Part Animal... Part Machine

Barack Obama gave an address in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Iraq and America's national security.

A report by the Financial Times (registration required) cites unnamed executives who say that Apple is in talks with record labels to offer access to the entire iTunes music library for a lump sum price. The fee would be added as a premium option on an iPod or iPhone, or it could come as a monthly charge. It would allow downloading of any song at any time so long as the purchaser still owns the device, and the songs would be yours to keep.

This latest concept is similar to Nokia's "Comes With Music" program set to launch later this year. Nokia is reportedly rolling an $80 fee into the price of compatible phones for one year of access to Nokia's music store, which includes music from labels like Universal.

Apple's plan is different in several respects. Since the average iPod owner buys about 20 tracks from the iTunes, Apple wants to make the premium about $20, arguing that it should cover the average consumer's downloads. Then the owner can make unlimited music downloads from the iTunes Store for the life of the device. Once downloaded, the tracks are yours to keep, even if you get rid of the original iPod or iPhone. And since iPod and phone owners tend to replace devices fairly regularly, the record labels would be getting the fee whether or not the consumer makes any further downloads. Silicon Alley Insider did the math and thinks it's a good deal all around. But according to the Financial Times' sources, the labels are looking for numbers closer to the $80 Nokia is reported to be paying.

There's still the question of DRM, however. Even though the tracks are yours, any non-iTunes Plus tracks will still be beholden to FairPlay restrictions, so this could also be a good way to lock consumers into repeat Apple purchases (unless they're willing to have their music tethered to their computers). The Nokia plan use Plays For Sure, which won't play for sure on iPods or even Zunes, and Comes With Music doesn't allow you to keep listening to tracks once your subscription period has expired

While Apple's program certainly sounds like it could go over well with consumers, the negotiations are not over. Apple will need to get all the labels on board for the plan to work. If we've learned anything from recent music licensing debates, it's that they are contentious. How much do the songwriters deserve? What should be the labels' share? In addition, the labels are sure to want a plan that increases their revenue, rather than a plan that simply compensates them for what the average iPod owner already pays.

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The guitar company claims that the Activision Inc. game violates a patent they own for a virtual reality music system.

Gibson Guitar Corp., which once harmoniously licensed its name to the blockbuster "Guitar Hero" video games, is strumming a different tune.

Nashville-based Gibson claims that Activision Inc.'s "Guitar Hero" violates a 10-year-old patent Gibson owns for a virtual reality music system. Activision says that isn't the case and in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles asked a federal judge to settle the matter.

"We believe their claims will not withstand any objective scrutiny," George Rose, Santa Monica-based Activision's general counsel, said in a statement.

In a Jan. 7 letter to Activision, Gibson attorney F. Leslie Bessenger said the video game producer was "taking advantage of Gibson's patented technology without properly compensating Gibson."

Gamers who play "Guitar Hero" use wireless controllers shaped like guitars -- most of them modeled after famous Gibsons -- jamming along with animated on-screen musicians.

Activision pays an undisclosed amount for Gibson's trademark under a license agreement. It is unclear when that agreement expires.

"Gibson clearly believes the patent could be worth a lot more than the royalties the company is already receiving from Activision," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets.

The Gibson patent, granted in November 1999, outlines a system that simulates a concert experience with a head-mounted display with speakers, an eight-channel mixer, a DVD player and a guitar.

Activision's suit says Gibson forfeited its rights by failing to raise the patent issue earlier.

"Gibson has been aware of the 'Guitar Hero' game for many years," the suit says, and "encouraged Activision to manufacture and sell devices it now alleges infringe the . . . patent."

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The godfather of gonzo says 9/11 caused a "nationwide nervous breakdown" -- and let the Bush crowd loot the country and savage American democracy.

By John Glassie

Feb 3, 2003 | He calls himself "an elderly dope fiend living out in the wilderness," but Hunter S. Thompson will also be found this week on the New York Times bestseller list with a new memoir, "Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century."

Listening to his ragged voice, there is some sense that Thompson, now 65, has reined in his outlaw ways, gotten a little softer, perhaps a little more gracious now that he's reached retirement age. "I've found you can deal with the system a lot easier if you use their rules," he says. "I talk to a lot of lawyers."

But do not be deceived. In "Kingdom of Fear" and in a telephone interview with Salon from his compound in Aspen, Colo., Thompson did what he's always done: speak the truth about American society as he sees it, without worrying much about decorum. "Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads?" he writes, referring to the people currently occupying the White House. "They are the racists and hate mongers among us -- they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis."

That's his enduring attitude in this new age of darkness: a lot more loathing than fear.

The godfather of gonzo believes America has suffered a "nationwide nervous breakdown" since 9/11, and as a result is compromising civil liberties for what he calls "the illusion of security." The compromise, he says, is "a disaster of unthinkable proportions" and "part of the downward spiral of dumbness" he believes is plaguing the country.

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