Been reading a review of WIndows Vista Beta 2.

Guess what they included in their media player ?

A little tip: Some ex-computer-manufacturing company from cupertino is making millions with it every month.

That's right, M$ is opening an online music store all of their own. Well, that's just their way of doing business. Let someone try stuff and copy what works, then kill them through sheer market power.

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Bill Gates can't sleep at night knowing that someone else is running a business that he hasn't stolen yet.
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Bill Gates can't sleep at night knowing that someone else is running a business that he hasn't stolen yet.

Can one really “steal” the idea of selling things online these days? And do you suppose Gates is going to soon get into the business of making bowling balls or pink flamingo lawn ornaments because someone else is doing something that he isn’t? Or do you suppose that Microsoft might be considering that the modern “digikid” operating system these days needs to integrate somewhat seamlessly with something that is becoming a common use for a personal computer?

Markle, don't turn me into a Microsoft apologist. It hurts!

quote:

Originally posted by BN:
Bill Gates can't sleep at night knowing that someone else is running a business that he hasn't stolen yet.

Can one really “steal” the idea of selling things online these days? And do you suppose Gates is going to soon get into the business of making bowling balls or pink flamingo lawn ornaments because someone else is doing something that he isn’t? Or do you suppose that Microsoft might be considering that the modern “digikid” operating system these days needs to integrate somewhat seamlessly with something that is becoming a common use for a personal computer?

Markle, don't turn me into a Microsoft apologist. It hurts!

Turns out they got that icon of youth culture on board, MTV.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/dec05/12-...EAnnouncementPR.mspx

Steve, this is gonna be a tough one.

Turns out they got that icon of youth culture on board, MTV.

Well, I'm certainly looking forward to my "immersive music experience," whatever that is. One wonders if one will need to bring a towel. In case I'm not up to experiencing this immersive experience (I suspect that this can happen as one ages), I may still be able to take advantage of URGE's "psychic concierge." I'm not sure what that is either, but I'm pretty sure it involves giving someone my credit card number and then clicking on "download song." Ya suppose?

But I'm not really cynical, just comical. I like the prospects of being able to choose individual songs. But is it perhaps time to mourn the death of the true rock-n-roll LP? There used to be a psychic immersion that truly happened when listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety. Now we stab and pick at music like vultures at a carcass. But the music business has been sick for quite some time now. I foresee online sales as potentially good for music because it may (I'm a stupid and naïve idealist) eventually allow some artists to bypass the record companies entirely and thus bypass their insane tastes, requirements, and restraints on the artistic process.

quote:

Originally posted by BN:
Turns out they got that icon of youth culture on board, MTV.

Well, I'm certainly looking forward to my "immersive music experience," whatever that is. One wonders if one will need to bring a towel. In case I'm not up to experiencing this immersive experience (I suspect that this can happen as one ages), I may still be able to take advantage of URGE's "psychic concierge." I'm not sure what that is either, but I'm pretty sure it involves giving someone my credit card number and then clicking on "download song." Ya suppose?

But I'm not really cynical, just comical. I like the prospects of being able to choose individual songs. But is it perhaps time to mourn the death of the true rock-n-roll LP? There used to be a psychic immersion that truly happened when listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety. Now we stab and pick at music like vultures at a carcass. But the music business has been sick for quite some time now. I foresee online sales as potentially good for music because it may (I'm a stupid and naïve idealist) eventually allow some artists to bypass the record companies entirely and thus bypass their insane tastes, requirements, and restraints on the artistic process.

I guess by "immersive" they mean that your money will be immersed in that big black Microsoft universe. Hopefully the psychic concierge doesn't turn out to be Gates or Ballmer popping up on your screen !

Me, i never did the mp3-thing. Destroys your ears or rather your sense of hearing. sorta dumbs you down aurally if you know what i mean, since mp3 basically works by filtering out certain "inaudible" frequencies. Kinda like reducing a great red wine by just removing the "untastable" parts in it. No, thank you.

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Me, i never did the mp3-thing. Destroys your ears or rather your sense of hearing. sorta dumbs you down aurally if you know what i mean, since mp3 basically works by filtering out certain "inaudible" frequencies. Kinda like reducing a great red wine by just removing the "untastable" parts in it. No, thank you.

