More ripping off buyers via DRM

This time it's Major League Baseball:

Allan Wood (a baseball megafan who has written a book about Babe Ruth) purchased over $280 worth of digital downloads of baseball games from Major League Baseball, who have just turned off their DRM server, leaving him with no way to watch his videos. MLB's position is that since these videos were "one time sales," and that means that Wood and everyone else who gave money to MLB is out of luck -- they'll never be able to watch their videos again. -- boingboing

In the comments, an interesting revelation:

That's funny, MLB's own FAQ [link in original - o.g.] on the subject says the license will exist forever:

7. Do I have to obtain a license every time I want to watch the downloaded video?

No. When you first try to play the video, a license will be distributed to you and stored by the player. Unless manually deleted, the license will exist forever and will be used when you try to watch the downloaded video on that machine. If you watch the video on a different machine, another license will be required.

Via: Consumerist, who flag it "Punishing the Ones Who Don't Steal."

Previously: Welcome to the brave new world of "unproperty"

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 17:13:14 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 207 words, total size 2 kb.

Another great moment in business journalism

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article (“Cable's Picture Gets Fuzzier,” by Dionne Searcey, Wall Street Journal November 8, 2007, page B3) about the market hit Comcast stock has taken, and the company’s plans to respond to competition by telephone companies.

It's 1/3 of a page– about 1200 words.

Guess which two words appear nowhere in that article.
“customer service”
Unbelievable. (There’s this, too.)

Previously:

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 16:31:54 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 92 words, total size 1 kb.

Clipfile: November 7, 2007

“I don’t see mistrust of science as a bad thing. A true scientist can always prove his work, without requiring trust. A scientist who demands trust is a scientist with too much emotional attachment to his agenda to be trusted.” – “Tatterdemalian,” commenting at Tim Blair.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Clipfile at 21:14:06 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 50 words, total size 1 kb.

It's called post traumatic-stress syndrome

While spending hours in The Hottest Attic In The Universe, Johnny Virgil discovered the reason we've forgotten 70's style.


Via Matt via Tam

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 18:02:03 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 28 words, total size 1 kb.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

Mickey Kaus:

Pre-Clinton Democrats... dismissed voter anger on the welfare issue as displaced discontent about economic stagnation (when they weren't dismissing it as plain old racism). Welfare recipients were "scapegoats," we were told. Then it turned out that the voters who were angry at welfare were angry at welfare. It's just possible, as Michael Barone suggests, that the voters who are angry at illegal immigration are angry at illegal immigration. [link and bolding in original - o.g.]

As they say, “wal duh!”

Later:  Bill Quick notes that Barone is late to the party.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:18:07 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 92 words, total size 1 kb.

Here, Piggy, Piggy, Piggy!

The Club For Growth's 2007 Senate RePORK Card is out:

Only three senators received a perfect score of 100% (and were present for a majority of the votes): Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Richard Burr (R-NC).

The only senator receiving a 0% was Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) who voted against all 10 anti-pork amendments he was present for.

The average Republican score was 59%; the average Democratic score was 12%.

The best scoring Democrat was Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) with an impressive 80%, tying with or scoring better than thirty-nine Republican senators.

Of the presidential candidates, John McCain scored the best (100%), but only managed to vote on two of the 15 measures tracked.

The complete scorecard is here. I've also linked it in the Useful Stuff section of the sidebar.
The Club released a scorecard for the House back in August. It's here.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 14:59:51 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 149 words, total size 1 kb.

"If something doesn’t work I just do it again, and it does."

Lileks on the joys of beta software masquerading as finished product:

Apparently the main problem with the game is that people expect to play it on a computer different than the one the developers used... Apparently people are expected to download patches before they even play the game, which is a bit like releasing an album that does not contain the Middle C note, or a novel missing the vowel “E.” You can add them later! Or you can move along to something that actually works.

I am curious whether the company actually played the game before they released it.

Silly man!

BTW, I looked for the new book, but my neighborhood Barnes & Noble doesn't have it yet.  (I'll give 'em another week, then order it online.)  They did have Regrettable Food, though.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 00:38:10 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 144 words, total size 1 kb.

Ratcheting things up

So, having let one horse (subprime mortgages) get out of the barn, the credit industry proceeds to put double locks on all the doors that are already secure:

In the October survey, about one-fifth of domestic institutions, on balance, reported that they had tightened their lending standards on C&I loans to large and middle-market firms over the past three months relative to the previous three months.
...
About half of the domestic and three-fourths of the foreign respondents reported a tightening of lending standards and terms on backup credit lines for single-seller, multi-seller, and other types of asset-backed commercial paper programs.
...
40 percent of respondents indicated that they had tightened their lending standards on prime mortgages...
...
one-fourth of domestic banks—up from about 10 percent in the July survey—reported that they had tightened their lending standards on consumer loans other than credit card loans over the past three months... A few banks indicated a diminished willingness to make consumer installment loans relative to three months earlier. -- Federal Reserve's October 2007 "Senior Loan Officer" Survey

Well, the banks do need to cover their subprime losses and assure their investors that they won't screw up again. But those tighter standards will put viable businesses out-of-business, if they lose short-term borrowing ability. And tighter standards on consumer loans will impact everything from car sales to vacation travel. (But there'll be plenty of money at credit-card rates!)

Easing interest rates won't help borrowers if the only kind of loans they can get are the 25-percent APR kind. Not to mention the political consequences of a 20% spread between Fed rates and loans that people can actually get.


Via: MaxedOutMama, who has more.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 23:59:01 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 281 words, total size 3 kb.

Nothing for (no) money

Tim Blair wonders:

[First, quoting a Los Angeles Times report] "Hollywood’s film and television writers went on strike early this morning after last-ditch efforts to negotiate a deal with the major studios failed Sunday...

‘Once it starts, it’s going to get ugly,’ said one of the guild’s strike captains Sunday.

[Blair dixit:] Wait a second ... the guild has got every film and television writer in Hollywood available to come up with a punchy line, and that’s the best they can do? Who’s running this show?

But noone's getting paid.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:44:49 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 84 words, total size 1 kb.

Clipfile: November 5, 2007

"God help us. When the f*ck did we ever decide there was a "public interest sector" and that it was large enough part of the economy to deserve a name?" - "Tim," in a  comment at Althouse

Posted by: Old Grouch in Clipfile at 16:49:45 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 41 words, total size 1 kb.