Ted Ritzer: Free Music

ZON Dollars Where the Virtual & Real World Collides for Good in the World

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 23:36:47 GMT

ZON DOLLARS CONCEPT-JAN 1, 2007

Dear Google Org, Amazon and Linden Labs People:

I submit this idea for your consideration:

It has been posted to the Internet via Google docs, its URL is:

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcjvvpr5_2frhqm6

ZON Dollars Where the Virtual & Real World Collides for Good in the World:

The idea for ZON dollars has its roots in three things I read as the final moments of 2006 played out:

1. Allision H Fine's wonderful new book: "Momentum-igniting social change in the connected age.", which can be purchased at Amazon. 2. Amazon's new project that uses 37signals Ruby on Rails to build a new application called Unspun , which is based on an application Amazon has called the mechanical Turk. 3.An article called: "What is Second Life?" Of course, the reference to a virtual currency comes directly from Second Life's "The Linden dollar".

I guess the challenge delivered by Allision Fine in her book: "Momentum" is how do we harness technology and the economy to do good?

ZON dollars is my attempt at doing just that through the creation of a virtual currency that at its core involves both voluteerism and doing good throughout the world.

ZON dollars can only be earned by:

1. individuals or corporations donating to recognized charities(those that can issues tax receipts) for conversion into ZON dollars, for the sole purpose of motivating people to do good. through the use of those ZON dollars. 2. doing virtual work through participating companies like Amazon's Mechanical Turk Service, a portion, determined by the worker goes to charities in the form of ZON dollars, while the remainder goes to the virtual worker, to be used as they see fit. 3. corporations who are so confident of the worth of their product that they openly invite comparision by consumers, donate ZON dollars to encourge concensus rankings of their product using Amazon's new Unspun service. People are encouraged to vote on the best products i in those categories, and the ZON dollars are distributed to the charity that the sponsoring corporation names when they open the community concensus on their product category.

ZON dollars can be converted to:

1. real currency for use to purchase goods at Amazon.com or via Google's new ecommerce system. 2. they can be converted to Linden dollars for use in Second Life.

So I guess those are my inititial thoughts related to the ZON dollar concept, I will now publish this, and also email the concept to the above named entities that could actually implement the concept, a. Google.org, Amazon's Unspun & Second Life.

As Allision Fine's book title says, I wonder if this concept will:

'ignite social change in the connected age"

Sincerely

Gregers Ritzer-January 1, 2007

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:14:45 GMT

Oldies but goldies benefit in digital revamp of charts. Record industry agrees to shakeup of Top 75 listing as downloads give new lease of life to dinosaurs of rock. [Guardian Unlimited]

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 23:38:10 GMT

Freesound Reaches 10000 Files. Bram writes ""The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, -not songs-... released under the Creative Commons Sampling+ License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing and browsing these samples." In less that 7 months we've grown to 30000 users and today we finally reached the first goal of the project: we've collected over 10000 samples, added by various people around the globe: only a slashdotting would be a suiting birthday cake. If you do visit Freesound, don't forget to have a look at the Geotagged Samples as they are well worth it." [Slashdot]

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:11:49 GMT

Library won't buy Sony CDs. Cory Doctorow: Edward Vielmetti reports that his local library system in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is declaring a moratorium on buying CDs from Sony:

I've passed word on to our selectors not to buy any Sony/BMG copy-protected CDs for the forseeable future. Not only is this reprehensible, but we could get into some support nightmares if people try to remove the rootkit since it's gotten so much press.

Link

Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank) [Boing Boing]

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 08:29:52 GMT

NBC Universal Delivers Content to Paid P2P Platform. A new file-sharing model has recently won the support of massive media conglomerate NBC Universal. The deal involves Peer Impact, which will soon offer movies from Universal ... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:43:07 GMT

American Idiot mashed up. Cory Doctorow: American Edit is a concept mashup album that combines American Idiot with lots of eclectic material. I love the remix with the Dr Who theme! Link (Thanks, DD8!) [Boing Boing]

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 06:04:02 GMT

Clarion Announces VRX755VD In-Car DVD Player with iPod Interface.

