Database Develop

Absolutely Ridiculous!!!

First off, let me start by saying that I DO NOT condone piracy in any form or fashion. However when I read the story below, my blood pressure shot through the roof. They are strictly trying to prove a point here, and if I didn't know better, I would swear the story was false. They are trying to make an example out of a housewife that downloaded 24 songs. What are your thoughts?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tec_music_downloading

agreed the lawyers are just greedy. it is scary that there is such a big penalty for something that most people I know do regularly.

Of course they are trying to make a point. As much as you hate all the " music idiots " living in their million dollar " cribs " and driving expensive cars and acting like total A-holes, they do have a marketable talent, that makes loads of money. Piracy is a billion dollar business. Did anyone really think the music industry was going to stand by and shrug off internet " shoplifting " from their stores.
I am a writer, and if my work , which I get paid a living wage for, got repeatedly stolen and shared for free, costing me millions of dollars a year, you can bet I would want someone made an example of.
The " software police " do it all the time. That is one of the major ways of getting back at the company that just fired/laid you off, turn in the IT dept for buying that copy of Vista and then sharing it with 100 other computers, instead of buying 100 licenses. US businesses get fined millions and millions every year.
" She is only a housewife, and it was only 24 songs " Do the math 24 songs = $24 dollars , bet she wishes she had obeyed the law now. The bottom line is, the RIAA tried to settle with her, and she thought that she could use her " I am only a poor housewife " defense in court and the court of public opinion, to get away with her theivery. How is that working out for you ? She could have settled for a $2000 fine like others did but she didn't.
As much as we all hate the music industry, you wouldn't want the night cleaning crew going into your desk at the office and stealing that project you just spent the last 4 months working on, and sharing it with all your competitors , leaving you with nothing and neither does the record industry.
My wife was implying that I might be a little hypocritical the other day when I was chastizing my kids for having limewire on their computers. Since last month I upgraded the five Macs we have to OSX Leopard, that was until I dug out the reciept for the the Family Pack OSX with five user licenses.

So this woman gets charged $80,000 per song for downloading illegally, while Donte Stallworth can run someone down and get a week in jail???
Our legal system is seriously ****ed.

Agree this is the most Ridiculous! Hope they appeal all the way to the Surpreme court the next 2 years...

WTF???
80.000 for a song, but you can buy it for 0.99$, please.
this is the most ridiculous Judgement i've ever heard of

denco7 said:
" She is only a housewife, and it was only 24 songs " Do the math 24 songs = $24 dollars , bet she wishes she had obeyed the law now. The bottom line is, the RIAA tried to settle with her, and she thought that she could use her " I am only a poor housewife " defense in court and the court of public opinion, to get away with her theivery. How is that working out for you ? She could have settled for a $2000 fine like others did but she didn't.
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well that woman doesn't look like she had the 2000 usd to pay, also it could have been good that she wouldn't settle for it, if the court had decided in her favour, to show others they should not give in to such blackmail either.
I hope this gets appealed and sorted. this can't go on like this forever. the thread title is correct
PS: I've never downloaded music myself but it is not because I'm a saint (I'm not).
I am a writer, and if my work , which I get paid a living wage for, got repeatedly stolen and shared for free, costing me millions of dollars a year, you can bet I would want someone made an example of.
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I just noticed this one. well if I was a writer (maybe one day ), and was earning this much (if an amount that is worth millions of dollars gets shared it means your work is very successful) I might just live on happily with the remaining millions. but it is a bit hard to imagine as I'm not in such a situation (i.e. earning this load of money) right now.

