This is second hand, but from a few people I know who are (kinda) in the business.. it used to be the exact opposite (the live performances promoted the music sales) but has now switched around to what is described. Best way to support your favorite band now is to see them live and buy an overpriced cheap screen printed t-shirt or CD off their merch stand.

Lots of ok music out there from people who do just that, but there is a reason indie music hasn't completely toppled the industry...

Hint: it's the same reason indie movies haven't toppled Hollywood.

There is still something to be said for those who actually devote all their time, not just the weekend, to producing content.. and who can afford the cheaper than before but still expensive pro gear.

And in general I agree with the sentiment in the argument. If the kind of distribution/creation model we've all been pushing ever actually takes hold.. it'll just become overrun by opportunists and we'll be right back to what we've got now.

Indeed. This is high level "meeting for the suits" bullshit. I can picture this showing up on powerpoint presentation.

Here are your three options.. this is the one that sucks, this is the one that sucks for a different reason, and this is the one I want you to go with. Oh, and here is a chart with some pretty checkmarks and stuff to help clarify! Lets do lunch!

Now that's just desperation.

Come on .. keep this shit in bi. Either it takes off or it doesn't.

I'm guessing population density.

That's the big problem here in Canada. Countries like Japan where they are packed in like sardines have great internet.

I too know very little about cable.. but I'm guessing the problem starts when you have multiple TVs. Having 5 or more TVs in a house is not at all uncommon (living room, bedroom). That ends up being a lot of bandwidth.

Maybe I don't quite get how deltaing works, but:

You do your evil stuff with it enabled
Disable it and do some more stuff (changing the "real" image)
When you re-enable delta-ing .. does it merge the images or something? I would assume when when you disable delta-ing, your changes are either merged down to the real image or lost. Or does it let you keep almost like an "overlay" that can be applied even after the base image has been changed?

It's actually an interesting thought exercise to come up with a setup that would:

a) allow you every day access to your data in a practical way
b) allow you to get rid of the data, leaving no trace that it was there

Modern software leaves bits of information everywhere. Lock files, history files, logs, cache, etc..

If you re-image your disk to do an emergency destruction, the new image is probably going to be fairly obvious. Huge gaps in all system logs, and an old version of firefox with the last history entry from some time 4 years back? Yeah, this is what was on here 10 minutes ago! If you use that approach, you'd have to keep your "emergency image" in a state where it looks used. And that's not accounting for the fact that re-imaging a drive isn't exactly a quick process.

The other option of course is hidden volumes. But that then strays into the practicality side of it. How do you use something on a regular basis yet leave no trace of it on your system.

Ultimately I think it's a moot point. As has been said, they usually have a pile of evidence on people anyway.. at best you arn't giving them even more, at worst, you are making yourself look really damn guilty[tm]. It's just one of those things that's interesting to contemplate.

yes, yes I did :(

In a weird way, they kinda actually are. More specifically, using them. Far as I know, using such a device when suspected of either crime would fall under destruction of property / interfering with investigation laws.