Hardware Analysis Community Forums http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/ 2008-11-22T16:51:28-05:00 http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/ http://media.hardwareanalysis.com/halogo.gif text/html 2005-02-21T22:11:45-05:00 ian elliott http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#245083 DRM to lock songs downloaded is easily beat if you record the output back through the line in as an mp3. So its not gonna work. as for movie out through the s-video connection and back in the s-video in. record it as Divx and thats beat too. <br /> text/html 2005-02-21T13:51:37-05:00 Ralph Berg http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#244836 I have already been locked out of my legitimate copy of XP Pro.After I tried to reactivate <br /> XP at the Windows site,it gave me a message that I had exceeded the allowable number of reactivations and imediately began to delete files.<br /> I had reactivated XP twice.Once,when I had a Kernal failure.The second time when I had installed SP2 and it so messed up my system it was taking 10 minutes to boot.<br /> To add insult to injury,the EULA accepting the 1 reactivation terms had just been agreed to by myself at Windows Update.The software had never been activated under the new EULA !<br /> As I said,they never gave me the chance to call them and try and remedy the situation.By the time I knew there was a problem,they were deleting the OS.This is no way to treat a good customer.I am the registered owner of 3 copies of XP Home,2 copies of W2000,1 copy of XP Pro and 1 copy of W98SE.I have spent a considerable amount of money with MS.To treat a legit customer as a criminal is inexcusable. text/html 2005-02-18T19:39:58-05:00 Wizard Prang http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#243577 Albert,<br /> <br /> Your &quot;dollars per decent song&quot; theory is a valid one, but it presupposes that you will buy a CD with only two or three good song on it. As a point of principle I will not do this... and neither will a great many others, as evidenced by the populatory of &quot;Greatest Hits&quot; packages and &quot;Now that's what I call rubbish&quot; compilations. <img src="http://media.hardwareanalysis.com/smilies/smile1.gif" width="14" height="14" border="0" alt=":)" title=":)"><br /> <br /> It is also counterbalanced by the poorer quality afforder by Itunes et all, the lack of extra material and most importantly the lockdown nature of DRM. Your PC's Hard drive crashes and somebody steals your ipod - who ya gonna call? Not ghostbusters - they can't help. <img src="http://media.hardwareanalysis.com/smilies/smile1.gif" width="14" height="14" border="0" alt=":)" title=":)"><br /> <br /> Here is the crux of the matter: Consumers are asking &quot;How can we use the new technology to get more and pay less?&quot;. Sometimes this results in piracy, but not every act of piracy is a lost sale. Big Music, on the other hand is asking &quot;How can we use the new technology to give the public less and charge them more?&quot;. For instance, when the CD was introduced, prices went up even though CDs cost less to produce than records...<br /> <br /> The problem at least here in the US, is that Big music has the Government's ear, while Mr and Mrs John Q Public are essentially denied a place at the bargaining table. The only cards we have are our purchasing dollars... and when we buy less, Big Music screams &quot;PIRACY!&quot;<br /> <br /> Prang text/html 2005-02-16T01:55:49-05:00 Scott Webb http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#242375 I do agree that delivery systems such as STEAM must under go major inprovements. I am relegated to the world of dial up, due to geographical isolation. When I first tried to play half life 2 it took about 6hrs for it to say it was rready for off line play, and I have had several further occurances with updates taking 45-90 Min to finish before I can play. One would think if you own a product at that price you should just be able to sit down and use when yopu wish! I for one will not buy another game that uses STEAM. text/html 2005-02-15T20:45:21-05:00 Albert Crocker http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#242252 For now I just want to comment on what you said about iTunes. You say, &quot;The fact that a single song costs $0.99 still means you’ll be paying 15 to 20 dollars for the full CD, without actually owning the physical copy.&quot; I think you miss the point if you are trying to find the value of a song based on how many tracks are on an album. The fact that you can purchase songs a la carte adds a great value that you have missed. How many albums do we own that have only one or two songs on it that we really like? The ability to only pay for the ones you want really changes the paradigm. This means that you can buy a regular CD if you like the album (or most of it anyway), but you can also choose to buy individual songs that you like from artists that you may otherwise not buy from because you only like a small number of their tracks. It took a great deal of negotiation for Apple to get the major labels to allow the sale of individual songs (for this very reason).