Legal Music Downloads

By: The Editor

On July 28, 2004, French Internet access providers and music copyright owners signed a joint national charter aimed at cracking down on illegal downloads and expanding the amount of legal music tracks available online (AFP). This is the latest in a series of moves taken across the world to combat music piracy as production labels see more and more of their profits being lost to illegal downloads of music files.

The music industry has been saying the same thing for several years now: peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks are exponentially distributing pirated music across the world through the Internet, and this constitutes a copyright infringement. In English, this means that the fact that I downloaded a Tori Amos track through Kazaa yesterday and am listening to it right now makes me a criminal. So far, so good. Quite true as well. (continued...)

But the real problem is not that people do not want to pay for music. Often I sample new music off the Internet before buying the CDs. Chances are that if I like most of the album, I’m going to buy it. On the surface this is what radio stations do when they play music. The difference, however, is that it has become insanely easy for me to acquire almost-as-good-as-original quality mp3s of any track that I want to listen to, and even if I don’t pay a dime, no one is there to catch me.

The principle of accountability has vanished. When one sees that there are two ways to acquire the same product, but by sacrificing a ‘little’ bit of quality you can get it for free without being penalized for it, what would most rational people do? P2P networks have made finding music off the Internet ridiculously easy, and most of us tend to ‘forget’ our social responsibility when it comes to such ‘trivial’ matters. To contribute to this, copy-protection techniques used on CDs by major production houses are always a step behind the latest cracking algorithms, and steps taken to prevent ‘ripping’ of CDs and DVDs have proven fruitless so far.

Enter music downloads of the legal kind. Disregarding the small number of ‘free’ legal music available for promotional purposes, more and more artists and labels have begun to provide a pay-per-download music service. In essence, you can purchase individual tracks or complete albums through a secure online transaction and then download your ‘purchase’ and, with variable limits to personal use, pretty much do whatever you want to do with it (Several providers digitally encode the files to prevent them from being played on other computers, or to be burned onto CD-Rs)

This is both a move to encourage free-riders such as me to start acquiring ‘legal’ music and an economic adjustment to the digital music revolution. Developing technologies are changing the way people perceive and use music. The advent of iPod and other mp3 players has meant that more and more people are becoming accustomed to carrying around their complete music collections with the latest players offering space for around 10,000 songs. This holds frightening possibilities for record companies. There is a very real concern within the industry that the CD format is fast going out of style, and as technology evolves, consumer demands for the best ‘medium’ will change as well. Till a few years ago audio CDs offered unparalleled music quality, a factor record companies used to encourage people to ‘buy instead of steal (download)’. However, today’s high-quality digital formats mean that audio quality is comparable, and in some cases equal to, CDs. Some experts are even starting to predict that within a decade CDs will become history as digital music will evolve to a point where we will be have access to our entire music collection (hopefully paid for) wherever we want it: in our car, at work, anywhere in the house, even on the beach. Matched with promises (and the reality) of audio quality, this is a serious threat to traditional business.

Thus, providing legal music online is a means of the industry trying to position itself to take advantage of the rising trend of portable music collections. A quick glance across major online music stores tells us exactly so. While offering free-riders affordable music (allowing them to purchase only the tracks they like instead of forcing them to buy the complete album) to ensure that they do not turn to music piracy, sites like eMusic and Apple’s iTunes are backing the new trend. iTunes, Apple’s online music store, has the added distinction of being supported by perhaps the best mp3 player in the business, the iPod. In this combination, Apple has found a very secure marketing brand and ensured that it takes full advantage of this cross between technology and music.

Legal music downloads appear to be the perfect answer to stopping music piracy, at least the downloading kind. Therefore there is no surprise when one sees major record labels pushing to expand such services. However, recent developments tend to make us question what the overall agenda really is. After a period of consolidation of the digital music market in the last two years, albums available for download online are being priced higher than they would normally be in retail stores. It used to be that you could download a song for $0.99 and a complete album for $9.99, but now stores are setting higher prices, with tracks going for $1.50 or even $2.49 and $11.50 albums being sold for $12.50 and $13.00 online.

What is going on?

In positioning themselves to take advantage of changing market forces, the music industry has also hit upon another major factor in determining sales: consumer behavior. Legal music downloads offer people like me the comfort of never having to waste time in retail stores looking for my favorite track from high-school days or wondering when the latest album of Nickelback would hit the shelves. Instead, all the hassles are removed with everything easily searchable, previewable and downloadable from the comfort of my computer chair (and this baby is very, very, comfortable). Consumers may not be usually rational, but they are always looking to save the effort when it comes to making any sort of purchases. Online stores (or is it the major recording labels? Who knows…) are now cashing into this very aspect of human psychology and are beginning to charge extra for a service they are portraying now as a privilege. Having already consolidated their core target market, the time has now come to increase revenues.