denco7 said:
Of course they are trying to make a point. As much as you hate all the " music idiots " living in their million dollar " cribs " and driving expensive cars and acting like total A-holes, they do have a marketable talent, that makes loads of money. Piracy is a billion dollar business. Did anyone really think the music industry was going to stand by and shrug off internet " shoplifting " from their stores.
I am a writer, and if my work , which I get paid a living wage for, got repeatedly stolen and shared for free, costing me millions of dollars a year, you can bet I would want someone made an example of.
The " software police " do it all the time. That is one of the major ways of getting back at the company that just fired/laid you off, turn in the IT dept for buying that copy of Vista and then sharing it with 100 other computers, instead of buying 100 licenses. US businesses get fined millions and millions every year.
" She is only a housewife, and it was only 24 songs " Do the math 24 songs = $24 dollars , bet she wishes she had obeyed the law now. The bottom line is, the RIAA tried to settle with her, and she thought that she could use her " I am only a poor housewife " defense in court and the court of public opinion, to get away with her theivery. How is that working out for you ? She could have settled for a $2000 fine like others did but she didn't.
As much as we all hate the music industry, you wouldn't want the night cleaning crew going into your desk at the office and stealing that project you just spent the last 4 months working on, and sharing it with all your competitors , leaving you with nothing and neither does the record industry.
My wife was implying that I might be a little hypocritical the other day when I was chastizing my kids for having limewire on their computers. Since last month I upgraded the five Macs we have to OSX Leopard, that was until I dug out the reciept for the the Family Pack OSX with five user licenses.
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denco i agree with what you say, well mostly, but you have to understand when people realise they dont have to follow the ruyles they wont
but i tink its important to have a moral code when i comes to piracy
now before i explain again i do not condone it, im not telling you its clever or cool.
i think piracy on a small scale is fine within boundaries. for instance, i live 50 miles from a cinema that sgow actual films instead crap so if i want to see a movie its not just the admission price or the gas i have to pay its at least £20 on bus or trainfare and that before i get my snackage. i see this as very uneconomical. so i reason im just one person, i dont see anything wrong with downloading a movie especially since ill buy it on dvd anyway
however, any app thats made for pocket pcs i would never pirate due to respect for the creators, and i know how much work goes into the app made.
that may seem a bit hypcritical becuase hard work goes into movies aswell but its not justifiable
basically the new star trek movie is going to make just under 400 million at the box office, so then i dont see anything wrong with having a look now and then buying it mon dvd anyway but for instance i know certain app makers who make app and they spend a lot of time on them and the money will actually make a diference to the development
all in all i like to deal with piracy on a "Cross that bridge when its come to it"

Seriously weak.
This is from my musician point of view: music is for everybody who would like to hear it, you can't put a price on the joy and emotion of music, that someone downloads your songs means that they like your music, and that is way more important then to catch a few bucks if someone buys your stuff.
Stupid music industry, trying to make money out of something all people need.

Money Money Money we still need moar money right?
They are just another maffia.

WTH???
Fined $80.000 for a song cause of downloading illegally??
Well, it's OK to fined someone because of piracy, but $80.000 ??
I can live my life for 20 years (maybe more) with that money...

Most of these musicians wouldn't be as rich as they are if their fans didn't make them what they are today. They are being greedy. END OF STORY. Then on top of that, they are now wanting to "Tax" radio stations everytime they play of their songs... Guess who the front runners are on that?? U2 and Metallica. The same ones that whine about it everytime they don't get paid a royalty, also probably some of the richest musicians in the world.

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/exploited/****theusa.html
nothin' new, i'd say.
haha, Dredge, your avatar is awesome lol..

No job, bills keep coming in, need advice!

Hello!
I left my night shift job last month and still don't have a job. I'm actively looking for a job, but even then I won't make it to my first pay at this pace.
Is there any way I could make a few bucks at least for gas in the meantime, just so I don't reach the negative balance?

hey sorry about that better times will come.. in the meantime I'll give you my advice and this one comes from personal experience(yes I've had a few rough times, who hasn't?)
Last time I was short on the "thing you use to buy potatoes"(sounds better in portuguese) aka money, I sold something(s) that I had and was not making use of, like my PSP for example. Broke my heart to let it go but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The point is, we always keep things we don't use anymore because we think "well I might be needing this some day" and probably will need that thing again but until then there are more important things one might need.
hope this helps

I have been out of work for 6 months...
are you handy around the house? why not post your talents online (painting, wallpapering, cleaning) on free classified postings...

