Running Before We Can Walk?

I'm back online once again.
It turns out there was a fault with the phone line, apart from the major local fault we also had.

Do It Yourself.

If they can do it, why can't you?

Six Years And Counting.

Yes, it's really been that long since i started here on YouTube.
Here are some reflections.

Vinyl Junkie blog: http://vinyljunkie58.blogspot.co.uk/

Moose Musings eBook: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moose-Musings-ebook/dp/B006RXBRTC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1345825598&sr=1-1

I've Got You Under My Skin.

Has your use of Social Media got under your skin?

Embrace Your Inner Nerd.

Relaying a story of a recent happening.

Are we all becoming nerds, or geeks these days?

Revenue Streams.

A couple of recent events have made me think about this topic.
Where does your money come from & has that changed over recent years?

David Hepworth blogpost: http://whatsheonaboutnow.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/what-closing-magazine-tells-you-about.html

Word Magazine: http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/

Planet Rock story:
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1050208

Questions Questions.

Answering some questions mentioned in this video:
A call for documentary clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3lHoz2CedE&list=FLaKCHc74GnlSKNa5N1R7IGw

Ken's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJcD3Rg-MD8
My previous video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EpnxBzoAA0

A Website Too Far?

There's always another website to waste your time on isn't there?
This time it's a new site called Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/

Links to some of the sites mentioned:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/andymooseman/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/andymooseman
AudioBoo: http://audioboo.fm/andymooseman
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28547473@N07/

You Can't Tell Lies Anymore.

The Internet will catch you out.

Here's the video i mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9chNh_baJe0

Time To Think.

A beach vlog.

Adapt Or Die.

Some suggestions for media companies & the entertainment industry and other related thoughts.

Blacked Out.

For those who may not already be aware, Wikipedia is not working normally today. Well, at least not here in the UK. Apparently, it can still be accessed via a mobile phone, but.....

The reason for this is that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has “blacked out” the site for a full 24 hours in protest at the potential passing of the SOPA and PIPA laws in the USA. SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA for Protect Intellectual Property Act by the way.

In the USA over recent months there has been a move to bring these laws into effect. Now, i cannot pretend to know everything about these proposed laws. After all, this is all happening in the USA, but it is scary stuff all the same.

Many people probably feel that because a law comes into effect in the USA that it will have little, or no, effect on them elsewhere in the world. They are much mistaken, as these laws have the potential to change the nature of the Internet as we now know it. After all, the internet is a worldwide system and no respecter of international boundaries.

Many countries have, at the very least, tried to bring in anti-piracy laws over recent years.

Now, i do understand why media companies, music, tv and movie makers are worried about online piracy. After all, they feel that internet piracy is costing them a lot of money in potential earnings. And i can see why they may feel that something needs to be done about it.

My problem though is the way that this is usually done and seems to be happening here as well. The proposed law(s) always seem to follow the “sledgehammer to crack a nut” solution and never seem to be fully thought through, or are they?

These proposed laws are always supported and promoted by those big media, tv, music, movie companies and organisations that i mentioned earlier. They feel that they are the “victims” of piracy on the internet, but what they always propose seems to be a complete change in the way that the internet works. It becomes almost a control issue and that is where i start to get worried.

As i said earlier, i do understand the problems faced by those media etc companies. But, are those problems at least partly of their own making?

In the past those companies have had total control over their products. They have set the price we have had to pay and have had no real competition. They have made huge amounts of money and there has been nothing that anyone else could do about it.

Now the internet has come along and changed everything forever and those same companies don’t like it one little bit. One reason is that they have all been caught totally unprepared for what has followed. They have either failed to see the huge potential that the internet offered them, or they have just been too stuck in their ways to do anything about it. Just look at the music industry as an example.

The music industry needed the invention of the mp3 and the advent of Napster before they, belatedly, saw the writing on the wall. They have been desperately trying to play catch up ever since.

You would have thought that those other media providers would have learned a lesson from the music industry, but they have also been caught out in the same way.

As with all rich and powerful organisations, they hate it when that power is taken away from them. So, what do those organisations do? They run to the government of the time, cry foul and ask for laws to be passed to enable them to regain that lost control.

This is what seems to have happened in the USA and other countries. The companies and organisations employ, all too influential, lobbying groups to campaign on their behalf. These lobbying groups then target politicians, elected officials and other influential figures to state and sell their case. Unfortunately, the scaremongering tactics used by the lobbying groups all too often have the desired effect and draconian laws are proposed and sometimes passed.

(In the UK recently we have had the activities of these lobbying groups called into question. There have been calls for their actions and influence to be investigated and quite rightly so. But, maybe that is a topic for another day?)

The trouble with all of these SOPA and PIPA type laws is that they effectively amount to censorship. They are designed to control what we see and have access to. 

This will always be denied by those who propose these laws. They will say that that is not their intention and that all they want to do is stop online piracy and protect their business. But, the actual effect will be to restrict what we see and do on the internet.

