Shut up! You talk to much…

Hey! You over there, I know about your kind
You’re like the Independent Network News on Channel 9
Everywhere that you go, no matter where you at
I said you talk about this, and you talk about that
When the cat took your tongue, I say you took it right back
Your mouth is so big, one bite would kill a Big Mac

You talk about people, you don’t even know
And you talk about places, you NEVER go
You talk about your girl, from head to toe
I said your mouth’s moving fast, and your brain’s moving slow

You’re the instigator, the orator of the town
You’re the worst when you converse, just a big mouth clown
You talk when you’re awake, I heard you talk when you sleep
Has anyone ever told you, that talk is cheap

Talking is the one thing, that you can do best
You told the cavity creeps, to watch out for Crest
You never have the story, right and exact
And then you always try to bore me, with your yakkity yak

Everyday you are out fighting someone in the street
And you’re always fighting someone you know ya can’t beat
Then you wonder how, you got in this mess
Just think of what you said, then take a guess

You’re always spreading rumors, whether bad or good
You’re the damn Walter Cronkite of the neighborhood
The Barbara Walters, and the Howard Cosell
You always come around, with a story to tell

Said it’s everybody’s business that you love to mind
And talkin to you, is like dropping a dime
You’re spreading the word, like it is your job
You should be a stool pigeon, who works for the mob

A big blabbermouth, that’s what you are
If you were a talk show host, you’d be a star
I said your mouth is big, size extra large
And when you open it, it’s like my garage

You always like to gossip, just like a girl
You talk so damn much, it’s outta this world
When you’re reincarnated, in your second life
You won’t be a man, you’ll be a nagging wife

Twenty-five hours, eight days a week
Thirteen months outta year, is when you speak
I’m tired of listening to the garbage you talk
Why don’t you find a short pier, and take a long walk

Take for example, this statement from Jennifer Pariser, chief of litigation for Sony BMG, which was uttered during the trial of Jammie Thomas, a woman from Minnesota who was ordered to pay $220,000.00 by the court for sharing 24 songs online. Pariser testified that: “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” He added that when one makes that copy, it’s “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy.’”

Pariser just said that even if you own a CD, copying it to your hard drive for your own personal listening purposes constitutes to stealing. Isn’t that just stupid? I’ve heard the RIAA has already modified their statements regarding this topic but nevertheless, that earlier statement just shows how blinded the RIAA can get just to protect their interests. They don’t even care if they alienate legitimate CD buyers.

I wish 2008 will bring the geriatric geezers at the RIAA to their senses.

Oink was an invite only music torrent site that has acquired a reputation for having some of the best music releases on the internet. It has become a haven for hardcore music fans — the type who needs a daily fix of new music and who want to listen to albums first on MP3s before deciding to buy albums.

the raid was done by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which has an affiliation with the RIAA. According to the IFPI, they conducted a two year investigation into Oink before mounting the raid. I’ve seen a newsfeed from the BBC regarding this raid and that “two year” claim seems highly suspect. A number of accusations were so obviously erroneous. First, Oink did not ask members to pay for a subscription. Second, Oink was only a tracker and never released the music files themselves.

I have  very firm stand about the insistence of the music industry to desperately implement copyright issues in a world that has already changed. The music industry should change its old, and obviously outdated practice and begin to change with the times.

Oink, you will be forever remembered.

This year is no exception either. In a recent press conference Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPod touch, the newest generation iPod in the market. The iPod Touch is basically a stripped down version of the company’s bestseller iPhone. It can play music, videos and photos and even has WiFi capabilities. Lest you think that the era of the physical clickwheel has just passed us by, Jobs said that the iPod Touch is actually an addition to the iPod lineup. All of the other product lines in the iPod family will remain although these will have significant changes. For example, the Shuffle will now come in more colors, and the Nano will have a slimmer build and a new interface. The same goes for the iPod Video, which is now called the iPod Classic, which will also sport the new interface, as well as a beefier capacity and battery life.

Christmas just got a whole lot messier.

I used to rip some of my CDs to an MP3 format, at around 192kbps. At that time, that setting suited my purposes of having a decent enough sound quality without the file getting too large. With the arrival of the iPod, I started ripping from between 256 to 320 kbps. I still used the MP3 format but there was a time I actually used Apple’s AAC format just to try it and because I knew it had a smaller file imprint. That experiment didn’t last long because AAC may be great if you only have Apple compatible machines. Put the file in an environment where “Apple” means a kind of fruit and you’re left with unplayable music files. I’d rather go for the more universally accepted format.

