just step one.
Apple's only two market-/mindshare problems are simple ones: 1-) Lack of advertising for anything but iPod, and 2-) lack of a sub-$800 model that appeals to the masses. I mean, put yourself in the computer-buyer's shoes. Most of them don't know what they want... I know, I worked at CompUSA. If they see the Dell next to a comparably priced (but more capable) Mac, they'll take the cooler product.
Yeah, surprise... innovation DOES win, but only if the price is close enough. I understand Apple's desire to be BMW, but I think they'd be better off modeling themselves after GM. They've got the Cadillacs down pat, but they need a Chevrolet model.
Re:in other news (Score:3, Insightful)
The question here is "who cares"? Microsoft has not produced a successful home electronics product, with possibly the exception of the X-Box. The numbers you ramble off are collective consumer, business and enterprise market sales for both products and services. Apple on the other hand is focused almost entirely on consumer sales.
As such they have a better consumer product line and in my experience happier customers overall. Have you been to an Apple store? They tend to have a brisk amount of business for a "niche" market. I just think it is a bit presumptuous of Ballmer to call a fight even before his company gets into the ring.
LOL! Microsoft calling others thieves? (Score:5, Insightful)
VAX32
Netscape code
Java (use, replace, then disable)
Stolen security and networking from UNIX
Apple's interface
Then there's the subtle criminal stuff like;
Forcing OEMs to be exclusive or charging more (blackmail)
Integrating players and browsers after agreeing with the Feds not to (contempt)
Swearing you could not de-integrate said featured in your court case in the US, then suddenly producing a RUssian and European stripped version within 6 months of losing your case there. (Perjury)
Having your CEO SWEAR that M$ never intended to block out Netscape from the browser market then discovering emails that said you actually did (more perjury)
Claiming you have a "more secure" OS than Linux when a 6 year old has found security holes (poor development, lying, stupidity)
Yep, when I think of ethics and upstanding citizens, Microsoft is the company I want preaching ethics to me! Could there be a larger group of assholes on the planet?
Windows users are thieves! (Score:3, Insightful)
Stunting Innovation Through Greed (Score:2, Insightful)
All media should be free. Why stop the natural course of technology just because the beneficiaries of previous technological advances feel it will hurt their profits?
Even if media becomes free, movie studios can still make money off of theatre sales. Record companies can make money off of concerts. And DVDs and CDs will still be bought, as long as they add extra value.
Artists didn't disappear before there were CDs and movie studios still existed before VHS.
Re:Quickie Slashdot Poll... (Score:3, Insightful)
1) 0% - Ethics Major at university. Sorry
2) 0% - Don't like Macs.
3) 0% - Creative Commons? Haven't heard of that one. .
4) 100% - Everything i like, i buy. Everything i buy, i rip. If i can't afford the CD i want, i simply wait until i can afford it.
5) 0% - They don't have anything i like that i haven't already bought myself.
6) ~1% - i've written about 10 cd's of stuff, but it pales in comparrison to my Cure collection. (see rant below)
7) ~.% - 1 cd by an unknown band from university. they broke up in the studio.
All right. That's me. You want to know my three room mates?
1) ~90% - too cheap to pay for what they can get for free
2) 0% - they don't know what Macs are
3) 0% - this is a guess. If i don't know about it, i doubt they do
4) 10% - the couple of cd's they bought before they found out about Napster, et al
5) 50% - lot of friends, lots of cd's
and this is where i start spewing hate :
6) 0%
7) 0%
i absolutely refuse to sell/give my cd's to people i know that swap mp3's online. I've worked too hard and spent too much time and money to have some pimply faced teen downloading my music for free, while i've sunk about $4000 into my recording studio, which still sounds amateur.
