C.S. Daley's Blog, page 8

DRM or How To Punish Your Honest Customers

DRM (Digital Rights Management) does nothing. It stops no one from stealing your book, music, movie, comics. People who are going to break a copyright and post work on a pirate sight are going to do it no matter what. Companies who want to stop piracy (something akin to plugging your finger in the giant levee hole) should spend the efforts educating young people and going after piracy sights.

Trust me, the education is a big part of this. I have lots of students who don’t think going onto the internet and downloading comics or songs is wrong. It’s out there it must be free. I have some interesting conversations with them over the years. My main goal is to educate them on what it means to support art they love.

Of course, the companies have got to catch up on this. They are lagging way behind on how to reach customers. They are not cultivating the relationships which will make them successful. They are still operating on old archaic rules. I bought an album this week by an artist in Canada by the name of KO. The album isn’t available in the U.S., it’s sitting in the Canada iTunes store but I can’t get to it. I had to buy it from an importer. Why does this make sense to companies? A lot of people would have just gone and downloaded it. I had to pay a premium to get it. This is a roadblock I shouldn’t have to go through.

I own hundreds of Kindle books. I have been waiting patiently for the book industry to follow music and drop the DRM. I don’t want to be tied to the Kindle for the rest of my life but DRM kind of forces me there. If there is no DRM I am free to buy wherever I want and know I will be able to put it on whatever device I happen to own.

Luckily, this week Tor/Forge announced the end of DRM on their books. I was overjoyed. So overjoyed I rushed out and bought John Scalzi’s new book Redshirts to show my support. I am hoping this is the first of many companies about to do the right thing. I guess I have J.K. Rowling to thank for this. She just released all the Harry Potter books without DRM. She acknowledged her books were already out there on pirate sights and felt no need to punish her readers because of their actions. Good for her.

I go out of my way to support art and creators I love. I want artists to thrive in whatever forum they choose. If they go the independent route or the big company route. Art and creativity are like magic. They fill me up with energy and joy. I resent when companies treat me like I have done something wrong (or might if they are not watching me). DRM is a slap in the face to honest customers. It is time for someone to beat DRM into submission and bury it with the 8 track tapes in the back yard.

London: A Love Story

We have returned from across the pond. We are exhausted but had a wonderful time. We both absolutely loved our stay. It was really hard to get up and go to work on Monday. My body is in California but my heart is still in London.

We walked the shit out of that city. We had two days where we were on our feet walking for at least 8 hours. It made the days we went to the theater a great relief to our toes. As for the theater we loved all three shows we saw. I was shocked at how much I loved Ghost. I expected to enjoy Zach Braff’s, All New People. The real treat was Matilda, which I would see again in a heartbeat. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of a musical written by Tim Minchin but it was delightful.

We stayed down in Chelsea right next to the Thames which made my runs a delight. I got to cross many bridges while also running through a park. The park had lots of other people running too which was a lovely reminder at how slow my pace still is. I have gotten my long distance mile under ten minutes but there were people blazing fast in that park. I pretended they were sprinters and not people trying to run a 10K everyday.

The best part of walking around was the history everywhere. For goodness sakes we stumbled into the house where Mozart composed his first two symphonies. It was also great that they post maps on the streets everywhere. We would walk to some historic site we wanted to see and then just check out the map to see what other interesting thing was close by. This is how we found ourselves walking all day.

I was also pretty impressed with the Underground. We never had to wait longer than 3 minutes for a train. The network was vast and busy. It made me think a lot about how complicated it must be to efficiently run the system (if anyone knows the name of a good documentary on the Underground I would love the name).

The food was much better than the last time I was in London. We ate a lot of food. Amazingly, I still lost 2 pounds last week. I am guessing the large caloric increase didn’t touch all the running and walking we were doing.

We were there for seven days and we hardly scratched the surface. We can’t wait to get back. We have decided the summer of 2013 will be our return date goal. I am already excited.

Are You Happy?

