Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: And we may never meet again ...

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  • Paul Campbell,

    Wish I could buy stuff from iTunes - when is that linux client coming? or at least Apple could make in not crash in wine

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    'Throw your arms around me' always makes me think of Shane on a rock, dying of tetnus in Angel's arms. Amiright? #homeandaway

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Donald Reid,

    Along with 'Shivers' and 'I'm Stranded' for Oz Rock's finest moment? (sorry, forgot the Go-Betweens and the Triffids)

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • Scungo,

    "Throw Your Arms Around Me" is the "Ke Sahn" for a generation of Aussies. Hearing every person in a packed, drunken train trip from the races at Flemington singing it word perfect, strangers singing the harmonies together - made me a bit (for a moment) jealous that Australians have such a perfect song for that type of sing-a-long.

    Having an APRA member for a partner means nothing comes into our household without the correct obligation being meet, and rightly so!

    Morningside • Since Jan 2007 • 7 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Now this, on the Mutton Birds fansite, is how free music should be done:

    This page hosts rare or otherwise unavailable audio, mostly live recordings that aren't commercially available. The Mutton Birds' and Don McGlashan's studio albums can be bought online from Marbecks, Smoke CDs and Real Groovy among others.

    Notable for a lovely Finn-McGlashan version of 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' that you can just, like, have.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Well, having posted Talking To A Stranger within living memory (so the last month or so) I'll go with some compatriots. Great for those 2am Karaoke sessions...

    ETA

    Notable for a lovely Finn-McGlashan version of 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' that you can just, like, have.

    Thanks for reminding me.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Scungo,

    heh - member since Jan 2007 and my first post! - so thought I'd double down!

    Morningside • Since Jan 2007 • 7 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Scungo,

    “Throw Your Arms Around Me” is the “Ke Sahn” for a generation of Aussies. Hearing every person in a packed, drunken train trip from the races at Flemington singing it word perfect, strangers singing the harmonies together – made me a bit (for a moment) jealous that Australians have such a perfect song for that type of sing-a-long.

    Fiona just observed to me that it's a bloke's love song, and that's what makes it work.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    I’m generally happy to pay what’s asked for a given song (or movie, or TV series, or whatever) as long as the process for doing so isn’t too onerous. It’s seldom a question of price, although if I’ve decided I only want one song off an album, but my only option is to pay twenty times the price of that one song for an entire album of songs I’ll never listen to…well, that’s when my sense of propriety is strained to breaking. I’ll often not want the bloody song any more at that point.

    PC game piracy is a more interesting area of piracy for me-in theory, I could be saving $100 NZD by downloading pirated copies of the games I buy, but I never have*. (Almost every game I buy is a digital download-I abandoned hard copies of games long ago after so many DRM conflicts with my entirely legitimate optical drives.) I’m heavily invested emotionally in the success of the gaming industry, because that’s where a lot of my enjoyment in my free time comes from, and I can see a direct correlation between the money I use to purchase the game and the continuing success of the game publisher.

    * I should clarify, I have downloaded three PC games in my time. Two of them, I downloaded free copies of because the publishers offered no demo versions and I didn’t know enough about the games to want to invest without trying them out. One of those games, The Witcher, I immediately went out and bought at retail prices after fifteen minutes of playtime. The other, Hellgate: London, has something of a notorious reputation in the PC gaming community, and quite frankly I’m glad I never bought it. The third was a torrent of BioWare’s Dragon Age: Awakening, which I had already legitimately bought via EA’s online store, but was unable to download due to an issue with EA’s store which wasn’t resolved for the better part of a year.

    Anyway, continuing on with the gaming theme, here’s an awesome D&D parody of that awful “Like A G6” song, called “Roll A D6".

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Andre Alessi,

    * I should clarify, I have downloaded three PC games in my time. Two of them, I downloaded free copies of because the publishers offered no demo versions and I didn’t know enough about the games to want to invest without trying them out.

    My younger boy downloads the odd vintage game too – lord knows the household spends enough on new ones – but we discuss it, and I’m glad that he knows there’s a discussion to be had.

    I think Steam deserves a lot of credit for making it possible to buy and use games in a reasonable fashion.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick,

    The thing that annoys me about the copyright "debate" is the automatic assumption on the part of the representatives of the rights holders that every (illegal) download of an mp3 is a lost sale. I have bought WAY more CDs than I ever would have had I never downloaded a single mp3. Most of those CDs are of bands that don't get a lot of coverage or distribution here in New Zealand, so they're actually MAKING a sale thanks to that (possibly illegal, I couldn't possibly comment) download.

