Leonard Erickson wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:



 RJT> These were DVDs as well,  I can't recall how many in a box,  but
 RJT> typically a whole season or maybe several in one box. 

 LE> Well, the set I've got has a bunch of "DVD boxes" in a larger box
 LE> that takes up about 18" inches of shelf space. :-)

So far I've been able to resist...  :-)

 LE> Remember DIVX? The "pay per viewing" DVD-like gizmo? When you 
 LE> bought a disk, you got some number of "free" viewings. But only on 
 LE> *your* machine. Try playing it on a friend's and you had to use a 
 LE> credit card to pay for it and "authorize" it.

 RJT> Crap.

 LE> And when your "free" viewings ran out on your machine, you had to
 LE> buy more. 

 LE> They've got similar schemes they'd like folks to buy into for
 LE> downloaded music. 

 LE> Basicly, they want you to have to pay for every use. 

 RJT> Yeah,  well.  They can keep it at all they like with these silly
 RJT> attempts,  and if they even come close to implementing something that
 RJT> starts to look like it'll work there will be ways around it all over
 RJT> the 'net,  in real short order.

 LE> And, until and unless DNCA and "son of DMCA" (which hasn't passed
 LE> *yet*) get thrown out, they'll be able to sue you for having those
 LE> up on your web site.

Maybe.  Notice that I didn't say anything about putting this stuff up for
public consumption personally,  and since I don't have any 'net access at
this point in time it seems rather unlikely.  But someone will,  of that I
have no doubt.  All over the world...

 LE> Also, they are trying (and succeeding, all too often) to get the 
 LE> hardware required to not *allow* playing such games.

That bit reminds me of something I received a while back that talked about
hard drives that would have all sorts of "stuff" in them to help
with measures like this.  From what I recall,  nobody particularly wanted
to buy 'em.  *I* sure wouldn't!

 LE> That's why I want to no part of MS's planned successor to XP (or
 LE> even XP for that matter).

I run nothing later here than 98,  and that only on one box that holds
games for my grandkids to play.  Other boxes run software from other
sources.

 LE> I'm thinking about a laptop, but it'll have to be one that I can
 LE> get from the factory with Linux rather than XP!!

Sounds about right to me,  or one that I can wipe clean of whatever m$ crap
happens to be infesting it.

 RJT> Things are changing,  thanks to the technology we all love,  and the
 RJT> folks who run record companies and similar outfits are gonna have to
 RJT> learn how to deal with it. 

 LE> Yeah, but their preferred method of "dealinhg with it" is to get
 LE> laws passed that take away "fair use" rights.

And some of the politicians out there seem to want to go along with such
nonsense.  These folks all need a clue...

 RJT> Seen any legislation supporting the "rights" of buggy-whip makers
 RJT> lately? 

 LE> Nope, but there's lots and lots trying to make it illegal to copy
 LE> stuff. Or to access it in ways that the media folks don't like.

Then I won't use their "stuff".  Yeah,  there's a lot of popular
"content" out there that's under the control of those small
number of producers,  the record companies,  and Hollywood.  But there's a
lot of other good stuff out there as well.

 LE> Heck, if they had their way, it'd be illegal to sell used CDs and
 LE> DVDs! 

And if it were there'd be a black market for that stuff.

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