Moguta

After listening thoroughly, gotta say that my reaction to the FF4 album is very mixed. There are tracks I personally think shouldn't have even made the album... but there are those too that I feel push the envelope for remix excellence. Thanks to "Fighting for Tomorrow" and "Genesis of Destruction", I can't get the idea of an entirely remix-opera (as opposed to genre-singular 'rock-opera') project out of my head. It's so exhilarating to hear full choir with such passion in a free fan-made VGM arrangement. Such efforts truly embody and signify just how far game music remixing has come. On that note, congrats and kudos to all involved!

From several of the above responses, it seems there is some confusion over what Mr. Crippen is being sued for. He is not being taken to court for the general act of modding a console. Much more specifically, he violated the DMCA by disabling a device's (game consoles') ability to prevent & control access to copyrighted material (games). This is not at all analogous to including a CD burner in a computer, because a CD burner does not disable any copyright protection method. CDs, CD burners, and burnable data DON'T HAVE any copyright protection to disable. This IS exactly analogous, though, to the lawsuits that have killed every DVD-backup/copying program that tries to enter the market. DVDs are encrypted, and any unauthorized device that attempts to break that encryption is illegal under the DMCA.

Happy birthday, ye patron saint of video game rearrangements! We really appreciate all that you do. Also, if you need any coding help, my offer still stands.

Many congratulations are in order! About time you two tied the knot.

This is very awesome stuff. Great to hear something different from your usual. You should totally do an OCR mix in this style.

Srsly. And, ZOMG! It's "Arrow"! Where'd all those other letters go?!? ;P I gotta say, I had an awesome time at my first Otakon experience. Made me wish I'd stuck around for more than a day at the con. I knew it was going to be something different, but I was amazed at how satisfying it was just to glance around in entertained awe at all the different cosplays and art people had come up with. As always, it was good to hang out with the community. Thanks, too, to the BBQers for accommodating my vegetarian-ness. You all are an awesome group to BS the day away with. Y'know, except for that "Larry" dude.

It was certainly a night to remember. (i.e. Seared into my brain for all eternity.)

Hmm... I think I'm actually gonna try out Otakon this year. I'll be there for Saturday, but I'm certainly not doing the hotel thing.

Liked your song so much, I used it in place of actual Sins music in this video capture of Sins with a weapons' graphics mod:

Topic title in need of some capitalization. And sweet! I actually still have the CD-ROM for this game. It can be a little buggy, and the interface is terrible compared to today's better games, but still it's a really awesome classic. No open world game since has been quite as big as Daggerfall.

So, we gonna meet up anywhere? And is OCR representin' at this event with a table & all?

Except for Distant Worlds, evidently. ;P

Also, it's not so much whether a company is a monopoly or not... It's what said company does with its monopoly power. So far, Google seems to be far less into market-abuse than Microsoft. Hell, the company has been quite pro-consumer! Just take a look at some of Google's recent initiatives if you need any proof. They've lobbied for net neutrality, they've been advocates of open source long before Microsoft begrudgingly began its OSS initiative, they've lobbied so consumers can in the future use -any- compatible device on a wireless phone network, they're trying to assemble the first complete-text library catalog of all published books, and they're giving this all to the consumer for FREE (as long as you can handle some ads). Honestly, I don't understand how people can equate Google's dominance with Microsoft's anti-competitive monopoly. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing exactly what shape this new OS takes.

The Distant Worlds concert just a couple weeks ago was pretty awesome. I'm sure the occasion probably drained a few people's budget and/or will to travel. But... There is a Video Games Live performance coming up very soon that I'm surprised to see no mention of! Just this Friday (the 10th), they'll be at the Wolftrap in Washington D.C. Anyone going? LARRY EDIT: List of attendees djpretzel & the future Mrs. Pretzel Palpable diotrans Mr. MAGFest binary1230 Nick the Newbie Big Adam Kroze Gamer Symphony Orchestra justinj212 Grant Kirkhope Mark Cromer Sid Meier Zeiram Moguta AcerBandit

I totally agree with this sentiment/idea. However, if I don't hear anything about a group buy within the next couple days, I'm gonna just get my own ticket. Where are ya, Larry?

*Hands up* Y'know, if that wasn't already obvious.

Echoing this request for info, as the date is now only two weeks away, and I see some seating sections are already sold out...

Okay, so Mogu-ette already has plans the evening of this, but I'm definitely 100% in. Let me know if we're able to get a group of tickets.

Are we trying to order group tickets, or just meeting up before & after? Either way, put me down as a definite. Also, I may be able to persuade a certain Mogu-ette to come along as well. ^.^

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you could use a debit card in a PayPal transaction.

Another good site is CD Japan, I bought nearly all my VGM albums there.