We saw a play last weekend called Maple and Vine. The driving force of the play was the question are you happy? One couple in the play goes through absurd machinations in an attempt to bring happiness into their lives. Sheri and I left really thinking about the question.

It seems when most people in the United States are asked this question their answer is no. Now I have a biological disadvantage in that I can go through some deep and nasty bouts of depression. They don't happen as often as they did when I was younger but it still pops in like the uninvited guest that it is.

If you take genetics out of it though I am basically happy. I say this while in the midst of one of my worst years of teaching ever. I have to be fair though, it isn't the teaching. It is when I have to assume the job title of principal that I find my job satisfaction going way down. Even with that, I love my job. I am around kids all day. Kids who like me and are full of energy. Kids with problems and issues which break my heart. Kids who I know I make a difference for. Everyday some student on campus runs up to me and gives me a hug. You really can't beat that.

My home life is great. I married my best friend. I have another best friend (my brother) living with us and helping around the house (making our after work lives a little easier). I have never had more great geeky friends in my entire life. I am finally back in shape and not embarrassed about my weight. Right now, in this moment, things are great.

I am glad they are. Life is too short to be filling it with anything less than awesome. My sister died before I was seventeen. My childhood friend Kurt died before I was 22. Everywhere I look in my life has been filled with the tragic endings of a life too short. This very weekend on the way back from our play in San Francisco Sheri and I experienced the single most frightening thing we have ever been involved with.

We were driving east on Highway 80 (a very busy freeway). Just before the University Avenue exit, some bozo tried to do something stupid and got clipped by a motor home. It turned his car into a helicopter. It spun in circles across four lanes of freeway and slammed into the guard rail. It was facing the wrong way on the freeway and it was in the fast lane. The same lane we were in. I think I had about 10 seconds to react (if that much, it happened really quick).

We were moments from a head-on collision but my instincts were good and I had already started to steer into the crash. I knew if I did it right he would fly right by us. Sadly, another car reacted wrong and turned in towards the accident. I felt his car touch ours. I knew I couldn't go any farther without wiping out the guy on the right. I cleared the head on collision with maybe 6 inches to spare. We took minor damage on the right side of our car.

We pulled over on the side of the road. Took a deep breath and were very thankful to be alive and unharmed. I had already been thinking about the happy question before this incredible near miss. I can honestly tell you I had never been happier standing on the side of the road looking at my wife. Knowing we had dodged a big one. I am happy (although not all the time). I hope all my friends and family are too. If there is anything I can do to spread a little happiness into your life, let me know. It would be my pleasure to help out.

Slightly Off

I am slightly off and by slightly I mean am not sure I rotate with this planet very often. I am okay with this and have learned to live with it. There are times I drive myself completely crazy though. I have a tendency to lie down to sleep at night and let one stray thought leak into my head and then I will chew on that thought for hours and find I have not slept at all, again.

I sometimes wonder if I have OCD. You should see me with doors and locks. I never trust them. I drive Sheri batty with the car lock. I have driven all the way back from work because I thought I might have left the garage door open. I have to pet both of my cats before I leave for work every morning. That might seem sweet but it's really a defense against the thought that I might have locked them in a closet. I did that once and now I have to check them every time I leave the house. The list of little idiosyncrasies goes on and on.

The one area which has always been true about me is that I feel like an outsider constantly. Even though it is usually far from the truth. I have built up a lot of baggage over the years and sometimes it just grinds me down. I worry if people knew what I was really like, they would never talk to me.

This is not giving people nearly enough credit. My friends know what I am really like. I am passionate about art and creating. I am passionate about protecting those who can't protect themselves. I am opinionated but not in a way that leaves me closed to others opinions. I respect people's right to disagree with me as long as the disagreement isn't about someone elses rights being violated. I am a kind person. I love cats.