Would this drive people back towards music piracy? Highly unlikely. People are not evil, or criminal, by nature. Appeals to their better nature usually work, and that is the strategy adopted by agencies like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who are actively involved in putting a stop to illegal music sharing. Media campaigns encouraging music lovers to pay a dollar or two for tracks instead of ‘committing a crime’ by downloading them for free are actually working as slowly but surely, more and more people flock to online music stores. And with existing customers sticking to this more ‘comfortable’ way of buying music, the industry is finally starting to win back ground it lost due to music piracy.


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Pocket PC Game -- Atomic Cannon

By: The Editor

ATOMIC CANNON 2.0 VIDEO REVIEW

Atomic Cannon 2.0 builds upon the original game with added weapons, improved game AI, VGA support and various other enhancements.

For the sake of newcomers, this review covers the basics of Atomic Cannon. It features screenshots and has a streaming video that shows off many features and enhancements of the game. (continued...)

The basic premise of the original Scorched Earth was simple: eliminate the enemy tank by any means necessary. It was a basic 2D game created for DOS with very simple graphics; it was simple to play yet difficult to master. There was a host of weapons at your disposal as well as shields and homing devices. Scorched Earth 1.5 is still available for download over the internet, but if your computer is using the latest version of Windows, you may have difficulty getting it to run.

Today, everyone who remembers the joys of Scorched Earth will delight in Atomic Cannon 2.0 In fact, anyone who remembers Scorched Earth will begin drawing comparisons immediately.

THE STORYLINE

The United Nations banned all atomic and nuclear devices and ordered their destruction. Most were destroyed systematically over a period of years, the only remaining nuclear capable devices were in museums and scattered in hidden secret bunkers around the world.

After global chaos erupted in a heated debate centered on a rogue dictator, world powers were battling in small inhospitable environments where only machines could go. As the start of the new world order unfolded, powers needed the most destructive machines they could find to use in battle, aircraft, and ground soldiers could not be used because of the harsh weather and terrain.

Thus began the resurrection of the Atomic Cannons. They were outfitted with as many kinds of ammunition systems as possible to deter the enemy. It is your mission to command our Atomic Cannon and be victorious...

Stream the Video (256K Streaming Windows Media)

Download the Video (2.26MB Windows Media)

FEATURES

• Over 85 of the biggest weapons
• Beautiful scenery with 25 realistic landscapes
• Fully customizable weapon economy
• Death match and round based game modes
• Six professional music tracks totalling 20 minutes
• Play in either Portrait or Landscape modes
• Multiplayer mode to show your friends who is boss
• Up to 16 players with 5 tanks each
• Awesome graphical refractive wave effects
• Endless humor with talking bots
• Scrollable virtual battle fields
• Radioactive effects with damage over time
• Weather effects which react to the wind


THE UPDATE
The 2.0 update includes the following major changes:
• 35 new weapons were added.
• Fully customizable weapon buying and economy system.
• Native VGA support for very sharp graphics.
• Shields, armor, life, and many new weapon types.
• Improved the computer’s artificial intelligence.
• All new tank graphics with 4 types of tanks.
• Bigger and better explosion effects.
• And around 200 other changes too numerous to list.


GETTING STARTED


Choosing to play a game will bring you to the Start Game menu. Here, you can choose the number of computer and human players (up to 8 of each), the number of tanks per team (up to 5 per player), the game type (rounds or deathmatch), the land size (up to four times the size of the screen), the difficulty setting (10 different levels), and the wind speed (none to high). The two game modes are interesting, allowing you to destroy your enemies completely in deathmatch or compete for points during rounds.


Being a Scorched Earth purist, I chose to play the computer one-on-one, one tank each on one screen. The first thing I noticed was how spectacular the graphics looked! The snowing/raining backgrounds rank among my favorites, but they are all very impressive. Anyone who has played Snails will recognize the gameplay interface using an arrow to aim with the stylus. A more precise description of your power and aim angle is given at the bottom of the screen. At the top of the screen, you and your opponent’s life or points are displayed.


Your tank does have the ability to move, although the controls are vague at best. You can either choose to move a little or a lot, and the stopping location is fairly random, i.e., you cannot choose to move to an exact point. It takes experience to know how far either will take you. There are only a limited number of moves you can make, so if you choose to move, it must be done wisely.



