A DRM-Free Music Lifestyle, Can it work?

Why aren’t people buying DRM-Free Music?

The legal pressures and scare tactics of the RIAA have dampened some the efforts of some file sharers. However, people who do want to legally buy music still can’t, not because they can’t afford it, their music just isn’t available to download. The big major music groups are still cautious of selling Mp3s without some sort of control over them. One of the big reasons Mp3s are illegally downloaded in the first place is because nobody is selling music the majority of people like. All mainstream music listeners are forced to use iTunes, Zune Marketplace, Napster, and Rhapsody. Major record companies can then set restrictions on which computers and devices you can listen to music with. Yes, you can burn music from "some" of the music services but there is a loss in quality when converting back to Mp3 . There are people like me who are obsessed with audio quality and want to hear every bass and treble note as original as intended. The second problem going on is the legal pressures. It might scare off some people, but in reality it starts an uprising against the RIAA. Its like a sword fight of 5 people against millions, and the 5 are stabbing each other in the back. The major source of getting DRM free music legally is through ripping CDs and converting to MP3, but we can no longer trust record companies as they may secretly install anti-theft programs. The point here is, if you make your songs available as MP3 at an affordable price, I can buy it and will have no need for file sharing.

Who are living the DRM-Free Lifestyle?

We can’t just blame companies for this whole mess, we’ll also rant at the consumers too. Consumers are the third part of the problem, not because they are downloading illegally, but because they eat only food thats given to them. Their main sources of music are MTV, VH1, BET, CMT, Fuse,  and radio stations. Consumers are too close-minded to look for other artists who aren’t signed to big major record labels. I don’t blame them though. The music sold on DRM-free music sites aren’t that great to begin with, but they do have their own cult followings. If you do spend the time to research other artists who don’t give a damn about the RIAA, you might find something you like. Only those who are in search for new artists and new music are the ones who live the DRM-Free lifestyle. You may want to call them the Indie generation, but at the same time they are still boycotting mainstream RIAA music, and purchasing from artists they actually like.

How can you Sell DRM Free Music?

My journey of DRM-free music started years ago with the little company called KarmaDownload, it has now been shutdown for financial reasons that they won’t even disclose. KarmaDownload sold music with the choice of bulk or per download. The bulk option didn’t work for technical reasons so I had to pay per download. Entering billing information once, you can download as many times as you want and be charged for each transaction. This may not go so well with credit card companies and their fees but it worked for the time being. For every 10 songs you download, you get 1 free, and that was pretty hot.

1. Keep Billing Information Seamless

I should only have to type my credit card information once. After that unless its a yearly security thing, I don’t want to type it anymore. Sites like JunoDownload and Emusic keep this seamless. Beatport asks for your security code each time, but Clickgroove asks for billing information all the time making it very annoying.

2. Music Previews should be long and instant

I want to hear song clips longer than 30 seconds. Emusic’s previews are painfully short. Short previews do not give an essence of what the song is like. JunoDownload however has longer previews, sometimes up to 2 minutes. I prefer hearing music clips within the site instead of using Winamp. DanceTracks Digital, and DJDownload place all music within flash playlists. DJDownload takes it a step further and adds each song to the playlist instead of clearing all music out like ClickGroove.

3.  Allow purchasing in Bulk

Emusic is the only site that does this perfectly. 30 songs for $9.99 is great compared to other sites which would have given me 5 songs. I’m not saying this pricing method is great for artists, but it got me paying for music. Not many other sites do this, but It would be nice to allow 1 or 2 free songs for a certain amount of purchases.

I’ve only highlighted music services that specialize in electronic/dance music, but there are plenty more out there such as 7digital/indiestore where most tracks are Mp3s but some are WMA’s with DRM. If EMI sold DRM-Free tracks on Itunes, Warner Music, BMG, and the rest can and should. Electronica and Indie musicians have been selling Mp3s for years, why can’t mainstream artists just jump on the bandwagon?

AOL releases AOL Helix, their newest integrated client.

Starting up AOL Helix, you can see the remnants of AOL’s clumsy past. Traces of their previous client, ”Open Ride” still lurk about. Things have changed however now that all the annoyances of Open Ride is gone. The “dynasizer” is no more, a feature which displayed 4 windows at the same time. The sluggishness of Open Ride’s long loading times are gone. Now we are left with a plain simple desktop. Similar to AOL 9.0, each window, whether it be aim, or e-mail, or a website, is completely draggable and can be maximized to full screen. Unlike 9.0, the welcome screen can now be closed without showing its annoying channel surfing sidebar. So it seems AOL has listened to its members and created something familiar yet different, although its still far from being totally original. The user interface reminds of the old days of MSN Explorer, except without its tabbed sidebar approach.

AppMap is AOL Helix answer to tabs, AppMap works similar to the way “Quick Tabs” work in Internet Explorer 7. Each Window, Webpage, and IM, is scattered across the screen. You can pick and choose which ever App you want to switch to. If you minimize any window, they are dropped to the bottom of the screen and shown as small thumbnails. This is far far more useful than AOL 9.0′s minimized window guessing game.

