November 10, 2003

Internet Explorer to stomp pop-ups ZDNet.com - Microsoft plans to add pop-up blocking features to Internet Explorer next year as part of its Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP, a move that would go far toward stamping out the Web advertisements. 4:36:30 PM

Study: Millions delete all music files CNN -More than a million households deleted all the digital music files they had saved on their PCs in August, a sign that the record industry's anti-piracy tactics are hitting home, research company NPD Group said. NPD credited the ongoing anti-piracy campaign by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and said publicity about the move led more consumers to delete musical files. Note: "Methodology Note: NPD MusicWatch Digital information is collected continuously from the PCs of 40,000 volunteer online panelists, balanced to represent the online population of PC users. NPD's MusicLab survey was fielded in September of 2003 to a representative sample of 5,000 respondents aged 13 and older." Looks like voluntary response bias in statistics.  Anyone with large numbers of "illegal" files are much less likely to volunteer to have their PC watched, just as we talked about today on CJOB.  From the official press release :Eighty percent of the consumers who deleted files had fewer than 50 files saved; just 10 percent had more than 200 files. If the RIAA is really worried about a great majority of consumers with LESS THAN 50 SONGS on thier computers, then they are, in my opinion, wasting a lot of money for nothing. 6:59:34 AM