The sweet spot for home turntable enthusiasts on a budget seems to be the $200 mark. This might be the best of the bunch.
One can only imagine the sake-fueled club hopping that led to the development of the Seiko Frequency drum machine watch.
Canadian DMCA: A Rabid Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
By James Grahame
The Canadian federal government tabled an amendment to the Copyright Act yesterday morning. At first glance, it looks quite reasonable; we gain fair dealing rights to make personal copies of media and timeshift shows (although it places unspecified limits on the length of time we can store a show on our PVR). There's a $500 fine for downloading one or more copyrighted files, which is far more reasonable that the American alternative that sees downloaders forking out thousands to settle dubious copyright infringement cases.
However, the devil is always in the details.
The updated Canadian act will give copyright holders the ability to eliminate virtually all fair dealing rights on digital media. It will be illegal to record a TV show if the copyright holder doesn't want you to. It will be illegal to transfer your DVDs to an iPod or computer. It will be illegal to set your DVD player to region-free mode to watch foreign DVDs.
Only analog media (which is DRM-free by its very nature) is exempt from the draconian new restrictions proposed by the Canadian government. I'm not really looking forward to having to buy VHS tapes and LPs to feed my iPod.
The media seems befuddled by the new legislation. They're focusing on the difficulty of enforcing the proposed $500 fine rather than pointing out that the new law revokes our fair use rights on digital media. It is essentially a digital lockdown.
If you're Canadian, please read Professor Michael Geist's column in today's Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun or Ottawa Citizen. Visit his blog for ongoing information and analysis. Above all, take action.
