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Readings for Thursday's mp3 discussion



Beloved classmates and Yanni impersonators,

I've got two readings for you guys to get back into the mood for mp3
round 2.  Neither of them are crucial readings, so don't feel obligated
to read them if you're too busy.  If it becomes apparent to me that no
one has done any reading, however, I will present the class with a
pop-quiz worth 50% of your semester grades.

*First, check out the excerpts at the end of this email  that I cut out
from an mp3 Insider (cnet) article.

*Second, check out another article at:

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1552672.html?tag=st.cn.sr1.dir.

This second article discusses digital rights management and some other
cool stuff.

*Third, if you have time on Wednesday night (not any earlier!), you can
get ahead a little and visit the site I'll be using for class Thursday:

www.ils.unc.edu/~ahlah/mp3.html

It's got some cool links, but it probably won't be worth visiting until
Wednesday night (sorry so late, I'm just starting to put up all the info
now).

Anyway, here's the first reading (very short), which will give you a
sense of where I plan on taking Thursday's class:

"Imagine this: first, you create an online playlist from a collection of
almost every song ever recorded.  Then you access the music via your
cell phone (with a stereo headset, of course), handheld device, home
stereo, or car stereo.  Forget about surfing the FM dial for listenable
tunes;  you'll be able to bypass those shlocky DJs and do your own
programming to get music--no cassettes, cds, or 8tracks involved...

Interestingly, in this scenario, the entire concept of owning music gets
turned on its side, since you never actually have the music in any
tangible sense; instead, you possess the right to listen to it.  It
could reach the point where we all end up with some sort of PIN number
for accessing our music from all kinds of devices, even public ones...

Wireless Music--Big Deal
We've had it for years, in the form of FM and AM radio.  So what makes
what I'm talking about different?  Well, if you take the powder of
online MP3 storage, add the water of 3G technology*, and stir, you get
better-sounding, completely personalized music wherever you go.  It's
what technology should be about: higher quality and user control.

*3G is "the third-generation wireless initiative" which promises to
allow large amounts of data to travel quickly over the same wireless
networks you already use for wireless phone calls--the Internet without
phone lines.  Expect to see it live in mainstream products anywhere from
later this year to 2005."


Thanks,

Harry
ps: If my discussion on Thursday  is too boring, feel free to throw eggs
and tomatoes at me.