Wal-Mart -- Always Low Prices -- Sometimes

It's not tough to see inflation is creeping in if you keep tabs on your local Wal-Mart. I've noticed a few food items moving up in price, and yesterday, their own brand of trash bags (which are quite good), moved up about 30 cents in price.

I've heard many people comment recently that they're finding items cheaper at stores other than Wal-Mart. While Wal Mart has always tried to stay ahead of the competition through "ALWAYS Low Prices", evidence is mounting that Wal Mart's lead might be ever so slightly eroding. (Of course, we're talking about the erosion of Mt. Everest.)

XBOX 360 -- Back where Microsoft started, Crash Central

A Microsoft product crashing is almost a cliche these days. My wife asked me a few days ago if I had any interest in the Xbox 360, and I said, "Yes, but I'll wait a few months to a year for the bugs to be worked out and the price to get more reasonable."

Boom.... XBox 360 is crashing, based on information found in several fan sites.

Word to the wise kids.....

Any new gaming system is going to have problems these days. The technology is unproven, the chipsets and everything else inside have not been mass produced in the millions yet, and there is new technology and software running the whole shebang. If you want to be a first adopter, you're taking the risk that things will go bad. Playstation 1 & 2 had defects in their first batch, and had problems with overheating and other issues. I've heard the original Xbox had its own share of glitches. Do yourself a favor and wait until the companies work the kinks out, THEN buy them.

Still, you have to think that this gives MS a black eye, and have to wonder if they couldn't have done a little more real world testing. Even the USA Today reviewer encountered some crashes.

Sony Says No To Spyware! Sort of!

In response to criticism from bloggers, security experts, and Homeland Security (!), Sony has decided to remove its controversial XCP technology from CDs. The technology, which apparently prevents more than a few copies being made, eliminates the ability to transfer the music to your IPOD, and enables Sony to tell what you're listening to, has been attacked as spyware, not only because it installs without you knowing it, but because it can be used to hide attacks on its computer.

Have these idiots learned NOTHING? Lets see.... People aren't buying our CDs. What can we do about it? I know, we'll put malicious software on them that ensures they'll never trust another CD from us again and will be more likely to get a pirated copy from a friend. The record industry needs to realize that things have changed. While some people (myself included) continue to buy CDs, others will either copy (which is illegal) or pay only for songs they want from a legitimate service. If your business model is broken by technology, you need to adapt in a consumer friendly way, not one that alienates them further.

Too bad, because I'd heard great things about the new Neil Diamond album. I might have bought it, but not if it's going to attack my computer. The idea a Neil Diamond album worth buying attacks my sensibilities enough.

Those who do not remember the RIAA's past are condemned to repeat it.

In the news story below, the MPAA is suing a grandfather for the illegal downloading of his 12 year-old grandson. While I'm certainly not condoning the acts of the 12 year old, I think the MPAA needs to be very careful in its pursuit of these cases. With the industry reeling from a supposed downturn in box-office business (none of which can be blamed on downloads), they need to keep their public image in mind. The more grandfathers they go after, the more people will feel no qualms about trying to screw them anyway they can.

Plus, the movie download scourge is nothing like the music download problem. Music is easily compressed and quickly downloaded. Movies are huge, complicated to download, and the end result is (from what I understand), far inferior to purchased product. I think that the downloading is mostly segregated to people who want to build up huge movie collections to impress friends or people who do it for the thrill. I've never seen that $3 or $4 is a barrier to someone renting something they want to see.

The movie industry has been wise about how it entered the home market. After years of high prices for most movies on VHS that were intended for the rental market, they saw that people were willing to buy a movie at a sell through price, especially when the cost of the DVD was often the same or less than the price of two adult tickets. Rather than continue inflated pricing (see the RIAA) for their product, they continue to reduce it, realizing that they're going to see a return in increased purchases.

As a footnote, I love the "estimated 5.4 billion". This number has more margin of error than a Florida election, and assumes that every film downloaded would have been replaced with a legitimate purchase or rental, both of which are most likely false.
Grandpa Is Sued Over Grandson's Downloads Wed Nov 2, 8:42 AM ET



A 67-year-old man who says he doesn't even like watching movies has been sued by the film industry for copyright infringement after a grandson of his downloaded four movies on their home computer.

The Motion Picture Association of America filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Fred Lawrence of Racine, seeking as much as $600,000 in damages for downloading four movies over the Internet file-sharing service iMesh.

The suit was filed after Lawrence refused a March offer to settle the matter by paying $4,000.

"First of all, like I say, I guess I'd have to plead being naive about the whole thing," he said.

"I personally didn't do it, and I wouldn't do it. But I don't think it was anything but an innocent mistake my grandson made."

Lawrence said his grandson, who was then 12, downloaded "The Incredibles," "I, Robot," "The Grudge," and "The Forgotten" in December, without knowing it was illegal to do so.

The Racine man said his grandson downloaded the movies out of curiosity, and deleted the computer files immediately. The family already owned three of the four titles on DVD, he said.

"I can see where they wouldn't want this to happen, but when you get up around $4,000 ... I don't have that kind of money," Lawrence said. "I never was and never will be a wealthy person."

Kori Bernards, vice president of corporate communications for MPAA, said the movie industry wants people to understand the consequences of Internet piracy. She said the problem is the movies that were downloaded were then available to thousands of other users on the iMesh network.

"Basically what you are doing when you use peer-to-peer software is you are offering someone else's product that they own to thousands of other people for free, and it's not fair," Bernards said.

Illegal downloading costs the movie industry an estimated $5.4 billion a year, she said.