RIAA: Rip your CD? Thief!

The Washington Post reports:

In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

So, is Apple aiding and abetting this theft with iTunes? Will Fake Steve Jobs be led off in cuffs, ranting and raving about person responsibility? All I have to say is that this Scottsdale guy was probably picked out of a huuuuuge list of people who rip their CDs for personal use. Talk about winning a reverse sucky lottery...

UPDATE: Turns out dude was using these files in Kazaa, a popular file sharing program. Moral... RIAA not as evil as we thought, Washington Post, much worse reporting than we thought.

Blogging's good for business

At least that's what the NY Times says.

To its true believers at small businesses, it is a low-cost, high-return tool that can handle marketing and public relations, raise the company profile and build the brand.

It's sort of surprising to me that few small businesses have taken this rather simple route to boost their overall exposure. Still, knowing how demanding all of the other aspects of running a business can be, maybe it's not so surprising!

Have a great weekend!

Live podcasts

MSNBC reports on podcasters becoming their own talk show hosts using Skype and other services online to put out live shows in addition to the more traditional recorded on-demand podcasts (tradition dating "all the way back" to 2004)... good coverage of the phenomenon here.

Blogging will probably continue to be light through the rest of the week - lots of late-in-the-year projects here at Nineball!

A holiday treat from Paul Anka

Paul Anka does Smells Like Teen Spirit. No, seriously. It's like my worst nightmares came true, but it's... oddly compelling. Plus, dad might get into grunge now...

Merry Chirstmas to everyone... we'll be a little quieter around here for a few days!

Latest screencast: Sharing creative works

Check out the latest addition to the Nineball Media YouTube channel... a Creative Commons use of a Creative Commons primer! For the original comic this was based on, go to the Sharing Creative Works page at creativecommons.org.

MicPort Pro

Just got a new product...the Entrance MicPort Pro. The cool aspect of this is that it takes a high end XLR input mic and makes it into a USB mic. It works in Windows and Mac , and I can confirm that it works in Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard). I will caution that this was with my setup only, and it did not work when plugged into a powered USB hub (only through the keyboard USB port and directly to the iMac).

Good news for portability... no need to lug a whole mixer or a substandard mic!

Lawmakers rattling sabres over copyright enforcement bill

Looks like Congress is making noise over copyright issues again. I'm in the middle of a project on the impact of copyright laws on podcasting and new media... while we asuredly want to protect artists and the good stuff they produce, I get a little nervous when record labels and other entities flex their muscles on the Hill to protect their economic interests... it tends to make things trickier for podcasters and independent content producers. We shall see...

Zune followup

Just caught an interesting comment from the folks at Zune here at the Nineball Media blog that I wanted to put front and center regarding linking to Zune podcasting links:

Thanks for the great post on 1-click podcast subscription links for the Zune. We also have a Deep Link URL process that will enable podcasters to link to their podcasts page in the Zune Marketplace.

For the podcast deep link below to work, podcasters will need to verify that their podcast is in the Zune Marketplace. If your podcast is not in the Zune Marketplace, then download and install the software and submit your podcast feed URL to us through the podcast page in the Marketplace. Please be patience after your submission and only submit a valid XML based RSS feed with active enclosures.

If your podcast is already in the Zune Marketplace, then follow the steps below to get the unique deep linking URL to use for your Zune podcast link.

Here is how to make a deep link to a podcast program page in the Zune Marketplace.

1. Go to the Podcast page in Zune Marketplace you want to make a link.
2. Click on “Tell a Friend” and send it to yourself via email.
3. In the e-mail message, right-click on the album name and copy hyperlink.
- Link Code: http://social.zune.net/external/LaunchClient.aspx?mtype=Podcast&mid= ID
4. Paste the hyperlink somewhere as this is the complete link you will need (i.e., Outlook, Word). If you paste it and just the album name is pasted, right click on the album name again and select Edit Hyperlink to find the URL.

Here is a working example of the Deep Link:
http://social.zune.net/my/ContentRedirect.ashx?mtype=Podcast&mid=aae52850-0b06-484e-82e2-bafbdc5a494a

Rob Greenlee, Zune Podcast Programming Lead

Thanks Rob... I really have to confess I like the attention the Zune is paying to podcasting. I'd love to try one... what are the odds they'll support Mac OS anytime soon? Oh, about as likely as a Dolphins Super Bowl appearance... gotcha.

A new resource: Nineball on YouTube

So, Portland's practically underwater and DC is frozen over... a perfect time for Nineball Media to launch its YouTube channel! We'll be providing free video how-to's over there... subscribe to the channel, or just check it out at youtube.com/9ballmedia. In the meantime, check out the cool preview video here:

Reinstalling SoundSoap in Leopard

I am a huge fan of BIAS's SoundSoap2, but I was without it for a few days after upgrading the trusty Nineball Media computers to Mac OS X Leopard. Turns out that on a reinstall some people were running into permissions issues that are easily solved by making folders in your Application Support directory... check this out for more scoop. I actually had to go a step further and make two folders. You'd think these installers would be smart enough to do it on their own, eh?

In any event, I'm now able to scrub background sound out like a champ, thanks to SoundSoap being back. And the crowd roars... with less hiss.

RIP Evel Knievel

Evel Knievel died last night... he was one of the few childhood idols I had... looking back, it was probably more because he was a cool daredevil and I was 5, but nonetheless I remember my early career ambitions included "motorcycle jumping" largely because of him. Oh, that and the extremely cool crank powered car that purposely broke into a kajillion pieces when it hit a wall (lower left).

In any event... Evel was a maverick in the best sense of the word, and I'd like to think I've lived up to the aspirations of my toddler self in some way. But there's no way I'm trying that Snake Canyon thing... even Evel couldn't make that.