So now I'm thinking about what to do with my MP3 player. I think it will be full of music for working out - it's smaller than my last Walkman - and I'll probably get an adapter for the cassette player in the car so I can stream books or music.
I'm looking forward to putting some of the music off my computer onto something other than a CD which skips in the car stereo....
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Final week of Learn 2.0
Found interesting podcasts this week, especially the one on NPR which had the best "Car Talk" call of the week. The unfortunate thing I did discover with many of the Yahoo podcasts is how outdated they were. For example, the technology and beer podcast hasn't been updated since 2005, yet shows on the first page of available podcasts. Since I'm looking for more recent information, I suspect I will have to go outside of Yahoo to find relevant podcasts.
The other interesting thing I've come across is that podcasting is like blogging - anyone can do it and finding relevant information to your liking seems to require reference librarian skills... In other words there's a lot of trivial stuff out there and finding something you can really get into will probably take more effort than many people can be bothered with. Perhaps I should open a host site for good podcasts....
The other interesting thing I've come across is that podcasting is like blogging - anyone can do it and finding relevant information to your liking seems to require reference librarian skills... In other words there's a lot of trivial stuff out there and finding something you can really get into will probably take more effort than many people can be bothered with. Perhaps I should open a host site for good podcasts....
Monday, June 18, 2007
Copyright and the library
Copyright law and policy is of great interest to me. I took a class at FSU which included quite a bit about copyright and it's really amazing to me that more people are not getting sued for violations of copyrighted materials. For instance, we had an instructor who would bring in the DVD "Office Space" to show for his students on the last day of his class - not that he had any kind of license to broadcast it. Other people use different items they have "borrowed" from others out on the web - Disney characters, etc. - and create bumper stickers and window decals, seeing nothing wrong with doing this. It would seem that the prevailing attitude is one of "everyone else is doing it..." which always leads me to "... and if everyone else was jumping off a cliff..."
As far as DRM goes, I can understand why groups like RIAA would be in favor of it, as they see a need to protect their bottom line financially and to a lesser extent to protect the artists they claim to represent. However, having seen their absolutely absurd tactics for prosecution - the countless stories of people who cannot afford to fight back being targeted for alleged file sharing more details available here - as well as the issue of embedding spyware in the DRM code - as Sony has done - I would have to say I'm against DRM as it is currently used. While I don't disagree that the creator of the work should be protected. I do find it hard to believe there is a noticeable decrease in sales due to p2p file sharing as there is no firm data either way.
There has to be some sort of a happy medium where people can get the item they would like in a manner which least inconveniences them. On the other hand, the developer of a piece of music or a cartoon character should not have to worry about protecting rights or getting compensation for the creation.
As far as DRM goes, I can understand why groups like RIAA would be in favor of it, as they see a need to protect their bottom line financially and to a lesser extent to protect the artists they claim to represent. However, having seen their absolutely absurd tactics for prosecution - the countless stories of people who cannot afford to fight back being targeted for alleged file sharing more details available here - as well as the issue of embedding spyware in the DRM code - as Sony has done - I would have to say I'm against DRM as it is currently used. While I don't disagree that the creator of the work should be protected. I do find it hard to believe there is a noticeable decrease in sales due to p2p file sharing as there is no firm data either way.
There has to be some sort of a happy medium where people can get the item they would like in a manner which least inconveniences them. On the other hand, the developer of a piece of music or a cartoon character should not have to worry about protecting rights or getting compensation for the creation.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Week 8
Week 8 with a week 7 podcast. Good subjects this week. I like online learning - most of my Master's program was offered that way. I think it allows the learner to work at their own pace better than many 'face to face' classes do. I haven't really offered nor been offered help with this course, but should I run across something that I cannot do I will be asking.
The Protopage is interesting and I will probably do more work on it at home. Not sure yet how to tag it properly. I'm not sure I will be using Flickr, I have some issues about that and I generally find the time to either put my photo's on my own web page or send them via email.
I think I'm going to sign up for Google's ad sense to see if I can make a dollar this month.... :-)
The Protopage is interesting and I will probably do more work on it at home. Not sure yet how to tag it properly. I'm not sure I will be using Flickr, I have some issues about that and I generally find the time to either put my photo's on my own web page or send them via email.
I think I'm going to sign up for Google's ad sense to see if I can make a dollar this month.... :-)
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