Hollywood's New Zombie - The last days of Blockbuster. By Edward Jay Epstein

As far the studios are concerned, other than collecting the money that Blockbuster owes them for past movies, the video chain has little relevance to their future.

TechCrunch » Yahoo Acquires WebJay

Webjay is an interesting application that allows users to publish music playlists on the web.

DRM kills award chances for Munich

The DVDs were encoded for Region 1 (US and Canada), not Region 2 (most of Europe). As a result, only those who had seen Munich in the theaters were able to vote on it.

Music downloads growing faster than reported

With all of these numbers in hand, we can calculate the total market share downloads enjoy today, and it's a healthy 7.3 percent.

IP Democracy

If instead of e-mail these companies delivered express-postal mail, it would be like the consumer deciding to pay more for a fast FedEx shipment (as they have for broadband) and then FedEx turning around (unbeknownst to the consumer) and also requiring the receiver of the package to pay more in order to ensure the package receives priority treatment and arrives on time. It’s a double dip.

Wired News: PearLyrics' True Love Story

Sometimes I wonder what Warner Chappell would say if they realized they'd just gone after an unhappy love story -- the kind of stuff their songwriters write songs about in the first place.

Wired 14.01: POSTS

The Warhol Foundation is "vigorous in enforcing our rights when it comes to people wanting to use Warhol's art for commercial purposes," Wachs said. But when it comes to artists and scholars, the rules are very different.

U.S. Office Joins an Effort to Improve Software Patents - New York Times

An open patent review program would set up a system on the patent office Web site where visitors could submit search criteria and subscribe to electronic alerts about patent applications in specific areas. The third initiative is focused on the creation of a patent quality index that would serve as a tool for patent applicants to use in writing their applications. It is based on work done by R. Polk Wagner, an intellectual property expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

Microsoft preps Napster clone | The Register

Microsoft plans to 'embrace and extend' peer-to-peer file sharing technology with a Napster-style system of its own. Codenamed Farsite, the program is currently little more than a research project, according to a ZDNet US story.

Hollywoodreporter.com

Aimed at music, film and software companies, PeerMind can provide detailed reports, online chart data and custom research based on 24/7 monitoring of the major P2P networks.

Furdlog » Verizon’s VCast and DRM

The V Cast upgrade disables that capability for now

Yet another example of why the creep of DRM into PC hardware is a bad thing.

Furdlog » LATimes Grades the Studios

SONY: When it comes to ineptitude, this studio belongs right up there with the 1962 Mets (who lost 120 games) and the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who went 0-14).

How Apple Could Mess Up, Again

In the modular PC world, that meant Microsoft and Intel (INTC ), and the same thing will happen in the iPod world as well. Apple may think the proprietary iPod is their competitive advantage, but it's temporary. In the future, what will matter will be the software inside that lets users find exactly the kind of music they want to listen to, when and where they want to, with minimal effort.

The same situation as with young Fader's iPod, but the opposite direction. I'm starting to see your point now. It all hinges on how flexible Apple is, although I'm not convinced that a) the decision of proprietary vs. not can't be made top-down style, b) Apple won't assimilate other models, particularly subscription music services, well enough to survive (a la video iPod), and c) the "copyleak" from broken FairPlay that's already going on with e.g. Real may be sufficient to keep them on top despite their potentially self-destructive behavior.

--Ari