I made my mistake at university, gave one of my first cds to a kid across the hall. within a day, it was smeared across the whole campus, and couple of the houses off site. they didn't see the cover art i photographed and put together, they didn't read any of the liner notes i spent weeks rearranging to get the most impact, and best of all, no one bought the album. maybe because, being a demo of my first album, it sucked? possibly. but you think out of 3000 students, one would have said "hey, neat. here's five bucks" or something. .
and i know most people, who have probably never written music, much less played an instrument, think that this is good, because now more people are hearing my material. i play for my love of music right? yeah, see, the only problem is, is all the freakin' ears in the world aren't going to help me buy more gear, or rent real studio time, or pay for my food so i don't have to get that second job which takes all my free time so i can no longer write new music.
Look, i don't even know what my point is anymore. I'm just screaming down an empty tunnel. I just hate those posts "we're trading MP3's for the good of the artists. they love making music", where in reality, they're the ones preventing the artists from doing what they like to do. .
- rovent
Missing: Time-Shifted Streaming Audio (Score:2, Insightful)
I record and download several internet streaming audio broadcasts. I keep about a month's worth of them on my iPod. Sure, they may not 'outnumber' the iPod songs which I BOUGHT and the three or four songs I was given, but the songs' average length is measured in ones of minutes and the radio programs' average length is measured in ones of hours.
Air America Radio - 4 programs per weekday - about 12 hours a day
Neal Boortz - 1 program per weekday - about 2 hours a day
Local programming - 2 programs per weekday - about 3 hours a day
Mac Radio News - 1 program per week - about 1 hour a week
Doctor Demento - 1 program per week - about two hours a week
HHGGMMIV - 1 episode per week - about 0.5 hours per week
And you'll also find the speeches from the RNC and DNC 2004 conventions (Thanks, audible.com!) and the presidential and vice presidential debates
*
Let's accuse the accuser!
Perhaps a few questions for Mr. Ballmerde would be:
What percent of Microsoft Windows comes from ripping off now-dead software companies?
What percent of Microsoft Windows comes from ripping off existing software companies?
What percent of the unworking portions of Microsoft Windows could/would/should work if Microsoft hadn't blocked third party software companies' products?
*
I tried to give away bootleg copies of "My Life" but no one wanted them.
Re:Quickie Slashdot Poll... (Score:2, Insightful)
If it where not for downloading I would not have started hearing or buying the music I now listen to.
According to msft, if it's not owned by msft it's (Score:3, Insightful)
A) Stolen
B) Communism
C) Cancer
D) Terrorism
E) Un-American
F) Destructive to US jobs
G) Destructive to US competitive advantage
H) Non-standard
I) Inferior technology
J) Has a higher cost of Ownership
H) Anything other negative msft can imagine
Whatever your answer, please send money to msft.
BTW: I think msft has accused F/OSS of being all of the above.
Re:Quickie Slashdot Poll... (Score:2, Insightful)
Ballmer is just saying Apple Bad, M$ Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Most CEO's, VP's and Directors have iPODS with the JBL creature speakers. Apple is getting a lot of visibility as an innovator at high levels and more opportunities and partnerships are flowing their way. This is scaring the hell out of Ballmer who desperately needs this piece of the action to grow or at least sustain earnings.
I own an iPOD and it's the best game in town for MP3's and portable file storage. Ballmer knows it and his only chance is to discredit Apple as a promoter of piracy. Apparently Ballmer hasn't learned the same lessons that IBM learned with microchannel architecture and that Sony learned with it's memory stick and proprietary audio format. I hope Ballmer keeps going full steam ahead and obliviously sails on, right into the iceberg. Go Steve GO! You're right, everyone who doesn't agree with you is wrong. Show the world that you are right!
You are appalled! Appalled! (Score:4, Insightful)
Just so you know, sharing MP3s may be illegal, but considering it doesn't fall into an easy category like, oh, "theft," it's anything but self-evident that it's immoral. And FWIW, this is from a philosophy/ethics and music graduate.
"I made my mistake at university, gave one of my first cds to a kid across the hall. within a day, it was smeared across the whole campus, and couple of the houses off site."
Not to sound trite, but you do realize that there are people reading that line and wishing they could be in your position. If you do not have a record contract you don't have publicity. If you're on the internet, there's too much noise for you to have publicity. Fine, you didn't authorize it and obviously it annoyed you, but have you really understood--everybody on that campus apparently listened to what you had. From the rest of your message, you seem to think that people are just falling over to listen to amateur unsigned music.
