Mike Cohen

Catching up

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I haven’t been able to post much the last few days, since I’ve been pretty sick with something like a stomach flu that has kept me, uh, indisposed much of the time.

I’m also working on a new WordPress MU site to host podcasts, which I’ll post more details about in the next few days.

RIAA Argues That MP3s From CDs Are Unauthorized

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Via Slashdot:

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes “In an Arizona case against a defendant who has no legal representation, Atlantic v. Howell, the RIAA is now arguing — contrary to its lawyers’ statements to the United States Supreme Court in 2005 MGM v. Grokster — that the defendant’s ripping of personal MP3 copies onto his computer is a copyright infringement. At page 15 of its brief (PDF) it states the following: ‘It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies… Virtually all of the sound recordings… are in the “.mp3″ format for his and his wife’s use… Once Defendant converted Plaintiffs’ recordings into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies…'”

WTF? The RIAA is really overreaching now. No reasonable person can tell us that we don’t have the right to listen to the music we buy anywhere and any way we want.

Someone needs to put a stop to this. The RIAA serves no useful purpose. They’re not helping the artists in any way. All they’re doing is trying to preserve an outdated way of doing business that their customers have rejected.

My top albums of 2007

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With the Grammy nominations announced today, I decided to post my list of the top albums for the year, which is quite different.

  1. Neon Bible, Arcade Fire I’m completely hooked on this album. The songs stick in your head with irresistible hooks. They make great use of unusual instruments like a hurdy-gurdy and church organ.
  2. Kala, M.I.A. I still prefer Arular, but this album is a worthy follow-up with great songs like “Jimmy”.
  3. Rokku Mi Rokka, Youssou N’dour Great catchy songs and a great voice. A bit different than his usual material. Ashley Maher (see #4) wrote the song “Boul Bayékou”.
  4. Flying over Bridges, Ashley Maher If you like Senegalese rhythms but are looking for a more mainstream “pop diva” style with English vocals, this album is for you.
  5. Hvarf – Heim, Sigur Ros Half of the album is live versions of older songs, but it’s their most beautiful music ever.
  6. Dub Qawwali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Gaudi Most remixes of the Qawwali master are awful, but this one is an exception. These are fresh sounding Reggae arrangements, released 10 years after Khan’s death.
  7. Super Taranta, Gogol Bordello This is their best album yet. The music is their most energetic and it moves pretty far beyond their Gypsy Punk genre.
  8. Don’t Mess with the Dragon, Ozomatli I was lucky enough to see their free show at Apple’s WWDC, which inspired me to buy this album the next day. “Magnolia Soul” is their best song ever.
  9. In Rainbows, Radiohead I bought this album to support their experiment and I wasn’t disappointed. Most of the songs are more upbeat than usual.
  10. Twelve, Patti Smith A worthy comeback album with unexpected cover versions of songs like “White Rabbit”, “The Boy in the Bubble”, and “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

Narrowly missing my top 10 were “Volta” by Bjork, “Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur” (various artists), “Icky Thump” by The White Stripes, and “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” by Spoon.

If you consider reissues, “Mothership (Remastered)” by Led Zeppelin would be near the top of my list. I haven’t listened to some of those songs since I was a kid and I forgot how great they are.

Please Don't Steal My Focus

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Coding Horror:

Has this ever happened to you? You’re merrily typing away in some application, minding your own business, when– suddenly– a dialog pops up and steals the focus from you.

This is the single most annoying – and potentially disastrous – thing any application can do.

Spaces is one of the worst offenders. Not only will it switch windows when an alert comes up, but it will completely switch spaces and pull the current application out from under you. I really want to like spaces, but it keeps annoying me by switching on its own when a window in another space demands attention.

I missed mom's Yahrzeit

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Although I’m not religious, I still light a candle on the anniversary of my parents deaths. This year my mom’s yahrzeit came out on Nov. 29, when I was in Vancouver, so I wasn’t able to observe it.