The Dictator > ipad - Couch Web

[Rat Patrol]

Perhaps my surprise is that the RIAA would even be interested in thwarting concert bootlegging these days when it's the piracy of official albums—stuff that's done with software, not hardware—that's supposedly the root of their misery. I suppose, yeah, a lossless recorder could be used to rip legit recordings, but … well, it just seems misdirected.

That whole campaign was also used to terrorize concert tapers.


To say nothing of ASCAP's war on concertgoers and local venues. Don't forget those fuckheads are in this mix, too.

[Dr. Medulla]

Perhaps my surprise is that the RIAA would even be interested in thwarting concert bootlegging these days when it's the piracy of official albums—stuff that's done with software, not hardware—that's supposedly the root of their misery. I suppose, yeah, a lossless recorder could be used to rip legit recordings, but … well, it just seems misdirected.

Well, to be honest...do we really thing the RIAA has enough flexibility of thought to think past "things can get recorded? Stop them!"

But to the degree of devoting resources to stifle a certain type of recorder? I'm not denying that these corporations aren't irrational, only that it seems *really* irrational in terms of effort and payoff. Wouldn't be the first time I've underestimated the irrationality of industry, tho …

[eumaas]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

[Wolter]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

[eumaas]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

There's your key word. Market competition actually means winnowing profits as price tends toward cost.

[Rat Patrol]

Perhaps my surprise is that the RIAA would even be interested in thwarting concert bootlegging these days when it's the piracy of official albums—stuff that's done with software, not hardware—that's supposedly the root of their misery. I suppose, yeah, a lossless recorder could be used to rip legit recordings, but … well, it just seems misdirected.

Well, to be honest...do we really thing the RIAA has enough flexibility of thought to think past "things can get recorded? Stop them!"

But to the degree of devoting resources to stifle a certain type of recorder? I'm not denying that these corporations aren't irrational, only that it seems *really* irrational in terms of effort and payoff. Wouldn't be the first time I've underestimated the irrationality of industry, tho …

They did it to MD and DAT, though...proprietary formats they themselves created to the tune of tens/hundreds of millions of their own investment. As soon as it became clear that the market for each would be substantially driven by recording, not playback, and that the DRM options were limited/easily circumvented/wildly unpopular...they couldn't discourage and kill off those formats fast enough. Their irrationality goes well beyond their customers...it bleeds into their very own R&D departments.

[Still216]

I really am surprised that there isn't some company catering to the niche user—the high quality recording user. What keeps it from being manufactured? Lack of demand? I'm not sure I can believe that the RIAA could completely stifle such a product.

You'd be surprised. The big-time manufacturers (Sony, etc.) are all onboard with the RIAA, as are nearly all the bit players in the MP3 player market. Smaller manufacturers could go off the reservation, but if they want to make a profit they have to get sold in the retail giants that can move this stuff in volume. And that's a no-go with the likes of Best Buy, etc. because they also sell music. That leaves a niche techie audience that shops through computer buying sites. Which means the stuff that is there is unpolished and unbelievably expensive, if it exists at all. They're hobbyist products at the fringes of somebody's product line...not stuff they turn any sort of profit on.

I get that the main players wouldn't want to make such a product. Either lack of demand, or RIAA BS, or both, but I remember when descrambler companies seemed to do pretty well in the 80s and 90s. Modifying and producing old analog equipment which was way more expensive, and required more specialized knowledge (of analog video technology, and circumventing the high risk of being busted by the FCC) than the digital recording stuff available now. And in the pre-high quality Internet audio days, I saw companies that built $1K+ FM tuners and specialty amplifiers that stayed in business catering mainly to classical music-focused audiophiles. How would those suppliers, or someone with similar intentions, not jump right in and fill a niche that could be filled with minor mods to off-the-shelf digital equipment...and without the legal issues (i.e. none of the legal issues of selling a cable descrambler, whose use is straightforward illegal)? It is really baffling.

[Dr. Medulla]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

But I'm not talking about a large corporation. I'm thinking about a smaller company catering to a niche consumer. This isn't someone seeking to take on Apple or the big guys in their sales of playback equipment or officially licensed recordings, but to serve a demand that is being ignored, that of compact high quality recorders.

[Wolter]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

But I'm not talking about a large corporation. I'm thinking about a smaller company catering to a niche consumer. This isn't someone seeking to take on Apple or the big guys in their sales of playback equipment or officially licensed recordings, but to serve a demand that is being ignored, that of compact high quality recorders.

Who's going to distribute it?

[Dr. Medulla]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

But I'm not talking about a large corporation. I'm thinking about a smaller company catering to a niche consumer. This isn't someone seeking to take on Apple or the big guys in their sales of playback equipment or officially licensed recordings, but to serve a demand that is being ignored, that of compact high quality recorders.

Who's going to distribute it?

If it's a niche item, do it direct online, do it via eBay. You do it like any other item that's seeking to bypass the traditional model.

[Wolter]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

But I'm not talking about a large corporation. I'm thinking about a smaller company catering to a niche consumer. This isn't someone seeking to take on Apple or the big guys in their sales of playback equipment or officially licensed recordings, but to serve a demand that is being ignored, that of compact high quality recorders.

Who's going to distribute it?

If it's a niche item, do it direct online, do it via eBay. You do it like any other item that's seeking to bypass the traditional model.

Go for it!