I lost my job in february due to a work injury, and I was physically unable to do most work with out the use of my left arm. I have healed since then but stopped receiving disability pay in october. It has been 10 weeks and unemployment still has yet to come through and help me out.
I also have sold off things that were luxury items like my ATV and an engine I had built sitting around in my garage. A friend of mine supplements his unemployment doing odd jobs he finds off craigslist and I have helped people move and cut firewood for cash. Hoping the economy picks up locally so i can get back to work soon.
Good luck and look everywhere. Craigslist is a good place to start.

what response have you received from the unemployment office?
Have you gone to them?
If you have, did you show the letter stating when disability payments would start and/or end?
They may be waiting from a response from your previous employer...

I don't get unemployment cheques, but I'm getting a job internview this morning. Thankfully, I don't have many financial responsabilities (college student here), but I could use a few bucks just to close the gap 'till I get a job.
As for putting gas in my car... I got rear-ended yesterday, total loss, and 5 minutes later Staples calls for a job offer!

N1c0_ds said:
I don't get unemployment cheques, but I'm getting a job internview this morning. Thankfully, I don't have many financial responsabilities (college student here), but I could use a few bucks just to close the gap 'till I get a job.
As for putting gas in my car... I got rear-ended yesterday, total loss, and 5 minutes later Staples calls for a job offer!
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CA-CHING!!!!!!!
I can already feel your neck stiffening up and a slight loss in feeling both of your pinky toes!!!

Not really, the car took it all so I'm feeling fine, but still. Now I have to get another car with what the insurance company judges my car is worth (360 000 km, but in better condition than anything that mileage).
Trouble likes company

N1c0_ds said:
Not really, the car took it all so I'm feeling fine, but still. Now I have to get another car with what the insurance company judges my car is worth (360 000 km, but in better condition than anything that mileage).
Trouble likes company
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There are lots of sites that pay you to fill in serveys, you only get a couple of dollars each but do 10 a day thats 20-30 dollars suppose lol

Just make sure that the company you represent isn't from Nigeria...
Dang it I hate this laggy keyboatd!!!

sh*t I say - cheap/affordable Ebookshop/market?

I bought my Nook Color in the asumption, that I would get a fair share of ebooks for free. Till now i've also found nearly every book I wanted.
But this particular one book, I couldnt find anywhere.
So I looked at B&N, there I could get it for 10 Bucks, this simply was a little bit to much for a under 200 page book, so i started looking to find it somewhere else cheaper. Because I actually only know the kindlestore I looked there.
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1855/****mydadsyas.png
This picture simply makes me sad, I dont find it funny and I also cant understand why ebooks are so expensive, to even being more expensive than the hardcover.
I cant understand this, because through this price policy the whole ebook market gets destroyed.
I actually dont want to start a big discussion.
i would just be interested if anyone knows a cheaper & good ebookshop

Amazon has it as a kindle book for 9.99
I might add that like B+N, the physical book price is less than the e-book which makes no sense at all.

The problem stems from the copy houses still demanding to get paid despite nothing getting printed. It's like the companies that press CD's demanding to get paid for MP3 downloads. But somehow the emarket was hosed when this became the norm. Kobo used to be a great place to get a good deal but those days are gone.
I simply put my ebooks in my b&n wish list and watch the prices. When they get reasonable, I'll buy them. It's not a perfect solution and it's absolutely stupid when a physical ANYTHING is cheaper than the digital version.

one4thewings said:
It's not a perfect solution and it's absolutely stupid when a physical ANYTHING is more expensive than the digital version.
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Don't you mean the other way around?
Anyway, yes they are too expensive. I would like to get my son a few of the read to me books, but at $10 a pop, I would much rather buy him the actual book.

