Hello and welcome back to another edition of the News Release. I’m Daniels and this will be a better report than last week, I promise.
Napster: Version 2.0
The one that started it all is on it’s way back, according to Roxio, the company which purchased the assets of the now defunct company in the bankruptcy auction. According to Roxio, they will offer song swapping on a monthly subscription or a fee-per-song basis. They will also offer a web-radio service with pre-created stations.
On news that Roxio would be relaunching the service sometime before Christmas, shares of Roxio surged to their highest value this year. This announcement is also on the heels of the, thus-far enormous success of Apple’s iTunes which has already sold over 2 million songs in just 2 months at .99 cents per download.
The question remains whether or not the Napster name still carries any clout with consumers, amidst a flurry of legal services cropping up over the internet. Just recently, Buy.com has sunk 40 million dollars into marketing their new BuyMusic.com service. AOL and Amazon have both announced interest in legal music catalogs, and Musicmatch.com has announced a non-exclusive agreement with nine major labels.
Of course, there is also the small problem of the easy to use, new wave of “illegal†services like Kazaa and Grokster. The chess match between the online community and the labels is going to continue. I’ve noticed no serious slack in the traffic on Kazaa, and it’s only going to get worse as the new releases of the softwares. And the newest program, Earth Station 5, was released the same day that the RIAA announced the intention to file lawsuits against individual users.
Earth Station 5 – Explained
Wondering what Earth Station 5 is? Well, let me help you out. Earth Station 5 markets themselves as the “next generation of file sharing software.†According to Ras Kabair, the president and CEO of Palestine based Earth Station 5, their motto is “… share … share to your heart’s content because no one can stop you.â€
ES5 utilizes a couple different things to keep you hidden from the evil do-gooders at the RIAA. First and foremost is “stealth mode,†which hides your IP address, instead using Internet anonymous proxies. While I’m not EXACTLY sure what this is, even as a CS graduate… the general idea is if someone is monitoring your IP address, they’ll have no idea what you’re doing with it. Also, no IP information is displayed while transferring.
The second huge benefit is that it supports https transfers. Which, broken down, means all the files you’re trading get encrypted with 128-bit encryptions. Which basically means it would take all the computers the RIAA has at their disposal about 500 years to figure out what you’re trading.
Another benefit, random port numbers. When Kazaa launches, it always sits on a port somewhere in the 1200s… this one opens on a different port every time. I don’t think this is a huge benefit, because obviously it has some way to run a port scan to know where it’s running… which means the RIAA can figure that out, too.
Extra benefits… a free voice and video chat system along with a free dating service. Interesting. It is also spyware-free, adware-free, and contains no annoying advertising.
Whole system sound too good to be true? Yeah, it does to me, too. I’ll be downloading it soon… to research for you folks, of course.
New Head Demon
Hilary Rosen has stepped down as chairman of the MafRIAA. In her place will be Mitch Bainwol, a former top congressional aide with many contacts in the Republican Party, and former Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
Rosen announced at the beginning of this year that she would be leaving the position she’s held since 1998 to spend more time dyking it up with her partner and hanging out with her twin toddlers.
Well, no wonder Hillary has a bug up her ass… she hasn’t had dick in a lot of years. Now it all makes sense.
I have to say: smart move by the MafRIAA. John McCain has already come out in defense of the file swappers, saying that he thinks it might be going a bit overboard to fill prisons with file-swappers. Getting someone who knows the Republican backrooms, after having someone who had contacts in the Democrat back rooms, is probably the smartest way to go.
Fuggin Pearl Jam
You know, the 25 or so song concert kind of pissed me off… but not really, Until I read what they’ve been doing on the second leg of their tour.
Two three hour sets at Madison Square Garden, followed by a show on July 11th… where they OPENED FOR THEMSELVES. Yes, that’s right, they played an 11 song acoustic set, followed by their opening band, followed by a 33-song set by them.
And I paid $40 for barely two hours.
Fuck Eddie in the left eye.
Are you ready for some football?
That’s right people… less than a week till preseason, and less than five until kickoff.
Britney Spears and Mary J Blige will be performing a free concert for Kickoff.
Oy.
Following the concert on Thursday, 9/4, will be kickoff! The Redskins and the Jets will open the season at RFK Stad… err… goddam Safeco Field.
It could be worse, they could be playing the “Bears as Presented by BankOne.â€
Limp Bizkit Album Done
The album is done, according to Fred Durst.
In other news, GNR will be releasing “Chinese Democracy†at some point.
In even more amusing news, Fred snapped at the 7/28 Summer Sanitarium Show… cussing out the fans and quitting their set after only 20 minutes. During the short set, Durst got heckled and pelted with garbage… which he laughed off at first. According to a reporter from the Chicago Sun Times who was on the scene:
“When LIMP BIZKIT actually appeared around 7 o’clock, the boos intensified, and some fans pelted the stage with garbage.
“The famously brainless Durst only fanned the flames, first encouraging the catcalls and flying trash, then swerving into a bizarre tirade against the crowd and city. Ranting that he’d fight anyone in earshot and spluttering explicit sexual putdowns, uncreative curses and ludicrous homophobic slurs, Durst simply self-destructed. Had the villain in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ been a vile little boob like Durst rather than a snarly old lady in greenface, the movie’s ‘I’m melting!’ scene might have looked like this.
“The crowd, perhaps stunned, calmed down, and LIMP BIZKIT played a few more songs (including a sarcastic, gay-bashing cover of George Michael’s ‘Faith’ with potty-mouth lyrics that would embarrass a fourth-grader). But then the band left the stage and Durst resumed his vulgar invective from the wings until, mercifully, he was relieved of the microphone.
“The aborted set left fans to wait more than 90 minutes for METALLICA, but the mood never turned ugly — maybe because a lengthy delay was better than suffering through any more LIMP BIZKIT.”
Hahahahahahaha, buh-bye Fred… nice knowin ya.
Where Are they Now
Travis Meeks, the lead singer of Days of the New will be performing a special solo gig in Oshkosh, WI.
Meanwhile, Tantric is working on their next album and being awesome.
For those out of the loop, Days of the New burst on the scene with a hot debut album, after which Travis Meeks, the front man and the owner of all the material, fired the whole band. Travis went on to make a completely forgettable sophomore album while the rest of the band went on to find a new lead singer and form Tantric… who are doing well, while Travis Meeks is playing in Oshkosh, WI.
Karma, baby.
New This week
Umm, the soundtrack to Freaky Friday?
Yeah, OK… there hasn’t been a good release in going on a month now.
In Other Reading
Murphy went to the Warped Tour. Yes my friend… Festivals suck. Lots. They got you all day long and you can’t get back in. You are their slaves… and you will pay. Oh my yes, you will pay. My suggestion: if you have a local festival outdoors in an ampitheater… tailgate, all day long. It’s free, you hear just as well, and you will have 10000x more fun.
James Marshall with a new column with lots of random nonsense.
Evocator looks at Ministry’s Pslam 69… although I liked their Filth Pig album better.
Hey, what a surprise, only two people writing reviews.
Evocator with TNT, Dave Brockie Experience, and Godhead.
Cameron with: Bad Azz and Freeway.
In Conclusion
That’s it for this week. Later this week, maybe a real wrestling column for once!