    Small distributors seem to have cottoned on to this (Amplifier is one such site, where almost every release has a full listen available), the larger distributors and multinationals not so much....

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Dave Patrick,

    The thing that annoys me about the copyright "debate" is the automatic assumption on the part of the representatives of the rights holders that every (illegal) download of an mp3 is a lost sale. I have bought WAY more CDs than I ever would have had I never downloaded a single mp3.

    Yeah, me too. The internet revived and reinvented my relationship with music.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick,

    FYI, for those among you who like the odd old game or two - GOG.com sells official, downloadable, Windows-compatible, DRM-free old games. I've bought Descent / Descent 2 / Total Annihilation - Kingdoms and a few others from there - ridiculously priced at mostly less than $10 each (US, but still stupid prices)

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Yeah, me too. The internet revived and reinvented my relationship with music.

    This. Absolutely.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Rob S,

    first time I’ve tried to do this. I’m a total computer noob

    Since Apr 2010 • 136 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Rob S,

    first time I’ve tried to do this. I’m a total computer noob

    You nearly got it. It just needs to have the "http://" part in order to embed. Fixed now.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick, in reply to recordari,

    I blame the Hoodoos for my tinnitus, specifically one concert at the Gluepot where I spent the night squashed against the barrier in front of the stage, and couldn't hear anything for two days afterwards.........

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • nothingelseon,

    Surely this is the NZ equivalent of Throw Your Arms...?

    Jordan Luck surely one of NZ's best songwritwers

    Welling-Town • Since Mar 2008 • 38 posts Report Reply

  • nothingelseon, in reply to Dave Patrick,

    Heh, was that the one when between bands they were playing the Violent Femmes album over the PA & everyone was singing along & dancing? I think it was 1984. Awesome night

    Welling-Town • Since Mar 2008 • 38 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I think Steam deserves a lot of credit for making it possible to buy and use games in a reasonable fashion.

    Steam has been great for me personally, as have other channels like D2D, etc The way in which old school and indie games are starting to show up in these tools is likewise great-I find it amazing that I can drop $5 for a legal, retail version of Civ II.

    The complicating factor here is data usage caps. I’m on a plan that lets me use about 100-150 GB per month without blowing my budget, but I imagine that most people wanting to buy and download a 20+ GB game ( World of Warcraft , Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, etc) would have worries about being speed-capped or charged major overusage as part of their decision to purchase a game online at all.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi, in reply to Dave Patrick,

    FYI, for those among you who like the odd old game or two - GOG.com sells official, downloadable, Windows-compatible, DRM-free old games. I've bought Descent / Descent 2 / Total Annihilation - Kingdoms and a few others from there - ridiculously priced at mostly less than $10 each (US, but still stupid prices)

    Well, now I know what I'm going to be doing when I get home!

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick, in reply to nothingelseon,

    That would have been about the right year, yep it was a brilliant concert, one of the best I've been to

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick,

    The complicating factor here is data usage caps. I'm on a plan that lets me use about 100-150 GB per month without blowing my budget, but I imagine that most people wanting to buy and download a 20+ GB game (__World of Warcraft__, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, etc) would have worries about being speed-capped or charged major overusage as part of their decision to purchase a game online at all.

    This.

    Our plan is a 20Gb per month plan, which is absolutely fine most of the time. IN that 20Gb though, there is also a 2Gb daily restriction which, if breached, knocks us back to dial-up speed for the day afterwards. So buying a game through Steam takes planning and foresight and a close eye on the download speed and meter, so I can pause it when we're close to 2Gb and the resume it the next day. It annoys me.

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • Scungo, in reply to Rob S,

    bloody hell Rob - hearing that opening after probably 20 years.... I'm digging the vinyl out as soon as I get home from the desk job! I vividly remember the first time I saw the video for "Talking to a Stranger" on Radio With Pictures - Sunday nights in Dargaville needed something to look forward to back then.

    Morningside • Since Jan 2007 • 7 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Yeah, me too. The internet revived and reinvented my relationship with music.

    Yes indeed, and speaking of which, here's new Echo and The Bunnymen for free on rcrdlbl.com. What's it like? Still listening.

    ETA: Life of 1,000 Crimes on first listening? Like.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

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