Here are some places I look when I price out ebooks:
leatherbound.me <== searches multiple sites at once but they don't have support for many stores yet
books.google.com/ebooks
fictionwise.com
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Borders

acomiskey said:
Anyway, yes they are too expensive. I would like to get my son a few of the read to me books, but at $10 a pop, I would much rather buy him the actual book.
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Actually, the read-to-me books are the one example I can think of where there is added value in the electronic version which would justify a higher price. I've certainly already bought books electronically at higher-than-paper price, just because of the portability aspect and because I enjoy having content delivered to my lazy buttocks instantly.
The pricing does suck, though. Paying $1 for an iPod game that lasts me hours vs. $10 for a license to download a book is rather disparate. App stores have established a very low threshold for what people find acceptable for prices of downloaded content, but unless publishers fall in line (or, preferably, die), prices will continue to not make sense.
Personally, I think its a little crazy that books have joined music and movies as a good that people now find to be overpriced due to inflated prices from anachronistic and irrelevant previous distribution structures. Ohwellz.

Do you think about Call of Duty map pack pricing?

Article here: http://www.callofdutymappacks.com/news/the-price-is-right/ We have just gotten to the stage (or more xbox 360 uses have) where if they purchased all map packs, you'd have spent more money on the map packs than the game itself for Black Ops. Have a read! What do you think, is it too much?

comeradealexi said:
Article here: http://www.callofdutymappacks.com/news/the-price-is-right/ We have just gotten to the stage (or more xbox 360 uses have) where if they purchased all map packs, you'd have spent more money on the map packs than the game itself for Black Ops. Have a read! What do you think, is it too much?
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I hadn't played Black Ops for a loooooooooooong time, and started playing again last weekend. I knew there had been map packs, but hadn't paid any attention to them, but when I had a look I was shocked at the price. I think they're WAY too pricey. I got the game for about £35, so it was relatively cheap for release day, but all the maps will total near on £33, so yeah. It's like buying another game!
I'm not buying them - simple as that. They'll drop the price and sell them as a bundle at some point, probably for about £20. I'll wait for that. Besides, I'm a noob all over again and I'm getting slaughtered! I need to learn to play it again before learning to play new maps

Definitely way over priced.
Sent from my SilverBullet 'HTCDesireZ running CM7'

I haven't bought any of them and don't plan to. The new COD will be out soon enough. Also the new pack that just came out is only zombies.

I never bought them. Higher priories then map packs
Please lengthen your message to at least 10 charters

If your an avid COD player you will end up drinking the Cool-Aid just to be able to stay in the game. If you don't purchase them - you will end up being in less and less lobbies.
Its extortion sure - but I like the new maps. I do wish they were $9.99 instead of the $15.99 - or get at least more content for the price.
And.. by the time they introduce lower pricing the community will have moved on to the next installation of COD: Steal Your Soul edition leaving the old ones in the dust.
I try not to think about the money... the movies nowadays are $9.99 a ticket, a Blue Ray is $24.99, and even a new hardcover book is more expensive.
For me its a decent price vs. value thing.

Im just waiting for my maps to download, i wasnt going to download them but all my mates have who play online. Yea they cost way to much, it should be a one of price for all downloadable content.

Once MW3 comes out they should drop to an almost reasonable price but who will be playing at that time?
Sent from my own personal hello using XDA Premium App

[edited title] - This one's for the trolls. Knock yourselves out.

***EDIT:
Turned out most of the folks who responded to this thread were trolls who didn't read the OP anyways, so I've deleted it. If you want to see the original message, it was quoted many, many times (bummer I didn't add any photos). Since my entire point was to try to calm nerves and direct anger away from XDA, I'm deleting my OP. As of now, I'm giving this thread to the trolls. Enjoy.