An effortless victory


WEAPONS OF MANY TYPES


According to the Atomic Cannon webpage, there are over 85 weapons at your disposal. Once you begin playing games, you quickly realize several of the weapons are identical (or nearly identical). There are several basic types of weapons in the classic Scorched Earth tradition: earth-creating, earth-destroying, and offensive weapons. The weapons’ animations are done well, with smoke trails on the missiles and collateral damage of the nukes. It takes a while to figure out what some of the weapons do—it’s easy to get the hellfires, stingers, and avenger confused. Landscape is destructible, but no napalm, one of my favorite weapons!


One of the biggest flaws of the game is the inability to choose your weapons at the start of a game. All your weapons are assigned randomly. You can be assigned a lot weapons you do not care for; I happen to prefer using offensive weapons and frequently am assigned many earth-creating and earth-destroying weapons. For a 20 round game, you are assigned exactly 20 weapons, meaning you will be using all of them. It does add to the strategy factor of the game, as you must be proficient will all types of weapons to defeat the higher-level computer opponents, but it should be an option to choose your weapons. In deathmatch games where you use all 10 weapons given at the start, you are given one random weapon for each turn thereafter. Something that the upgrade adds for players familiar with Scorched Earth, is the addition of shields and armor to use with your tank.

CUSTOMIZING YOUR GAME


There are a whole host of options available upon startup involving gameplay, graphics, audio, controls, and players. The wind can be adjusted, the number of rounds and moves changed, the graphic detail and land type selected, the screen orientation set, the controls modified (assigning tasks to the buttons), and the color of your tank chosen. It is highly likely you’ll be able to find settings which you are happy with. Level backgrounds cannot be picked, however—they appear randomly. There is no music in the Pocket PC version, only sound effects.

The various computer difficulty settings allow you to compete against a worthy opponent. The first three setting are fairly easy, and level four is a slight step up. Level five is where the computer uses movement to force you to change aiming angles and power. Difficulty increases slightly with each higher level. By level ten, the weapons you’re randomly allotted at the start really begin to matter (you might have one nuke and he has two). As you might imagine, you can get quite a war going on if you increase the number of opponents and tanks per opponent. You can compete against friends on the same PDA; multiplayer network support would be a great addition to the game.

SUMMARY

Basic Facts
Application name: Atomic Cannon
Tested version: 2.0
Author: Isotope244
Download: Pocket PC (1170KB) - XSCALE, ARM Download Demo Version
Registration: US$ 19.95, Purchase at PocketGear.com

CONCLUSION

From what I’ve seen, this game has a lot of potential for fun and the upgrade makes it more so. The graphics and the weapon animations are outstanding, and there are many gameplay options to keep you returning for another round. I would like to see the option to for multiplayer bluethooth and internet play in a future version. This would make it a more challenging game and a lot more interesting. I encourage all fans of the original Scorched Earth to give Atomic Cannon 2.0 a try.

:: The final rating is 4 out of 5 stars (****)

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Windows XP Tweaks

By: The Editors at TigerDirect

Computers are shipped to the customer with factory settings and drivers, meant to standardize the performance and appearance of a particular brand or model. Here, we’ve assembled 10 fast n’ easy tweaks for any PC that break the “factory mold” and improve performance. Try a few of these tips and you may see significant increase!

1. Clean Out Your System Tray
If you have a new PC, this is something to watch. If your PC is a few months (or even weeks) old, here’s a helpful tip: Eliminate every unnecessary application. These apps drain your processor’s cycles and memory. That means a gradual slowdown, until you’re crawling. (continued...)

2. Update Your Drivers
It’s easy and fast, yet most PC users never bother. Keeping on top of video card and chipset drivers by visiting the manufacturer’s site frequently can deliver amazing performance benefits. We recommend a once-a-month checkup of drivers. You’ll be happy you did.

3. Enable DMA For Your System
First a definition of DMA: Short for direct memory access, a technique for transferring data from main memory to a device without passing it through the CPU. Computers that have DMA channels can transfer data to and from devices much more quickly than computers without a DMA channel can. This is useful for making quick backups and for real-time applications. So, here’s our recommendation: Go to the Device Manager of your PC and take a look at the Properties of your Primary IDE Channel. On the “Advanced Settings” tab, make sure that DMA, if available, is checked for both devices. Do the same thing with the “Secondary IDE Channel.”

4. Visit windowsupdate.com Regularly
This is a big one. Also very fast and simple. The “patches” that are made available on a weekly basis not only provide protection for your PC, they are also designed to improve performance. We recommend at least twice per month.

