March 4, 2007

Milano

On my last day before leaving we took an early train to Milano, Italy. We travelled first class and still it was rather tourist class. So if you ever come across the choice of taking the Cisalpino train from Switzerland to Milano, you should ride 1st class. Seriously.

The city itself was rather uneventful. First we took a small tram on a circle around the inner city. A trip that took about an hour. We were told by the city guide Marco Polo that it would show us all the great sights and would be really interesting. What they didn't say is that you have to be smaller that 1,70meters or you can't really see anything since the trains have windows only for really small people and the seats are build so you sit sideways and aren't able to look outside. Here s pic of such a tram:



Next thing we did was to climb the duomo. Well actually not climbing but taking the lift. Really nice experience. You could take a good look around the city and notice all the smog and dirt. Great thing!









February 28, 2007

chocolate heaven

Yeah...we went to the chocolate factory. You could smell cocoa und chocolate from 1 block away. Just great.
The city of Fribourg (where the factory is located at) is quite boring, but they have one reeeeaaally nice street going down a mountain...just look at the curbs and the wall on the second picture...hilarious...




Now I just will show you some pics of chocolate (unfortunately there was no visit allowed of the factory's inside.




And finally some unsorted pics of Fribourg, which are nice to look at, though the city itself is really boring. Sorry to say that... Go to Genéve if you want to have some excitement...






Take care.
-tuzz

Paul Klee Center, blizzards and walking in winter forrests

Hi there,
so far my vacations here are superb. First thing we did was to pay the Paul Klee center a visit. They have a show there right now about Martin Walser, showing his artwork and everything in relation to P. Klee since they lived at the same time. Klee's artworks were really amazing, but even more impressive to me was the show of Rémy Zaugg. It's shown only for a limited time, but I loved his work. I will do a small feature on him here, in a couple of days, probably when I am back home.
These are two pictures of the P.K. center. I really liked the outside and inside architecture. More on the architect later.



Next day we wanted to go hiking on a snow trail down a mountain. Unfortunately we got into a blizzard when reaching the top of the mountain. We tried to walk a little with the snow shoes, but you couldn't see anything up there. So we had to go down again. Quite sad.




In the last picture you can see what it looked like on top of the mountain. In the distance you can see the lift and a small house...but everything is very ....white.... ;-)

Yesterday we finally managed to get into the snow without a blizzard and had a really nice hike trough a snowy forrest. Great walk.

I am a little in a hurry, more details in the next days.
We will leave now to visit a chocolate factory....swiss chocolate factory....heaven :-D




February 23, 2007

Ornette Coleman's Grammy Speach



I found this on a jazz blog website. And I believe this is just too good to not have many people read it. That's why I am posting it here as well. If you have any comments to that please feel free to post them. Additional infos on Coleman after his speech.
Here we go:


Most people out there world don't know that Ornette Coleman actually received a lifetime achievement award at the pre-telecast ceremony during Grammy weekend.

But even fewer people know that Ornette Coleman gave one of the most "out" speeches ever that had most of the crowd muttering, "Who the hell is this guy? What rock did they pull him out from under?"

Anyways, I received this transcription from a person who attended the ceremony which was not televised and only open to industry insiders and award recipients. It starts with an introduction by Charlie Haden, Ornette's longtime musical collaborator.

Ornette Coleman's Lifetime Achievement Acceptance Speech (starting with Charlie Haden’s comments)

CH: Tonight NARAS is presenting an award that goes to the deepest and most beautiful part of music--deep and beautiful like Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and Ornette Coleman.

Ornette opened up a whole new world of musical discovery and exploration. That journey of music being born for the first time, continues today in his compositions and improvisation.

Over the years we’ve played many concerts and many, many recordings together and even now, when I play music with him it’s the most exciting and rewarding musical experience of my life. I am honored to present this Lifetime A A to the great Ornette Coleman.


OC: It is really very, very real to be here tonight, in relationship to life and death and I’m sure they both love each other.