AOL Helix still has a few negatives going for it. One major disappointment is its large RAM requirements being 512MB, which is standard for most new computers bought today, but leaves the rest of AOL’s population out. The User Interface is pretty bland, and for some odd reason they are still using the same unimaginative blue gradients they used before in Open Ride. Hovering over a menu item displays a grey text on a blue background which is very hard to read. There is no Full Screen Mode, and by full screen we mean we should not be able to see the main toolbar at all. The IM window is not dockable, which for the most part could be the greatest addition to it. But the biggest annoyance is it uses that same aolsoftware.exe icon that cannot be closed. C’mon Its 2007 AOL! You can’t have Icons in the taskbar that don’t have a close button. You have to play this silly game of CTRL+ALT+DELETE just to stop all AOL processes from running.  

Currently the beta doesn’t have access to AOL’s internal keywords. So chatroom access is unavailable unless you go through Userplane and their deceptive banner ads that secretly installs downloader trojans. Yes, Userplane, looks like you’ll have to go through ALL your Ad clients and figure out who’s been dropping trojans inside.

AOL to release New Product Tomorrow?

Sources say AOL will be releasing its new client tomorrow, a sort of, "Aol 10.0" mixed with, "Open Ride 2" if you will. Will this new client be as spectacular as myAOL, or will it run slow and sluggish like Open Ride did and gets thrown into the trash. Only time will tell! A full review of this product if it even does exist will be up whenever it comes out.

Sources were right.. Read about AOL Helix.

The Sims: Credit Card, EA’s Newest Expansion pack!

EA released their newest expansion pack this week titled, The Sims: Credit Card. This revolutionary expansion pack brings your Sims as you’ve never seen them before. Now you can carry them around with you and relive the joys of Credit Card Debt in REAL LIFE! Ooooh! Experience hassling phone calls from debt collectors as you show off your pretty new maxed out The Sims™ card to everyone..

EA? What the hell is this? Why is this even being advertised? We know credit cards from stores are the worst. I think its the wrong type of product to expose to teenagers at this level. I’d rather this be an in-game item because quite frankly, your really scaring me now. I’m not even sure who exactly your targeting with this card? Women ages 18-24? Men ages 13-18? When something like this comes up the best way to work around it and make things better for everyone is to have a co-promotion with the big name credit card companies, ex. Chase, Discover, Capital One… Just let them choose a card design and be on their way.

Well we can’t have a parody post without actual factual details of this credit card, lets read the fine print. First off EA assumes no responsibility in controlling the terms and conditions for this card. So don’t think EA’s friendly tech support will call you when your late on a payment. Its all handled FIA Card services, we’re with the big boys now! Well the Default APR Rate is 18.24%, this instantly tells me its targeting college students, why you may ask? Because most of the time the APR rate starts at 0% then goes up to that after 6 months. Now look what happens when your late on a payment, the APR rate goes up to 29.99%. Mmm smell your money go bye bye! On the signup page, they boldly highlight this 4.9% APR and it sure does look pretty but guess what thats for, Cash Advance Checks, and Balance Transfers only, NOT PURCHASES. Ya so pretty much, the average college student won’t use those features. Unfortunately this 4.9% APR lasts only 6 months! Gasp! This sounds like those Cable and Satellite provider commercials, we’re only cheap for 6 months after that your on your own! So basically your stuck with 18.24% VARIABLE rate, Y’all better pay your credit card bills on time or its harassing phone calls for you!

The moral of this story is, this credit card isn’t different from all the other college credit cards out there. Your first credit card will always be stinky, and there’s no way around it. Would I recommend you sign up to it? Well its your decision but if you do, follow this advice. Don’t buy college books with it, Don’t buy Mp3 players with it, and Don’t buy anything costing more than $60 dollars. See this card wants to game you into high interest rates, cause they know college students don’t ever have a stable source of income. So here’s how we can get back at them! Use the card until you owe around $60. Next pay back the MINIMUM payment needed! Don’t pay the full amount back because its not going to improve your credit score at all. Pay back the minimum on time every month! Rinse Lather, and Repeat! After you do this for a year, your credit score can improve enough to the point where other credit card companies will beg you to join their Platinum ranks!

You only wish you could look Cool like them

Aim 6.9 Skin: BumpXBlue

Introduction

Bumpxblue is a black and blue Aim 6 skin.
It is a part of the bumpxseries pack which includes four skin colors:

• Bumpxred
• Bumpxblue
• Bumpxgreen
• Bumpxpink

Each skin is included in the pack, you do not need to download them separately.

read more

Aim 6 Finally Gets Proxy Settings

Aim 6.5 has been released today and has now added the much anticipated Proxy Settings. Dr. Statistics says, this setting alone can do away with more than 60% of the connection issues people have. Now you can connect behind your company’s firewall and bask in the AIM glory. Well if you are using Aim at work I’d suggest using Aim lite instead of Aim 6.0, but anyways its still nice to have though. You can edit your proxy settings in Aim 6 by clicking Edit > Settings > Connections > Connect Using Proxy.  