5. Convert Your Drives To NTFS
If you want to get the most from your drives, you may want to convert them to NTFS. Here’s how: Open a command line and type:
Convert x: /fs:ntfs

…Except you will replace the “x” with your drive’s letter-name.
NOTE: Back up your important files before attempting this conversion.


6. Use Quick Launch
Common problem. Simple fix. Instead of cluttering your Desktop with shortcuts, just right-click the Taskbar, go to Toolbars, and make sure Quick Launch is checked. Then drag your favorite shortcuts to the Quick Launch bar for easy access, anytime.

7. Speed Up Your User Interface
Today’s PCs often come to you with many graphical bells and whistles, and while they’re cute, they rob your system of fundamental power. Faster is better. Here’s our recommendation: Go to the Display control panel, click the Appearance tab and hit the Effects button. Uncheck the first two options, as well as “Show shadows under menus.” Use minimal graphics and go faster.

8. Create One-Click Access To Device Manager
To open Device Manager in Windows XP without the hassle of going to System Properties, just create a shortcut to “devmgmt.msc”

9. Did You Know Windows XP Has An On-Screen Keyboard?
Another XP secret revealed. You may need it if you can’t get to your keyboard. Here’s how: Open My Computer and browse to C:/Windows/System32 then double-click osk.exe. The keyboard operates with simple point-and-click commands.

10. Defrag. Defrag. Defrag.
A “must” for busy PC users, made simple. Here’s how: Regular defragmentation can improve your machine’s hard drive performance by massive amounts. To begin defragging, right-click your hard drive in My Computer, select Properties, go to the Tools tab, then click defrag. Do this religiously every month or so and you’ll enjoy smooth sailing.


Article Source: TigerDirect

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Sprint, Yahoo Team On Mobile E-Mail

New e-mail client supports instant notification of new e-mail received by Yahoo! Mail.

Sprint and Yahoo! said Wednesday they are teaming to provide a push-like e-mail service to Sprint's subscribers.

The service will use a new Yahoo! Mail for Mobile client with underlying technology from SEVEN, according to the companies. Besides push e-mail, the service provides access to Yahoo! address books and Yahoo! Mail management capabilities, the companies said. (continued...)

"Sprint recognizes the increasing desire of customers to have a more robust messaging experience on their handset," John Styers, Sprint's director of data communications services, said in a statement.

Sprint will charge $2.99 a month for basic e-mail service but it will cost extra for the push-like ability to be notified of new e-mail in real-time. However, the company didn't say how much extra that service would cost.

The service will be available on palmOne Treo devices as well as phones from Samsung and Sanyo, Sprint said. Yahoo! claims that 60 million subscribers use its e-mail service every month.

Source: InformationWeek

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Pocket PC Tips and Tricks -- Appointments

APPOINTMENTS DISAPPEARING

One of the frequent mysteries for Pocket PC users is disappearing calendar appointments. If your appointments like to disappear after synchronizing, the magician behind all this is probably a setting in ActiveSync. Usually, the old appointments disappear from your Pocket PC. On your desktop PC, Outlook keeps your appointments around until you delete or archive them. With ActiveSync, on the other hand, two week old appointments do not get synchronized with your Pocket PC. (continued...)

The appointments are still in Outlook on your desktop, but not on your Pocket PC. Here is how you can change that:

If you would like older appointments to also be synced to your Pocket PC, then you can change the setting.

On your PC:

1. Open ActiveSync

2. Locate and select the Calendar information type

3. Right click on it, and select Settings


4. In the settings window, select one of the following:

- "Synchronize all appointments" - sync every single appointment.(This is something we would not recommend, because it will use up a lot of space if you have years of appointments stored in Outlook.)

- "Synchronize only" - define the time frame for the synchronized appointments.

- "Synchronize only those appointments" - limit the synchronized appointments to a few categories.

5. When you have made your choice, close the opened windows and you are done.

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Intel And TiVo To Offer TV On Laptops

Two of the hottest technologies are expected to be combined later this month when Intel and TiVo introduce a TiVo To Go program that lets consumers download television programming and wirelessly transfer it to their Centrino notebook computers.

The TiVo To Go program will be unveiled in about two weeks, Sean Maloney, executive VP and general manager of Intel's mobile platforms group, said at the company's wireless and mobile conference in San Francisco this week.

Users of TiVo's personal video recorders will be able to transfer recorded television content to Centrino notebooks using pre-installed software. Notebook users will then be able to take the programming with them while traveling, he said.

Maloney didn't provide details. TiVo has offered the ability to transfer television content to home computers for a while, but it appears that Intel plans to let consumers make that transfer wirelessly.

Source: InformationWeek

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