3 reasons why this will never happen on any large scale. 1. Portable devices don't do FLAC. No FLAC on the iPod/iPhone/iPad means you just eliminated >90% of the portable device market. 2. Convenience - several folks cited how ripping CDs is inconvenient. So is converting FLAC to something usable by your devices. 3. Lack of knowledge/commitment - be honest. Think about how many people you know would be willing to learn how to do the conversions or commit to doing them. Until those 3 are solved, you're going to be buying online music in MP3 or M4A formats.

The chief problem is one of cultural bias against mathematics. In today's culture, we teach our children that it's ok to "not be a math person," as if the ability to do mathematics requires a certain set of genetic traits. Is it any wonder that the bulk of people you meet every day have no clue as to how to go about logically working through a problem and coming to a decision on it? Is it any surprise how many people can't form a coherent argument, lacking any basis in logic?

Contrast this mindset with other subjects. Suppose I came out with the statement, "I'm just not a history person. I just can't get my head around it." Or, how about, "I'm just not a grammar person. It's all so hard, I'll never use it, so why bother?" I'd be labeled a blithering idiot.

Kind of sad that you don't get that cloud computing is real. Let me break it down for you, simply. A virtualized environment where growing the pool of available compute time is as simply as adding another node to a cluster. Clearly, Captain Obvious realizes there are servers involved, but that's just the lowest layer in the thing. In other news, the Fed Gov sales reps & SEs at VMware are currently weeping with joy.

Indeed. Friends of ours keep having this recurring conversation about having another child. Their previous children were difficult babies in different ways. The wife keeps saying things like, "But we'll probably have a good one this time. We're due." I keep pointing out that her chances are neither better, nor worse, which she doesn't seem to quite get, despite being a rather intelligent person. For those who don't get it - the disposition, or ease/difficulty of each child is an independent random variable. The first N outcomes bear absolutely no influence on the N+1th outcome.

Interesting.. When we first got FiOS, they were only doing Internet & Phone (TV came 2 years later), and handing out D-Link routers. Since I work for a network manufacturer, the first thing I did was swap it out for a real firewall. 2 years later, they started doing TV in our area, they brought out an Actiontec, wanting to replace my firewall with theirs. Fortunately, I came upon a solution that worked perfectly, and doesn't involve using their router directly (shocked the installers that came out to do our TV install). I've got the Ethernet WAN port of their router plugged into an isolated zone on my firewall (where my Guest WLAN also lives), with the cable wire still connected (so the cable boxes can get guide data). This isolated zone has access to the Internet only, nothing on my "regular" network at all. Works like a champ. Get your FiOS Internet delivered over Cat5 if you can get the installer to do it, then hook up the router that way. The cable boxes don't seem to mind 2 layers of NAT, so I see no reason not to deploy like this.

I'm pretty sure you didn't quite understand it correctly then. When the original iPhone was launched, the data plan was $20/month. When the 3G launched, it jumped to $30/month. No change when the 3GS hit the shelves. I've been paying $15/month for unlimited data on AT&T for years now.

Hey, look at it this way, he'll know what to look for in catching others cheating. :) Seriously though, is anyone really surprised by any of this? Republicans, Democrats, they're mostly the same. Only 5 days until the new & improved pack of lies starts..