I really don’t have any present thoughts about why I’m standing here other than trying to figure out something to say that could be useful to someone that believes.

One of the things I am experiencing is very important and that is: You don’t have to die to kill and you don’t have to kill to die. And above all, nothing exists that is not in the form of life because life is eternal with or without people so we are grateful for life to be here at this very moment.

For myself, I’d rather be human than to be dead. And I would also die to be human. So you can’t die, you can’t die to be neither one, regardless of what you say or think so that’s why I believe that music itself is eternal in relationship to sound, meaning, intelligence…all the things that have to have something to do with being alive because you were born and because someone else made it possible for you to be here, which we call our parents etc. etc.

For me, the most eternal thing is that I would like to live until I learn what it is and what it isn’t…that is, how do we kill death since it kills everything?

And it’s hard to realize that being in the human form is not as easy as wondering what is going to happen to you even if you do know what it is and it doesn’t depend on if you know what is going to happen to you.

No one can know anything that life creates since no one is life itself. And it’s obvious, at least I believe, it’s obvious the one reason why we as human beings get there and do things that seem to be valuable to us in relationship to intelligence… uh, what is it called…creativity and love and all the things that have to do with waking up every morning believing it’s going to be a better day today or tomorrow and yet at the same time death, life, sadness, anger, fear, all of those things are present at the same time as we are living and breathing.

It is really, really eternal, this that we are constantly being created as human beings to know that exists and it’s really, really unbelievable to know that nothing that’s alive can die unless it’s been killed. So what we should try to realize is to remove that part of what it is so that whatever we are, life is all there is and I thank you very much.

(source: http://jazzclinic.blogspot.com)

Ornette Coleman on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornette_Coleman

(Image from http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=14854)

-tuzz

February 21, 2007

Nature speaks of history

Two days ago Gillian and I went to the concentration camp Sachsenhausen, near Berlin. I went there two times before already, during school then, to learn about it all from my history teacher. Now we went there so Gillian could see and feel it. I don't want to go into too much detail here only I want to show you two shots, the first done by Gillian, the second done by me. I believe, especially the second, with the bird sitting on a tree watching over the whole camp, speaks for itself - it's a very obtrusive shot.
-tuzz



February 9, 2007

Thoughts on Musik - Gedanken über Musik

Steve Jobs (Apple-CEO) has shared his thoughts on the music industry. I want to share his thoughts with you. I am posting the German translation of this article done by Jürgen Siebert (www.fontblog.de) as well.


Thoughts on music
Steve Jobs
February 6, 2007

With the stunning global success of Apple’s iPod music player and iTunes online music store, some have called for Apple to “open” the digital rights management (DRM) system that Apple uses to protect its music against theft, so that music purchased from iTunes can be played on digital devices purchased from other companies, and protected music purchased from other online music stores can play on iPods. Let’s examine the current situation and how we got here, then look at three possible alternatives for the future.

To begin, it is useful to remember that all iPods play music that is free of any DRM and encoded in “open” licensable formats such as MP3 and AAC. iPod users can and do acquire their music from many sources, including CDs they own. Music on CDs can be easily imported into the freely-downloadable iTunes jukebox software which runs on both Macs and Windows PCs, and is automatically encoded into the open AAC or MP3 formats without any DRM. This music can be played on iPods or any other music players that play these open formats.

The rub comes from the music Apple sells on its online iTunes Store. Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices.

Apple was able to negotiate landmark usage rights at the time, which include allowing users to play their DRM protected music on up to 5 computers and on an unlimited number of iPods. Obtaining such rights from the music companies was unprecedented at the time, and even today is unmatched by most other digital music services. However, a key provision of our agreements with the music companies is that if our DRM system is compromised and their music becomes playable on unauthorized devices, we have only a small number of weeks to fix the problem or they can withdraw their entire music catalog from our iTunes store.