Clarion has announced a new in-dash touch-screen DVD player/monitor for cars that will be the company's first to integrate controls for Apple's iPod. The VRX755VD will have a seven-inch screen and a touch-screen control pad that will give access to the iPod's playlists and song information. This in and of itself isn't a terribly new feature, but so far previous head unit controls for the iPod have left a lot to be desired. Alpine's system gets the closest, but still is obviously an afterthought design. Hopefully the Clarion unit will get closer to the natural iPod interface.

A call to Clarion revealed that no pictures of the VRX755VD are planned to be released until CES in January.

Clarion to integrate iPod with car stereos [MacCentral]

Update: An anonymous tipster writes: "Don't know if this helps at all, but a couple of my bosses (I work for a large CE Retailer) have told me that it's actually supposed to have a virtual iPod displayed on the screen, and that you can "use" the touch wheel and buttons on the screen version of the iPod."

[Gizmodo]

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 06:03:09 GMT

iTunes Canada Launches.

Oh, Canada, I haven't forgotten you. I was going to put a little note in the remainders about the opening of your iTunes Music Store, but since so many of you have written in to joyfully announce it, I figure I can pass it on. To commemorate this great day in your digital music history, I downloaded the new U2 album off of AllOfMP3.com.

Also, 84 cents a song! Sounds good now, but wait until the dollar plummets. Then who will be getting the good deal, huh? (Thanks, Denis!)

Apple delivers iTunes Canada [ZDNet]
Apple Brings iTunes Music Downloading to Canada at Lower Price [Bloomberg]
Apple opens Canadian iTunes store [TheRegister]
Apple opens iTunes Music Store in Canada [MacCentral]

[Gizmodo]

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 01:57:17 GMT

BBC: Blog picked as word of the year. Slow news day. [Scripting News]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:47:39 GMT

Watchdog Sues Music Labels. A Belgian consumer advocacy group sues the music industry's largest labels for selling CDs that won't play on your car stereo or computer. [Wired News]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:42:29 GMT

Griffin Announces Voice Recorder for iPod [andPOP]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:30:43 GMT

I gotta say that this title, about a Microsoft iPod Killer for me is depressing, in that wherever there is a market created by a true innovator like Apple, that Microsoft is able to through its sheer size and market dominance, steal that market away from the ture innovator!

Think Mac vs Windows, think Internet browser, Mosaic then Netscape.

The only ray of hope I can see on the horizon is Open Source Business Models, that create new opportunities for innovators!

Microsoft's iPod-Killer: Portable Media Center?. securitas writes "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Todd Bishop reports on what's billed as an iPod-killer: the Microsoft Portable Media Center line of digital ... [Slashdot]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:44:52 GMT

Prisonaires: golden age pop music from behind bars. In Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude, which I finished on a plane yesterday, there's an amazing aside about a band called The Prisonaires, a group of 1950s black men who'd been sent to jail on faked-up charges and who formed a best-selling pop group behind bars, leaving on special work-release programs to perform and record. It turns out that The Prisonaires aren't fictional -- what's more, you can actually buy a reissue CD of their greatest hits. Link [Boing Boing Blog]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 07:44:10 GMT

NY Times: Five Giants in Technology Unite to Deter File Sharing. Now, five of what industry executives say are the world's most powerful computer, cellphone and electronics companies are planning a new system for protecting digital music, video and software from illicit file sharing that they hope will at least narrow that gap. [Tomalak's Realm]

Mon, 29 Dec 2003 16:56:38 GMT

2004 may see 'bit of a gold rush' for digital tunes (USATODAY.com). USATODAY.com - Three years ago, digital media company Loudeye began compiling its vast repository of digital music files. The idea of swapping music across the Web was new. No one had yet tried to get consumers to pay to download individual songs. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

Sun, 28 Dec 2003 02:26:02 GMT

PowerPoint Talking Heads:

Talk about a silly analogy, David Byrne from the Talking Heads likes Powerpoint?

