The music wars from a musician's point of view. And free tunes. http://www.azoz.com May 14, 2008 -- There's a rumor going around right now involving a bill that passed the US House of Representatives (HR4279) which several sources (some of them otherwise credible) are warning means that if the RIAA finds an "illegal" mp3 on your hard drive, they can take your computer, your house, your dog and naming rights to your first-born male child. Not exactly. http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash05/rumors.html http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash05/rumors.html May 8, 2008 -- The fact that the RIAA even has a "technical unit" was good for a laugh all by itself. http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash05/techunit.html http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash05/techunit.html May 3, 2008 -- After 5 years and 40,000 lawsuits, we have not seen any definitive legal answers to the most basic questions involving the individual, non-commercial file sharing on which those lawsuits are based. Since only about 100 people have contested the accusations to date (according to BusinessWeek), it is clearly in the RIAA's best interests to delay legal clarity as long as possible. http://www.azoz.com/topics/lawsuits/squareone.html http://www.azoz.com/topics/lawsuits/squareone.html April 25, 2008 -- In 2007, there was a lot of discussion in the media about the resurgence of the vinyl format. I suppose this depends on your definition of "resurgence." http://www.azoz.com/topics/riaastats/vinyl.html http://www.azoz.com/topics/riaastats/vinyl.html April 18, 2008 -- After playing with The Hurricane in January, I got the bug to go out and play again. I looked through Craigslist, found something that seemed compatible, answered the ad and went to audition. That was about a month ago. I haven't heard back from them and they're still running ads. I'm guessing that I didn't pass the audition. http://www.azoz.com/fmo/003covers.html http://www.azoz.com/fmo/003covers.html April 11, 2008 -- There are many, many things that I simply do not understand and probably never will. Taking an entire orchestra to Italy to pretend to play ranks right up there. http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash04/mysteries.html http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash04/mysteries.html April 4, 2008 -- After spending the last couple of weeks on far too serious subjects, it seems like a good time to take a quick look at some of the other things which are going on that caught my eye but I haven't taken time to address. http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash04/sas.html http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash04/sas.html March 31, 2008 -- I previously offered two basic principles as a starting point for solving the music wars. Today, I'd like to outline the complete solution, which fully and logically explains why the record labels want to run it, as well as why they should not be allowed to. http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash03/RealPlan2.html http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008dash03/RealPlan2.html March 27, 2008 -- About 10 years ago, I bought a Les Paul. Got it on eBay from a pawn shop in Reno. The damn thing has never played properly, never stayed in tune. I've shown it to all my guitar-playing friends, some of which have taken it and spent time working on it, with no improvement. Last week, I changed strings and, armed with just the tiniest bit of information, that crappy lemon of a guitar turned back into a real Les Paul again. For the first time since I bought it, I'm not ashamed to play it. http://www.azoz.com/fmo/101intonation.html http://www.azoz.com/fmo/101intonation.html