Ineffective
Relatively good idea but ineffective. Reason? Google don't/won't give a damn anyway. They simply don't care and buying from another store won't make the slightest bit of difference.
What will make a difference is: Noise. And lots of it.
The only thing I think will work is if everyone who is irritated by the fact that their pre-orders are going to arrive AFTER retail stores stock and sell this device starts getting VERY noisy about it on Google+, facebook, anywhere where there is a community. Google+ would be ideal - there's already noise on there about this farce.
So it is ridiculous that a company can so blatantly alienate it's pre-order (and therefore most likely loyal and fervent) customers who would most likely evangelise about Google, it's services and products. It's the very definition of dumb and the sad truth is that they genuinely don't give a damn. They don't care at all.
I'm very tempted to simply cancel my order because if they don't care enough to organise things so that pre-order customers get their orders first then thank you very much but see you later. It's not a premium tablet and yet, I very much have a case of sour grapes going on here as I'm sure others here can relate too. It doesn't bode well for the ego in me to see that some others have ordered on other websites AND had their devices DELIVERED before Google themselves can even get their ass into gear and organise delivery for their loyal pre-order customer. I have to say - pre-ordering this product at such an early stage is/was genuinely an act of faith in that lots of us who did so didn't have all that much info to go on as to whether this product was any good. It seems that Google, like virtually EVERY other company out there simply doesn't believe or operate with the belief that treating customers well is good business sense - and why should they. They get by just fine without our tablet purchases from them thank you very much. I've invested a lot of time in Google's products and services. I'm a self-confessed, labelled "geek" and believe me - this has me pissed off enough to move to other services, and as the elder-geek in my circle of friends and family, I'd take them with me slowly but surely. Sour grapes indeed.
So: A: Google simply don't care
B: Make some noise!

alsheron said:
Relatively good idea but ineffective. Reason? Google don't/won't give a damn anyway. They simply don't care and buying from another store won't make the slightest bit of difference.
What will make a difference is: Noise. And lots of it.
The only thing I think will work is if everyone who is irritated by the fact that their pre-orders are going to arrive AFTER retail stores stock and sell this device starts getting VERY noisy about it on Google+, facebook, anywhere where there is a community. Google+ would be ideal - there's already noise on there about this farce.
So it is ridiculous that a company can so blatantly alienate it's pre-order (and therefore most likely loyal and fervent) customers who would most likely evangelise about Google, it's services and products. It's the very definition of dumb and the sad truth is that they genuinely don't give a damn. They don't care at all.
I'm very tempted to simply cancel my order because if they don't care enough to organise things so that pre-order customers get their orders first then thank you very much but see you later. It's not a premium tablet and yet, I very much have a case of sour grapes going on here as I'm sure others here can relate too. It doesn't bode well for the ego in me to see that some others have ordered on other websites AND had their devices DELIVERED before Google themselves can even get their ass into gear and organise delivery for their loyal pre-order customer. I have to say - pre-ordering this product at such an early stage is/was genuinely an act of faith in that lots of us who did so didn't have all that much info to go on as to whether this product was any good. It seems that Google, like virtually EVERY other company out there simply doesn't believe or operate with the belief that treating customers well is good business sense - and why should they. They get by just fine without our tablet purchases from them thank you very much. I've invested a lot of time in Google's products and services. I'm a self-confessed, labelled "geek" and believe me - this has me pissed off enough to move to other services, and as the elder-geek in my circle of friends and family, I'd take them with me slowly but surely. Sour grapes indeed.
So: A: Google simply don't care
B: Make some noise!
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Might I suggest reading the whole message before you start typing a reply next time?

..

noble effort, but i really dont think even the slew of pissed off people on here would make a dent.
plus, those other app stores suck.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a bit pissed about the whole shipping thing... but this is the first time google had ever pissed me off and I'm a long timer user.
A few days isn't going to make that big of a difference.

Except that we do get the best warranty coverage since we bought from the Play Store. Google is going to handle our warranty stuff instead of Asus, they will ship a new one out before as soon as we say something is wrong. And pay the shipping for our broken tablet to be shipped to them.
And while this might be slightly annoying, Google is and awesome company that I use every single day.
If you want to really protest do the following:
Step 1: Switch to HotMail.
Step 2: Change your Search Engine to Bing or Yahoo.
Step 3: Sell your Android Smart Phone and Tablet to buy an iPhone, have a ton of fun loading your awesome custom Rom's onto it.

agreed, while i am mad stores have them first, let's all take a deep breathe and relax here. I got my shipping emal saturday morning so i will have my device on Tuesday, i am happy and it and looking forward to my tasty treat!