To prevent illegal copies, DRM systems must allow only authorized devices to play the protected music. If a copy of a DRM protected song is posted on the Internet, it should not be able to play on a downloader’s computer or portable music device. To achieve this, a DRM system employs secrets. There is no theory of protecting content other than keeping secrets. In other words, even if one uses the most sophisticated cryptographic locks to protect the actual music, one must still “hide” the keys which unlock the music on the user’s computer or portable music player. No one has ever implemented a DRM system that does not depend on such secrets for its operation.

The problem, of course, is that there are many smart people in the world, some with a lot of time on their hands, who love to discover such secrets and publish a way for everyone to get free (and stolen) music. They are often successful in doing just that, so any company trying to protect content using a DRM must frequently update it with new and harder to discover secrets. It is a cat-and-mouse game. Apple’s DRM system is called FairPlay. While we have had a few breaches in FairPlay, we have been able to successfully repair them through updating the iTunes store software, the iTunes jukebox software and software in the iPods themselves. So far we have met our commitments to the music companies to protect their music, and we have given users the most liberal usage rights available in the industry for legally downloaded music.

With this background, let’s now explore three different alternatives for the future.

The first alternative is to continue on the current course, with each manufacturer competing freely with their own “top to bottom” proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music. It is a very competitive market, with major global companies making large investments to develop new music players and online music stores. Apple, Microsoft and Sony all compete with proprietary systems. Music purchased from Microsoft’s Zune store will only play on Zune players; music purchased from Sony’s Connect store will only play on Sony’s players; and music purchased from Apple’s iTunes store will only play on iPods. This is the current state of affairs in the industry, and customers are being well served with a continuing stream of innovative products and a wide variety of choices.

Some have argued that once a consumer purchases a body of music from one of the proprietary music stores, they are forever locked into only using music players from that one company. Or, if they buy a specific player, they are locked into buying music only from that company’s music store. Is this true? Let’s look at the data for iPods and the iTunes store – they are the industry’s most popular products and we have accurate data for them. Through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store. On average, that’s 22 songs purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod ever sold.

Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats. It’s hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music.

The second alternative is for Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors with the goal of achieving interoperability between different company’s players and music stores. On the surface, this seems like a good idea since it might offer customers increased choice now and in the future. And Apple might benefit by charging a small licensing fee for its FairPlay DRM. However, when we look a bit deeper, problems begin to emerge. The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak. The Internet has made such leaks far more damaging, since a single leak can be spread worldwide in less than a minute. Such leaks can rapidly result in software programs available as free downloads on the Internet which will disable the DRM protection so that formerly protected songs can be played on unauthorized players.

An equally serious problem is how to quickly repair the damage caused by such a leak. A successful repair will likely involve enhancing the music store software, the music jukebox software, and the software in the players with new secrets, then transferring this updated software into the tens (or hundreds) of millions of Macs, Windows PCs and players already in use. This must all be done quickly and in a very coordinated way. Such an undertaking is very difficult when just one company controls all of the pieces. It is near impossible if multiple companies control separate pieces of the puzzle, and all of them must quickly act in concert to repair the damage from a leak.

Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies. Perhaps this same conclusion contributed to Microsoft’s recent decision to switch their emphasis from an “open” model of licensing their DRM to others to a “closed” model of offering a proprietary music store, proprietary jukebox software and proprietary players.

The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.

In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system.

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.

--------------------------------------------------

Gedanken über Musik, Steve Jobs, 6. Februar 2007

Mit dem beeindruckenden weltweiten Erfolg des Apple iPod und des iTunes Music Stores wurden die Forderungen an Apple lauter, das Digital-Rights-Management-System zu öffnen (DRM), mit dem Apple seine Musik gegen Diebstahl schützt, so dass die bei iTunes gekauften Songs auf den Geräten anderer Hersteller laufen und Musik aus anderen Online-Stores auf iPods läuft. Werfen wir einen Blick auf die aktuelle Situation und wie sie entstand, um anschließend drei mögliche Alternativen für die Zukunft zu beleuchten.