[Dr. Medulla]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

But I'm not talking about a large corporation. I'm thinking about a smaller company catering to a niche consumer. This isn't someone seeking to take on Apple or the big guys in their sales of playback equipment or officially licensed recordings, but to serve a demand that is being ignored, that of compact high quality recorders.

Who's going to distribute it?

If it's a niche item, do it direct online, do it via eBay. You do it like any other item that's seeking to bypass the traditional model.

Go for it!

I think I've been inept in my own existing business, thank you. My Pity and Friendship model hasn't shown dynamic growth.

[Rat Patrol]

Generally, competition should weed out a lot of irrationalities, but the corporate form is insulating and encourages collusion over competition, so I don't have trouble believing that at all.

eumaas is right. It's in most large corporations best interest to be in a state of profitable equilibrium, not radical innovation.

But I'm not talking about a large corporation. I'm thinking about a smaller company catering to a niche consumer. This isn't someone seeking to take on Apple or the big guys in their sales of playback equipment or officially licensed recordings, but to serve a demand that is being ignored, that of compact high quality recorders.

Who's going to distribute it?

If it's a niche item, do it direct online, do it via eBay. You do it like any other item that's seeking to bypass the traditional model.

Then it's either a DIY hack or an expensive specialty item, so we're back at square one. Hobbyists will go for that, but it's not a mainstream consumer product despite there being more than enough demand for a mainstream consumer product and the voice recorder market already being mature and nine-tenths of the way there technologically save for withholding the line-in and not allowing on-the-fly encoding to FLAC. That's how hosed by politics this is...these products would've already been available for years if the major manufacturers and component suppliers weren't in collusion, and possibly even ubiquitous on an iPod by now if Apple weren't encumbered by needing to play nice with the industry over iTunes. It's real, no matter how implausible it seems. You literally cannot get quality product at decent price for this purpose without dropping $500+ on pro audiophile equipment or breaking out the soldering gun and doing your own flash memory hack. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if tapers start buying up the tinest netbook PC's they can get their hands on, strapping one uncomfortably to their chests at a show, and running a line-in into that with Audacity running in the background. Computer's just about the only way you can top the same-old tape technology that's been around for 40 years because personal digital recorders are just not freaking available at price, quantity, and quality for the task.

[Dr. Medulla]

Then it's either a DIY hack or an expensive specialty item, so we're back at square one. Hobbyists will go for that, but it's not a mainstream consumer product despite there being more than enough demand for a mainstream consumer product and the voice recorder market already being mature and nine-tenths of the way there technologically save for withholding the line-in and not allowing on-the-fly encoding to FLAC.

Is that true? How many people are clamouring for high quality portable recording devices? It's one thing to argue that the devices aren't available at all and another to complain that there aren't any being manufactured large-scale enough to get an affordable price for the more casual user.

[Rat Patrol]

Then it's either a DIY hack or an expensive specialty item, so we're back at square one. Hobbyists will go for that, but it's not a mainstream consumer product despite there being more than enough demand for a mainstream consumer product and the voice recorder market already being mature and nine-tenths of the way there technologically save for withholding the line-in and not allowing on-the-fly encoding to FLAC.

Is that true? How many people are clamouring for high quality portable recording devices? It's one thing to argue that the devices aren't available at all and another to complain that there aren't any being manufactured large-scale enough to get an affordable price for the more casual user.

College students, for one. A lot of them record lectures on voice recorders, iPods with a plug-in voice mic, or cell phones to help study. And I can tell you from working on textbooks that instructional podcasts are frigging huge, and profs encourage them wholeheartedly and even post their own on class websites because it's one of the only ways to get the frigging kids to pay attention. I just did a book where the authors taped 40 hours of their own class lectures taught from the book on its website to help students who can't be arsed to read the actual text. I've got marketing people making sales presentations on it. All it is are the authors talking into the can in a lecture hall, overlaid on a Flash video feed of static PowerPoint slides. Really...we're gonna sell more copies of the book because of just that, and fact that the audio's actually clear as opposed to what students have to put up with on a cell phone or voice recorder sitting in the 20th row of a big lecture hall. Since all of the students and most of the profs these days have iPods, a stinking line-in and way to encode higher-quality files than the limited voice recorder option would go over big. And the prof wouldn't have to angle for a lecture hall with built-in recording equipment. Shit...that's like a sizeable revenue stream my industry is being deprived of not having this capability on widespread basis. We do all kinds of online course management platforms, and incorporating DIY audio into the mix would be big. I wish this shit was easier to do and more virally practiced...the demand's overwhelming here.

And I think you'd have a lot more DIY broadcasting (or eavesdropping) if podcasts came to the masses and anyone with an MP3 player could record what's around them. A line-in is way more accessible than an overpriced and under-featured voice mic attachment. Not having that is inhibiting a lot of uses people never thought of. And, yes, I think concerts would be higher-demand than you'd think. Not even gigs...I'm talking parents taping their kids' recitals type stuff where they don't want to fist-fight with the parents jockeying for camcorder position.


But...you know...the content providers want to kill any sort of online distribution dead, and haven't relented on that in 12 years. So why would they ever embrace a profitable product that invents its own uses. They campaigned against cassete tapes and fucking floppy disks for the same reason. This one is just easier to control with hardware lockdown because player manufacturers can be intimidated off the road if they don't play nice with DRM.