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Comment The Problem With DRM (Score 1) 213

From the Napster.ca FAQ regarding the shut-down:

Also, we strongly suggest that you back up all of your previously purchased and downloaded tracks because we will not be able to provide any customer support relating to them, including any further backup copies, after December 16, 2011. These downloads are DRM-encoded WMA files and can be backed up by burning them to audio CDs. Doing this will allow you access to your music on any CD player and generally have a maintenance free permanent copy. If you do not back up your purchased Napster music downloads by burning them to CD and you later change or reinstall your computer's operating system, have a system failure or experience DRM corruption, then the downloads will stop playing and you will permanently lose access to them.

Glad that DRM-free music downloads have become much more commonplace over the past few years. If I wanted to have CD-ROM backups of my music laying around, I would have went to the store and bought the CD in the first place.

Comment Re:Just a matter of time... (Score 1) 348

Yes! In a city near where I live, there are timers on the crosswalk signs that let pedestrians know how long they have to get across the street. Everybody I know has commented on how much easier this makes driving through intersections, because when the timer reaches zero, the light changes from green to yellow. True, there will always be idiots who will still try the make the light, but that's where red light cameras and ticketing come in. At least the rest of us won't be left slamming on the brakes when the light suddenly goes to yellow for a half second before turning red.

Comment Re:summary wrong (Score 1) 754

Anybody know what percentage of the population is infected by the flu each year? According to the article:

Fouchier’s strain is as contagious as seasonal human influenza, which kills tens of thousands of people, just that, much more lethal.

Assuming that this was released into the wild without some effective, easy to produce, and easy to administer vaccine already in place, I think this would be anything but an exaggerated concern. From my admittedly limited understanding of the subject, it would be like half of everyone who gets the flu this year dying.

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