• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact

Medialoper

We're Not Who You Think We Are

Archives for October 2006

Tower Records Is Dead and I Won’t Miss It Much

October 9, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

On Friday the other shoe finally dropped on the Tower Records franchise.
Tower’s assets were officially sold to a liquidation company as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. The Tower Records retail chain that so many people know and love is officially dead. Strangely, I won’t miss it.

As a music geek back in the early 80’s I practically grew up at Tower Records. I’d spend hours scouring Tower’s import bins looking for obscure gems to add to the KFSR playlist. These days people talk about building systems to enhance music discovery. Back in the day, Tower Records was the system for music discovery.

Tower maintains what is commonly referred to as a deep catalog. Through the years music geeks have gravitated to Tower because they knew the store stocked even the most obscure recordings. Now, of course, those very same music geeks have numerous alternatives to choose from. The very concept of deep catalog has morphed into the Long Tail and Tower Records has become a victim of the very retail concept that it helped create.

[Read more…] about Tower Records Is Dead and I Won’t Miss It Much

Filed Under: Medialoper, Music Tagged With: Music, Tower-Records

The Weekly ‘Loper – October 8, 2006

October 8, 2006 by Rox

While you were eagerly anticipating the season premiere of Veronica Mars, Lost and Battlestar Galactica (well, so were we), this is what we were looking at:

  • YouTube and Orphaned Art – YouTube shouldn’t stop until they’ve become a repository for everything ever filmed.
  • How Paramount Steals My Life, A Few Minutes at a Time – Jim sitting through promos for Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley – trust me, it’s not pretty.
  • There Ought To Be A Law – Kassia dreams of a world where politicians actually know what they’re talking about.
  • Teaching Consumers About DRM – Where you should go to learn about DRM before your mp3s stop playing.
  • That’s What We Like: Battlestar Galactica – There are Cylons among us. Funny, Kirk was conspicuously quiet on this topic.

Filed Under: The Weekly 'Loper

The Daily Loper – October 7, 2006

October 7, 2006 by Lopy

Today’s links of interest:

  • Do You Recall What Was Revealed
    Virginia Heffernan covers the Michelle Malkin/YouTube dust-up. Malkin, meanwhile, is exposed as one who doesn’t really get how this Internet thing works.
  • YouTube
    A look at the phenomenon from a lot of perspectives. Too much to summarize, but we know you want to read Times Emit for yourself anyway.
  • Hold the Presses::MySpace May Be Worth $0 in Three Years
    Yes, there’s a backlash. Yes, there’s schadenfreude. And, yes, we think this is absolutely true. Find us one species more fickle than teenagers and we’ll give you a dollar. Cats don’t count — they’re not fickle, they’re picky.
  • [Read more…] about The Daily Loper – October 7, 2006

Filed Under: The Daily Loper

The Daily Loper – October 6, 2006

October 6, 2006 by Lopy

Today’s links of interest:

  • Retired S1Ws Recalled To Active Duty
    Seems to be the next logical step in the War on the Terrordome.
  • Olbermann’s Special Comment: It is not the Democrats whose inaction in the face of the enemy you fear
    Olbermann’s latest takedown.
  • WSJ reports Google and YouTube are in acquisition talks
    Well, that’s one way to solve the Google Video problem.
  • [Read more…] about The Daily Loper – October 6, 2006

Filed Under: The Daily Loper

That’s What We Like: Battlestar Galactica

October 6, 2006 by Rox

Rather than fight over who was going to get to like the Best Show on Television on the day of the premiere of its much-anticipated third season, we figured that we would split the duties. We are nothing if not democratic at Medialoper.

This isn’t quite an oral history, but just like oral histories, when you put it together, it hopefully gives you a well-rounded view of just what makes Battlestar Galactica so fracking awesome. Note: we’ve just gone ahead and spoiled Seasons One and Two because, well, we believe you should have watched them already anyway. And even if we give something away that we shouldn’t, it won’t matter — as they say, it’s all in the execution. And our beloved Battlestar executes in the best possible way.