Zunächst ist es wichtig daran zu erinnern, dass alle iPods jede DRM-freien Musik abspielen können, die in offenen lizenzierbaren Formaten wie MP3 und AAC vorliegt. iPod-Benutzer können ihre Musik aus verschiedenen Quellen beziehen, einschließlich ihrer eigenen CDs. Musik auf CDs kann leicht in die frei downloadbare iTunes-Abspiel-Software importiert werden, die auf Macs und Windows-PCs läuft, wahlweise in die beiden offenen Formate AAC oder MP3 – ohne jegliches DRM. Die auf diese Art kodierte Musik läuft auf iPods und allen anderen Musikspielern, die eines der Formate unterstützen.

Unmut erzeugt die Musik, die Apple über seinen iTunes-Store verkauft. Da Apple selbst keine Musik oder Musikrechte besitzt, müssen die (Vertriebs-)Rechte von Dritten erworben werden, vornehmlich bei den »Großen Vier« der Musikindustrie: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner und EMI. Die vier Konzerne kontrollieren über 70% des weltweiten Musikmarktes. Als Apple an die Unternehmen herantrat um ihre Musik für den legalen Vertrieb über das Internet zu lizenzieren, waren diese extrem distanziert und verlangten von Apple, ihre Musik gegen das Raubkopieren zu schützen. Die Lösung bestand in einem DRM-System, das jeden bei iTunes gekauften Song mit einer vertraulichen Software schützt, damit er nur auf berechtigten Geräten gespielt werden kann.

Apple erwirkte parallel dazu wegweisende Nutzungsrechte, die es erlaubten, die geschützte Musik auf bis zu 5 Computern und einer unbeschränkten Menge von iPods abzuspielen. Solche Zugeständnisse waren zur damaligen Zeit einmalig, und die meisten digitalen Musikdienste können bis heute nichts Vergleichbares anbieten. Aber: ein Kern unserer Vereinbarungen mit den Musikunternehmen besagt, dass im Falle einer Entschlüsselung unseres DRM-Systems – mit der Folge des unkontrollierten Abspielens der Musik auf nicht autorisierten Geräten –, Apple binnen weniger Wochen das Problem zu lösen habe … andernfalls könnten sie ihren kompletten Musikbestand aus dem iTunes-Store zurückziehen.

Um Raubkopien zu verhindern, sorgt DRM dafür, dass nur autorisierte Vorrichtungen die geschützte Musik abspielen. Wenn die Kopie eines DRM-geschützten Songs im Internet veröffentlicht wird, sollte diese weder auf dem Download-Rechner noch einem tragbaren Player laufen. Um das sicher zu stellen, verwenden DRM-System vertrauliche Daten. Es ist kein Schutz-Modell für Inhalte bekannt, dass ohne »Geheimnisse« funktioniert. Mit anderen Worten: Selbst wenn es gelänge, die Musikdaten mit einer ausgeklügelten Verschlüsselung zu schützten, braucht es stets einen »geheimen« Schlüssel auf dem Rechner oder dem Musikspieler des Benutzers, um sie umzuwandeln. Niemand hat bisher ein DRM-System entwickelt, dass ohne vertrauliche Prozesse auskommt.

Ein Problem ist, dass es viele intelligente Menschen auf der Welt gibt, einige mit sehr viel Zeit, die mit Begeisterung solche Geheimnisse enthüllen möchten um anderen einen Weg zu kostenloser (und gestohlener) Musik zu ebnen. Oft sind sie erfolgreich mit ihrem Tun, also muss jede Firma, die ihre Inhalt per DRM schützt, dieses System regelmäßig aktualisieren und stark gegen Angriffe machen. Es ist ein Katz-und-Maus-Spiel. Apples DRM-System heißt FairPlay. Nachdem es einige Male geknackt wurde, haben wir es mehrfach erfolgreich repariert: durch Aktualisierung der iTunes-Store-Software, der iTunes-Abspiel-Software und der Software in den iPods. Bis jetzt haben wir unsere Verpflichtungen gegenüber den Musikfirmen bezüglich des Schutzes erfüllt, und wir haben den Anwendern die liberalsten Benutzungsrechte für das legale Downloaden von Musik beschert.

