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Filed under: Audio, Business, Internet

Prince sues to protect copyright, Trent Reznor encourages illegal downloads

PrinceMusician Prince (at least that's what we think we're supposed to call him these days) plans to sue internet sites including eBay, YouTube, and The Pirate Bay for illegally distributing his music. Because that's why people aren't buying his CDs anymore. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's a bit over the hill as musicians go or that his eccentric ways might be a bit offputing. Nope. It's piracy.

Prince argues that the sites aren't doing everything they can to prevent piracy. After all, his representatives point out, if YouTube can effectively keep pornography off its site, how hard can it be to remove user-uploaded Prince videos? He may have a point there.

Meanwhile, another musician, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame has a different message for his fans. Speaking in China, Reznor suggested that he'd rather have fans in that country download songs illegally than pay for pirated CDs. Of course the best option is to buy a legal copy of the CD, he says, but Reznor admits that's not always easy for music fans in China.

We wonder which musician the record industry is more likely to support.

Filed under: News

2006 Webby Award winners

2006 Webby AwardsLast night was the awards ceremony for the 10th annual Webby Awards. I can't believe it's been ten years already. Though a popular topic of discussion among bloggers is whether the Webbys are really relevant, I do enjoy the five-word speeches mandated by the ceremony. Winning lifetime achievement awards were internet pioneer Dr. Robert Kahn ("discover digital objects and handles") and Prince ("everything you think is true"), who gave a surprise performance. Breakout of the Year went to MySpace ("fun for the whole family"), and author Thomas Friedman ("the world really is flat") won Person of the Year. Also winning awards were Bebo ("in your face, my space"), JDate ("Jewish American Princesses... Smokin!"), Google Earth ("application formerly known as keyhole"), Google Maps ("make more magnificent mass something"), Flickr ("sorry about the tag clouds"), and PayPal ("PayPal thanks *a hundred and five* million users"). See the Webby web site for the complete list of winners as well as all the five-word speeches, or if video is your thing take a look at Amanda Congdon's highlights reel over at Rocketboom.

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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