A music snob. Yes, I quite like that. But I’ve got to give the argument from the philistine’s point of view too because...well...just because I'm a philistine.

I’ve heard that one of the reasons that yesterday’s pop music was often so relatively simple (drums, lead guitar, bass guitar) was because this music needed to sound good on the typical cheap Japanese transistor radio. Think of how very little musically was lost by listening to the early Beatles on the radio as opposed to through a stereo through a good set of headphones. Sure, the quality of what you heard was improved, but the total IME (immersive musical experience) wasn’t changed all that much.

Of course, who would want to listen to Sergeant Pepper through a cheap transistor radio? But when it comes to "Love Me Do," you’re pretty much getting the entire IME through that cheap transistor radio. And that’s not saying that the content of the music was all that much less (in some cases it was, of course, but remember "less is more"). It’s just that the focus of the music was different. Rap music (if it were really music, which it isn’t) would do quite well on a cheap transistor radio. Its total content (such as it is) would shine through rather easily: a heavy, simple beat and angry, often spiteful lyrics. But maybe that lower sonic "boom" would be missed, of course. I’ll grant you that.

So when it comes to today’s music, most of it you’ll definitely want to listen to through a decent set of speakers and from as clear and clean a source as possible (such as a music CD). But I contend that the really good music will stand up even if sampled rather coarsely and crudely via the MP3 process. If it takes those extra bits to make the music listenable, then it can’t have been very good music to begin with. On the other hand, if it is music worth listening to, who really wants to listen to it after it has been passed through a blender?

Klappy’s objection sustained, but not without a few nuances noted.

The way for Microsoft to succeed in the online music industry? COMPETE. Really compete with Apple and iTunes. If Apple Charges 99 cents, you charge 50 cents. You do buy one get one free. Or at least make your music files sound higher quality.

I never could really appreciate the nuances of say, vinyl over CDs... or CDs over MP3s. I think music on the iPod sounds pretty good. It's a little wimpy if you hook it back up to speakers and try to crank it... but to me it's OK. Vinyl is great, but usually all I hear when I listen to it, is pops and dirt... and the hum and buzz of older hifi components. Doesn't really improve the listening experience for me.

I am of the generation where I listened to most of my music on cheap transistor radios with an earjack. Mono. Or 45s on portable mono record players. It was a huge deal when Mama thalo got a real bona-fide stereo system where the turntable auto-dropped records.

Now I wish I had saved all that old vinyl... especially some of the early punk stuff. But I really think it's more convenient these days with digital recordings. And I must admit, watching South Park or Battlestar Galactica on the iPod is kind of cool.

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Sorry, listening to music on super-compressed digital files, with no harmonics or subtleties of sound; or watching videos on a 2-inch screen doesn't sound like progress to me.
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Sorry, listening to music on super-compressed digital files, with no harmonics or subtleties of sound; or watching videos on a 2-inch screen doesn't sound like progress to me.

I think sound quality and screen size are secondary factors. Granted, they have to be good enough. But I think the point remains that escaping the relative dullness of reality and immersing oneself constantly in some type of snazzy bitstream in order to feed our brains which seem to slavishly require novelty at all times is the point. Sorry about that horrible sentence. I was trying to immerse you in a good run-on one.

Good god, when we were kids we used to make up games to pass the time. Nowadays, unless the little ones have a miniature GameBoy screen planted squarely in front of them, they don't know what to do with themselves. They feel deprived, even abandoned and abused. And hell, I admit I don't know what to do with myself half the time either. But filling my mind and eyes with a never-ending stream of "hip" just doesn't seem to do it for me, although I understand that not just South Park or Battlestar Gallactica can be played on those screens.

But is there anything more to life than a snazzy and distracting bitstream of hip? Probably not, so carry on. But just keep the volume turned down please.

You are assuming that just because Microsoft gets into a business they're automatically going to dominate. It should be noted that they still only dominate in their original fields, operating systems and office suites. They've dominated no other field that they've entered, in fact they're not even profitable in any other field than those first two.

As for Microsoft undercutting Apple on song prices, fat chance of that. The RIAA wanted Apple to introduce variable pricing so they could INCREASE the price on hot selling songs, there's no way they'd permitt an across the board lowering of prices to $0.50. They'd rather eat rat poison first.