UMG is Stupid

I must say that I may not have gotten enough school work done today, but I did get a good amount of shopping done today in under 30 minutes. I picked up the new Incubus album and a few gifts, and my Pop 5 game came in the mail. I'll hold off on my impressions until I play it (hopefully this Saturday). On with the show though: Univesral Music Group thinks that it deserves royalties from every iPod sold. Is this because of a patent? No no, nothing that makes nearly that much sense: they believe that they're entitled to money because they believe that the iPod will end up storing illegal music so this tax will help defray lost album sales. Of course Microsoft rolled over with the Zune and ceded to paying UMG a buck for all twenty Zunes that were sold, but I can't see Steve Jobs being so gullible. Why are you going to punish everyone for a crime they haven't committed yet? That's like having to pay a little more for a DVD player just in case you decide to burn copies of your movies for your friends. The article strangely suggests that a fee be levied so that people can download all the music they want legally once they buy an mp3 player. I don't see how that would ever be feasible for record labels, and I can't imagine that Apple would be happy about just giving away music on iTunes, though they admittedly don't make a whole lot from each purchase made on it. I can't be the only one sick and tired of these record labels getting so greedy. How about being more creative and putting out better music rather than try cheat more money out of the American public? Also, it's a matter of principle. They had nothing to do with the creation of the iPod, why do they deserve a cut of its revenues? They are a part of iTunes's success, but they already get paid for that. I wish that Ruckus would be released to the world so that people could try out albums before buying them like I've been doing; why doesn't UMG work on that instead? Idiots.

To make up for yesterday's dearth in Apple news, I have plenty to share today. Apparently, they're teaming up with ViewSonic to offer a 17-in widescreen LCD monitor by the end of the year, presumably with the quality we've come to expect from Apple Cinema Displays. That'd be a good, affordable component for a 15" MacBook docking station. Apple has definitely had some failed products in the past couple of decades, and there are some that never got to fail because they were never released, and you can see a few of those here. I got a kick out of it because most of them were just ahead of their time. Who knows, maybe we'll see that tablet one soon after all. I also love the new Get a Mac ads for the holidays, namely the gift exchange one. I'm impressed that they decided to get so geeky with it. TiVo has obviously been under fire for quite a while for hurting the advertising market on television, and in their quest to figure out how to gain from advertising they are going to try tacking on ads at the end of recorded programming. I can't imagine how this will help much, but at least they've been coming up with some creative suggestions. I'm surprised that the ads over forwarding hasn't impressed more advertisers. Lastly, VCast subscribers will soon be treated to limited offerings from YouTube on their cell phones. The service itself costs $15 a month, and I don't see why YouTube would bolster subscription numbers much. I don't think we have the technology yet for videos on cell phones to be desirable.

Not a whole lot of movie news today, once again. A Thai comedy called Tears of the Black Tiger that the Weinstein brothers had picked up while at Miramax will finally see American movie theaters! Miramax kept the movie after the split and never released it, but Magnolia has bought it and plans to show it in its entirety (i.e. uncut). It's supposed to be visually amazing, though I'll admit that the trailer is very odd. The Spirit award nominees have been announced, in case you're an indie movie buff. Looking at that list really makes me wish I checked out more of those flicks. Anyway, the last thing is a clip from 10 Items or Less. I think it stands to be a real fun movie, and I'm so interested in Paz Vega that I thought I'd post a picture for all to enjoy:



I'm going to go for TMI Tuesday this week:

1. My biggest sexual turn on is __________?
I'm going to go with a good dancer. I'm not going to lie, T&A is nice and all, but a girl who moves real well when I dance with her is immediately hot. Especially to Latin music, because it's so easy to be really sexy when you dance to Salsa or Bachata, but notice that there's no grinding involved. I just think that's so cool.
2. On a scale of 1-10, how jealous do you get (have you gotten)?
I'll get jealous, but not outwardly, so I'll go with a 6 or 7. I can definitely get jealous, but it's not like I'd shoot someone over it or anything crazy like that.
3. Have you ever had sex with someone you work(ed) with? Any negative consequences?
Sounds interesting, maybe I'll find out someday =P
4. Wash up, cuddle or fall asleep?
Right now, I could go for some cuddle time. Unfortunately, only my Automata homework wants to cuddle with me right now.
5. Which is more important of the two in "chemisty," physical attractiveness or sexual performance?
Physical attractiveness, I'd say. But what the Hell do I know =P