Amazon MP3 Survey Asks Interesting Questions on Music Buying

Amazon MP3It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Amazon MP3, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. And I’m glad the Amazon MP3 team doesn’t think so either. Here’s a copy of an email I received from them asking me to fill out a survey. Check out some of the more interesting questions asked followed by commentary (after text of the email below):

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Radiohead Gives Up On Free But Cold Play Gives It a Try

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke decided to open up a little on the band’s “pay what you want” experiment from last year:

“I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation… It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time.”

Translation: “We didn’t make as much as we are hoping, and it would only be less if we used that model again.”

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Online Backup Wars: Mozy Responds to HP Upline

Mozy, the online backup solution I use and have mentioned a couple times, is responding to HP’s Upline debacle in an interesting way. First, some background information:

Two weeks ago, HP released HP Upline, a service similar to Mozy that provides unlimited storage for $59/year. HP also released free accounts of the service, limited to 1GB and one year (Mozy does free too, but their version is 2GBs and has no expiration date). About a week and a half later, the Upline service went down for several days.

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How [Not] To Fix PC Gaming

image ExtremeTech has an article out today on “How To Fix PC Gaming Once and for All” that caught my eye. I may not exactly be a fan of PC gaming as it stands now, and although the author makes a lot of valid points (fix piracy problem, more PC gaming companies should vocally advocate the platform, and stop being fanboys), one of his suggestions is simple ridiculous: “OEMs: Stop Using Intel Onboard Graphics.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard PC gaming advocates denounce Intel’s graphics chipsets. Truth be told, they are probably just about the worst chips for 3D games out there. But does that really mean there is no place in the PC market place for adequate 2D graphics chips?

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Video Comments Are Here: This Could Be Huge… Or a Flop

SeesmicTechCrunch made the announcement today that all of its blogs will have the option for you to leave video comments via a service called Seesmic. It’s a powerful idea with a dead simple execution. As a result, comments are now a mix of text and video. Take a look.

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Review: SlingVine Makes Sending Files Easy

SlingVineSlingvine is a free application that allows you to send files over the Internet. For me, it felt like a replacement to email attachments. Here’s how it works:

You download and install the client on your computer. Then you right click on any file or folder in Windows and click on “Sling Selected Items.” This uploads your files or folders to a temporary webpage (url) that you then give out to whoever you want to receive your files.

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Some Free Marketing Advice for Apple

Mac ProAfter many years in a Windows world, I recently purchased a Mac Pro, and have been very happy with my choice. There were many reasons for this move, but suffice it to say that I think Apple has some great products, and I’m really not impressed with Vista.

So here’s my point: If I were running marketing at Apple, one of my main priorities, if not THE priority, would be to make it as easy as possible for the millions of disgruntled Windows users to migrate to the system that “just works.” As intuitive as Macs and OSX may be, this transition isn’t painless, so I would try to go the extra mile to smooth the way.

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Web Safety and Crime on the Internet

cybercrimeThe latest news from United Kingdom’s major retail bankers says that if your online bank account has been compromised and you didn’t use any Internet computer security software such as antivirus and antispyware (e.g. Norton 360), you solely bear the responsibility for the loss, and they won’t compensate you a dime. A clause has been added to the newly updated Banking Code to make this very clear.

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