<br /> <br /> So, I would try and find the value of a song not based on how many tracks are on a given album, but on how many tracks YOU LIKE are on that album. This brings the price of many &quot;albums&quot; down to 2 or 3 bucks! What a bargain! text/html 2005-02-15T17:46:18-05:00 paul riley http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#242195 If you record a music video onto tape that is OK, Tranfer it to your PC &amp; it becomes Piracy.<br /> <br /> If the big boys bothered to look at what their products are being sold for on <a href="/action/r/http://www.ebay.com/">eBay</a> then priced accordingly. Then we would get true pricing. Currently windows XP Pro with COA is being sold for £50 (sterling) Retail £149 thats $300 to you in the states, so who is being ripped off?<br /> <br /> text/html 2005-02-15T17:22:00-05:00 Arthur Wilson http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#242184 I believe in the rights of software manufacturers and artists to earn a living from their efforts but the simple fact is that there isn't a single form of protection,however elaborate that hasn't been compromised in one way or another and therefore people looking to find illegal copies of games or software can and will do so fairly easily if they really want to.<br /> Also,I'm sure it's the challenge of trying to beat a protection system which attracts many of the crackers in the first place.If the goods were priced more cheaply there would be far less incentive to spend time on beating the protection - in fact it would be then pointless to have it. Surely it's mainly high prices which account for this and so don't these companies only have themselves to thank for this situation.Make the goods more easily affordable (as well as useable)and the majority won't bother with obtaining illegal copies. text/html 2005-02-15T15:23:15-05:00 Rusty Smith http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#242135 You guys are right on. With the advances and cost reductions in recording technology, it is getting possible for bands to produce their own recordings at levels of quality equal to - or baetter than - what comes from the big labels. This is the avenue I am pursuing for my own music collection. I am trying to support local and fresh bands through direct purchase of CDs and songs from their web sites. <br /> <br /> I have not been one to pirate music (or anything else...), but I have seen friends and acquaintances with poorly ripped copies (primarily low bit rates). Also, the online stores for music are not all providing content at CD-level quality. Between this phenomenon and the apparent willingness of primarily the youth in America to buy music (games, etc.) through these copyright / usage restrictions, I sadly must conclude that the plans of the big corporations will largely succeed. There are just too many sheep, ignorant of what they are doing.....<br /> <br /> My hope is that bands with original and quality music will continue to try to get their works direct to those of us who care.<br /> <br /> - r text/html 2005-02-15T15:11:37-05:00 Xen Withanex http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#242131 That would be a paradise. Unfortunately it just isn't going to happen - we live in a corporate world and the big companies are always looking for ways to rip people off and gain more. The only thing we can do is make a lot of noise about it until the companies decide that it's easier to give in: For instance, if you want to get a refund from any store you always have more chance on a Saturday, as companies will just want to get you out of the way so as they can take money from other customers...<br /> <br /> What people need to do is kick up enough fuss about DRM, Steam, iTunes and all the nicely packaged rip-off schemes. Eventually the companies will have to adapt - but they won't if there isn't enough fuss being made, that's why I love the internet. It belongs to the people. text/html 2005-02-15T14:21:07-05:00 B_radr http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/39690/#0 I'm just wondering about the companies protecting their stuff. If they make it piracy proof will they stop making money off of blank CD sales? For that matter, in the future, will we be able to even buy blank CD's? Or will we have to download the song and it will self-destruct after we play it. <br /> <br /> Your right about a couple things Sander, and that's that the consumers are paying too much for stuff online. Companies can have people download their stuff, with no overhead except for the actual creation of the product, and their market....is the WORLD!<br /> <br /> I hope musicians wake up. They can totally skip the retailer, music company, distributor and produce music directly to the fans. Did you know on average that a $20 album, the musician gets about $2 and the music company gets about $7 or $8 and the retailer gets about $5-$6. That's sick. The best thing that can happen in the future is to see the BIG COMPANIES get left out of the loop, and that the consumer dollars can go to the actual makers of the music.