Vor diesem Hintergrund ergeben sich drei verschiedene Vorgehensweisen für die Zukunft.
Die erste Alternative wäre, den gegenwärtigen Kurs fortzusetzen, also dass jeder Hersteller – im freien Wettbewerb – mit einem eigenen durchgängigen System den Schutz, Verkauf und das Abspielen von Musik regelt. Das ist ein Verdrängungswettbewerb unter Weltkonzernen, die große Summen in Abspielgeräte und Online-Stores investieren. Apple, Microsoft und Sony konkurrieren mit proprietären Systemen: Musik aus Microsofts Zune-Store läuft nur auf dem Zune, Musik aus Sony Connect-Store läuft ausschließlich auf Sony-Geräten an und die Songs aus Apple iTunes-Store laufen nur auf iPods. Dieses ist der momentane Stand in der Industrie. Die Kunden profitieren von einer Flut einfallsreicher Produkte und einer großen Auswahl.

Manche behaupten, dass Kunden, die sich erst mal in einem der proprietären Musikläden bedient haben, für immer an die Abspielgeräte dieser einen Firma gebunden seien. Oder wenn sie einen bestimmten Spieler gekauft haben, nur in dem dazu kompatiblen Store Musik beziehen können. Stimmt das? Werfen wir einen Blick in die Statistiken von iPod uns iTunes-Store, den zwei erfolgreichsten Produkten auf dem Markt zu denen wir exakte Zahlen haben. Bis Ende 2006 wurden 90 Millionen iPods und 2 Milliarden Songs aus dem iTunes-Store verkauft. Das macht im Durchschnitt 22 gekaufte Songs für jeden verkauften iPod.

Die beliebtesten iPods speichern 1000 Songs und Umfragen bestätigen, dass der durchschnittliche iPod fast »gefüllt« ist. Dies bedeutet also, dass nur 22 von 1000 Songs, also weniger als 3 % der Musik auf einem durchschnittlichen iPod, im iTunes-Store gekauft wurde und per DRM geschützt sind. Die verbleibenden 97 % der Musik sind ungeschützt und auf jedem Abspielgerät lauffähig, das die offenen Formate verarbeitet. Es ist schwer vorstellbar, dass diese 3 % der gekauften Musik auf einem durchschnittlichen iPod Benutzer dazu zwingt, in Zukunft ausschließlich iPods zu kaufen. Und wenn 97 % der Musik auf einem durchschnittlichen iPod nicht bei iTunes gekauft sind, dann sind iPod-Benutzer ganz sicher nicht gezwungen, ihre Musik ausschließlich bei iTunes zu erwerben.

Die zweite Alternative wäre, dass Apple seine FairPlay-DRM-Technologie an bestehende und zukünftige Wettbewerber lizenziert mit dem Ziel, das Zusammenspiel von Online-Stores und Player unterschiedlicher Hersteller zu erreichen. Das klingt zunächst nach einer guten Idee, denn es böte den Kunden heute und in Zukunft mehr Auswahl. Und Apple könnte dank einer kleinen Lizenzgebühr für FairPlay bei jeder Transaktion mitverdienen. Bei genauerem Hinsehen tauchen jedoch Probleme auf. Das Entscheidende bei einer Lizenzierung wäre die Offenlegung einiger Geheimnisse rund um das DRM gegenüber jeder Menge Mitarbeiter in jeder Menge Unternehmen. Die Geschichte lehrt uns, dass solche Geheimnisse entweichen. Das Internet macht solche undichten Stellen besonders gefährlich, weil ein Leck binnen weniger Minuten weltweit verbreitet ist. Dir undichten Stellen verwandeln sich dann in kleine kostenlose Download-Programme, die das DRM aushebeln und die einst geschützten Songs auf nicht autorisierten Geräten lauffähig werden.