I sometimes talk too much in groups because I am masking my discomfort and my mouth suddenly can't turn off. I then walk away mad at myself sure I have spilled fool all over my face. I marvel at how far I have come though. Ten years ago I could count my friends on one hand. This isn't the case anymore. I have made a lot of friends over the last few years and marvel in the knowledge that so many people can put up with my brand of crazy (I suspect it is because they are crazy).

I am slightly off and by slightly I mean ….you get the picture. It doesn't bother me anymore. It only scares me a little. It certainly isn't crippling my life (although it will inconvenience it from time to time). This new world of social media has allowed me to connect into a web of people. Glorious, intelligent, different, slightly off people. For all that is wrong in the world sometimes, at least this has gone right.

iPad 3

I know this will shock no one but I bought an iPad 3 or iPad 4G or whatever the hell they are calling it. What might surprise you was I didn't really care about upgrading to the new one. This move was done so Sheri could have my old iPad 2.

Don't get me wrong the graphics are crazy good. It is noticeably faster for me and I can't wait to watch movies on it when we fly to London. I also like the new dictation feature which I have used a lot over the last three days. Other than that it isn't much different. It is slightly heavier and I mean slightly. I barely notice it. Some people are saying their's are running hot but I worked the hell out of mine on Friday and I experienced no such phenomena.

If you already have an iPad 2 though, I probably wouldn't recommend this upgrade. I don't think it brings anything new to the table you can't live without. While the graphics are better they are not so much better that I wouldn't say wait for the next one. Plus, I have noticed one small drawback. It does seem to take a long time to charge.

If you are still working on the first iPad I could see making the jump. It pretty much kicks the first iPad's ass. I, myself, do pretty much everything on my iPad now. About the only time I regularly switch to a laptop or desktop is when I am reading comics at Marvel online. For some reason they are still using flash to deliver their comics. Despite the fact they use Comixology for new digital comics. Hopefully Marvel will remedy that soon.

Running, and Writing, and Covers Oh My!

I have been struggling with the editing of the third book of my Darklands trilogy. I have decided what I need is a deadline. So, I have given myself until the end of this month to get it done. I want Sheri to be able to make her final pass through it and have it published by mid-April or sooner.

I have also decided it is time for me to get writing again. I have several novels bubbling up inside of me and I am going to have to release the Kraken (I know this made no sense but I have always wanted to write it in a blog). Originally, I had planned to edit Incarnators and Dragonroot back to back. This is not going to happen. I need to write a novel and then I will edit my next book. Kind of nice having a book ready to edit.

Speaking of Dragonroot, I have its cover in hand. I really like it but I am not ready to share yet. I will let it into the wild when I actually start the final edit. I feel like I have been treading water a little on the writing side lately. It has given me a chance to read a lot of books though and I have to admit I really needed that. Now it is time to get busy again (including this blog which I have been somewhat neglectful of lately).

On a completely different note I have broken my elliptical machine. I worked that damn thing to death. Luckily, I have an extended warranty on it so it will get repaired as soon as the parts get here. This has forced me to venture outside and start running again.

I have said it before but I really love to run. I know this makes me even weirder in some of your eyes but running is a great thinking time for me. It doesn't really surprise me that I am all jacked up to write after spending the whole week running. I was a little worried at first because I have been losing weight entirely on the elliptical, but everything went great. The elliptical has actually improved my stregth and I have run a 5K everyday with little problem (considering I have been sick I am really happy with that).

My weight is almost all the way back to where I want it to be. It has come off slow but that was always the plan. Slow and steady so that I knew I could keep it off. I have about an inch on my waist left to go. I am also only about 7 pounds away from the weight goal I set. So far I have lost 30 pounds and this time I plan on keeping it off. I am in a terrible spot with my clothes though. I don't fit into my final goal pants and the ones I am wearing are starting to get clown-like loose. I have had to buy smaller sizes as I went down but there is no more smaller sizes. I hope I get there soon. Looking like a clown accidentally isn't any fun. Now on purpose, that is a whole different story.

