Charles on… anything that comes along

Over at “Tim’s Tales, Travels, and Travails” he’s asking (himself?) Will subscription music come into its own? and pointing out how he’s got a subscription to Yahoo which lets him listen to any of a million tracks. (How’s it on Verdi? Maurice Chevalier? To name but a couple I’ve been ripping this evening. But I digress.)

He points to Jonny Evans’s Wired report about the Musictank evening that was title “I came, I saw, iPod: what’s next?”. I didn’t choose the title..

Anyway, Tim says: As long as I have room on my hard drive or access to the Internet, I can choose to listen to any song at pretty much any time. And: I question the folks who say things like: “After the iPod — isn’t that like asking what’s after the book?” asked journalist and keynote speaker Charles Arthur, who argued that music will not necessarily flow to cell phones.

Well, let’s at least clear up the issue of what I said after the phrase “isn’t that like asking what’s after the book?” I then said: “We all know that there have been lots of things after the book - films, TV, radio, DVDs. But the book keeps on going and maintains its popularity. Ask JK Rowling.” OK? Are we clear? I don’t see these things killing each other; they can all coexist. But everyone is driven by the media’s agenda to find “fights to the death” (which only happen with stuff like VHS vs Betamax) into believing that either iPods kill or are killed by cell phones. Uh-uh. Ain’t so. It’s books and videos, if you ask me.

As for his other point - about having room on his HD or access to the internet - I think that not having access to the Net is one of those things that geeks take for granted. But everyone else finds it unusual. About half the UK population doesn’t have internet access at home. Think on that one.

Oh, but the real reason I’m posting this here is that Tim’s blog *requires* that you have a Microsoft .NET Passport ID and sign in with it before you can comment. Err, clue - not about to happen. Certainly it’s a good way to deter spammers (or the ones who can’t be bothered to set up their own Spaces blogs on which to link-spam the world). It’s also a near-100% perfect way to deter everyone else, Tim.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Two links just to prove that technology isn't good or bad... (11 July 2005; score: 50.11%)
• Harry Potter and the pointless reviews (fear not, no spoilers here) (21 July 2007; score: 41.84%)
• It's nice to know it isn't (30 July 2004; score: 36.81%)

I’ve upgraded the site to the latest and possibly greatest version of Wordpress, but not everything seems to have come along. Tweaks will follow. Your patience appreciated.

… (a little later..) Ah, OK. That should be it. Little matters like missing plugins - hah! And missing /ul/ markers all over the place. Trivial.
Now added: the “most commented-on” place. See if you can catch up with the G4 one! (Actually, being there will probably draw Google, which will draw G4 fans, which will..)

Let me know of any oddness you experience. Note too that hyphenated words in comments may get unhyphenated as part of the anti-spam measures.

..even later.. OK, it’s not perfect - the “recent comments” is smaller than the rest. I’ve lost a /ul/ or maybe /li/ somewhere, but can’t figure it out. Prize to whoever can.

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• The missing tag is "firsttimeparent" (19 February 2007; score: 22.65%)
• Roll over, Pixar - Shaun the sheep's here to tickle your funny bone (20 March 2007; score: 20.17%)
• Leopard running slow on your ageing Mac? Here's how to speed it up: fewer colours (update: except Apple won't let you) (3 December 2007; score: 15.13%)