October 22, 2007
mitch @ 8:21 am on October 22, 2007
My wifes Uncle stopped by the other day to look at my PS3 and decided if he wanted to get one or not… He was asking questions which I’d rather not go into… But the topic of his questions is a common theme I feel among Windows users. Paying for things. I do not nor will I ever condone pirating software/content. (I do however download TopGear which is only shown on the BBC in the UK…. but, thats because I can’t buy it here.) And his questions, some of which I completely agree with, others not so much.
Like, I would love to be able to copy a game to a hard drive and run it completely from that and not from the actual disk. When its just me handling the disks or only a few adults… Thats not a big concern for me. However, He has kids and I believe I’ve even said on this blog, that I would not want kids handling disks if I can help it. Digital copies(iso’s) of them would be the much preferred method for them to access the content in my opinion. Something they can’t scratch or otherwise ruin. Failing having the storage space required for doing that, I would want to make use of my Fair Use(tm) Rights, and make a backup copy of the disks, and only let them use those. So when they ruin that one, I can throw it away and make another copy for them to slowly destroy. This I believe is a completely legitimate and legal reason to want to perform these actions. But with the idea of being able to do all of these things the illegal ones also exist. Being able to copy dvd’s also allows people to rent them for a dollar or so, and make their copy and return the original, then they didn’t really “pay” for the copy they now have. To those that do this, I say you are the reason for the copy protection and DRM measures the movie industry (and music) have been trying to put in place. Yes, technology is always going to obsolete their measures, but none the less… features in my PS3 have been crippled simply because people like you exist. I have no problem paying for content, assuming the price is right and its not overly burdensome with DRM. DRM is the reason I’ve been still buying normal CD’s instead of digital forms, because I can always take the CD and rip it to digital forms without DRM. I applaud Apple for bringing DRM free music to iTunes, and if I didn’t dislike the interface so much I might actually use it. 
I also however dislike the price tag of certain things. Game prices on the PS3 are actually quite expensive in my mind… being only a casual gamer myself (more on that later…) I love the demo downloads for the PS3 that let me try the games before I actually buy them. It was because of that, I bought Resistance.
Anyway, I guess I’m just not one of those people… I understand the benefits of Free Software, and the importance of paying people for their work. If you don’t like paying for software, its time to use the stuff your allowed to use without paying for it. Otherwise, cough up the money.
Life· Open Source — No Comments
October 20, 2007
mitch @ 11:01 pm on October 20, 2007
I’ve had my Civic for 5-6 years now… and I think I’m ready to sell it. There isn’t anything wrong with it, but I’m just tired and ready for something else. The idea of getting a new car has me going through the same process I did with all the others I’ve had. I originally bought the Civic EX with the idea I’d do an engine swap in it to make it even faster than a Civic Si… That didn’t happen… so this time I’m not going to make any sacrifices. I want a car with All Wheel Drive. My civic’s always been horrible when snow flies. Thats mostly been because of the tires I’ve chosen for it. Since I only recently switched to an all season 205/40R17… There were a few winters where driving on ice in tires made for water or dry weather is quite scary, and I wouldn’t recommend it. It should be better this winter.
Anyway, along with the all wheel drive, I’ve been wanting a hatch back. Knowing those two requirements, that pretty much leaves me with two cars that I know of…. a VW R32, and an Audi A3 3.2 Quatro. I didn’t really plan it this way… but they actually both have the same engine… The VW is a 2 door, and the Audi is a 4 door… I Love the looks of both, but currently I’m leaning towards the Audi because its more available… it will be considerably more expensive than my civic was… But I believe its totally worth it.
Cars· Civic — No Comments
October 16, 2007
mitch @ 12:23 pm on October 16, 2007
Well, I’ve been saying it for a while, as I believe most of the Republicans follow the words of our current President and think the Constitution is just a piece of paper. Well, its not. Came across a blog entry entitled: Mitt Romney: It’s Not Religion, its His Politics. It gives some very good reasons for not voting for Romney as well as all but one of the current Republican candidates.
Life· Politics — No Comments
October 15, 2007
mitch @ 4:57 pm on October 15, 2007
Well, its been a long time since I last posted, and its also been a while since I bought my PS3… Not related.. But I must say I have been enjoying the PS3, its such an amazing piece of hardware. The picture quality is truly superb, and the sound output seems to be much better than my upscaling DVD player. Even tho they both do HDMI to my TV which is then pushed through the optical audio out to my receiver. The only thing I would like to really complain about is the lack of interesting games. I don’t have hours to spend playing video games like a kid typically would… and Motorstorm is way to hard after the third or forth race than I’m willing to put up with. However, the game demos you can download from the online store are nice and thats what prompted me to buy Resistance. Which is currently my favorite game (out of the two i actually own). So.. take that for what its worth… I will be buying DiRT soon, and I hear a that a new Need For Speed will be coming out at the end of the month. That should be exciting I hope.
And wow… thats quite the run on blab of nothing… sorry for not being very articulate.
Life· PS3· Play — No Comments