[Read more…] about That’s What We Like: Battlestar Galactica

Filed Under: Robots!, Television, That's What I Like Tagged With: Battlestar Galactica, caprica, dirk-benedict, katee-sackhoff, lucy-lawless, mary-mcdonnell, richard-hatch, Sci-Fi, science-fiction, Television

The Daily Loper – October 5, 2006

October 5, 2006 by Lopy

Today’s links of interest:

  • It’s no joke: IU study finds The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to be as substantive as network news
    We love when studies prove unconventional wisdom that we’ve already held to be self-evident.
  • Good News, Bad News for Papers
    Turns out that the kids are heading for newspaper websites to read news. Hmm, seems like we’ve heard that one somewhere.
  • Getting back into the groove
    Vinyl absolutely refuses to go quietly into the good night. After all, it reasons, disappearing did absolutely nothing to enhance the 8-track’s reputation.
  • [Read more…] about The Daily Loper – October 5, 2006

Filed Under: The Daily Loper

Teaching Consumers About DRM

October 5, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

Some day in the near future you will purchase a digital audio or video recording and find that it doesn’t work exactly as you expect it to. Maybe it will simply stop playing after a few days, or perhaps you won’t be able to convert it for use on your portable media player, or maybe you won’t be able to skip past the annoying promos at the start of the program. When this happens you can blame Digital Rights Management (DRM) for your dissatisfaction.

While we talk a lot about DRM here on Medialoper, it’s not at all clear that everyone understands what we’re talking about. In fact, a 2005 survey of European digital music consumers (PDF file) revealed that 63% had never even heard of DRM, while 23% had heard of DRM but weren’t sure what it was. There’s no reason to believe that American consumers are any more well informed on the issue.

[Read more…] about Teaching Consumers About DRM

Filed Under: DRM, Medialoper Tagged With: Consumer Rights, digital-media, DRM, FairPlay, PlaysForSure

The Daily Loper – October 4, 2006

October 4, 2006 by Lopy

Today’s links of interest:

  • Robert Anton Wilson Needs Our Help
    Bob Wilson is a living legend. It’s just too bad he’s living in a time and place that doesn’t value counter culture heros. After a long period of bad health, Wilson is now having trouble paying the rent. It’s a sad story.
  • Tom Waits Describes His New 3-Disc Set, "Orphans"
    I once knew someone who was physically afraid of Tom Waits’ voice. She used to freak out when she heard his version of "Heigh-Ho." My guess is that this album could quite possibly kill her.
  • Capable Replacement
    Paul Westerberg is back, with songs on the soundtrack of "Open Season." And battling Axl Rose for the soul of Tommy Stinson.
  • [Read more…] about The Daily Loper – October 4, 2006

Filed Under: The Daily Loper

There Ought To Be A Law

October 4, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

I hereby propose a new bit of legislation: those who make laws are hereby required to understand the technology they’re trying to enforce. For sake of clarification, “understanding” is not defined as “taking money from major corporations”. Just wanted to be clear on that point.

In the United States, we have the woeful Digital Millenium Copyright Act — legislation created without regard to anything resembling reality. In Europe, they’re trying to decide if iTunes should be regulated or even made more open. Apparently, iTunes and its proprietary format restrict user ability to play music on other devices. The Europeans may be on to something: we’re rapidly entering an era where Digital Rights Management (DRM) is about protecting hardware sales, not copyright.
[Read more…] about There Ought To Be A Law

Filed Under: DRM, Mediacratic

The Daily Loper – October 3, 2006

October 3, 2006 by Lopy

Today’s links of interest:

  • Best view of ‘Mars’ isn’t found during first episode of season
    What does that mean? Don’t just watch it tonight, but set your DVR to record "Veronica Mars" all season!
  • TV: More Bang for More Bucks
    The cost of making a television show has dramatically increased — the good news is that television distribution avenues have also dramatically increased.
  • Online scoops
    It turns out that it’s hard to scoop "news" in the age of the Internet.
  • [Read more…] about The Daily Loper – October 3, 2006

Filed Under: The Daily Loper

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to page 6
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Lopy

Search

Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2578: Supergrass – “Sun Hits The Sky”
  • Certain Songs #2577: Supergrass – “Alright”
  • Certain Songs #2576: Superchunk – “If You’re Not Dark”
  • Certain Songs #2575: Superchunk – “Endless Summer”
  • Certain Songs #2574: Superchunk – “Reagan Youth”

Copyright © 2023 ยท Medialoper