In my opinion, the internet is one of the last bastions of true freedom that we have left and it deserves fighting for and protecting, in its current form. Nobody should be allowed to censor, or control it and certainly not a government.

Do we really want to be subject to the kind of internet censorship that happens in other countries? The great firewall of China anyone?

This is why Wikipedia and others have “blacked out” today. They are showing you a potential vision of the future of the internet and they have my full support. 

Is that what you really want? Somehow, i very much doubt it.

You have been warned.

eBooks, Kindle And Me.

I have been meaning to talk about this topic for a while now & was reminded to do so by a tv program i watched last night.
If you get the chance, it is well worth viewing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01871m9/Imagine_Winter_2011_Books_The_L...

A Thoroughly Modern Experience.

The other day i had one of those thoroughly modern experiences.
I forgot the password for one of the myriad online accountts that i have.

Nothing strange about that i hear you cry and rightly so.
I'm sure it's something that has happened to the best of us. Especially in these days of spam, scams and those dodgy emails telling you that you've won lotteries that you've never entered, or even heard of.

You have to be increasing careful out there in the wild west of the Internet. And because of that we now have to have various passwords and usernames for all of those online accounts that have become such an essential part of our everyday lives.

If you're anything like me, you have accounts ranging across a wide spectrum of different interests and usergroups. We are frequently told and quite rightly too, that Internet security is a very serious subject and one that needs to be taken seriously.
I'm always reading accounts of people who have been taken in by the scammers, or who have just been plain stupid and used the same password for all of their accounts.
After all, it's hard work trying to keep track and note of all of those different passwords. Most Internet sites now offer a service which tells you how strong, or otherwise, your intended new password is. So, now you have to be increasingly inventive and start including numbers etc mix it all up.
So, how on earth are we all supposed to remember it all?

Of course, one solution is to keep all these passwords and usernames written down somewhere.
But, what then happens in the event of a burglary at your house? I'm guessing that one of the first things the modern day burglar searches for is that little notebook filled with all your valuable Internet information. Passwords, usernames etc. You just can't win can you?

I would suspect that it would be no exaggeration to say that i have around 100 different accounts of one kind, or another. Now, you may well think that that's a huge number. But, before you criticise, go and count up your own first. The figure may well surprise you.

I have many accounts that i probably no longer use and should really close. I have done that with a few. But, you know how it is? Good intentions and all that....

Also, due to my social networking activites, especially under my 'andymooseman' name. I have tended to sign up to several sites that i've had no real intention of actually ever using.
This may sound a little strange and probably is. But, the idea was to get in quick and grab my online username (andymooseman), just in case somebody else got in there first and grabbed it.
After all, you wouldn't want somebody else using your "name" would you. This could be viewed as being a bit egotistical. But, your Internet username becomes a kind of personal brand name, over time, and one that you will wish to try and protect. Just as any company would do.

I guess that this another one of those thoroughly modern things that you feel the need to do?
And, all those sites need a password, even if the username is already taken care of.

But, my recent predicament took this to a whole new and unexpected level.
I tried to sign into one of those sites that i'd not visited for a long time. Well, not long in Internet terms anyway.
As i mentioned earlier, i realised that i'd forgotten my password and didn't have it written down anywhere. I tried a few variations of other passwords that i've used before. That didn't work. So, i tried the "Forgot your password?" link that you see for just these occasions and then it dawned on me...
I couldn't remember which email address the account was under!

I still don't.
I asked them to send an email, including my password,  to several potential email addresses, but with no luck.

Over my time on the Internet i have had many email accounts and addresses. We've all changed ISP's over time i'm sure? I know i have and many times too. And each new ISP tends to come with a brand new email address. Ones which i have often used in the past.
Thankfully, at some time, i saw sense and signed up for a web based email account. Something for which i am now very grateful. Now, if only i'd done it a lot sooner.

So, be careful out there. They're all out to get you you know.
But, beware of those long lost and forgotten usernames, passwords and email accounts. They may just come back to haunt you in years to come.

Afterthought:
Life was so much in the past wasn't it? Especially as a child.
If you forgot your name, all you had to do was to look inside your coat and read the name tag that your mother had sewn there.
How times change eh?

Twitter And TV.

Last night, things finally came to a head.

What am i talking about? Well, here goes....

Why do some people insist on Tweeting about every single thing that happens in certain TV programs?
There, i said it!

I'm sure that this is a recent phenomenon, certainly here in the UK anyway?
Yes, i know that people have been Tweeting about TV progs, probably since Twitter was invented. But, not with the frequency that seems to have crept in recently.

In the UK, two programs seem to produce the biggest amount of related tweets. On a Saturday & Sunday evening we have the X-Factor and on a Sunday evening, following the X-Factor, we have Downton Abbey.
These two programs do have some of the biggest viewing figures. But, i'm not sure that that alone explains the amount of related tweets. And, yes, the X-Factor does encourage audience participation through voting. But, i don't think this explains it all either.

