Culture and Society

Senator John Sununu (R-N.H.) is only 39 years-old – damn – but he sure is smart: Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., joined others in criticizing the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for suing alleged music swappers, calling the RIAA’s legal tactics heavy-handed and against the intent of U.S. copyright laws, …

It appears as if Apple actually wants to hold on to its lead role this time – they might even like making money! Apple Computer on Thursday announced a surprise alliance with Hewlett-Packard, the world’s second largest computer company, in a bid to further bolster its leading position in digital …

I have neglected to mention I had a great time speaking with Vince Outlaw on his New Jazz thing show last night on KSDS, San Diego last night. Our main topic was the status of music available over the Internet and my prediction that 2004 will be the year it …

RealNetworks recently sued Microsoft for antitrust – now they’re unveiling a new media player and a digital music store. Coincidence? “We have redefined how consumers can find and enjoy music on the Web,” said Dan Sheeran, RealNetwork senior vice president. The Seattle-based company is calling its latest media software RealPlayer …

This is A) wrong, B) immaterial when it comes to the simple courtesy of attribution, which has been in place since the Pleistocene, C) retarded. Retrocrush – which IS cool, though calling itself the “world’s finest pop culture website” might be a bit hyperbolic – is at the center of …

Euro consumer group sues record labels over copy protection: A European consumer watchdog body is suing the world’s largest music companies for selling copy-protected compact discs that won’t play on car stereos and computers, the Belgium-based organization said on Monday. The group, known in Dutch as Test-Aankoop and in French …

A new Pew study says that music file sharing is way down and paid online music services are way up. While this is clearly good news for the paid services in particular and the recording industry in general, it was entirely predictable that the RIAA’s lawsuit campaign against sharers would …

If coming up with a good millennial sound bite were a criterion for leadership, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il would be much less a psycho sack of totalitarian-communist shit than he is: Computer technology has been given top priority in North Korea, with the eldest son of the country’s ruler leading …

The combination of inexpensive speedy computers with burgeoning storage capacity, the wide availability of high-speed Internet connections, and the public’s growing familiarity with digital music formats (like MP3) and the portable hardware on which to play them (such as Apple’s iPod) have set the stage. Add to that the recording …

Being American, I don’t give a damn about the rest of the world, but this is significant: The Supreme Court of the Netherlands today reaffirmed that it is lawful to make the filesharing software KaZaA publicly available. This court is the first Supreme Court or other national high court ruling …