This morning on CBC Radio
This morning on CBC Radio One's Business Network with Chuck Regehr featured an interview with Graham Henderson of the Canadian Recording Industry Association on the topic of digital music - pay for play. More specifically, the topic was about why that hasn't worked as well in Canada as it has in the states. Henderson put the blame squarely on the Canadian Government's copyright laws which he says make it impossible to sell digital music here and make it work. Well, that's not exactly true - Apple's iTunes store is open for business here and doing quite well. But the market isn't as large as the CRIA would like, obviously, and they think the main problem is that we allow our music users loads of freedom to use music we pay for the way we'd like - transferring it to different media, backing it up, etc.
Chuck bumped the interview on Friday and that made me think that there ought to be an answer to the CRIA position - I emailed him about it and he asked for suggestions for an opposing viewpoint - someone to come in and record a response. So, I hooked him up with Michael Geist, the lawyer and professor at the University of Ottawa, whose speciality is speaking out on copyright issues in Canada. Geist will appear on the Biznet tomorrow morning. 5:45am! Or you can listen to it at the BizNet page [the CRIA interview is already there - requires RealPlayer] a little later in the morning if you don't have kids that wake you up at 5:30am. Sweet.
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In an interesting development, the first true mp3 music store has opened its 'doors' in New York - Other Music. All high-quality, no DRM. Awesome. This is the kind of music I will pay for!
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Restoring "Sweetie" - In one of those stories car buffs dream about, a couple of guys discovered a 1938 Chevrolet Business Coupe in a Kansas barn, and have embarked on a project to restore the old beauty. Kansas.com has what will be an on-going photo series on the restoration.