Well, guess what--music has been a buyer's market for a long time, and no matter whether you use traditional means or not, you got an opportunity for free that better musicians than you worked harder to fail at getting. No matter what you say about it not earning you money to buy new instruments, it still got you a lot closer to it than keeping the music locked up tight in your closet. If you were Britney Spears you'd have an argument about some potential sales lost, but you have to practically (or literally, I guess, with a typical record contract) pay people to listen to your music if you're unknown.
Again, I majored in music, I've published works and so on. Even if it was an unfinished demo, you had publicity that most people only dream about. Really, you seem to have known my argument before I said it, in an abstract way, but you don't seem to really get that it's just going to get harder and harder to get anyone to listen after you graduate, and most people in college can't get "the whole college and a few houses off campus" interested enough to listen even if they're popular while in college.
My argument is not that "people are trading MP3s for the good of the artist," but it's not "people are trading MP3s because they're immoral thieves," either. In actuality, people trade MP3s because people want to listen to music. There is nothing moral or immoral about that fact, no matter what your post-ethical legal standpoint is. So cheer up and try to stop being angry at people for the damnable sin of being curious about your music.
Re:Quickie Slashdot Poll... (Score:2, Insightful)
Off the top of my head, acts that I listen to nowadays that I would never have heard of otherwise:
Cursive
Jazzanova
Dredg
Denali
From these bands I've heard of other bands:
Eastern Youth
Murder By Death
Minus The Bear
The Statistics
Darkest Hour
Decahedron
The Good Life, Desparedecidos (Basically the saddle creek label)
Stereolab
I attend these band's shows (seeing Dredg next week), I buy their merchandise (on Sunday I bought the Cursive/Eastern Youth split, and a Cursive t-shirt for my girlfriend).
As it happens, as I've grown older, and as they've grown more dangerous, I've used filesharing applications less. I have to be much more active in my pursuit of more music (it's very easy to browse someone's collection who likes stuff you like online... not always so much in person [and then they only usually stump for a couple of their favorite artists
In my non-researched, lazy consumer opinion, I think that the solution is very very very low cost music options, and if possible, a one-fee sort of thing. E.g. Ultra-Napazaa, where you pay 5$ a month to download whatever the hell you want at 128kbps. If you really like it, you can buy CD-quality download or shipment for some nominal fee (another 5 dollars, say). Very few if any of the bands I list above sell huge amounts of records. I don't imagine that they would make less if such a distribution channel existed in parallel to classic retail.
Re:ALL WHO ANSWERED THIS POLL (Score:3, Insightful)
He wasn't painting anything. From the grandparent:
That's not to say that Linux-using pirates don't exist. I simply have never met any.
He acknowledges that some linux users are pirates.
Personally, I have a theory that supports his assumptions. In my experience as a part-time consultant, most people that use Windows at home are unaware of the fact that the so-called "casual copying" that they do is illegal. I've stopped trying to educate them about it because of all of the arguments I get into (arguing with customers is bad for business). I have a feeling that if they understood the moral and legal implications of "borrowing" their neighbor's MS Office installation disc or Norah Jones music CD, many of them would not do it.
By contrast, most linux users are experienced techies who know more about copyright laws and EULAs. Therefore, assuming the same moral thread can be applied, they would not be likely to pirate software or music.
This is, as I said, based on my own experiences with people, as well as my own moral and intellectual progress over the past several years. In the "quickie slashdot poll", I truthfully answered 0% downloaded (illegally or otherwise), 2% my own recordings, and 98% ripped from my own CDs, which is fair use. Accordingly, 100% of the software on my computer is either open source or otherwise legally obtained from the author, including a few little programs written by me in my quest to learn C++.
I can't claim, as the grandparent does, that every Linux user I know is not a pirate. My brother still downloads music from questionable sources, and one of my good friends thinks nothing of using pirated OEM copies of Microsoft software. However, I am the person who introduced both of them to Linux, and hopefully I will be able to convince them of the illegality and immorality of what they do.