Silly Publishers

Silly, silly publishers reslly don't get the digital age. They apparently learned nothing from the music and film industry. Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows I have a pony in this race. Trying to carve out a small career publishing my books to the ebook format has kept me in a constant information loop. Trying to figure out marketing and pricing. This blog isn't really about publishing. It's about publishers bound and determined to turn their readers into enemies of the state.

Right from the get go publishers have tried to act like they could treat the ebook industry like it was exactly the same as everything which has come before. They, of course, insisted on DRM which is just a stupid format which treats honest customers like criminals. It also locks people into formats. Publishers are always complaining about Amazon's stranglehold on the industry. Well, they are partly to blame. DRM guarantees people won't switch hardware or software. Once you start investing in a collection you are going to stick with the horse you rode in on. Why? Because you can't switch your books to any new platform with the stupid DRM locking you in. No DRM and I am going to buy from anyone and everyone. The publishers created the Amazon beast and did absolutely nothing to stop dishonest people from pirating.

Now publishers are going after Overdrive and severely limiting public libraries ability to purchase books to lend. Penguin pulled all of their books from Overdrive. They couldn't show or give any reason why ebooks were hurting them in public libraries. Libraries still had to buy their books.

Then there is the contraversy over pricing. Look, publishers should be able to make money. Authors should be able to make money when their publishers sell books. It doesn't mean you have to come off like an idiot. I am not even going to go into the whole price fixing thing between the big 5 publishers. What really cheeses me off is when they charge more for an ebook than they do for the paperback copy of the book.

Yesterday, I went to buy a copy of Dune for my Kindle. This is a book I have reread many times. I wanted to have a digital copy. The ebook cost $14.99 and the paperback cost $12.99. Seriously people. What rationale could possibly make this seem right. This happens over and over again. It does nothing but piss the consumer off.

I have a whole slew of books I would like to replace and put on my Kindle but publishers consistently price the books higher than I am willing to pay. Again, I am not talking about new books. Yesterday while looking at Dune I noticed a Robert Heinlein book selling for $2.99. It was an old book I had never read. I snapped it right up. I didn't have any idea what the book was about. It was Heinlein and it was priced to sell. Today that book was on the bestseller list at Amazon. Yesterday it wasn't. Seems like a lot of people felt the same way.

Publishers could be selling huge swaths of their backlist if the books were priced right. I bought the entire Kurt Vonnegut collection because the price was reasonable. I bought about 13 old Ed McBain books because the price was reasonable. I have hundreds of books on my Kindle waiting to be read because they were old back listed books I had always wondered about. Not Dune though. At some point publishers will figure it out but in the meantime they are frakking up royally. They have made Amazon a monster. They are creating pirates and they are treating honest people not as customers but as future pirates. Publishers are running around screaming the sky is falling but they are the ones pulling it down.

It’s Vegas Baby!

We have successfully survived Las Vegas. It was a really interesting trip. Sheri had a great birthday. We got to visit family and friends but something felt off. Vegas is hurting. You can see signs of it everywhere. I have never seen so many people begging for money. Homeless people were everywhere. We watched in amazement as people walked down the middle of the roads asking for money.

The streets were filthy. It was not uncommon to see drunk people passed out. There was one such person passed out on the walkway to the New York, New York hotel who actually had a beer can resting on his neck. One of the most obvious things we noticed was a lack of police presence. Back when Vegas was booming you would see them everywhere.

Although we did see a pair of officers rousting a guy dressed in a Lugi suit. This kind of pissed us off. The guy was out there trying to make a few bucks taking pictures with tourists and they made him move on. I couldn’t help but think, “Lugi is clearly causing more harm than the passed out drunk down the street.”

Sheri and I also discovered that our tolerance of cigarette smoke has dropped very low. It was bad enough that we did no gambling. We still had fun. We got to see Penn & Teller again (still the best show in Las Vegas). We love people watching and took two really long walks down the strip. Went to the absolutely fabulous Mob Museum. Had some great food and managed to not miss any exercise days.

