Reader Ian told a Boston Symphony Orchestra representative to mail him information about donating. The orchestra somehow mistook his request for a $25 pledge, and is now accusing Ian of making a “fraudulent pledge” and demanding that he immediately pay up.
music
Asking the Boston Symphony Orchestra For Donation Information Apparently Commits You To A $25 Pledge
By 5.18.08
By 5.5.08
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Nine Inch Nails is offering their new album for download “one hundred percent free,” on their website. They’ll also release a CD and a vinyl version in July for those of you who like paying for stuff. “The music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE,” says NIN. Will you buy a record that the band gives away? [NIN]
Arizona Judge Rejects RIAA's "Shared Directory = Piracy" Argument
By 5.1.08
Although it won’t affect other cases, the RIAA was handed a small smackdown this week when a U.S. district judge rejected their request for a summary judgement, and ruled that putting song files in a shared directory was not enough proof that infringement had occurred.
Bose Shocks Reader, Not In A Good Way
By 4.24.08
Reader Jerry wants to warn you about his shocking problem with his Bose in-ear headphones. If he goes for a walk with them, they shock his inner ear. Ouch! Jerry wrote to Bose, telling them about his problem, and Bose wrote back, “Yeah? So?”. Apparently, occasional shocks to your inner ear aren’t a problem, or a design flaw, they’re a feature! See what Jerry has to say about this, inside.
Ticketmaster Now In The Ticket Scalping Business?
By 4.23.08
Ticketmaster is directing fans seeking hard-to-find Radiohead tickets to a ticket-reselling partner website called “Tickets Now.”
Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs
By 4.23.08
Yet another reason not to buy DRM music. They are telling us that we have to burn our music to CD format since no additional computers or devices can be authorized after August 31, 2008. So let’s see. Burn to CD, then rip said CD to MP3. Couldn’t they just give us a tool to do it for us, just this once?
David forwarded a copy of the email Microsoft sent him about the expiring DRM. Reading it gives us a headache.
EMI Says You Can't Store Your Music Files Online
By 4.22.08
Today, MP3tunes’ CEO Michael Robertson sent out an email to all users of the online music backup and place-shifting service MP3tunes.com, asking them to help publicize EMI’s ridiculous and ignorant lawsuit against the company. EMI believes that consumers aren’t allowed to store their music files online, and that MP3tunes is violating copyright law by providing a backup service. (And we’re not using a euphemism here—it really is a backup/place-shifting service and not a file sharing site in disguise.)
Ticketmaster Charges 168% Of 3 Doors Down Ticket Price In Fees
By 4.4.08
Reader Brent was furious to find three lawn tickets bought through Ticketmaster, priced at $13 each, came to the ridiculous total of $106.20. First there’s the facility fee, then there’s the mandatory parking, a processing fee, and the “convenience” charge for purchasing the tickets online. After all the fees were piled on, the $13 tickets now cost $35.40 each. Brent’s letter, and a breakdown of the charges, inside:
Dr Pepper Promises Free Soda For Almost Everyone In US If Axl Rose Will Release "Chinese Democracy" This Year
By 3.27.08
Yeah, it’s a PR stunt—but a funny one, especially because the only two people excluded by Dr Pepper’s pledge are “estranged GNR guitarists Slash and Buckethead.” Someone in the Dr Pepper PR department really likes Axl Rose. Rose says neither he nor his label are in cahoots with Dr Pepper, and that he’d share his drink with Buckethead because “some of Buckethead’s performances are on our album.”
RIAA Pockets Filesharing Settlement Money, Doesn't Pay Artists Whose Copyrights Were Infringed
By 3.17.08
None of the estimated $400 million that the RIAA received in settlements with Napster, KaZaA, and Bolt over allegations of copyright infringement has gone to the artists whose copyrights were allegedly infringed. Now the artists are considering suing the RIAA.
Round 3: Ticketmaster vs Wachovia
By 3.14.08
This is round 3 in our Worst Company In America contest, Ticketmaster vs. Wachovia. Their crimes?
By 3.6.08
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Trent Reznor’s “free sample” music marketing experiment is a success. [Ars Technica]
Microsoft Is Very Sorry You Won't Receive Your Valentine's Day Edition Zune On Time
By 2.11.08
Cupid is helping Microsoft whisper sweet apologies to customers who may not receive their Valentine’s Day edition Zune until after February 14. Even though the players are en route, the company has promised full refunds to any scorned Zune buyers.
Class Action Targets Ticket Resellers
By 2.10.08
Remember RMG Technologies, the horrible little company that made five-year-olds cry by snatching up all the Hannah Montana tickets? Boaz Lissauer, a New Jesery plastic surgeon, recently sued them and other ticket resellers after paying $195 for nosebleed seats worth $63 to see the Police in Madison Square Garden. Lissauer is now asking a Pittsburgh court for class action status.
Alleged Gibson CEO Possibly Responds To $10k Contest Story
By 1.26.08
Brand new Consumerist reader Mosten posted a comment including the following response that’s allegedly from Gibson’s CEO regarding the $10,000 prize they never made good on to an NYC hip-hop artist. We have no way of verifying whether this response is legit, but thought it was worth sharing for those who are following the story.
Gibson Screws Musician Out Of $10,000 Worth Of Equipment
By 1.25.08
A musician named Tonedeff won the Lolapalooza Last Band Standing contest in 2006. Part of the prize package was “$10,000 worth of equipment from our friends at Gibson. (yes, believe it!).” Well, Tonedeff believed it, and he’s spent the last year and a half trying to get Gibson to make good on their promise. As Tonedeff notes on his blog, maybe he should have seen this coming when Don Pitts—Gibson’s Ambassador of Empty Promises (shown above with devil eyes)—told him, “I mean, this is kind of weird, because you know, you DON’T play the guitar or drums.”
In MP3 Showdown, Winners Are iPod Touch And Sansa View
By 1.24.08
Okay, so it’s not like there aren’t 15,000 MP3-player reviews already on the web, but SmartMoney decided to jump on the bandwagon and rate five 8-gigabyte MP3 players. Instead of hard stats and lab tests, they handed the devices to an NYU music instructor and audiophile and asked him to walk around the city playing with them. The Apple iPod Touch—at $300, the most expensive of the lot—came out on top, which probably doesn’t surprise anyone, but the SanDisk Sansa View performed well too.