Ein ungleich ernsteres Problem ist die schnelle Reparatur der Schäden, die durch eine solche undichte Stelle verursacht werden. Zu einer erfolgreichen Reparatur gehört ganz sicher eine Erweiterung der Musik-Store-Software, der Abspiel-Software und der Player-Softwares mit neuem vertraulichen Code, der per Update an die 10 (oder 100) Millionen Macs, Windows-PCs und Abspielgeräte geliefert werden müsste. Das muss schnell und gut koordiniert ablaufen. Eine solche Aktion ist schwierig genug, wenn ein Unternehmen alleine alle Teile kontrolliert. Es ist nahezu aussichtslos, wenn viele Unternehmen unterschiedliche Teile dieses Puzzles kontrollieren, und all müssen schnell und konzertiert den Schaden eines Lecks reparieren.

Apple kam zu dem Schluss, dass es im Falle einer Lizenzierung von FairPlay nicht länger den Schutz der lizenzierten Musik der Großen Vier sicherstellen kann. Vielleicht hat eine ähnliche Erkenntnis jüngst Microsoft dazu veranlasst, ihren Schwerpunkt von einem offenen DRM-Lizenzmodell zu einem geschlossenen Modell zu legen, mit einem proprietären Music-Store, proprietärer Abspiel-Software und proprietärem Player.

Die dritte Alternative wäre die komplette Abschaffung von DRMs. Stellen wir uns eine Welt vor, in der jeder Online-Store DRM-freie Musik verkauft, in offenen lizenzierbaren Formaten. In dieser Welt kann jeder Player die gekaufte Musik eines jeden Stores spielen. Und jeder Store kann Musik für alle Player anbieten. Dies wäre die eindeutig beste Alternative für die Kunden, und Apple würde es augenblicklich umsetzen. Wenn uns die großen vier Musik-Konzerne ihre Musik ohne die Notwendigkeit eines DRM-Schutzes lizenzieren würden, würde Apple den iTunes-Store sofort auf den Verkauf von DRM-freier Musik umstellen. Jeder bisher verkaufte iPod kann diese Musik abspielen.

Warum sollten die vier grossen Musikanbieter Apple und andere gestatten, ihre Musik ohne DRM-Schutz zu vertreiben? Die Antwort ist einfach: Weil DRMs nichts nützen und die Musikpiraterie nicht verhindern werden. Denn während die Großen Vier fordern, dass alle online verkaufte Musik per DRM geschützt ist, verkaufen dieselben Unternehmen Milliarden von CDs pro Jahr mit komplett ungeschützter Musik. Richtig: Noch nie wurde ein DRM-System für die Musik-CD entwickelt, denn jeder Song, der auf CDs vertrieben wird, kann sehr leicht ins Internet hochgeladen, anschließend (illegal) downgeloaded und auf jedem Computer und Player gespielt werden.

Im Jahr 2006 wurden knapp 2 Milliarden DRM-geschützte Songs online verkauft, während über 20 Milliarden Songs vollständig DRM-frei und ungeschützt auf CDs durch die Musikfirmen vertrieben wurde. Die Musikindustrie verkauft den Großteil ihrer Musik DRM-frei und es gibt keine Anzeichen, dies zu ändern, so lange der überwältigende Anteil ihrer Umsätze durch den Verkauf von CDs generiert wird, die in CD-Spielern ohne DRM laufen.