This would go into my Go Figure category if I still was uising it.

check this article out that examines the talking heads use of powerpoint

Windows XP users-chat & share photos & music with new application

Sat, 27 Dec 2003 23:50:44 GMT

you can use your XP equipped computer to chat, and share music and photos with a new application.

Check out 3 degrees at:

http://www.threedegrees.com/

Fri, 26 Dec 2003 20:42:08 GMT

MP3 Downloaden

Fri, 26 Dec 2003 20:39:56 GMT

MP3 Oldies

Wed, 24 Dec 2003 17:54:48 GMT

Merry Christmas from the Accordian Guy worth repeating:

Stole this file from the above site, cause I think it really does capture some of both the frustration and the joy of Xmas.

All the best from WIFLblog and enjoy the Accordian Guy's Christmas story, and don't forget to visit his site:

the Accordian Guy Christmas story now follows:

Merry Christmas, and I mean it in the nice sense of the phrase

by Joey deVilla on December 24, 2003 12:13PM (EST)

This is from last year (with a little polishing up), but it's worth repeating.

While I do believe that some traditions should be put to rest, I also believe that a lot of tradition-bashers are poor-impulse-control cases. Having abandones any actual tradition or culture of their own, they fill the void with a couple of < href="http://www.utne.com/">Utne Reader platitudes, a mild revulsion for anything even vaguely Judeo-Christian, even if it aligns with their beliefs, a pro-pot slant and a half-formed belief in eye-for-eye karmic payback.

Standing for almost nothing, they tend to fall for just about anything.

Chris Baldwin's summed it up pretty handily -- and perhaps unintentionally -- in a Bruno comic from last year:

To borrow the line about Klansmen and Martin Luther King Day: C'mon, Bruno, how hardcore a secularist must you be to not want a day off?

Of course, those of us who celebrate Christmas would argue the exact opposite: here we took a beautiful Christian holdiay and destroyed it through corportization and "We're white, we're straight, we're sorry!" guilt.

(There's a Randroid who would take another tack and say "here we took a beautiful commerical holiday and destroyed it in usual religious fashion." Haven't we developed some kind of Ayn Rand repellent yet?)

In the end, I believe that intent counts.

I'm certain there is no malice, no implicit "convert or die" message and no forcing of one's beliefs on others when someone wishes someone else a Happy Chanukah, Eid, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Tet or even Festivus, the actions of certain vicious zealots notwithstanding. Balanced minds do not see any implied Hitler overtones at Oktoberfest nor Hirohito/Tojo insinuations at the sushi house, and neither do they see the Crusades in Christmas.

When people say "Merry Christmas", most of them are really saying "Happy Holidays, and I'm celebrating them Christmas-style. You do your thing, and I'll do mine. Come by for drinks."

That what I'm really saying, anyways.

No matter what you believe, enjoy the break from the hustle and bustle of 21st century life. Be nice to each other. Hug someone you love.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Wed, 24 Dec 2003 06:19:35 GMT

50 Best CDs of 2003 [RollingStone.com]

Wed, 24 Dec 2003 06:19:03 GMT

The Greatest Quiz [RollingStone.com]

Tue, 23 Dec 2003 22:35:34 GMT

Innovation Quote Worth Considering from Fast Company:

for the whole article:

"Sidebar: Getting Innovation Right

If Apple teaches us anything, it's that effective innovation is about more than building beautiful cool things. A few thoughts for innovating well in your own shop:

Not All Innovation Is Equal
Technical innovation will earn you lots of adoring fans (think Apple). Business-model innovation will earn you lots of money (think Dell).
Innovate for Cash, Not Cachet
If your cool new thing doesn't generate enough money to cover costs and make a profit, it isn't innovation. It's art.
Don't Hoard Your Goodies
Getting to market on time and at the right price is vital. If that means licensing your idea to an outside manufacturer or marketer, do it.
Innovation Doesn't Generate Growth. Management Does
If you covet awards for creativity, go to Hollywood. Managers get rewarded for results, which come from customers.
Attention Deficit Has No Place Here
Every innovation worth doing deserves your commitment. Don't leap from one new thing to another. If your creation doesn't appear important to you, it won't be important to anyone else.