Aim 6.5, also changed the UI a bit by adding a new status bar to the top and moving advertisements to the bottom of the window. Aim takes a bite out of Facebook by adding Status Updates. These status updates allow you to type your own personal entry below your screen name, similar to GTalk, and Yahoo Messenger. Other new features include, text messaging a buddy using their cellphone number, and Aim Tips that show up right inside the IM window.

As promised, I will be making new skins each time AIM updates, so pimp out your aim with Aim Skins.

Nights: Journey Of Dreams Gameplay is Surprisingly Good!

Wow, ever since "Nights 2" screenshots were released to the public, many have been doubtful and skeptical about this game. One of its major pitfalls were its graphics, they looked terrible and washed out. I also concluded that this game might just be crappy remake to one of the most beloved Sega games out there. Opinions changed when Sega released some gameplay footage and its surprisingly better than what we’ve been shown. The trailer itself features Disney style footage and voice over with the help of Jim Cummings. The gameplay itself models very closely to the original game. Now the camera is on a diagonal right behind Nights. We also got a glimpse of how you’ll be closed into a field. Instead of a strip of land at the top and bottom, you are now enclosed in an arena, for example an island. The areas outside of the field are no longer purple, but have actual landscapes and backgrounds. The gameplay is a little different this time. You chase a little guy on a bird and take away his key, which you’ll then bring to your cage to unlock the next path. One viewer says he shed a tear after watching the footage. Good job Sonic Team, you may have brought back NiGHTS after all.

= Download Nights Gameplay Footage =

How to edit your buddy info even without downloading AIM

Are you trying to edit your buddy info with the new AIM 7.3?
Please CLICK HERE for NEW Information!

 
So your one of the few people who can’t download AIM because your at school, or work, or you just don’t know how to. You can still edit your buddy info without downloading anything. Here’s how to do it.

How to Edit Buddy Info on Meebo

• Sign in your AIM Screen name at Meebo.com
• Click on Your Screen Name at the left
• Click Set Profile
• Type Your Profile.

How to Edit Buddy Info on Aim Express

• Sign in your AIM Screen name at Aim Express
• Click on Menu
• Click My Buddy Info
  
• Type Your Profile.

How to Edit Buddy Info with Aim 6.8

• Click Edit
• Click My Buddy Info
• Type your Buddy Info
• Save!

How to Edit Buddy Info with Aim 5.9

• Click My Aim
• Click Edit Profile
• Type your Profile
• Save!

How to Edit Buddy Info on a Mac

• Download iChat
• Download iProfile [*Note: Doesn't work with OSX Tiger]
• Download Adium

AimWimzi and the Prisoner of MeeboMe

So LIEK on Friday, Aim Wimzi came all up into MeeboMe’s face and said
"AND WHAT! "
MeeboMe wuz like,
"SO WHAT! I STILL GOT BETTER CHATROOMS AND BETTER AIM THAN YOU!"

Thus starts the new chapter of AOL’s magical journey to steal everyone else’s ideas. Maybe they thought of it first but took too long to deploy… Or maybe they…. nevermind.

A big blow to Meebo’s MeeboMe service was quietly released on Friday, allowing users to place an Aim Widget on their site. AimWimzi is actually derived from Aim Whimsicals. In the beginning, Aim Whimsicals let users sign onto your website using their own AIM screen name. You could give them their own full buddy list, or let them IM you directly. It wasn’t really practical, only because most people would still just use Aim 5.9. In the meantime MeeboMe’s service let anyone place a widget on their website, allowing people to IM directly to you. The only drawback to MeeboMe was that you had to login to Meebo.com. Since Meebo doesn’t have an offline client, it didn’t make much sense to use it either. You’d have to go to the website just to sign on, and leave it open until your finished. So it was a good opportunity for AOL to strike back at this weak point to create AimWimzi. Very practical in that all you have to do is sign onto Aim from anywhere, and your instantly logged in from the widget. You can change and customize the widget on the fly without needing to repost the code. However, you’ll have to manually edit the size if your going to change it.

Aim Wimzi works by creating a random screen name for the visitors of your site. Only they can IM you first. Your buddy list will show a new category with the title of the widget, and automatically updates (although slowly) whenever a visitor has the widget enabled. You can remain anonymous by typing a customized Display Name. You don’t have to worry about random people IMing your real screen name every minute like they do to me.

Aim Wimzi does have a bug where if you access it too many times, it will display a message saying your Appkey is missing. If you do see this message, don’t worry, its only happening to you, not your other visitors.

What will AOL copy next? You know AOL there is one place you don’t have dominance over, WAP. Yes thats right WAP! We need an AIM Wap Client for anyone with a cellphone, not just T-moblie customers. Lets get rid of txt message AIM and move it all onto the Web. Make a lovely FREE BREW application for Verizon customers and we’ll have a deal! You can even put ads in it too.