If you'll note, I never mentioned eliminating commercial copyright. In fact, I had explicitly stated that P2P will have no effect on it. As to whether commercial copyright deserves to be repealed, I don't feel I'm knowledgeable enough about that to have an informed opinion. I do have a few books regarding that subject on my to-read list, though.

Oh, I agree with you there. Yards are completely enforceable artificial distinctions. But what you quoted wasn't the conclusion of my argument, rather it was the lead-in to the next paragraph, that I'll copy here for convenience: "Now in order to make the system recognize this artificial distinction, and enforce non-commercial copyright, we have to prevent each file transfer of a forbidden work. Doing this is even more complex than the challenge of fairly distributing an internet music tax. To be done effectively, it must be performed at the ISP level (Darknets only require PC-to-PC connections, no servers necessary), disallow traffic encryption (so the ISP can peek inside what's being transferred), be able to quickly & effectively compare against a complete list of copyrighted content (so that internet traffic is not significantly slowed), and distinguish between distribution the copyright owner has & has not approved. Good luck with all that." A community of free-timers isn't the ideal situation, I'll grant you that. But, on the other hand, there's nothing preventing someone in the OCR community from making a musical living. I certainly think that music professionals will still exist! I just don't see the field totally disappearing. After all, recorded music has only been around for about a century. As you mention, full-time musicians existed as far back as the Baroque period, 400 years ago. The field may become much more competitive & shift away from recording sales. But there will still be need for the personal touch of performers, the catchy music backing an ad, the instruction of musical teachers, and so on.

Good. I'd hate to incur the wrath of one of my favorite ReMixers, and a shttyjdgfgt at that! In my view, piracy is a natural consequence of the cost of distribution becoming nearly zero. Economics dictates that, other factors notwithstanding, the cheapest method will prevail. And in this case, the free work of citizens has replaced the for-profit work of business. The system doesn't care about non-commercial copyright, nor did it before. Previously each copy had a cost, so because of this & commercial copyright law, most people would incur the cost of getting it at the official source rather than those few illegal outfits. People did share tapes with their friends with impunity, but the reason proliferation stopped there was due to the costs of distribution. Non-commercial copyright has never been a factor! The Internet has now enabled the wide-scale sharing that was never available before. And it doesn't differentiate between works which are forbidden for distribution and those which are allowed. That is an artificial distinction we are trying to force on certain pieces of information. Now in order to make the system recognize this artificial distinction, and enforce non-commercial copyright, we have to prevent each file transfer of a forbidden work. Doing this is even more complex than the challenge of fairly distributing an internet music tax. To be done effectively, it must be performed at the ISP level (Darknets only require PC-to-PC connections, no servers necessary), disallow traffic encryption (so the ISP can peek inside what's being transferred), be able to quickly & effectively compare against a complete list of copyrighted content (so that internet traffic is not significantly slowed), and distinguish between distribution the copyright owner has & has not approved. Good luck with all that. I have to agree with Skummel Maske. If Mr. Star Wars Theme is ever reduced to McDonalds, I'd overlook my vegetarian oath for one meal to experience a Williams-burger. And it is true that art may not be as professional or polished in the future. However, just look at this site. We have here something that could possibly be a model of the future art world: A passionate community built around the appreciation & constructive judging of musical art. It manages to ensure quality without a profit motive. Interestingly, I have also just finished reading a book on the mental processes of music. (This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by researcher Daniel J Levitin) In it, the author discusses the evolutionary basis for music... and one of the surprising things he mentions, is how primitive societies don't understand our culture's differentiation between musician and non-musician, singer and non-singer. The tribes express the opinion that if you can talk, you can be a singer, if you can hit a drum, you can be a musician. To tell them you aren't a singer is, to them, like saying you literally have no voice. Music has had social value long before it ever had commercial value. Perhaps we are seeing a shift -- similar to the evolution of forums, blogs, and wikis -- from music as a consumable product to music as social interaction.

Yes, Trent Reznor and Andrew Aversa are pretty far apart in popularity levels, I understand. I was using his example to prove a point: That he seems to see the change coming. It would be ridiculous to say that the both of you should experiment in the same ways, given that exposure gap. Also, I hope nothing I'm saying has come across as an attack on you or your work... but this devaluation is to be expected, is it not? The cold reality is that a sudden explosion of "recording artists" and a near-zero cost of copy-distribution are effectively two very significant increases in music supply... naturally leading to less demand, lower prices, etc. :-/ If the Internet eventually makes (non-commercial) copyright irrelevant, I'm not sure how fighting for it will help. Although, I admit, this is the weakest part of my assessment. Perhaps the point at which filesharing can be done with impunity is a point where it's too complex and inconvenient to be popular. It's difficult to be absolutely sure until we get there. But I would advise anyone who lives off of recorded music to at least think about other avenues of revenue/employment. Because, unfortunately, I agree with what you said earlier, zircon. It "sounds pretty bad." :-\