What fiasco? Google started shipping when they said they would.
Get over yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b7mwTK564o&feature=player_detailpage#t=88s

I've decided to be positive and think that it's a blessing in disguise...perhaps the early adopters will sort out issues for us so that we don't have to....
My life for Aiur

The delay isn't what bothers me. What has annoyed me is their handling of cancelling the order. It hadn't even been shipped and they were refusing to give a refund or stop the shipment. Ridiculous.

slack04 said:
The most effective protests are the ones that require minimal effort. Occupy would have been effective if everyone who agreed with the ideology could afford to spend a few weeks camping in a park. The Tea Party would have been effective if everyone who agreed could afford... um... high school? You get my point.
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That Tea Party line made me completely lol! Hilarious.

slack04 said:
Might I suggest reading the whole message before you start typing a reply next time?
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Might I suggest a less condescending attitude. There is nothing in my message that indicates that I didn't read your initial post.

Morning! Still aint got ****. I preordered 7/2. Got charged on 7/13 though.
I think those "kids", yes i said it, have never dealt with a mass distribution like this on a grand scale. They're geeks, what do they really know about the production line. All it would've took for those geniuses to make a ****ing priority list and ship preorders first, then ship to retailers, instead of giving them stock and say, "hey, don't sell it yet". How hard is that?
Its simple yet so hard for one person to realize that over there? Im with the OP. Where's the loyalty???
Sent from my SGH-T959

I SO AGREE with what your saying in op post. except we here on xda is a minority compared to all the android tablet users . There are not really enough of us to make a stand with the whole no buy from market thing. Nor do i think its fair. Google is really setup to sell or distribute hardware.Asus has been a mess for the past years and getting worse. I have a asus netbook that has a issue with the camera. The repair facility is 4 miles from my house. I had to mail the thing to them using UPS. THEN WAIT for them to repair it mail it to there shipping facility in chicago. 5 hours away and then ship it to me.. TRUE STORY.
SO with that all said this is a Android tablet (Kinda a TOY) .we will all get thru this launch shipping mess .We will be happy before you know it.. Lets just hope that asus has not messed up the build quality we would expect from google.
Good luck alll

You must live on youtube... look around ...
mnotme said:
What fiasco? Google started shipping when they said they would.
Get over yourself.
... there are plenty of people who pre-ordered, and haven't heard "squat" about shipping or order completion.
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I don't think it's fair to punish a mistake, as long as they acknowledge the mistake and apologize. I don't really believe in revenge. Google has been good as a company and doesn't warrant punishment in the form of boycotting the apps from their store in my opinion. It sucks though and really Hope that they straighten this out with an apology of some sort. Regardless, i don't think I'd preorder from Google again unless i have confidence that they'll learn from this fiasco.
My life for Aiur

Refuse shipment. Buy from someone who isn't Google or wait for the next hot thing. With all the screen issues and other QA issues, it's just waiting to receive your broken tablet and mail it back to them anyway. Refuse delivery, ship it back on their dime and buy it from a store where you can check the unit before you leave. Screw Google, screw their poor customer service and screw their Play Store.

I was tempted to cancel before but if you really wanted to stop your google from processing, refusing shipment, restocking fee, you can simply freeze ur cc or req a new card and new #. Why is that so difficult? U can also tell ur cc company its fraud, and they won't allow it to go through. BofA called me and I approved the charge.
Do it! Wake up
Sent from my SGH-T959

Also to be fair, it's not entirely Google's fault. If everyone did a told, this wouldn't have happened. There are more than one factor than Google messed up. And I'm not going to say "screw Google"when they brought us Android!
My life for Aiur