This item was originally posted on CEMP's Interactive Media Portal on 02 October, 2006.
This pod has been a poddy pod, and I’ll pod you again somepod soon.
This week’s article’s name is brought to you with a flagrant disregard for Apple’s latest folly.
Everywhere on the internet in the past week has been feeding on the latest study from Pew Internet. Whether it’s the prognosis on how we consume political news, or how teens think email is old hat, the study is fascinating reading, especially the notion that there will emerge a sub-class of ‘refuse-niks’ who want to disengage from the digital world.
Divergent views of the future of the ‘commons’ also emerged: Brazil has warned the WIPO about their commerce-centric view of intellectual property; Brian O’Hanlon worries that the commons may not work, and the British Library has released a manifesto setting out the issues as they see them as copyright restrictions endanger their archives surviving, and DRM fails to distinguish between piracy and ‘fair dealings’.
And, of course, Apple wants to trademark the word ‘pod’. Pay them to talk about how peas grow, watch them take a cut from sci-fi movie royalties retrospectively, and ask them permission to post audio files on the web. Or not. Stupid pods.
[Original] Comments
Posted by Anonymous on 03 October, 2006 at 13:19:31
I’ve just started a thread on the games and violance thing in the forum (academic)
Posted by Julian on 06 October, 2006 at 00:40:01
I take your point Joe, but surely Apple don’t create this legal playing field, they just have to play in it. If they don’t trademark it, i probably can, and that leaves them in a sticky place. We virtually anthropomorphise Apple into a cuddly, designer friendly, iconic friend, but it’s a company with a legal duty to protect the interests of its shareholders. In my view that only leaves us the option of criticising trademark legislation, but surely that’s just there to protect the rights of the individual and the organisation (which ultimately is the machine which drives our whole market led economy). So i guess i’m being the nerd in the corner, but ultimately, perhaps we should be glad Apple is protecting it’s business (according the the rules of the game) leaving it free to carry on it’s core business – world domination through thought control ipods.
Posted by joe on 09 October, 2006 at 22:17:49
I suppose the point is that if Apple get to trademark ‘pod’ then podcasters will go off and become umpcasters or something. In the meantime, Apple’s desire to co-opt and own the creativity of others will will be a wasted effort. And I don’t think you’d be able to trademark the word ‘pod’ in any connection with mp3 players. And a player is not the same thing as the content.
Furthermore, the constant engagement with and increasing use of outmoded and punitive IP, copyright and trademark laws by corporations like Apple give ever more power to capitalist entities, and ever less capability to indie creators. Two years ago podcasting was all ‘little’ people putting their amateur (in the true sense of the word) stuff out there. Now, if you look on the iTunes music store, it’s all disney, BBC, and other traditional broadcasters drowning out the things that made it really interesting. I don’t want to hear the same thing again from Woman’s Hour (actually, I don’t want to hear it at all), I want to hear what’s happening in Cruzette and Silent’s world [http://www.foursevens.com/radiofreecalamity/]
Posted by Eric on 10 October, 2006 at 09:05:51
Now that Google have bought Youtube, do you think Youtube will go the way of iTunes?
Posted by joe on 10 October, 2006 at 10:08:44
I don’t know if Google buying them is as significant as the deals Youtube are making with traditional content providers: [http://www.physorg.com/pdf79622932.pdf] – once msm outlets get over themselves and produce content for Youtube, it’s entirely possible that your front page experience of Youtube will go the same way of iTunes’ music store. But Youtube thus far has relied on viral strategies – people sharing videos with each other and alerting friends to funny stuff – more than podcasting did at the start. It’d be interesting to know hwo many Youtube users go straight to the front page, and how many go in through deeplinks straight to specific content.
Posted by Anonymous on 03 October, 2006 at 13:19:31