Why Piracy and Illegal Downloading are Ubiquitous

We live in an instant, go-anywhere entertainment culture with video on demand through the cable company, instant streaming video through outfits like Netflix, streaming Internet radio, iPods and mp3 players of every description, Kindle, you name it. Too bad most of Big Media cannot get their heads around this. They are all stuck back in what is, entertainment-wise, the Age of Dinosaurs, when certain things were on the television or radio at certain times and you schlepped to a bricks-and-mortar store to buy actual, physical discs and books. I, like most tech-heads, don't live in that world anymore, and the majority of people under 25 don't, either. There are two kinds of media delivery I find acceptable: a service for which I pay a monthly fee and that allows me to stream as much content as I want whenever and wherever I want from any computer or device I happen to be using, or a service in which I pay for any individual item (song, e-book, audio book, TV show, movie, game) I want by the download and then I OWN it and am free to put it on whatever device I choose to, make backup copies, share it with a friend, and use it on whatever device I own. Neither of these options exist, even though this is basically what most tech-literate people want.

What DOES exist are download services that package the media you buy with intrusive technologies that control your ability to copy it or view it on multiple devices, or services that allow you to access some content for a monthly fee, but don't have everything you want or use intrusive technologies to control how and where you use what you download. For example, iTunes is probably the best-known of this ilk. You have to install their program on your computer to use it, which means first of all that you are at their mercy to support your operating system. I don't find that they offer a Linux version. Then, the music itself can be listened to only on a computer with their software installed or on an iPod, not on any other kind of device, in order supposedly to protect from illegal copying. Some of the technologies used to ensure that your music can't be copied and shared, euphemistically called Digital Rights Management or DRM, will ultimately render your media unusable if the company who sold it to you goes out of business. Lest you think that's just hype and my naturally paranoid attitude towards Big Brother companies, it already happened to the customers of Micro$oft's music service. Another example is Audible.com, which ostensibly offers a subscription service for you to download and enjoy a certain number of audio books per month. However, they again require you download their proprietary software to download the content and to listen to it on your computer, limit the number of computers you can install that software on at one time, and (my favorite part) use a proprietary audio format that other media player software isn't compatible with. Again, this is all ostensibly to protect from illegal copying of the files. Think I am being unreasonable? I have four computers at my house and use a fifth computer at work. I also sometimes use a computer at a computer lab at school. Audible only lets you install four copies of their software at one time under your account, so I can't listen to my audio books while working in the computer lab at school. I also can't listen to it with my media player of choice, only theirs or an even worse alternative, Windows Media Player. When I buy a piece of game software, either downloaded or a physical copy, I want to be able to install it on my hard-core gaming PC as well as on my laptop, if my laptop is capable. Sometimes I want to play while I'm out of the house, or lying in bed. The best-case scenario is that the software maker will force me to keep the game disc in the computer's drive while I play. Not a big deal unless I've taken a trip somewhere and forgotten the disc. However, in their paranoid quest to ensure that no one, NO ONE out there ever, ever enjoys a few hours of gameplay that they did not pay for, the game manufacturers have become increasingly ridiculous in their levels of copy protection, as evidenced by the PC release of one of the latest hit games, Mass Effect. What the game manufacturers fail to grasp is that it is exactly these sophisticated anti-piracy technologies that inspire hackers to crack them. These technologies will not ever stop dedicated hackers who, by the way, crack software protection for the sheer joy of it and then freely give the resulting protection-free versions to others without remuneration of any kind. These protections will only further irritate the companies' potential paying customers.

The music industry is, of course, the classic example of dinosaur companies who find themselves unwilling or unable to adapt to the changing needs of consumers, and their inexplicable and unbelievably stupid response has been to declare war on their own customers. The RIAA's absurd legal crusade is explained well in this excellent article, and is the subject of at least one entire blog. Their argument, of course, is that artist have to get paid to survive and practice their art, but the reality is, Big Media is scared to death because artists don't need them anymore. Remember, the purpose of recording companies was to bear the initial expense of getting an artist's work recorded and into circulation in stores and radio stations. Artists made some money this way, but more importantly, built paying audiences for their live performances, a much bigger source of revenue. Artists do not need this type of service anymore, by and large. There are hundreds of independent bands who promote their own music on the Internet, allow it to be freely downloaded, and STILL sell copies of their discs, make a ton of money from merchandising, and play to sold-out audiences in venues all over the country. This is what really worries the RIAA's members. As an example of a band that totally gets the world we live in now, and is not hurting for cash, check out the order page for Nine Inch Nails' latest album. This is a great example of giving digital-age consumers what we want: we can order the product in pretty much any format we want and enjoy it however we see fit, with no Big Brother DRM to tell us how many copies we can make or what devices we're allowed to use it on. If all of Big Media could get their heads around this concept, they wouldn't be in the pickle they are in. I think, though, that they are headed for the dustbin of history and they won't be missed much.

I have no moral qualms about sharing media or taking advantage of cracked software in the current legal and business climate. None. That said, I don't advocate stupidly using file-sharing services that take control of part of your computer's hard drive and exposing you to security risks and viruses. Most victims of the recording industry have used those types of services, like Napster (pre-legal) and Kazaa. So don't do it. Stay away from Limewire too. If you are curious about safer alternatives for exploring the world of file sharing, do a Google search on "bittorrent" and/or "newsgroup service." I can promise you that, if nothing else, you'll find some interesting information.

