Cont. - BOOTLEG CDs AND CORPORATE AMERICA
How about this for a solution-bring down your prices!!! When music cds were first introduced a vinyl album use to cost around $7.99.
The same album on CD was priced around $12.99. The record labels said the higher cost wwas due to paying for the new technology.
Well hello!!! Computers back then were selling for about $3,000.00, without a monitor. Today you can buy a computer a hundred times more powerful with a CD burner (ha ha) and a dvd player for
around $699.00. Shouldn't it make sense that a CD should sell for around $5.99 or $6.99.
It's not our fault that they are paying artists millions of dollars for one album. Yeah they should get paid but enough is enough.
If this means reducing the amount of money they pay an artist or group then so be it. So what if they will only be able to buy one Bentley instead of two,
or a two million dollar mansion instead of one worth five. So what if the CEOs make ten million a year instead of twenty. Truth be told the average
artist or group brings in less than seventy grand a year. So the real money goes to the record label owners.
Basketball, baseball, and football have all implemented some form of cap which will balance off the salaries of this players.
This in turn will stop the skyrocketing pricing of tickets which has plagued the sports industry.
The same sort of financial restructuring must be implemented in all industries as well as the music industry.
Salaries for groups, artist, and corporate honchos must be restructured to where the cost of a CD is within reason.
Of course we have gone off the subject a bit but it's all tied in . From Nike charging you $125.00 for a pair of Jordan sneakers to the the record labels charging
you $13.99 for a cd. The days of gorging consumers for every nickel-and-dime must come to an end. The current economic crises in the U.S. is the result of corporate greed.
Why should you or your parents lose their job while a company downsizes and the CEOs get a ten million dollar raise and a five million dollar bonus.
New economic laws that make sense need to be implemented.
If any company downsize its workforce by a certain percent then the CEOs and board members should have their salaries cut by the same percentage.
Do some research and find out how much the CEOs of companies like Nike and Gap make, then think on how you asking your parents to spend $100 for a
pair a sneakers or $60 for a pair of jeans is going to make
those corporate big boys that much richer. By coercing your parents to buy those sneakers and other overpriced items you are helping those rich corporate
big wigs to rob your parents of their hard earned money. Also, why should you help pay an athlete that already makes two million a year another three million a year
for endorsing a sneaker-it's insane!!!
Now you might think it's no big deal and that you don't have to worry about this,
but you do. Let's see how you feel ten, seven, or even five years from now when you're raising your family
and your child or children come up to you and cry that they want a pair of Kobe Bryant sneakers that cost $225.00.
Angel Velez
WHY USE AN APPLE FOR MUSIC?
Lately Apple computers has been trying to get people to switch to an Apple.
I tried switching and to tell you the truth I hated it. You see I've always used an Apple computer,
but last year I switched to the Windows world. I asked around and was told that I couldn't go wrong with a Dell.
I picked up a 1ghz desktop machine with a CD burner for around $1300. Setting it up was a breeze and compared to
the old Apple machine I had it was as fast as hell. Programs ran quickly, internet pages loaded with speed,
and downloads were fast. In all I was very happy with the machine.
The real reason for the purchase of this machine was to run a music software program. I ordered a Midiman Ultra 66 sound card and Cubase 24, that's when the trouble came in. My computer began freezing up while running the music program. I tried everything under the sun to get it to run smooth but it just didn't work right.
After a while I decided to run a test. I removed Cubase from my machine and threw in Logic Audio. It ran much better but it had a latency problem that was a bit unbearable. I then took the sound card from the Dell and threw it in my Apple G3 tower which was a 450Mhz machine. After loading it with Logic Audio I was surprised to find there was no latency problem. It also never crashed. At that point I decided to use my Apple for music and my dell for everything else.
The other programs I use all the time are Photoshop, Pagemaker, and Word. I began using the Dell to set up the HTML for the web pages. I began to realize how complicated it was to find files in the world of Microsoft Windows. Every once in a while for no reason at all my Dell machine would just act up-it was as if the machine had a mind of its own. It got to the point where I was getting frustrated. It then came to me that in all the years I used an Apple I never had this many problems. As time went by I found myself using my Apple more and my Dell less and less.
About eight months ago I purchased an Apple ibook for about $1500. Its a 700mhz 20 gig hard drive 12 inch notebook with CDR and DVD. To be honest setting it up was a pain in the butt. I have it loaded with a bunch of programs including Pagemaker, Photoshop, and Logic Audio Gold. I burn CDs, load images from my digital camera, edit music using Logic Audio Gold, and do all the imixmag web page work using the ibook. Amazingly, I do more in less time and with less hassle. Apple now sells the same laptop for $1000.00. I wonder if they will send me back $500.00-yeah right LOL.
My only complaint about the MAC OS is that when it comes to the internet it crawls in comparison to a Windows, but that's what I use the Dell for. To surf the web. It's the only thing I trust my dell to do.
My friends who use Window machines are always coming to me looking for advice on how to fix their computers. I simply explain to them that I don't have that problem because I have an Apple. So yeah, I switched and it sucked, but I learned my lesson-I'm back with Apple.
If you use your computer for music, share your experience with us. Let us know what platform, software, and tell us how happy or unhappy you are with them. Your comments will be posted in our feedback page which can be found under the index.
Angel Velez
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