Wenn also die Musikunternehmen über 90 Prozent ihrer Musik DRM-frei verkaufen, welcher Nutzen haben sie durch den Verkauf des verbleibenden kleinen Prozentsatzes mit DRM-Schutz? Es scheint keinen zu geben. Wenn überhaupt, dann verhindern das notwendige technische Know-how und der organisatorische Aufwand ein DRM zu schaffen, es zu installieren und zu pflegen den Einstieg weiterer Teilnehmer ins DRM-gestützte Musikgeschäft. Würden diese Einschränkungen beseitigt, könnte die Musikindustrie den Einstieg neuer Partner begrüßen, die bereit sind, in neue Stores und Player zu investieren. Das kann eigentlich nur als Plus für die Musik-Unternehmen gesehen werden.
Viele der Vorbehalte gegenüber DRM kommen aus europäischen Ländern. Vielleicht sollten alle, die über den momentanen Zustand unzufrieden sind, ihre Energie in Richtung Musikindustrie lenken und diese vom Nutzen des DRM-freien Musikverkaufs überzeugen. Aus europäischer Sicht regieren zweieinhalb der Großen Vier direkt nebenan. Der größte, Universal, gehört zu 100 % Vivendi, einem französischen Medienkonzern. EMI ist ein britisches Unternehmen und Sony BMG gehört zu 50 % Bertelsmann, ein deutsches Unternehmen. Diese davon zu überzeugen, ihre Musik Apple und andere DRM-frei zu überlassen, würde eine freien offenen Musikmarkt schaffen. Apple würde das von ganzem Herzen begrüßen.

Translation: www.fontblog.de

-tuzz

February 7, 2007

Working on a song

Hey,
newest news are that I have a new band. We play some rock and funkrock right now, starting off with the song "Stadium Arcadium" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Since I have quite a few songs to learn right now (we want to play "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, "Geh mit mir" by Die Ärzte and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day) and the regular studies of jazz guitar I indulge in I haven't been able to really record something new. BUT as I am working on my first own rock song, i guess you will hear something very soon. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

While you are patiently waiting I want to show you something done by a friend of mine:



Great jazz!

January 5, 2007

jazz tune, empire state building, jersey shore

First, to start things off, here is a jazz tune by a very good player. Mostly for Jona, but anybody who likes good music will love it.



Now to more NYC stuff. We climbed the Empire State Building yesterday, but of course not by feet but by elevator...more than 1100 steps ;)
When we got there it was already dark, but perhaps that was better then during day, because we did not have to wait at all, it was (in comparison to the usual lines) really empty and so we had the opportunity to take some really great shots of the New York skyline during night.
Enjoy:


































Sorry for the tilted images, but .... mh...whatever ;)

When we visited Philadelphia, we took one day to visit Atlantic City and the Jersey Shore, so i could apend one day of 2006 to see the ocean. One of my goals of every year: see the ocean and climb a mountain. So far I made it every year since 2000.
pics of that:







and thanks to DaCapo from Soundforum Berlin (http://www.soundforum-berlin.de/) for the beats while writing this.

Knicks vs Pistons

I was unbelievably lucky to pick the best game to go to. It ended in tripple OT and the Knicks won. Additionally Rip Hamilton had a new career high with 51 points.
The atmosphere was very intense and since it was my first NBA game i saw live in an arena it was even more special.
Here's a short clip from the game:



The seats were great, as you can see and the beer was very expensive but bad...but i didn't expect anything else. People started chanting for the Knicks very shortly after the tip-off already and I was completely into it.
Here are a few shots from warm-up:




The Knicks started by getting the ball down low, very good strategy I might add ;), and Eddy Curry battled his way to the rim, made the contact, the bucket and got the foul. He didn't hit the FT, but he would on his next possession, were exactlly the same thing happened. Pistons couldn't contain him and eventually he went on to score 33 points with 11/15 FTs...
The biggest game of the night came from Rip Hamilton who raised his career high to 51 points. And it was relly great to be able to watch him the whole time. On TV it's sometimes hard to see everything going on, but when you're right there it's just incredible. I would go so far to say he's easily the best man to come off the block. This statement is probably nothing new to the most of you, but to actually experience it that way.....woohoooo!
some shots from the game:



I am a little sad that I don't have any more pics from the game, or a longer video but my camera fell down during the game and i lost my batteries in the process....they rolled somewhere and I couldn't find them anymore.
ah and by the way....my girlfriend who was with me, listened to Harry Potter Audiobook during the game, and slept for minutes on my shoulder....seems like not everyone appreciates a good game :(