Now it is off to Universal Studios where we will be meeting with more friends and family. We are happy to be out of Vegas and probably won’t go back for awhile. When we do we probably won’t be staying at the MGM which was truly an awful experience. Between the noisy early morning renovations, the noisy couple having sex next door (the walls are paper thin. Here’s hoping they fix that in their renovations) and the really uncomfortable bed I rarely got any sleep. Okay that isn’t totally true. I never sleep anyway and the couple having sex amused me. Still, you get the point.

It's Vegas Baby!

We have successfully survived Las Vegas. It was a really interesting trip. Sheri had a great birthday. We got to visit family and friends but something felt off. Vegas is hurting. You can see signs of it everywhere. I have never seen so many people begging for money. Homeless people were everywhere. We watched in amazement as people walked down the middle of the roads asking for money.

The streets were filthy. It was not uncommon to see drunk people passed out. There was one such person passed out on the walkway to the New York, New York hotel who actually had a beer can resting on his neck. One of the most obvious things we noticed was a lack of police presence. Back when Vegas was booming you would see them everywhere.

Although we did see a pair of officers rousting a guy dressed in a Lugi suit. This kind of pissed us off. The guy was out there trying to make a few bucks taking pictures with tourists and they made him move on. I couldn't help but think, "Lugi is clearly causing more harm than the passed out drunk down the street."

Sheri and I also discovered that our tolerance of cigarette smoke has dropped very low. It was bad enough that we did no gambling. We still had fun. We got to see Penn & Teller again (still the best show in Las Vegas). We love people watching and took two really long walks down the strip. Went to the absolutely fabulous Mob Museum. Had some great food and managed to not miss any exercise days.

Now it is off to Universal Studios where we will be meeting with more friends and family. We are happy to be out of Vegas and probably won't go back for awhile. When we do we probably won't be staying at the MGM which was truly an awful experience. Between the noisy early morning renovations, the noisy couple having sex next door (the walls are paper thin. Here's hoping they fix that in their renovations) and the really uncomfortable bed I rarely got any sleep. Okay that isn't totally true. I never sleep anyway and the couple having sex amused me. Still, you get the point.

Celebrity = Still Human

I remember meeting my first celebrity when I was in high school or at least the first person I thought was a celebrity. Being the good little book worm geek it was David Brin. Mr. Brin is the author of one of my favorite books of all time, Startide Rising. Startide Rising was also the book which caused me to skip school for the first time (I had to finish it and I wasn't letting school get in the way).

I went to a book signing in San Francisco and I can remember wanting to ask a thousand questions. I barely got out the word, "hi". This might have been the one and only time I can ever really remember being in awe of someone (I am sure if I ever meet David Brin again he will get a chuckle out of his celebrity status). Later that same year I met Harlan Ellison but five words out of his mouth cured me of the celebrity thing forever, "kid, you're in my way."

I later went onto managing a bookstore where I was able to meet many authors I greatly admired. They were all celebrities to me and they were all human. This goes for every actor, sports star, artist, musician, etc, I have ever met. They may be talented but they don't have super powers. We forget that sometimes. There is a whole industry built up around glorifying, raising up, and then tearing down celebrities. I wish we could resist.

I was really sad this weekend when Whitney Houston died. I am not a fan of her music. It doesn't matter. I was sad because hers was a life of constant struggle and torment. A life full of bad habits and bad people. She was human in every sense of the word. She came packed with all of the frailties of the human experience.

My sadness grew when it took no time at all for the jokes to start circulating. Cruel malicious attacks on someone who had just died. I couldn't help but wonder, "why is this okay?" Is it because she is famous? What a load of crap. Her fame should have nothing to do with the world practicing compassion. She had a family. She had friends. She had a daughter.

I wish people would take a moment and think about what they are saying or writing. What if it had been someone in your family? How would the jokes sit with you then? Someone being famous does not put them outside of the realm of compassion. They are just human beings. The same as us. They need privacy and laughter and friends and hugs just like I do. Maybe someday we will all remeber that.