Benjammin.Net - Opinions

Updated:
27 Jul, 2010

Ben's Opinions

Welcome to the Opinions Section of my site... here is where I'll list articles and such written about the experiences I've had with companies and products that might be of interest to others...

Wow - some of this stuff is old. I'm going to do some cleanup and get to writing some new stuff eventually.

A topic I'd like to tackle is the recent resurgence of gas guzzlers now that the price for a gallon has been so cheap. People have forgotten already that there are consumption issues way down the road. In about 12 months. My we have short memories.

Stuff Stuff

Disposable By Design - My Personal Rant about *ignorant* obsolescence. This is a little different than just advances in technology or a company's road track to improve a product through those normal advances. This about companies that should KNOW better than to use certain types of exotic technology in a product that renders them obsolete for some stupid reason.

How DRM Can Hurt Sales - A blog about DRM that echoes a lot of my own sentiments that's a good read.

Tech Support is Dead. Throw it away and move on. (Aug 5th, 2003)

MP3's and the Music Piracy Problem - Instead of fixing the problem (er, meeting technology head on and offering a product that users are more than willing to pay for), they are going to alienate their customer base with litigation.

Please note:I strongly oppose the people who are waving the "free downloads forever" flag. They are missing the point and doing themselves and the rest of us damage with such a battle cry.

The cry should be, "Give flexibility and choice to the users", something we haven't had in my lifetime. For more information, visit these links:

Boycott-RIAA.com to read more.

The Recording Artists Coalition.

When the RIAA stops crying to congress for being unable to keep up with the rest of the world, I'll go out and buy the CD's I've been hoping to get (which is about 12 - that's upwards of $240).

(Update: Dec 6, 2004) For those who may not have heard, the MPAA (motion picture folks) are suing people downloading movies just like the RIAA is suing people for downloading songs... Even though they're using the same tactics as the RIAA (trying to bulk sue anonymous IP address - very stupid and illegal for lack of due process and diligence) I'd like to go on the record by saying I can't blame them.

DVD's are around $10-$25 depending on the title. I just saw Cronicles of Riddick on sale for like $25 at the local video store the same week the movie was released on to rental outlets. Geez, $25 isn't cheap enough for about 120minutes of entertainment?? The Motion Picture people have stepped up to the bar by producing a product that's cost effective and easy to store and plays conveniently. You can store a lot more movies in a folder than you can on an array of hard disks. You're not going to download your DVD's onto a player on your arm anytime soon so you have something to watch while you're jogging. The application of the data is slightly different.

The folks who are downlong movies (and making them available) are hurting the cause for the rest of us embattled with the RIAA. Movies (and I'll be more specific, DVDs) are not a collection of differing tracks one or more good from the rest, fully separable from the others. A movie is an entire work. You don't break it down for the chapters that are good and throw away the rest. Who the heck would download just the scene where Neo fights Agent Smith in the Matrix just to watch that scene over and over again. No one that I know of. Besides, what loser would want a movie that's been recorded in a theatre when they could SEE it in the theatre and eventually own a legit copy with all the goodies that movies come with (and CD's typically DO NOT) for less than $30? Hello? This makes no sense to me... While music downloaders have a legitimate gripe paying $10 to $20 (depending on age and apparent popularity) for maybe 4minutes of entertainment, I cannot see how someone can complain about paying $20 for a movie like the Matrix, or Star Wars, or Contact or whatever... it's hours of enjoyment for the price of a few lunches at Mc Donalds. Get over it.

DISCLAIMER: Any articles or opinions written or expressed in this section are purely views of me, Ben Kamen and not that of any other person, company or organization.

Your Host: ec2-3-141-192-51.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com
Your Addr: 3.141.192.51