With this present batch of CDs though I am tinkering with a lossless format, specifically FLAC. I’m doing this for three reasons. First, I installed Rockbox on my iPod, which means I can now play practically any format. It’s liberating to know that you can dump OGG VORBIS, FLAC or even Monkey Audio into your Rockbox’ed player and be confident that it will work. My second reason for using Flac is that I’m looking at really archiving my collection for easy access and to protect my CDs from unnecessary scratches. If I want to play something from my collection, I’ll just get the FLAC file with no worries at all. Third reason? Well, with storage capacities at its largest and most affordable, it’s not a problem consuming such a large space for my music files.

What about you guys? What kind music formats do you use when ripping your CDs?

I have decided that ripping my CDs will be my pet project for the month. I’ve already set up my computer for maximum efficiency in ripping by downloading Exact Audio Copy (EAC) – the digital music connoisseur’s choice for best CD ripper. The funny thing about EAC though is that it has built a reputation for being the best ripper on earth because it is so damn complicated to use. There are just so many tweaks and settings you need to fiddle with in order to get the maximum efficiency for the rip. I bet the casual music fan won’t even be bothered to open the options menu of a strange piece of software when they can just use Microsoft’s built in Windows Media Player to rip their CD of Celine Dion or Beyonce Knowles. But I tell you the difference of the rips from WMP and from EAC are night and day (it’s like comparing Celine to, say, Martha Wainwright or Joanna Newsom). It really is worth the hassle and cursing because EAC’s output has top notch detail and clarity. No muddy quality for this baby. From here on out, I’m EAC’s man all the way.

What I have done instead is to install Rockbox on my 5G iPod. The Rockbox is basically an operating system replacement to the  existing OS installed in various music players. The plug-in architecture of Rockbox means various features can  be added to further enhance the capabilities of these players.

I’ll write about the other great features of Rockbox at some future time. Right now I am quite happy that with this firmware/OS replacement I can now load my favorite FLAC files on my iPod. These files have now been freed from my laptop. Even OGG files can now play in my machine. Nothing gives a smile to your face than to hear your favorite songs in lossless fidelity. My Tom Waits collection appreciates the upgrade.

The distribution of music has entered a new phase with the introduction of digital formats like MP3, AAC, and WMA. with digital music files now escaping the boundaries of the nerd and becoming a universally recognized format, it is only a matter of time before this is used imaginatively into introducing new formats. Take for example the increasingly popular idea of coming out with music in the thumb drive format. The White Stripes have recently done it with their new album Icky Thump. Now an independent record label recently released an announcement that they are now the world’s first record lable to use the USB flash drive format as its official format for releasing albums.

The label, called SUPERFROTHCO, will be releasing its first USB drive album on September. I for one am quite interested how this new format will develop. With flash drives becoming more and more inexpensive, this could actually be the wave of the future. The possibilities of this format are also endless because you can actually insert other types of files in the drive like videos, art works and even lyrics. The USB drive format is going to effectively cover artwork though. We’ll see what the future has in store.

Our first USB Flash Drive release will be the debut album from
painter/jazz musician Jeffrey Scott Holland’s JSH COMBO, a peculiar
combo that weds experimental modern jazz to dixieland, cabaret and
show tunes, and comes out in a whole new realm of sonic territory in
the process. The album will ship on September 1st, 2007 but we’re
already taking pre-orders and sending out review copies to the media.
This album will be available ONLY from Superfrothco and ONLY on the
MP3-player-friendly USB Flash Drive format!

All future Superfrothco releases, such as the long-awaited GRILLO THE
CLOWN album, will be released in this format. Back catalog items like
HASIL ADKINS’ final album “Night Life” will be reissued in this format
as well, with bonus material.

If you were wondering, in the beginning of the video, it’s not a burning cross, it’s a flaming cross. Ha!

According to Samwell in a quote from his MySpace Page:

My songs might contain suggestive lyrics, but I am always a Southern gentlemen.

People from the South are so nice, don’t you think? What what? :)

This morning, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a new Apple patent application titled “Securing and controlling access to digital data,” which describes how motion tracked by an input device other than a keyboard.

A good example of this would be an iPhone touch-pad that could be used to emulate a combination lock to secure digital data.

While this is not strictly speaking DRM, the patent application nonetheless contemplates the technology’s use as a means of access control, which is after all the primary function of DRM.

Apparently other Apple patent applications have more explicitly detailed DRM-related research.

Apple’s “Secure software updates” patent application for example describes a method to update DRM software.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it. Data access controls have their uses.

Future iPhone owners will no doubt welcome having their data protected if they lose the device.