Let Change Come

In his lecture, Rip, Mix, Burn Sue, Ed Felten talks about a lot of things related to copyright protection and infringement, the future of technology and its role in the creation and distribution of media.

The main topic that resonated with me was the concept of control, the way that consumers attempt to harness the media that they purchase and the technology used to manipulate that media. This article also made me consider the way that broadcasters and movie studios wish to distribute content to consumers, but want to control the way that consumers experience this content.

The very forward-thinking concept of the 1930's, the Church-Turing Thesis, is more applicable than ever today. Now, we have powerful computers and machines that allow us limitless possibilities in media manipulation. With computers that we use every day, we can literally do anything.

While I understand the need to generate revenues and control the way that people experience digital content in order to keep the revenue streams flowing, I believe that allowing the public to experience and generate change is positive for the advancement of technology. As Felten states, change will challenge us to create the technology of tomorrow, which in turn will push the makers of media to take consumers to new heights with their work.

Only Rock and Roll Indeed

This year's Apple event titled "It's Only Rock and Roll" happened on September 9th and was dedicated to the music industry and Apple's role in it.

Jobs briefly talked about the iPhone, but the only relevance that the iPhone had in this event was the introduction of iPhone OS 3.1, bringing the "Genius" technology that was already available for music, to the applications available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

As was expected because of the title of the event, no new products were introduced for the computer lineup. There was a lot of speculation that a form of tablet was going to be introduced, but Apple history shows that this kind of release usually happens in January or June, during the developer conferences, so why be surprised that it didn't happen now? Ever since the introduction of the iPod, September has been a "music" month for Apple.

The significance of the event this year was not the fact that new, faster, iPod nanos were introduced, or that they now feature a nifty video camera (why not enable still image capture too?), but the fact that Steve Jobs was there heading his beloved company. Many people, myself included, didn't think that he would return to his prominent role as CEO of Apple and would be phasing himself out slowly, giving the reins so someone deemed worthy only by him. Jobs made it perfectly clear that he is working on developing products to take Apple and the music industry to the next level.

No matter what, Jobs will continue to push the envelope and shatter standards as long as he can hang around to do it, and keep forcing us to "Think Different".

Intro

This blog will follow Introduction to Digital Media (CIS106) throughout the Fall semester. Check back for updates, thoughts, and general witty comments.