Carleen Hawn (chawn@fastcompany.com ) is Fast Company's West Coast bureau chief."

Tue, 23 Dec 2003 19:56:06 GMT

Fast Company | If He's So Smart...Steve Jobs, Apple, and the Limits of Innovation. Fast Company's Heath Row was kind enough to point out this article about Steve Jobs. He says:

The battle over digital music is just another verse in Apple's sad song: This astonishingly imaginative company keeps getting muscled out of markets it creates. So what does Apple have to tell us about innovation?
It's less an anti-apple piece, which is how one reader pegged it, and more an analysis of what innovation really means to an organization. Can you build a company on innovation alone?

Link [Boing Boing Blog]

Sat, 20 Dec 2003 15:58:18 GMT

Song Swappers Win a Big One. The recording industry suffers a major setback when a court rules that ISPs cannot be forced to identify alleged music pirates. The decision makes it much more difficult and costly for the RIAA to wage war on file traders. [Wired News]

Sat, 20 Dec 2003 04:31:03 GMT

Wal-Mart tests Internet music downloads, for 88 cents a song (AFP). AFP - Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, is jumping into the online music game with a trial launch of a service offering downloads at 88 cents a song. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

Sat, 20 Dec 2003 04:30:08 GMT

Just heard an interview on NPR with Todd Rundgren about music on the Internet, the value of a song, albums, and how the users are now in control. Todd says that iTunes is the wrong model because it commoditizes music, with every tune priced at 99 cents. He's the guy to look to for the killer app in online music, he's always been first. I played a Rundgren song at last week's webcast and people groaned "Oh that's 80s music." What I didn't say is that's music from the guy who could figure out how music on the Internet works as an art. (And besides that, it was 70s not 80s music.) This week I played a Rundgren-produced song, and the kids liked it. He was one of my heroes in the 70s and 80s, and then later when personal computers took off I got to hang out with him in San Francisco. [Scripting News]

Sat, 20 Dec 2003 03:01:01 GMT

Down As She Goes MP3

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 15:47:26 GMT

Kazaa Ruled Legal in The Netherlands. DreamerFi writes "Developers of Kazaa cannot be held liable for the way people use their software, the Dutch Supreme Court has ruled. The dutch version of the ... [Slashdot]

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 23:35:15 GMT

Wal-Mart to Test Digital Music Downloads (Reuters). Reuters - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Thursday it will begin testing digital music downloads on its Web site, undercutting many competing services and perhaps sparking a price war in the crowded online music field. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:09:37 GMT

Gloo Networks Music. Gloolabs has developed an audio device design that can run on any device that supports Java: The middleware collects music stored on any networked device in a variety of file types including MP3, Internet Radio, AAC, WAV, and soon WMA files. It also supports playlists from MusicMatch, WinAmp, and iTunes. The first customer is MacSense which has built its Linux-based HomePod using the middleware. It can stream music from a networked computer using Wi-Fi and has its own speakers but could also be ... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 06:26:21 GMT

Gloolabs Readies A Java-Based WiFi Audio device. An anonymous reader writes "A new Java powered home entertainment audio device design promises to simplify sharing computer music files among computers and ... [Slashdot]

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 06:14:24 GMT

Off-The-Shelf Online Music Stores. jpkunst writes "The Chicago Sun-Times and C|Net news.com report about a new product from Loudeye Digital Media Solutions and Microsoft: pre-fab online music ... [Slashdot]

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 23:08:14 GMT

Off-The-Shelf Online Music Stores. Slashdot Dec 17 2003 4:49PM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 19:57:49 GMT

