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Chris Jacob
I'm a little confused about why it matters whether or not he informed MS about his company and patent. I don't see how that has any impact on an infringement suit.
@UberDuper: If he owns a patent, he could steer microsoft into infringing on it, leave the company and turn around and sue them for patent infringement.
@sbrown23: It wouldn't be a "retarded common sense patent" if Microsoft was serious about this case. I thought we went over this from the first article.
There are several holes in his story that damage his credibility. First and foremost, he does not address MSoft's contention that he used his position at the company to find information for his patent lawsuit. If he did that, even if his patent was valid, MSoft does have the ability to sue him for it. The whole idea of him moving to MSoft, even though it might seem benign, reeks; after he had presented his idea to MSoft and they turned him down, why would he move there to work? Something doesn't fit there...
Secondly, he claims that his company ceased operations, yet at the same time he says that his company is suing the aforementioned companies for infringement. He can't have it both ways; either his company shut down, or it is active and actively protecting its patents
@John Blair: The burden of proof is on Microsoft for showing that he did use his position to find out this information.
Considering he owns the company, and the patents tied to the company, he's quite capable of re-starting said company at any time. They were also infringing upon his patent prior to his company ceasing operation.
So, I take it, if you write a book and try and sell it in as an audio book, you and your family are cool with readers stealing it since some unrelated fruited 3rd party company charged them to upgrade their files in early 2009?
/musician who has nothing to do with iTunes upgrade fees, and RIAA douche-baggery, and still doesn't like to be stolen from.
@spider2544: Technically, they paid for a 128K DRM copy, not a DRM-free version. To "steal" (not technically the right term) the music would still be copyright violation, and the fact you paid for a crappy version of it earlier does not diminish the "crime".
So you're saying that each of your $9.99 albums averages 12 tracks right? Hence the additional $3 @ .25 cents per track. Overall, you are paying .25 cents per track to strip DRM. It doesn't seem like such a bad deal to me. Also, who is REALLY to blame here? Is it Apple or the music companies?
@chonnes: Apple has the music companies by the balls, which is why they had to let Apple have DRM-free tracks. If you think Apple could not have gotten whatever they wanted in upgrade options for their customers, you clearly do not understand the position Apple is currently in.
That said, I agree with the minority that I am not certain Apple is under any obligation to make this a pain-free experience. If you purchased a 128K DRM track, then that is what you purchased. Now that something better has come along you can purchase it again, or you can upgrade your entire library at a discounted price.
Personally, I would never have bought the DRM product to begin with.
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I understand the frustration, and I, too, would be pissed off if I had tons of DRMed iTMS songs in my library (I only have 256kbps/non-DRM songs from iTMS).
On the other hand --- and this is the argument I've always made regardless of the item(s) --- you got exactly what you paid for, a DRMed 128kbps track. If you're not satisfied with it, you should've have bought it. That's what I did; while the temptation was certainly there, I never bought any shitty 128kbps tracks from iTunes. So, you either remain satisfied with your purchase, or, suck it up and pay the upgrade price. Just be glad that there is a means to "upgrade" rather than re-purchase the entire thing.
After all, we've all been forced to do exactly that with all movies (VHS to DVD to Blu-ray) and all music (LP to cassette to CD to SACD).
Now, not being able to choose which tracks to upgrade and which not to is a different matter, and should be rectified immediately.
@Dearhaw: By that line of thinking (which I sort of agree with), Apple should not even offer an upgrade path. You bought 128K DRM, and now that there is something better, you should have to buy it again. The fact that you can upgrade your entire library for one lower price is a nice feature, but no one is stopping anyone from buying the individual songs they want again.
@TechManErik: Yeah, except if you had your own blog, you'd have seen that your commenters already said this tactic probably won't work. For the time being, we'll keep you on our blog. You may not be an expert, but you make nice ordered lists.
@TechManErik: Sounds good—going to bed but you bet I'll be back to check this in the AM. Thanks for not starting your splinter blog until this whole thing blows over.
BTW, that really does suck that you can't choose what songs to upgrade individually. What a fucking lame thing to do. This is totally going to piss off a lot of people.
@ Wilson Rothman - "That would mean that all those albums I paid $9.99 for would actually cost me $13 in the end. That's the same amount the damn CD would have cost me in the first place, if I still bought those museum pieces. And the CD would have given me the option to rip at higher quality than 256Kbps, and would come with liner notes telling me who played that sick drum solo on Track 12, to boot."
And that's why you shouldn't buy digital media. Hell, I have an iPod and I still prefer to buy my albums on vinyl. If I have to, I'll buy a CD ... and you can bet your ass that I'll gladly buy a CD over a digital download any day of the week.
To me, digital downloads are good if you want to buy a song or two off of one album ... and that's it. If you want the entire album, you really should by the CD. You get the power to do what you want from there, either encode those tracks at 320kbps ... or some god awful bitrate like 128kbps.
I love hearing people who buy their music digitally piss and moan about stuff like this. Meanwhile, my music has always been DRM-free...ripped straight from the CD. Built-in backup with cover art and full liner notes tucked safely into my CD cabinet.
