This past weekend's reunion shows were exactly what the doctor ordered for most of the tens-of-thousands of Phish fans throughout the world. It was a back to the basics style of playing, and showing the audience they were willing to play the music that the audience wanted to hear. Opening the weekend with Fluffhead, a song that was last played in September of 2000!

<>Critics will argue that there were mistakes, and that they weren't playing the extra-long jams (although a 22 minute Down with Disease should have satisfied those complainers). The band hadn't played a show in about 4½ years (8/15/04), and between that time they were off doing their own things (like solo projects), as well as keeping in touch. But it wasn't "business as usual" for a band that was almost constantlRead on... Submit the first comment!

After my bout with day-1 in getting tickets, I had hopes that LiveNation saw their servers crashing like they were running Windows98 and would take measures to step up the availability. Well, I was absolutely disappointed.

It started okay, requested my tickets, eventually passed the turing test (BTW... apparently I'm mostly non-human, since I failed many of their incredibly hard CAPTCHAs), and then the fun began...

• There was a problem. An error occurred. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again.
• Please wait...
• An error (500 Internal Server Error) has occured in response to this request. (their server misspelled occurred

And my absolute favorite...the one you got right at the end, after you clicked "Complete Purchase":

<><> Sorry! Your time has run out.

The tickeRead on... Comments (1)

I was able to be a part of a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack this morning, although this attack was just as destructive as any other, it was not done in a malicious manner. Phish fans from around the country (world?) signed on for the 9am EST on-sale date for 6 shows. The band hasn't tours in 5 years, and this could be adding to the feeding frenzy, but it was only for 6 shows!??!

<>Luckily, I was one of the ones that ended up with tickets...1 out of my 3 computers was able to get through, where the other two continually timed out. What was worse, they had a count-down timer, which gave you about 7 minutes to complete the transaction...seems like plenty of time. However, when it takes about 1:00 for their server to respond to every submission (and there were a numberRead on... Submit the first comment!

Time for the RIAA and MediaSentry to disclose their tactics, with nowhere to run and hide like they usually do. Tanya Anderson is suing the RIAA for malicious prosecution, she is accusing them of fraud, racketeering, invasion of privacy, libel, slander, deceptive business practices, and violations of the Oregon state RICO Act. The RIAA is not going to be able to dodge the discovery process this time, although they have tried to dismiss this case, the judge has denied them and has barred further motion of dismissal.

This will be a very interesting case, one that will enable everyone else being sued by the RIAA to see the legality of their lawsuits.

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http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/14/158246

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/15/1915249

<><>http://arsRead on... Submit the first comment!

This posting is for my IS 511 class, but what better place to put it than on my blog. It is to take the format of a debate...only I am both the Proposition and the Opposition. I did do a rant on this subject recently, so you can see what side I'm actually on, and why I'm saying this is (essentially) Part 2. I may reuse some of my arguments from before, but I will give you some new ones too.

Topic: Has the digitization of media (such as audio and video) made the current distribution method of such media obsolete?

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Opening Statement by the Proposition

<> The times they are a changin'...especially when it comes to how we use and, even more importantly, distribute media. For decades (or century in the case of audio) now, media distribution has been controlRead on... Comments (2)

Okay, this is going to be the start of a long rant...something that I feel passionate about; and believe that the times they are a changin'.

The general overview of my opinion is that the current music and movie industry is dying, and they don't want to go...they will fight with every last billion they have. The main reason I see them dying is, well, the Internet. Prior to the Internet, or more specifically, the vast majority of people being connected to the Internet with high-speed lines; the only way to distribute media was physically. Records, audio cassettes, reel-to-reel film, VHS tapes, CDs, and DVDs all fit into the same method of distribution as your office furniture. So someone has to be creating these media formats, and then shipping them to the general public.

<>The Read on... Submit the first comment!