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...