"Akihabara covers a square of about 10 city blocks. During the Edo period, it was home to low-status samurai, who were constantly fighting and burning it down. After a particularly destructive conflagration in 1869, a shrine to the God of Fire Protection was built called "Akiba-dai-gongen." The place soon became known as Akiba-hara, or Akiba-shrine. " A must-see for the nerdly...
Comments 4:10:44 PM    

Charles goes on (from his post to Dave Farber's IP List): 'Yeah, but the thing that the record companies *really* like about it is that you can tie a DataPlay disc to a PC - and can't share the files once "unlocked". And they can sell you an album but unlock it song by song. Jay Samit of EMI is *very* keen on this. If you haven't heard of Dataplay, read up about it (the company's site at dataplay.com is pretty useless - but it's too new for many people to have done much. PCWorld.com has something, on a quick google.)

Replace the CD? They'll try - BMG, EMI and Universal are signed up and I'd be surprised if others don't follow. Jive Records is the world's biggest independent. That's some head of steam.

And how much do DataPlay discs cost? "DataPlay discs and music players are set to go on sale in the US in the summer, with players likely to cost $280-$450 (£195-£315). Blank discs are expected to cost $5-$12 (£3.50-£8.40). "

But don't think that the price of records will go *down*. Oh no. And parents, just imagine the cries of "I WANNA Dataplay player cos the new Britney's on it!!" '

Groups like RIAA, MPA and their ilk will do anything to control people's hardware, so they can keep their stranglehold on their respective industries. I can't help but think that music, movies and other content will only improve, and more variety will be published, if these guys lose. Hands off MY computer!
Comments 10:15:09 AM    

Chris Gulker's view from Silicon Valley - in words and pictures