Apple announced today that 8 million songs on iTunes will be DRM-free, and by the end of this quarter all 10 million will be.
Between Apple and Amazon (who are already DRM-free), we may have just witnessed the beginning of the end of music DRM. No one offering DRM’ed music will be able to compete. I hope this trend continues as the savvier companies realize that DRM punishes lawful consumers far more than pirates.
Update: My mistake. It’s the iTunes Plus library that’ll be DRM-free. Well, it’s a start. I still think they’re idiots for clinging to DRM at all, even though I understand why they do.
Posted on 01.06.09 | Keep it going (0)
An important date has come and gone: Blackbird has now, officially, spent more time kicking around the outside world, learning and developing, than she did chillin’ in the womb, wedging her little butt into mom’s pelvis.
But another date, a very auspicious date, has also arrived. With little ceremony, but great fanfare, Blackbird crossed the threshold and asserted herself on the world. Her power of self-determination is now manifest. Behold! Blackbird can stand up.
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Posted on 01.03.09 | Keep it going (1)
Another terrible, terrible idea, brought to you by the Bush administration:
The Bush administration today issued a sweeping new regulation that protects a broad range of health-care workers—from doctors to janitors—who refuse to participate in providing services that they believe violate their personal, moral or religious beliefs.
This silliness will not prevent abortions, first off. It’s a first step in a long march toward larger legislative actions based on religion; specifically Christianity. But if that’s not bad enough, let’s all play a game: count the days until someone whose personal beliefs involve racism, sexism, homophobia, or another intolerant views ends up getting a patient killed.
Can this administration get any worse? Well, I guess we’ve got a month more to find out.
Posted on 12.18.08 | Keep it going (1)
So, the site you see before you is my first bold step into the world of WordPress, at the urging of my good friend and personal software wonk, Steve Laniel, who also very generously sacrificed over four hours of his time to help me with the not-so-seamless conversion from Movable Type.
A few notes: The new ‘design’ is not an actual design, but more a placeholder while I learn the ropes of WP’s templates. Also, my moving to WordPress has more to do with my lack of technical skills and my personal resources than any statement on my part about Movable Type’s fitness as a platform. It was mostly driven by the fact that the spam problems I was having were becoming ridiculous and I knew for a fact that I could solve them with WP.
And finally, there are likely many bugs and dead links. If you see anything awry with the site, please drop me a line at chrisr@currentconfig.com and I’ll get right on fixing them.
I tend to do these things a bit ‘bare-assed’ instead of running a dev site like a normal, decent website proprietor. Thanks for your patience and understanding with the changes.
Posted on 12.18.08 | Keep it going (0)
Jdimytai Damour, hero of American consumers everywhere, died 11/29/2008. He gave his life so New York City shoppers could obtain only the best deals for their family and themselves this Christmas at Wal-Mart. If only the unnamed 28-year-old pregnant woman who so valiantly dove underfoot could have also given her life and the life of her near-term fetus so that others could save. Her selfless act will not go unremembered this Christmas.
It is these brave souls who remind us that the War for Christmas is alive and well in America. Stand strong you bargain hunters. You remind us all why Santa Claus wears red.
Posted on 12.01.08 | Keep it going (1)
Now that I’m a father, I’m taking the long view into account and thinking a lot about how decisions I make now will play out when my daughter is older. Decisions that have long-term effects now have a dual layering I try to be mindful of: one layer is the effect on my life and the other is how it will be interpreted by Blackbird and what message(s) it could send.
So, knowing this, I’d like everyone to help me out and start popularizing the following saying:
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you again. Stop doing that. It’s not nice.”
Thanks in advance, everyone.
Posted on 11.16.08 | Keep it going (0)
Thank you to everyone who looked to our future and saw hope.
Posted on 11.04.08 | Keep it going (1)
The hardest part should be the decision, not the action.
Google has you covered. Just go to their 2008 Voter Info map tool, type in your address, and it’ll tell you where you need to be on Tuesday, November 4th to cast your vote.
And to those people out there who are trying to disenfranchise voters by posting misinformation about voting: what you’re doing is treasonous. Get the hell out of our country.
Posted on 10.30.08 | Keep it going (0)
Blackbird waved yesterday. Three times. She watched us waving hello or goodbye to her, tentatively lifted her arm, then moved it back and forth with a gentle flex of her fingers. Our eighth month has been about these first steps from helpless baby into able and curious child.
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Posted on 10.20.08 | Keep it going (2)
I admit, I thought that Palin was going to be a ramble-y mess for the whole debate. But then she clearly and concisely summed up my stance on her candidacy. I admit it, I am impressed at her clarity on this topic:
Ifill: “As Vice President, there’s nothing you’ve promised as a candidate that you would take off the table because of this financial issue?”
Palin: “There is not, and how long have I been at this? Like five weeks?”
Good job, Governor.
Posted on 10.03.08 | Keep it going (0)
