Monday, November 22, 2004


The student daily at Penn, Daily Pennsylvanian, reported today that the Undergraduate Assembly (UA) "will work with experts both inside and outside the University to possibly implement a subscription service to a music file database for the University by the 2005-06 academic year." I replied with the following letter to the editor:
As a Penn professor, I expect and encourage my students to make their own choices and to take responsibility for them. Yet, the UA's decision to look into a campus-wide music subscription service implies that Penn students are incapable of making their own decisions about something as simple as music consumption. A fee-based subscription service imposes costs on students while restricting their choice of music and of listening method to what the service will offer. An opt-in service would put Penn in the dubious role of marketing agent for a music distribution company. Either way, Penn is asked to play a role totally outside of its educational mission, as the UA Chairman recognizes. Music production and consumption, copyrights, fair use, artists rights, and what models will encourage cultural growth in a networked age are important questions that the Penn community can make valuable contributions to. More generally, thought, choice, and responsibility are fundamental educational values for all of us. Those questions and values would be debased by the proposed music download nanny.

10:09:31 PM    

wall street takes a shine to apple: Apple stock went up quite a bit today after Piper Jaffray issued a bullish report (CBS Marketwatch interview).[...]It may be the time is right for a move to Apple. Even 1% of Windows users switching would make an enormous impact and would probably strain production of Macs (I'm sure Apple would like to try). (Via tingilinde.)

Before that, Apple better work on its quality control and support issues. I've been hearing far too many horror stories about motherboard, connector, and memory problems with iBooks and 12 inch Powerbooks. My new 40Mb iPod freezes solid from time to time, and the standard reset fails to revive it until something times out minutes later. I don't know if the competition is better, but I know that the positive feelings people have for nice-to-use Apple gear make it that more difficult to accept poor quality and poor service, and lead to a level of disappointment that one normally would not feel with respect to a random box.
9:58:37 PM