@remo2112: Hey I'm friends with Michael Fremer, the damn king of the vinyl movement. It's cool, but I am just drawn to convenience, provided it's accompanied by audio quality that's good enough. And my own personal threshold is around 192Kbps. I did a story on sound-quality discrepancies a few years back in the NY Times, in case you're curious.
@dead_red_eyes: I'm waiting for the day that everyone remembers that vinyl sounds the best. On that day, every record company might do what I've been dreaming about for a year or so, sell everything on vinyl and include a code for a lossless digital version for free. I'd be first in line...
A lot of labels are actually doing that these days. Where you buy the vinyl version of the album, and they provide a slip of paper that gives you a code and address to download the lossless digital version of the album. Matador first comes to mind, as well as Merge. There's lots of other labels doing it too.
Let them make fun. Let them be ignorant. You've clearly got the upper hand here, buy buying into the right media ... which gives you the choice to do whatever you want.
Good article Wilson, very well written. My personal threshold is 320Kbps. Of course, I do have the occasional eMusic or iTunes file which are encoded in 192Kbps or higher. I know what you mean about convenience, and that's why digital media is so damn hot ... because it's convenient. But convenience isn't always a good thing. There's lots of analogies we could throw out, fast food, hookers, drugs ... still, it's nice to have a bit of patience these days and choosing to go that extra step for something better is something that we should all do on a daily basis.
02/04/09
02/02/09
Can anyone explain?
02/04/09
02/02/09
02/02/09
02/02/09
So?
02/02/09
02/02/09
Secondly, he claims that his company ceased operations, yet at the same time he says that his company is suing the aforementioned companies for infringement. He can't have it both ways; either his company shut down, or it is active and actively protecting its patents
02/02/09
Considering he owns the company, and the patents tied to the company, he's quite capable of re-starting said company at any time. They were also infringing upon his patent prior to his company ceasing operation.
02/02/09
02/02/09
I have a feeling that he did disclose it. I mean, I keep all paperwork related to my employment (emails, what was sent to whom, etc.)
I hope he wins.
02/02/09
02/02/09
02/02/09
01/14/09
/musician who has nothing to do with iTunes upgrade fees, and RIAA douche-baggery, and still doesn't like to be stolen from.
01/14/09
01/14/09
01/14/09
01/14/09
01/14/09
01/14/09
That said, I agree with the minority that I am not certain Apple is under any obligation to make this a pain-free experience. If you purchased a 128K DRM track, then that is what you purchased. Now that something better has come along you can purchase it again, or you can upgrade your entire library at a discounted price.
Personally, I would never have bought the DRM product to begin with.
01/14/09
On the other hand --- and this is the argument I've always made regardless of the item(s) --- you got exactly what you paid for, a DRMed 128kbps track. If you're not satisfied with it, you should've have bought it. That's what I did; while the temptation was certainly there, I never bought any shitty 128kbps tracks from iTunes. So, you either remain satisfied with your purchase, or, suck it up and pay the upgrade price. Just be glad that there is a means to "upgrade" rather than re-purchase the entire thing.
After all, we've all been forced to do exactly that with all movies (VHS to DVD to Blu-ray) and all music (LP to cassette to CD to SACD).
Now, not being able to choose which tracks to upgrade and which not to is a different matter, and should be rectified immediately.
01/14/09
01/14/09
1) Backup songs.
2) Delete the ones you dont want to upgrade.
3) Upgrade.
4) Re-upload other songs.
Simple. Easy. Works.
I need my own blog.
01/14/09
01/14/09
Thanks, i appreciate it.
And although i havent tried it, im 99% sure it will.
Actually im going to test it now. be right back buddy.
I wont rest till i solve your problem :D
01/14/09
01/14/09
Goddamnit Apple, you're doing it wrong.
*sigh*
01/14/09
And that's why you shouldn't buy digital media. Hell, I have an iPod and I still prefer to buy my albums on vinyl. If I have to, I'll buy a CD ... and you can bet your ass that I'll gladly buy a CD over a digital download any day of the week.
To me, digital downloads are good if you want to buy a song or two off of one album ... and that's it. If you want the entire album, you really should by the CD. You get the power to do what you want from there, either encode those tracks at 320kbps ... or some god awful bitrate like 128kbps.
01/14/09
I love hearing people who buy their music digitally piss and moan about stuff like this. Meanwhile, my music has always been DRM-free...ripped straight from the CD. Built-in backup with cover art and full liner notes tucked safely into my CD cabinet.
01/14/09
01/14/09
01/14/09
A lot of labels are actually doing that these days. Where you buy the vinyl version of the album, and they provide a slip of paper that gives you a code and address to download the lossless digital version of the album. Matador first comes to mind, as well as Merge. There's lots of other labels doing it too.
@f0rge:
Let them make fun. Let them be ignorant. You've clearly got the upper hand here, buy buying into the right media ... which gives you the choice to do whatever you want.
@Wilson Rothman:
Good article Wilson, very well written. My personal threshold is 320Kbps. Of course, I do have the occasional eMusic or iTunes file which are encoded in 192Kbps or higher. I know what you mean about convenience, and that's why digital media is so damn hot ... because it's convenient. But convenience isn't always a good thing. There's lots of analogies we could throw out, fast food, hookers, drugs ... still, it's nice to have a bit of patience these days and choosing to go that extra step for something better is something that we should all do on a daily basis.