New Lisa Rein song online. Lisa Rein has begun to post the recordings from her musical showcase. Her first track, "In the Spirit," is up now. It's her first anti-war song. Link [Boing Boing Blog]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 17:29:14 GMT

Cultured Perl: Fun with MP3 and Perl, Part 1. Ted writes "Every self-respecting computer and music fan needs to be able to manipulate MP3s -- the defacto standard for recreational digital music use. In ... [Slashdot]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:57:14 GMT

Apple blasÈ about online music rivals (USATODAY.com). USATODAY.com - Who's afraid of retail giant Wal-Mart? Not Apple Computer (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:56:12 GMT

New Online Music Service For Australia. arb writes "Destra Music is the first online music retailer to open its doors in Australia. Currently their catalogue offers over 100,000 tracks priced from ... [Slashdot]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:54:06 GMT

Napster vs. iTunes.

Russell Beattie compares iTunes to Napster.

[Robert Scoble: Scobleizer Weblog]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 05:34:22 GMT

Loudeye, Microsoft Offer Online Music Store Set-Up (Reuters). Reuters - Digital media firm Loudeye Corp. and Microsoft Corp on Monday said they will jointly offer businesses a fast and relatively cheap way to jump into the digital music game. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 04:23:24 GMT

MP3s hit with levy by board [The Edmonton Sun]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 04:22:55 GMT

iTunes Tops 25 Million Downloads; BuyMusic Falls Short [andPOP]

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 07:24:46 GMT

Rocking xmas tune. While browsing through hours of free music (with an intent to buy) at Magnatune, I came across the electro sitar stylings of Anup. He's got that whole "sitars over beats" thing down that all the club kids are nuts for... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 07:14:14 GMT

We Need a Test Case Soon. Free music at LegalTorrents

"LegalTorrents is a new site offering 5Gb of electronic music from a variety of labels, all licensed under Creative Commons. What makes this site unique is the large downloads are shared among everyone downloading, thanks to the P2P technology of BitTorrent. Once you download a client and load up a music torrent file, you'll be downloading the file from everyone that has downloaded the file, and as you gather data others will be downloading from you. It's an incredible technology meant to share large file downloads like these music archives and things such as linux distributions. The technology also has a checkered past due to its use for sharing illegal files, hence the name of the site, LegalTorrents." [Creative Commons: weblog]

Hmmm... so could a subset of these files (or a similar one) be a starter collection of MP3 music files for a library to use to test and offer downloads directly from an online catalog? We have to start somewhere and figure out how best to integrate this type of service before our patrons begin demanding it.

[The Shifted Librarian]

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 07:11:28 GMT

Xeni on NPR's "Day to Day": Holiday gizmo-shopping. On today's edition of the NPR radio program "Day to Day," host Alex Chadwick and I talk tips about which of this holiday season's crop of electronic gadgets will make great gifts. This week: Words of advice when shopping for portable DVD players, mobile MP3 players, and universal remotes. In next week's show, more gadget fun. Link, audio stream will be available after 12PM Pacific.
[Boing Boing Blog]

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 05:39:53 GMT

Global Rhythym. Magazine for world music [Cool Tools]

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 05:23:28 GMT

News.Com: Canada deems P2P downloading legal. In a ruling released Friday, copyright regulators in Canada said downloading copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks appears to be legal under Canadian law but that uploading is still prohibited. In the same decision, the Copyright Board of Canada imposed a government fee of as much as $25 on iPod-like MP3 players... [Tomalak's Realm]

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 03:09:50 GMT

Coca Cola to Take Piece of Music Downloading Pie [andPOP]

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 03:02:44 GMT

Virgin Music, HP, Apple, Microsoft to Launch New Music Services [andPOP]

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 02:35:29 GMT

Aiwa's connected stereo system. A new connected 5 CD changer stereo system from Aiwa called the BMZ-K1 that can stream MP3s from a PC over USB (no WiFi or Ethernet?) and access Internet radio stations. Read [Via eHomeUpgrade]... [Gizmodo]