The RIAA is a menace. They have taken legal action against the elderly, children, a dead guy, open wifi points, and pretty much everything that is wholesome. It needs to stop, and Gizmodo has come up with a plan to do just that. They have declared the month of March “Boycott the RIAA Month”. How do you participate? Simple – just don’t buy anything that puts money in the pockets of the RIAA. If they don’t have money, they can’t afford lawyers. If they can’t afford lawyers, they can’t sue anyone. Let me be clear: neither myself nor Gizmodo are encouraging piracy. Some of their suggestions for sticking it to the RIAA while not breaking the law are:

“Firstly, I encourage everyone to purchase music from unsigned bands and bands on independent record labels. There are tons of great artists out there, many of which you’re probably already a fan of, that have nothing to do with the RIAA. Buy their records at eMusic, an online store that sells independent tunes in beautiful, DRM-free MP3 format.

Secondly, you can still support RIAA-signed bands without buying their music. Go see them live and buy their merchandise; they get a hell of a lot more money from that then they do from album sales. And hey, you could benefit from getting out more, couldn’t you?

If you are unsure whether or not an album is put out by an RIAA label, the handy RIAA Radar will clear everything up for you. They have both a search engine and a great bookmarklet, so be sure to get yourself hooked up.”

Remember, if you keep supporting them, things will only get worse. Now’s as good a time as any to put a stop to it, so speak with your wallet.

-MIKE KURZ

Jessica Mintz (Associated Press) is reporting that Microsoft has been ordered to pay $1.5 billion to Alcatel-Lucent for violating two patents related to digital music. Alcatel-Lucent has filed a total of 15 patent claims against Microsoft, Dell, and Gateway. Some of the other patent disputes that remain undecided relate to speech coding, as well as video coding on the Xbox. Let’s hope this doesn’t have an impact on video playback on the 360 when all is said and done.

-MIKE KURZ

Lawyers are expensive. That’s no secret. It seems the RIAA has finally become aware of that fact. According to this letter (pdf) found via slashdot the RIAA is attempting to convince ISP’s to send letters requesting a $1000 settlement to anyone the good folks at the RIAA deem guilty of piracy. The guilty parties will be directed to p2plawsuits.com (nothing there yet) where they can bust out the credit card and fork over their hard earned money in hopes of avoiding a real court battle.

Venzero has announced a second DAP that will feature the Music Marker software. The Venzero Mini One. This tiny (7,5 x 4,4 x 0,89 cm) player comes in a 1gb and a 2gb model, handles most popular audio and image file types (MP3, WMA, WMA DRM 10, WAV, JPEG, BMP), but none of that is what makes this product interesting. What makes it worth reporting on is the inclusion of the Music Marker system. Ever been at a party and heard a song playing you liked, but didn’t know the artist? With the Mini One (or it’s older brother the Venzero One for that matter) all you have to do is hit the Music Marker button, and the player will record a few seconds of the song. The next time you sync the player with your computer, that clip will be measured and compared to songs in their database, and you will get an answer to the eternal question “who’s that song by??” At least that’s how it works in theory. I’ve never had a chance to play with one of these devices myself, but if I ever do, I’ll report on the results.

Apple has responded to claims made by the UK’s Daily Mail about poor working conditions in its Chinese factories.

From the statement:

“Apple is committed to ensuring that working conditions in our supply chain are safe, workers are treated with respect and dignity, and manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible,”As you may have already read, some of the claims against the Chinese factories in question included workers working for 15 hours a day for the equivelent of $50 a month and living in on site dormitories and not being allowed contact with the outside world.

It’s good that Apple released a statement saying they’d at least look into it…. they could have just denied the whole thing, but they didn’t. Many companies use these types of facilities, and hopefully news like this will inspire a change in the industry. A change where people matter more than profit………. hey, I can dream can’t I?

Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the RIAA has declared that illegal music downloading has finally been “contained.” As you probably already know the RIAA committed themselves to sueing every elderly woman and soccer mom with an MP3 on their computer until music piracy came to a screeching halt, and now, apparently, they’ve succeeded. Bainwol attributes the decline of piracy to legal music download sites like iTunes and Napster

On June 10th, anti-DRM group Defective by Design staged a protest outside of Apple stores all across the country. Several of the protests were ended by the police including those taking place at the Chicago, and San Francisco Apple stores. Apple is also taking heat overseas for their use of DRM. In Scandinavia, Sweedish, Danish, and Finnish regulators have decided the iTunes terms and conditions are illegal in their countries, and Apple may face legal action.

Satellite radio provider Sirius has announced plans for a fourth satellite to be launched at the end of 2008.

From the press release:

Construction of the satellite is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008. SIRIUS plans to launch the satellite on a Proton rocket under a contract previously announced between SIRIUS and International Launch Services (ILS). The satellite will be launched into a geostationary orbit to complement SIRIUS’ existing three satellites, which were also manufactured by Space Systems/Loral and operate in a highly elliptical geosynchronous orbit. This unique hybrid constellation will provide unparalleled redundancy, enhanced coverage and exceptional performance.

This news should mean improved service for Sirius’s subscribers, as well as more talk about their forthcoming video and data transmission plans.