GeoGeer - Slashdot User

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Will Be 64-Bit For Windows Only 478

Posted by kdawson on Friday April 04, 2008 @08:55AM from the takes-time-to-make-a-cup-of-cocoa dept.

HighWizard notes that Adobe Systems has shared the first scrap of information about its next version of Photoshop, CS4, and it's a doozy: there will be a 64-bit version of the photo-editing software, but only for Windows Vista and not for Mac OS X. Ars explains the history of how this conundrum came to pass — blame Apple and/or Adobe as you will.

Apple Is Now the #1 US Music Retailer 251

Posted by kdawson on Thursday April 03, 2008 @10:06AM from the nose-bleed-ascension dept.

Quantrell writes "A leaked e-mail shows that Apple hit the #1 spot for music sales in January. The article speculates that consumers cashing in their holiday gift cards may have played a role; but of course Wal-Mart and the other retailers sold gift cards too. The news is a mixed bag for the record labels. 'For the music industry, there is a dark side to Apple's ascension to the top of the charts. Buying patterns for digital downloads are different, as customers are far more likely to cherry pick a favorite track or two from an album than purchase the whole thing. In contrast, brick-and-mortar sales are predominantly high-margin CDs.'" We recently discussed Wal-Mart's role in the music business, back when they were selling nearly 20% of US music. For January Apple was at 19% and Wal-Mart at 15%.

Comment Re:no drm for me (Score 1) 259

by GeoGeer on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @03:47PM (#22943390) Attached to: 5.1 Sound Card Delivers 3 Streams of iTunes

The only question is did you pay for your couple of hundred Gigs of non-DRM music? If so, nobody cares. If not then you are basically a thief.

I stopped buying music for about 10 years because I was tired of getting screwed over. I'd buy a CD for $20 and get the one song I liked - and 9 others that were garbage. I ended up not even listening to the CDs because it was too much of a pain in the butt to put the CD on for that one song. When the iPod came out, I found I could use all those old CDs, by grabbing just those songs I downloaded. So I started buying music again. I figured if there were 3 songs on a CD that I liked I'd buy the CD. Then when the iTunes Music Store came out, I started buying even more songs (all those old one hit wonders I wanted). However I didn't like the DRM limit, so I still bought the CD if I figured there'd be 3 song on there I liked - so I was effectively paying $2-$4 a song for DRM free music vs. 99 for DRM free. When Apple came out with the DRM free music with EMI, I was ecstatic because now I would only be paying 1.39 for DRM free music. The DRM free music price has been dropped to 0.99 since that is the deal the music labels struck with Amazon. *great!*

Do I buy any of the music though Amazon? Nope. Not because I have any problem with Amazon, but my beef is with the record labels. They are trying to break iTunes by offering DRM-less music to them and not to iTunes. This is being done because they figure that if they can get 2-3 additional major players that they'll be able to re-instate stupid pricing schemes. When they want variable pricing it isn't because they want to offer us a wonderful deal on older catalogue music. It is because they want to screw us over on new music. So what do I do?

I play by the rules. If I listen to it I buy it. If I don't, I keep my money in my pocket. I am tired of reading about people stealing then claiming that they are taking the high ground. Truly taking the high ground requires sacrifice on your own part. So at the moment I am only buying from those who offer DRM free music on iTunes. I will not give one red penny (or 99 red pennies in this case) to the record companies. Apple with iTunes has been the biggest positive force for music in the past decade and I'll be danged (clean version) if I'm going to support those who would turn the clock back.

Believe it or not I am somewhat sympathetic to the record companies. It does take a lot of dough to find, develop and market talent. These companies have many expenses, and are having their product stolen. I'm not saying they are blameless, but they are not the evil soulless creatures those on slashdot make them out to be either. Like it or not they do serve a valuable purpose. I really don't think you'd like what would happen to the music industry without them.

Now I don't know if you've legally accumulated your music collection or not. If you have, great! I'm glad that you support the arts in such a meaningful way. If not - remember two wrongs do not make a right. If you are not willing to pay for the product provided, does not mean you have the right to benefit from it. Just imagine if everyone in the world acted in this way... I like the drawings you've prepared for this building, but I believe the fee you are charging is too high, so I'm just going to use the one's I've photocopied. *bam* no more engineers or architects. I like this software, but your licensing requirement are too strict so we are just going to make unlimited copies for ourselves. *bam* no more software developers. Your book was really good, but everyone just read the scan from the original manuscript. *bam* no writers. Just remember that it may be you who is getting screwed over one day. Treat others like you would like to be treated.

Sorry about the rant...

MacBook Air First To Be Compromised In Hacking Contest 493

Posted by Soulskill on Friday March 28, 2008 @12:06AM from the potential-reality-tv-show dept.

Multiple readers have written to let us know that the MacBook Air was the first laptop to fall in the CanSecWest hacking contest. The successful hijacking took place only two minutes into the second day of the competition, after the rules had been relaxed to allow the visiting of websites and opening of emails. The TippingPoint blog reveals that the vulnerability was located within Safari, but they won't release specific details until Apple has had a chance to correct the problem. The winner, Charlie Miller, gets to keep the laptop and $10,000. We covered the contest last year, and the results were similar.

Someday You'll Hate Apple (And Google Too) 734

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday March 25, 2008 @09:22AM from the if-that-day-hasn't-arrived-already dept.

jfruhlinger writes "Think today's world, where Apple is the innovative underdog, Google is the company that does no evil, and Microsoft sits atop its throne as ruler of an evil empire. Will this state of affairs last forever? You must not remember the days when everybody loved that scrappy upstart Bill Gates. Don Reisinger muses on the fickleness of consumer loves and hates. 'It's that same [level of] success and its own questionable privacy practices that will lead to Google's PR downfall and propel it into a position of disdain going forward. Trust me, the future of Apple and Google may look bright from an economic standpoint, but these companies will be hated one day too. Sad, but true.'"

The Wrath of the Apple Tribe 870

Posted by kdawson on Sunday March 23, 2008 @12:38AM from the blame-it-on-eve dept.

Narrative Fallacy writes "If you've ever written about Apple products with even a hint of negativity, you'll appreciate Salon's excerpt from Farhad Manjoo's True Enough, about why the Apple tribe is so rabid. 'There are many tribes in the tech world: TiVo lovers, Blackberry addicts, Palm Treo fanatics, and people who exhibit unhealthy affection for their Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners,' writes Manjoo. 'But there is no bigger tribe, and none more zealous, than fans of Apple, who are infamous for their sensitivity to slams, real or imagined, against the beloved company.' Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg has even coined a name for the phenomenon — the 'Doctrine of Insufficient Adulation.' 'If I see the world as all black and you see the world as all white and some person comes along and says it's partially black and partially white, we both are going to be unhappy,' says psychologist Lee Ross at Stanford University. 'You think there are more facts and better facts on your side than on the other side. The very act of giving them equal weight seems like bias. Like inappropriate evenhandedness.'"

Apple Mulls Flat-Rate "Unlimited Music" Option 355

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday March 19, 2008 @04:21PM from the sounds-delicious dept.

Mike writes "Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about an 'all you can eat' model for buying music that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices. Finally, it looks like the industry (or at least Apple) is 'getting it'. The real question is not whether the big music companies will go for it, but rather, who will be the first one to get smart and agree to offer it?"

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