Some thoughts on our dependency on Oil.

I just had a look at a few Dubai pages while thinking about our dependency on oil. As everyone should now its really not a good idea to burn as many fossil fuels as we do. Actually its kinda stupid regarding the amount of things oil can be used for. Pretty much every synthetic product contains oil and what do we do? We burn it and hence change the climate like never before.

Back to Dubai, as I understand, a lot of money they make actually comes from oil. Secondly they are sitting in one of the most suited regions for solar energy in the world. So there is the money and the opportunity to produce large amounts of clean Hydrogen fuel.

This would be a perfect opportunity to loosen the world dependency on oil while at the same time opening a long term revenue stream with hydrogen fuel. (Energy runs the world after all)

And once the type / market value of fuel supply switches the market adapts a lot quicker. I mean there are already several options for hydrogen fueled cars (including internal combustion engines).

But instead the money is wasted on - even though impressive - luxury goods, hotels, airplanes all in all more of the old...

I just have the feeling the middle east is gonna miss on a big opportunity here.

A change to your iPod software (Rockbox)

If you are sick of the rather restrictive way your iPod handles your music there is an alternative.

Rockbox allows you to store your mp3s in a standard folder structure and hence you get rid of all the search problems you encounter with your standard iPod OS.

The thing that annoyed me most about the iPod was that you couldn't look at file information if you didn't start playing it. This is all a thing of the past with rockbox.
Not to say it doesn't have problems of his own since its still in a sorta beta status and it is a bit of a hazzle to install. But using the very helpful manual on their page it isn't too much of a problem either ;)

Apart from that it has a nice range of plugins (including the game Doom).

And best of all you can still start the original iPod OS by holding down the right buttons when rebooting your iPod.

All in all Im quite happy with it so give it a try.

The state of the music Industry and it's Alternatives

Hi Everybody

I'm starting my first blog and hope you enjoy your stay :) To tell you a little bit about myself I'm a programmer, love to inline/stunt skate and am an ardent music listener.

The state of music distribution is actually the reason I just started this blog.

Im rather saddened at the way the current Music industry treats is customers. People are getting sued over sharing music they love and want to succeed, the industry is making CDs almost worthless and by adding completely non sensical copy protection. Including actual malware (see the BMG/Sony Rootkit disaster...).

DRM doesn't make buying music fun either since it is too restrictive and you risk loosing your whole music collection which you paid good money for on a computer crash not to forget all the problems you run into when you try to load up your portable music player.

Where is the point in protecting music you bought via an online music store by DRM? If you wanted to get it unprotected you can on any p2p portal anyway so if anything its putting the industry at a disadvantage and strengthening the loss in consumer confidence.

I really don't see where this is going and how this could possibly lead to higher music sales. I mean why would you buy any music under these circumstances???

However there are legal alternatives beginning to spread.

An interesting idea is voiced on the Commons Music page:

commonsmusic.com

as well as there are some very interesting bands under the Creative commons licence.

My absolute favourite is Tryad at the moment and I urge you to give them a try

tryad.org

The album "Public Domain" has a wide range of music styles mixed into a great music experience by people who still love to make music for the musics sake, get ready to get your socks blown off ;)

I much rather support these projects then put any more cents into a corrupt and consumer unfriendly organisation as is the RIAA.

If you got interested in more consumer as well as artist friendly music projects/ sites/ labels, here are some to give you a head start :)

legaltorrents.com

hermpie.com

fadingwaysmusic.com

magnatune.com

lecridelaharpe.com

opsound.org

locarecords.com

vavrek.com

jamendo.com

music.download.com


If you have any comments regarding this, feel free to comment. Otherwise spread the word and loosen the grip the music industry has on all of us / support the artists and grassroot movements which make the music society fun again :)

All the best to you and thanks for reading.