john

I did this back in 1988. I had an Atari 130XE. I took the Sega 3D glasses and wired them to the connector off an Atari joystick. I used the time during the vertical blank interrupt (the time when the electron gun on a CRT goes from the bottom of the screen back to the top) to switch which lens in the glasses was on, while at the same time changing what was displayed on the screen. I wanted to be able to have two people play a card game at the same time without seeing each other's cards. IT WORKED (although I only had one pair of glasses, so it wasn't practical)! I was 17, and it was the most exciting hack I ever made, even to this day. However, I had no idea about patents or anything else. I've thought about this hack often, and always assumed this idea was patented long ago. It's so funny to see it just now coming up. I could kick myself for not patenting it myself. Oh well, that's how it is, sometimes :).

The extra space is only needed for the tutorials. Tutorials = video. Of course video takes up more space. But besides that, it could be a harddrive-required title released on multiple DVDs, and then copied to the hard drive when the new dashboard is released. That would make the issue a moot point.

Target has controls in place in their POS system to prevent early purchases of product like this. I don't know if they have it in place for this sku, but it's likely. So, even if you got it to the cash register, you might not be able to actually buy it.

It's nice, but come on. Isn't it time for a little javascript so we don't have to reload the page each time a new picture is displayed? I only get through about 3-4 before I'm tired of it. Give us some ajax. I'll write it for you if you need me to, but there are lots of libraries out there.

John

ps. I'm guessing the reason for the reload is to load a new ad each time...

Me!

I do independent technology consulting. I don't work for any of the entities, and have no hidden agenda. I just get a little sick and tired of sites like Joystiq (and engadget - they're the same company with different blog focuses) making weak cases for products that are primarily used for pirating. I know, I know... all of you are only using the software for backup and fair rights, just like everyone in prison is innocent. For the following statements:

"No offense, but having to pay for the same music so that you can play it at different locations is just plain dumb.

Consumers don't care about what Microsoft thinks, they paid, so they play"

For the first point, you can buy a CD and do whatever you want with it. For the second point, if you don't care for Microsoft, don't buy their product. I love how everyone hates MS, and yet wants so badly to use their product, often beyond its intended means. If everyone hates MS and no one wants to buy their products, why are we even having a discussion about how to break their DRM? No MS purchase = no MS DRM.

I used to pirate software back in the days of floppy disks and attempts to use bad sectors to thwart copying (even back to Atari 8-bit computer days). I always used the excuse to myself that I couldn't afford; therefore, I wasn't hurting anyone. Now I know better. I'd like to see Weblogs be a better corporate citizen and show that they know better, too. They don't care for it when people start stores in other countries with their logo; they probably wouldn't like it if people started copying their articles onto their own sites. So they shouldn't flaunt products like this that use the thin veil of "fair use" to support media piracy.

John

It's simple... if you want to play it through your car and/or burn a CD, you can't use Zune Marketplace subscription services. You can buy the CD yourself or purchase tracks that allow CD burning. Again, MS has the right to decide how you can use the tracks, and you have the right to not buy their product. You don't have the right to violate their terms and agreements because you don't like them. Look, I get aggravated with a lot of situations as well where I can't use my media exactly the way I want to. But I get aggravated with a lot of retail/online store policies (returns, restocking feeds, etc). Does that mean I can walk into my BestBuy and take a product because I don't like how they're selling it? No. The same thing applies with online music. Just because there isn't a tangible, physical product doesn't change things.

John

Joystiq, in the past you've always talked about this type of software as a tool for users that want to "backup" their music. You would never suggest stealing, no, not you, Joystiq. But you've made it too obvious with this statement that you think it's fine for users to steal. You can't interpret it any other way. Why? Because you're suggesting that users do this with subscription music. There is no backup argument with subscription music, because you can redownload music as often as you like, and it's not meant to be permanent anyway. So the backup argument is bogus. The bottom line is you think users should go download unlimited music through these subscriptions just long enough to rip the DRM and have the music for free. And that's exactly what people will do. Oh, sure, 1 out of 10 might actually only use something like this for backup (my stat, pulled out of thin air), but the rest will take money from the artists and labels. Love them or not, love Windows or not, love iTunes or not, they have the right to sell their product however they want, with whatever DRM they want (short of rootkits). And users have the right not to buy it. Users should get over it if they don't like DRM. They can buy the CD... they'll have a backup and they can rip their music however they want!

Joystiq, you should stop the thinly veiled posts supporting the theft of music with tools like this.

John

YES!!!

Michael W. Smith is a great artist. I think it's insulting to place his name alongside an article for sex games. You have free speech, but you can still *choose* to use some common sense and not disrespect someone who's done nothing to harm you. Or are you just enjoying a little under-the-radar Christian bashing, since it's the only tolerated bigotry left?

John