I don't think the US doctrine of fair use actually goes so far as to create a right to rip. Mostly, fair use governs things like short quotes of books in reviews, or (I think) those short 30 second sound clips of music you can hear on Amazon, or many other sites that sell music. In fact, some may recall this:
where the RIAA is specifically saying that ripping is not a form of fair use, as a matter of law, but might be a broadly authorized use by the copyright holders. (And therefore, as the EFF ominously points out, subject to withdrawal of authorization.)
Apple keeps making this fents at the living room. But they had better hurry up: it seems to me the cable companies, and eventually FIOS providers, will have the same overwhelming incumbent advantage that iPod now enjoys in portable digital music.
Someone earlier pointed out how this move is fairly hostile to the PC enthusiast community. I agree, but I would also turn that around, and point out that the vast majority of users will not be affected. When their computer breaks, they are likely to buy a new one from a major vendor, with Vista pre-installed.
Plus, don't we have to admit that Microsoft really does have a problem with software piracy? Remind me again why they are not allowed to protect their property?
In summary, this just doesn't seem deserving of the gnashing of teeth in many of the other posts.
Can anyone explain "Indication WHITE" (from the ad in the first engadget article) to me? Is it badly translated slang?
I think they are aiming for the Far East Hipster market. The "I'm too cool for TV ... but I still want a TV, so maybe this will look like an ironic gesture" people.
Has anyone found a way to obtain the Connect Reader software without buying one of the Sony Readers? I'm interested in how well the software (any, hopefully by proxy, the reader) handles RTF files.
Which reminds me: does anyone know what version of RTF is being supported?
I'd really like to hear some user experiences. Particular concerning the conversion software, and how well it deals with HTML and Word formatted documents. What sort of formatting does it dislike/ignore? I don't doubt it handles bold and italic. What about small caps? How does it handle embedded figures in Word and HTML? Footnotes? Sidenotes? Multi-column text?
And for HTML, does the conversion handle CSS? If so, which version of CSS?
I guess I could just buy one, but it seems like a lot of money to spend on an experiment. Then again, it is a very cool gadget, regardless.... Still, can you download the conversion software and play with it? Is there a computer-based viewer for books in the Sony native format?
("However", he continued, suddenly turning snarky, "it doesn't have an Apple emblem, so therefore it's ugly, and the user interface stinks, I just know it does....")
Yes, any word on HTML support? The Sony site says:
"Adobe® PDF, JPEG, BBeB Book and plain text formats natively supported. HTML and other text formats require conversion using included software."
but the Engadget hands-on comments never seem to talk about this. What are the restrictions on the HTML? Does any of the Word formatting get stripped in the conversion? Inquiring minds would like to know. (I have in mind the books on Project Gutenberg, an increasing number of which are available in a lightly marked up HTML format. No javascript, just HTML and CSS, for the most part.)
"All of these new nettops have me intrigued. I'm looking for a small, quiet and cheap PC to replace my aging tower in my home office, and all it really needs to do is load Microsoft Office, check email and surf the web. Is there a particular nettop that's better (or a better value) than another? I know it's a rather new segment, but hopefully someone has taken a chance on one already. Thanks!"
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