The Flow of Consciousness

I have joined a new group of people: those who have paid for music downloads.

I’ve had a T-Mobile G1 since November. It came with the Amazon MP3 application for Android pre-installed. This little application allows G1 users to search Amazon’s fast music catalog, then purchase and download DRM-less music.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to go a year without DRM. This makes Amazon MP3 quite attractive to me as I try to stay legal in my music acquisitions now that I have a job. I’ve avoided iTunes primarily because of its DRM-encumbered formats, but Apple recently decided to go DRM-less. However, personally identifiable information is still embedded in the download, raising privacy concerns. There’s also not a Linux version of iTunes—there is a Linux version of the Amazon MP3 downloader, which was recently updated to work on Ubuntu 8.10. I’ve included a little tutorial at the end of this entry to get Amazon MP3 Downloader for Linux working on Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit.

An important thing to note is that when I first added Festival Thyme to my download list, it didn’t complete, and I didn’t notice it for more than three weeks! When I tried again, the application said that the downloads had expired. Unhappy with my first digital download experience, I called Amazon just a few minutes ago, and the CSR was happy to reimburse me so I could try again.

This is the new best way to enjoy music. If I’m on the go, I search Amazon’s catalog using my T-Mobile G1 via EDGE or 3G service, add tracks or an entire album to my downloads list, then watch the songs download when next I connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi. This is the way music downloading should be: inexpensive, available everywhere, and, most of all, free of restrictions of DRM.

And now, the tutorial on installing Amazon MP3 Download for Linux on Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit.

First, download the Amazon MP3 Downloader package to your Desktop.

Second, install some packages from the command line, or by clicking on this apt-url link: sudo apt-get install libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a libboost-thread1.34.1 libboost-iostreams1.34.1 libboost-signals1.34.1 libboost-date-time1.34.1 libcurl3 libssl0.9.8 xdg-utils.

Third, do sudo dpkg --force-architecture -i amazonmp3.deb to install the package.

Fourth, ensure that the 32-bit libraries are installed by first installing getlibs (click to download and install with GDebi), then going to a command line and doing sudo getlibs $(which amazonmp3). This will download the 32-bit libraries which Amazon MP3 Downloader needs.

Amazon MP3 Downloader will be available in the Applications > Internet menu.

Good luck, and happy downloading.

You have no idea how happy this news has made me today.

CNN has a story about Stone Temple Pilots reuniting for a 60-some-odd tour this summer. Lead singer Scott Weiland recently left Velvet Revolver, the 1/4 STP, 3/4 G&R mashup the first album of which debuted at #1 on the charts. The 2/4 of STP, the Deleo brothers, formed Army of Anyone with Filter’s Richard Patrick rockin’ the mike and current drummer for Korn, Ray Luzier.

It’s fantastic to see STP back together because a friend and I listened to the band’s Thank You greatest hits album frequently last summer and I listen to it very frequently nowadays (#35 according to Last.fm, but it would be higher if my car’s stereo reported, as it was the only CD to which I listened for approximately a month last winter).

If you’ve listened to rock radio since 1990, you’ve heard at least one of the band’s songs. The acoustic version of Plush is one of my favorites, but I’m also a fan of Trippin’ on a Whole in a Paper Heart and All in the Suit That You Wear.

Unfortunately, the closest the band is coming is Cleveland, so I probably won’t get to see it. StoneTemplePilots.com has the schedule.

Most people, at least Slashdot readers, have heard or read that Comcast is allegedly using some sort of packet shaping or packet inspection to “delay” BitTorrent seeding (uploading in BitTorrent parlance). Downloading works fine, but seeding is nearly impossible unless one enables encryption. I’ve seen this myself—I attempted to download Ubuntu 7.10 and let it seed last weekend while I was out of town for a wedding. After two days, I had completed the download, but I’d uploaded a mere 28 MB. There were more than 5,000 seeds, too.

Here’s where it gets fishy. The day prior, I’d downloaded Ubuntu 7.10 on a Windows® box with uTorrent. It seeded just fine—uTorrent enables encryption by default. However, I used another computer to seed during the weekend, one running KTorrent on Kubuntu 7.04. Encryption was not enabled. I enabled it remotely (ssh tunnel to vnc), and suddenly, the seeding started. In the next two days before I returned, I’d seeded more than 2 GB.

So, this brings me to my actual question, or petition for assistance. How can I tell if Comcast is actively injecting RST packets as the AP and TorrentFreak have confirmed? How can I test this, other than by watching peers attempt to connect vainly?

I want to conduct the same tests so that I have the results for myself. There are three local newspapers in my area which service Comcast customers, and a well-written, data-backed letter to the editor might get enough people in a furor to actually call the local Comcast office and complain.

A few days ago, I discovered OK Go, a 9-year-old band with a very interesting history, when I saw the music video for which they won an Oscar. The song is called "Here It Goes Again"

Their tunes are catchy, especially "Here It Goes Again" and "Do What You Want" from the band’s newest album, Oh No.

The band posts its videos to YouTube of its own accord (mad props!).

My birthday is Monday, anyone wanna buy it for me?