Musical Holocron

I've posted before regarding copyright, but if it wasn't clear I'm not in favor of DRM. In brief; it's complicated and restricts the rights of honest users and it can be easily circumnavigated by determined pirates. Honest users who get aggravated end up seeking out "pirate" methods anyhow, just so they can use the content they paid for legally.

That's why the following story made me smile. Judge rules that circumventing DRM is not illegal. This sets the precedent that any method available for enjoying your music or movies can be used as long as your goal is not piracy. It reinforces the fair use laws and rules that are already in place.

In essence, this ruling means that you're free to break DRM on media that you own. No longer is it illegal to rip your own DVDs or crippled audio CDs onto your hard disk.

Keep on hackin'!

Thanks to Mike for posting this to his twitter.

Labels: copyright, DMCA, legal

# posted by ArcoJedi : 12:57  0 comments

Here's just a quick note. Rock band Counting Crows has a special free mp3 downloads page on Facebook. If you are fan of theirs, you'll want to bookmark the page and check it out every so often. Alternatively, you can "like" their page and they'll update you when there's new songs available. The current song is a live version of Sweet Virginia that I'm downloading right now.

...And here's a bonus video for their first hit Mr. Jones. I recall first seeing this on MTV back in college around 1995 or 1996. There was always something interesting and quirky about it even though it wasn't big budget and special effects. The mood of the visuals seemed to match the music in a way that I really appreciated.

- Sent using Google Toolbar

# posted by ArcoJedi : 22:24  0 comments

I thought I'd linked this one a long time ago, but I went looking for it today and realized it wasn't here. Love them or hate them, here is the largest collection of cover versions of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. My favorite? Frank Zappa's band does their rendition during a live show replete with a killer horn section. They do the entire guitar solo note-for-note... ON THE HORNS! That tickles me just the right way. Enjoy.

Labels: audio, download, genre/classic-rock, music, music/artists, music/artists/led-zeppelin

# posted by ArcoJedi : 23:54  2 comments