I'll admit that i have sometimes felt the need to post the odd Tweet during tv programs myself. But, the volume of Tweets during the above mentioned progs has to be seen to be believed sometimes. Some people are Tweeting, literally, every minute.

What i'd like to know is that if these people are spending so much time writing and posting Tweets, how much of the actual program are they seeing? And, if you're taking the time to watch a tv program in the first place, why not watch it instead of looking down at your phone, iPad, laptop etc?
Another aspect that intriques me is how many of the Tweets are not very complimentary about the program being watched. If you don't like the program, why on earth are you watching it?

I remember a time when the Internet was considered to be something of an escape, or even an alternative to tv. In many ways that is how i still view it. But, it's obvious that, for an increasing number of people, that is not now the case. The two worlds are combining and overlapping. Colliding even.
Of course, the situation is made all the worse when the tv programs being Tweeted about are ones that you have no interest in yourself.

Over the past few weekends i have often found myself turning off Twitter when these two tv progs are on. But, by doing that, i am then denying myself everything else that is going on in the Twittersphere.
Why should i do that?
So, i have now felt the need to take some drastic action and last night i 'Un-followed" two of the worst TV Tweeting offenders. Maybe it's my fault for following certain people in the first place? But, as with many things in life, you don't always know what you're letting yourself in for when you sign up!

Maybe the situation will get better when those two particular tv progs finish their run? But, i have a feeling that's not going to happen. Another show will, most probably, come along and grab the attention of the TV Tweeters.

I guess i'll just have to keep my finger poised over that "Un-follow" button for a while longer yet?

The Digital Long Tail.

Like many people interested in music business in the UK, i listened to the lecture given by Pete Towshend, of The Who, yesterday. It has certainly caused a bit of a fuss in the media, with its seeming attack on Apple, iTunes and digital music services.

Whilst i do tend to agree with Pete Townshend on his views about modern record companies and the idea that digital music providers could and maybe should do more to help new music. It made me think of another aspect of this.

Pete Townshend himself referred to the idea of the Long Tail in his lecture. But, i'm not sure he thought that digital music provision and the Long Tail idea could actually help provide some much needed income for musicians in the future?

In the traditional music business, albums were recorded and then released by record companies on vinyl, or more recently on CD. This meant that the CD's etc had to be physically produced, packaged, packed and then distributed to record shops, or outlets across the world. This, as you can imagine, is a costly business and the distribution companies would take a cut of the cost price for their services.

When a group split up, or stopped recording, there would usually come a time, especially for lesser known artists, when those original recordings would be deleted from the record company catalogue and would therefore be no longer available to any potential customer. Either via the record company themselves, or in record stores.

How often have you discovered a band, or artist, only to find out that they're no longer around and their CD no longer available?
This happened to me only the other day. The band in question, The Aeroplanes released their one and only album, 'Black Hearts And Maladies', back  in 2008. Unfortunately, the band split up in 2010. Meaning that i never got the chance to see them live, except on YouTube. A fact that ties in very nicely with the whole point of this blog post.

How i found them is another story. But when i went to try and buy that album, the only place i could buy it was, rather ironically, on iTunes. The physical CD couldn't be found anywhere, except secondhand. It's possibly that with a lot of searching i may have come across it, but who does that kind of thing these days eh?

So, and i'm sure you're ahead of me here, in the old days i wouldn't have been able to listen to, watch, or buy The Aeroplanes music. The digital revolution has enabled me to buy the music and give a little bit of money to the songwriters and members of that band. Money they would not have got otherwise.
It may well only be a small amount of money. But, that is exactly the whole idea behind the Long Tail theory. Small amounts add up to something bigger.
Especially, as that money would not have been forthcoming in the pre-Internet age.

I'm not suggesting that the Internet and digital music in general is good for everybody, because is quite obviously isn't. But, for The Aeroplanes at least, it has helped them to gain one new fan, some much needed royalties and it's also given me a favourite new band.

Sounds good to me.

Just Because I'm Paranoid....

Social media, work & pleasure.

A beach vlog.

Here's a link to the video i mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJqbb1yjpVU&list=FLaKCHc74GnlSKNa5N1R7IGw

Taking It For Granted.

A video inspired by two, seemingly, unrelated events.

Can't Talk Now.

Some things are just better left unsaid. For now anyway.

Arivmia can be found at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ARIVMIA/96581858421
https://www.reverbnation.com/arivmia
http://soundcloud.com/arivmia/sets
& on iTunes, Amazon etc.

Amy Winehouse, Twitter and the 27 Club.

I missed out Brian Jones from my list of people who died at 27. I also included Keith Moon who actually died at age 32. Oops.
That's what you get for making it up as you go along.

The 27 Club: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club