Beg, Borrow, Steal?

I'm somewhat conflicted about the DRM debate. On one hand, what's the *real* difference between getting a song "legally" online and taping it from the radio? Aside from format, I mean. I used to record HOURS of music from the radio as a kid. I wouldn't buy that many cassettes (because I was usually saving up for more books, because I am a total geek) because I didn't need to. The "Hot 9 at 9" had every song I wanted at the time, so I would tape it. On this same hand, isn't music art to be shared with everyone? Wasn't that the original goal: to share your gift with others? To pass along a message in your own voice?

There are always* going to be people who prefer to buy the actual CD , myself included (*probably). I like getting the case, the booklet, the pretty CD all pre-labeled just for me... It's a hassle to download music. I don't have an iPod (gasp! sputter! choke!), so if I want to listen to music in my car (commercial-free music), it has to be on CD. So I have to purchase the song somewhere, DL it, burn it (and others I've saved up for this purpose) in random order, create a CD label (with either Sharpie or my oh-so-easy to use label-maker), and let it float around, case-less. It's not worth it most of the time. I'll just buy the CD usually.

On the other hand... People are getting less and less of their hard-earned millions if things are all willynilly and unregulated. I think the real reform needs to be that CDs and concerts are cheaper so that people are more likely to go down legal avenues to hear their favorite stuff. Bottom line: If you don't like something enough to pay for it, do you really need it in the first place or are you just getting it because it's "free"?

I'm as conflicted about this topic as I am about whether or not "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is going to suck as much as I predict it will. (At least the 5th movie will be excellent. It was a terrible book, so the movie is sure to look awesome by comparison. Woo!)

I really liked MusicMap more than LivePlasma, honestly. There were artists who didn't even show up on the latter (um, Lily Allen, Imogen Heap, and Regina Spektor to name a few), and the ones that did show up were connected to some completely ridiculous choices. What does The Offspring have to do with Green Day? Even more unreal: just how are Nirvana and Weezer linked again? Aside from both being Geffen Records artists at one point, I fail to see the connection. Counting Crows were/are(?) Geffen artists, too; why weren't they listed? Very poor form. But MusicMap correctly interpreted Weezer and linked them with some similar (and somewhat copy-catty) artists. Also, they had the three missing artists from above (and correctly linked some of them).

Very fun week! :)

Flick this...

Flickr was pretty easy to use. I didn't see any options for posting pictures to any social networking sites, though, which is not cool. That "other" photo upload site (that rhymes with MotoRucket) gives you the exact code you need to post your photo. Hrrumph.

Online learning is OK. I think you have to be disciplined though, moreso than with a normal, in-person class. I don't think I could do an entire degree online. I think I'd likely fall behind from lack of logging in, etc.

I've helped a few people. For the most part, though, everyone seems to be getting it pretty well, which is awesome.

(Can I say that I Just Now noticed that Blogger "saves your drafts automatically"? That is SO COOL! I can't tell you how many times I've typed up blogs (on other sites), gone to post them, and had the post not go through because of one error or another. What a great feature! Woot!)

I... can't believe this! I've run out of things to say/type. Guess I'll end here, then!

What do you mean there's no Web 2.0 App for zombies?

It's true, kiddies. Sad, but true!

I searched *many* different ways, searching, hoping against hope that I would find just one Web 2.0 App about zombies. Or plagues. Or some other apocalypse-awareness help site. Why isn't there a ZombieSpace? Or a WikiPlaguia? Or YouApocalypse, which would feature videos of apocalyptic signs people have seen (like Tom Cruise being normal, or Dunkin' Donuts ceasing production of their best donut)?

I'm very disappointed.

How are we expected to prepare for these things when the tools aren't readily available? Were I more of a tech-nut, I would work on creating something. But, alas... I can barely create a PBWiki let alone my own WikiPlaguia! But it would be oh-so helpful...

I did find this, however, when I searched Digg for "apocalypse." Rock On!

So, even jaded as I now am about Web 2.0 Apps and the severly lacking apocalyptic content therein, I searched for my next favorite thing: writing. I found Writely.com, which seemed awesome till I clicked and realized Google must've bought them out since it just directs me to the Google log-in screen. D'oh! Still cool, just Google-ized now. I went to my next choice, Writetomyblog.com and found a word processor, online, that will post to any blog site. Seems cool. I will need to investigate further of course, on my own time. It would RULE if I was able to use that to write blogs so I could save them in the (not so rare) times the blog does not post but just magically disappears instead. It's SO FUN when that happens and I lose all of my work! Yay!

I signed up for basically every site mentioned on this week's course, which is hilarious since I already have more sites to keep track of than I could ever hope to manage. Poor Shelfari! I haven't visited my shelf in weeks! Despite that, I couldn't resist signing up for Dogster, Traineo (omg, helpful!), and YouPlay. I didn't sign up for Blufr, but I emailed myself the link to check it out later. And why do we need sites for alcohol lovers? Don't they do enough talking about their favorite vices when they're imbibing them? I mean, really!

Great course this week! I learned a lot about the HUGE HOLE in the 'net when it comes to zombie and apocalyptic awareness/preparedness. I also (re)learned that you can find pretty much anything else on the internet if you search hard enough.