Medieval Congress is Here

For the next few days, I will be spending a lot of time at the Medieval Congress. I have a blast every year, and I'm sure this year will be no exception. The weather is great for it, cool and overcast but not rainy. I've been to the Congress many a year when I thought I would pass out in the book room from the heat. There aren't actually any paper sessions I'm interested in attending this evening and this year and, unlike most previous years, I've had to work on Thursday and Friday during the day of Congress week. So, I will head over to the book room after work and pick up all the discount flyers and see if I run into anyone I feel like hanging out with. I know that my prospective advisor for my Ph.D. program will be doing a paper session, but not until Saturday. I don't know when she's getting into town. I may call it an early night tonight. I'm guessing that from tomorrow night on, though, I will be VERY busy. However, I ordered a new-ish cell phone that will have web access, and I'm also registering with a free service that allows you to post to your blog by SMS (text) message. So, I may still be posting. This year I am going to pay particular attention to any computer-related goodies that make their way to the Exhibits Hall. I know one trend is digitized images of rare manuscripts, so I will check that out this year. I'm eager to see how others are using technology to further the study of medieval history. I can't wait for 4:30!

Free Tools to Organize Research, Life, or Whatever

Interactive, web-based technologies have a powerful potential to help people be more organized, if they are sufficiently intuitive and easy to use. I have used calendar and personal information management tools ranging from planner books to Palms to electronic planner software. I haven't had much success with these tools and seem always to have a forest of Post-its on my desk and a bizarre collection of jotted notes in my bag. I just have never found a system that was easy and convenient enough. I hate lugging around bulky planners, couldn't remember to synchronize my Palm before the batteries would die, and it was a pain to try exporting and importing my data for Lotus organizer across the three or four different computers I might use in the course of a day. Sunbird portable edition was close to being a solution, except that all I could really do in it was make a calendar and a task list, which doesn't come close to solving my information management needs. Plus, I can't remember to open the stupid thing every day (yeah, I know how lame that is) and I don't automatically plug my flash drive in to every computer I use. So, all these different tools would get tried out for a while and then dropped because they were too cumbersome in various ways.

Enter Web-based, free technologies. Two things I am now taking for a test drive are task-list service called Remember the Milk and a free wiki hosting service, called Netcipia. I think these may have a little more staying power for me, for the simple fact that neither require me to develop a new habit or routine. I think they say it takes 30 days to break or create a habit, and I'm now well over that limit keeping up this blog, even though I could never stick with journaling before. I think the reason is that it is already an established habit for me to open my Firefox browser at the beginning of the day and I always restore the previous day's session. This means that all the pages I had opened in their individual tabs the previous day open again today. I don't have to go find the site for my blog every day; it automatically opens and this prompts me to write an entry usually. I can use any web-based service this way, requiring pretty much zero effort on my part to make sure that I am signed in and ready to go all the time.

Remember the Milk is a pretty much what it sounds like--a to-do list. In this case, though, you make and keep your to-do list on their website so you can access it from anywhere you have Internet access, including a fancy phone if you go in for that sort of thing. It has all sorts of fun little features like the ability to automate reminder e-mails or even SMS (text) messages to your cell phone. I am both forgetful and a severe procrastinator, so to-do lists really are a must for me in some form.

On to the wiki. Most of you with a pulse are familiar with the most famous wiki in the world, Wikipedia. You already have at least some vague familiarity, then, with the concept of a wiki as being a set of interrelated web pages that different people can edit. What you might not have known is that it is very easy to have your very own wiki, free. You can access it from anyplace you have Internet access, again, and update the information there. Wikis are organized like a loose-leaf notebook, with each wiki page being a notebook page. That allows you to do whatever you want on the wiki page and organize the pages in a way that is meaningful to you. On Netcipia, the pages are organized into "Spaces" that you define and name, and control access to. This is better than most organizational software because those programs have already defined categories and limited how you put in information. Sometimes you don't realize those things work the way you need them to until you've already invested a lot of time and energy, and then don't allow you to pull the information out very well. At first, I thought I would mostly use the wiki as my private and personal online loose-leaf notebook. Then I realized, why not share certain appropriate parts with my daughter and soon-to-be ex-husband? Like a household phone list, a page for making the grocery list, and a calendar? Hmmm... we will see how that goes. Regardless, I can already report some success. I started by pruning (razing, really) the forest of sticky notes on my (work) desk. I had one sticky note, for instance, that had the names of some bands whose music I like and want to download. That's pretty stupid, since I only download music at home. So, I made a page called "Music to Look For" and typed in the names there. I put that page in an area where my daughter will be able to access it, because she frequently gives me lists of album titles scrawled on the backs of envelopes or something. I followed a similar process for almost all the Post-Its, and now they are all gone! Phone numbers are another good example. I have phone numbers programmed in my cell, written in the backs of several different planners, jotted on Post-Its, recorded in the address book of my e-mail program, and any number of other places. My wiki pages will allow me to corral all those phone numbers in one place that I can access from anywhere with an Internet connection.

Oh, and the version of Linux I decided on for my laptop was Ubuntu, partially because I've already heard good things about it, and partially because there is some guy who maintains a blog about getting Ubuntu to run on my exact laptop model. I love the Internet. I'm still deciding the most efficient way to get all the files off my laptop, because I have a ton of media on there and no place to put it all currently. I may have to go on a disk-burning spree.