From My Keyboard

�Wow,” I said,

�this must be the

only Mac in Pittsfield."

�No�, the store

manager said.

�The other three

are in my house.�

It seems every time I want to write a tame piece, something irks me to no end. First, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), which in addition to suing a 12-year old Harlem girl for a Brittany Spears download, wants Joe consumer (you and me, baby) to continue to spend 18 dollars for a new CD that costs maybe 1 dollar to make, now wants your ISP to notify them if they think you are downloading or unlawfully trading music. Yeah, Ok, Sure. Start with every college campus first. That�s where 50% of supposed �music pirating� takes place. Since you asked me, no, I stopped downloading music long ago, when I realized that between Annrose and I, we have over 1,300 Music CD�s (all lawfully purchased) and we will never be able to get through every track on every one, or rip every one to our hard drives, because we both work for a living.

Yes I own a hard disk based player that I use while dealing with the rigors of the daily commute (see my review of the Archos jukebox in an earlier issue), but no, it has no stolen downloads on it. That is by my choice. It is also the choice of others to do differently if they choose. Who am I to tell you how to live your life? Do I think the RIAA needs to change its policies on how much CD�s are sold for in stores? You bet they do. This is why I buy only a handful of CD�s each year now. The industry is pricing itself out of business. Is that why the Grammy�s are so overblown each year?

So where is Apple in all of this? They have cornered the market on legal downloading with the iTunes Music Store. Did you see the Apple/Pepsi ad during the Super Bowl?? And on the 20th anniversary of the �1984� spot no less! Did you get the subliminal messaging there? The Girl was sitting in front of an iMac. It clearly said �If you want to download music without getting in trouble, buy a new Mac and Join the ITMS.� Brilliant! I should be so smart to write an ad like that! Every parent in America looking for a new computer should run right out and get a new Macintosh for their musically addicted kids! What is that market share again?

We spent our X-mas/New Years vacation in the Berkshire region of Western Mass. & upstate NY. Along with the 200+ pics that we took on the trip, we found that there is no such thing as wireless access in rural areas. Depressing when you have a new airport card in your old laptop and the only way to get on-line in your hotel is through dial-up! At least the Hotel we stayed at offered you 90 minutes a day of free access as part of your stay.

That is changing though, because according to at least two travel websites, one of the most frequently asked questions is �How can I get my e-mail/surf the web/upload photos� while I�m on my vacation? Try doing this on a cruise ship. On our last cruise in August of �02, we spent some serious green just to send a few e-mails and video e-mails from the ship�s I-cafe. Now, some cruise lines are offering you high speed access in your stateroom, for about 12 to 15 dollars a day. I hear it still isn�t all that fast, somewhere between ISDN and slow DSL/Cable speed.

Finally, when you travel you are bound to meet someone who shares your interests. Such was the case when I walked into a computer store in Pittsfield. Around the corner from my Hotel, I needed a telephone cord to plug my iBook into the hotel room�s phone to get on-line. While the store was mostly a PC operation, there was sitting on one table a solitary CRT iMac, set up for web access. �Wow, � I said, �this must be the only Mac in Pittsfield. � �No�, the store manager said. �The other three are in my house.�

From My Keyboard -
The way overboard edition

BY BILL CHACHKES

Mar | Apr 2004
Issue No.15