Having read this, I can say without a doubt that this is not a fable I would read to my children. The analogy of the box doesn't fit, the impact of the copying doesn't match, and the sticky-sweet happy community love-fest that occurs when the pig shares his box is based on a pipe dream. Left him a few apples indeed.

Seriously, I would be more apt to read my children one of the RIAA's propaganda pieces. At least theirs follows some sort of logical structure.

Rosen's not a flip-flopper, she's a bullshit artist. If you check out the first blog post she wrote for HuffPuff, she claimed to have spent her last years as head of the RIAA leading the charge for digital distribution. Anyone who payed even minimal attention knows that's an outright lie. She was the biggest impediment to digital media distribution, not a proponent. Digital music sales didn't even get off the ground until after she left.

Mark my words, the only reason she's hawking interoperability right now is because she wants the media companies to control the format instead of the technology companies. You'll notice she talks big about interoperability, but not about getting rid of the DRM. And that's a sucker's game.

She spent how many years lawyering and lobbying against consumer rights, and I'm supposed to give her a bye because she wants interoperability now? Sorry, but no.

Hey, it's easy when you don't have to pay for studio time, shipping, distribution, or shelf space. Four of those five bucks is profit.

The labels, on the other hand, might have to charge a teensy bit more in order to, oh, I don't know, recoup the money they spent making the album, I guess.

Couple points:

1. The "razorblade model" is actually the opposite of Apple's iTunes/iPod strategy, if it's even analagous at all. Apple makes its money off the razor, not the blades.

2. People tend to forget that Betamax, for all its technical superiority, couldn't hold more than 60 minutes until the war with VHS had already been lost. Which meant that you couldn't record a 2-hour movie on a single tape. As the iPod continues to prove, what constitutes a "better product" in the eyes of the public consists of more than technical specs.

That said, Apple is most likely fronting for the record industry here. Remember that their big bargaining chip with the major labels was that their service provides a legal, profitable alternative to piracy, as they have pointed out here. With contract renegotiations coming up, the labels are surely watching.

I call bullshit on this one. Of *COURSE* advanced codecs like WMA and AAC require more processing power than MP3. They're higher-quality compression formulas. DRM has absolutely *NOTHING* to do with this. If it did, C|Net would be comparing the DRM'd tracks to non-DRM'd WMA and AAC files, not MP3. Come on, Tommy, you should know better than to fall for this obvious shell game.

Tommy, I don't think you were overly snarky on this at all. Your points are valid. But what's most telling is the disconnect between his statements and the way he markets his product. I recently posted about this here:

http://www.gypsycaravan.com/node/98

If Brummels is so concerned about the death of the album, maybe he should consider marketing albums toward people who want to buy them, instead of shotgun-blasting singles across radio and television. Instead, he is as typical as they get in the music industry. Too lazy to do the work required to target the right demographic, too willing to blame others for their problems.

Here goes nothing!

Far be it from me to pass up a chance at a free Treo.

I was excited about the Q until this. I want a WM5 smartphone, and I'm willing to wait a little while, but not a year. And I'm not switching networks for it, either. The 8125 is looking better all the time.

The Q will run the smartphone version of Windows Mobile 5. The idea is that the Q doesn't need a stylus; it has a thumbwheel on the side, much like the Blackberry, which I assume is the intended rival.

A longer wait for the Q is just ridiculous. And if it doesn't hit Verizon until April, how long until it hits Cingular? We've been hearing about this thing for how long now? Sorry, but if the Treo 700w, or even the HP iPaq 6900 makes it to Cingular ahead of the Q, I'll just get that instead. I can't wait forever, no matter how cool it is.