Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The DRM walls are falling fast!

A lot of news about DRM free sales today:

Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas opened his own digital download store with all tracks available with Digital Rights Management(DRM) (DRM is anti-copying software designed to prevent piracy but actually just limits the types of device the file can be played on.)HERE is an article about it.
In a previously announced move, Wal-Mart began selling DRM downloads through it's online store today. This will include tracks for artists on both the EMI and Universal. HERE is the full article.
The Rolling Stones are included in the tracks available on Wal-Mart's service as well as on www.7digital.com. 7Digital is selling The Stones' albums from the early 70's through their latest a Bigger Bang. The tracks are in very high resolution MP3 format, 320kbps (roughly double the quality of a standard iTunes track.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Count your Carbon!

The National Forest Foundation in the U.S. has a carbon offset program that is geared toward improving our National Forests. On their website They have a "Carbon Calculator" that helps you determine what your household's carbon footprint is. A typical American is responsible for an average of 10.73 metric tons of carbon output per year. If you fly as often as I do that can quickly double or triple. After running the calculator you can place a donation for $6 per metric ton. This money is used to plant and maintain new trees in on U.S. land. Many other carbon offset programs are sued to plant new growth in other countries. While this is still helpful (carbon dioxide has no borders) it is an added benefit to improve our own park System while lower the impact of our domestic CO2 output.