Yahoo’s New Media Device

Yahoo has just announced a cool new wifi device, called the SanDisk Sansa Connect, that comes ready to listen to Yahoo Music (see Yahoo Music overview here along with competitors) and it also syncs up with your Flickr account.
This gives them something to promote as Apple spreads its iPod empire and Microsoft markets its Zune music (and soon, phone) device.
The Sansa Connect is $250 and comes with 4 GB of memory and a (small) 2.2 inch screen.
If you are a subscription music fan and willing to pay $15 or so per month indefinitely for access to a large library of songs, this may be a device you’ll want to have. Certainly having access to Yahoo’s entire music collection of 1 million+ songs on a portable device is going to be attractive. But as the DRM walls fall, owning songs outright will be more attractive to many users than the indefinite subscription approach.
Yahoo’s Ian Rogers (listen to my interview with Ian Rogers here) is touting the device and the Yahoo subscription plan v. downloadable music. He does make one off-putting remark at the end of his post when he suggests that iPod users only have pirated music on their iPods:
For those of you about to complain about the $12/month to get unlimited tracks (like, um, Steve Jobs), check yourself before you riggity wreck yourself. Labels and artists get paid for every radio play and every Yahoo! Music download to the Sansa Connect, whereas we all know iPods are mostly full of not-paid-for MP3s. At Yahoo! would like to help maintain a healthy music business, compensating labels and artists at a fair price to consumers. The labels and the consumers have been pretty far apart in this negotiation and we think we’re doing a damn fine job striking a balance between the two with the rich feature set Sansa Connect and reasonable monthly price of Yahoo! Music Unlimited. We hope you think so, too. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, right? (emphasis added)
Ian, those songs on iPods are usually (sometimes? often?) from ripped CDs that were purchased (and ripped) quite legally. The artists, and especially the labels, were already paid once for those songs. Just because I want to now listen to them on my iPod doesn’t make me a music stealer. Consumers don’t want to keep paying for the same songs over and over and over again, just to be able to play them on a new device. And they shouldn’t have to, either.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Love vs. Sex – A Post For Georgina

Love vs. Sex
A teenage girl about 17 had gone to visit some friends one evening
and time passed quickly as each shared their various experiences of the past year.

She ended up staying longer than planned,
and had to walk home alone. She wasn’t afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away.

As she walked along under the tall elm trees,
Diane asked God to keep her safe from harm and danger.

When she reached the alley, which was a short cut to her house,
she decided to take it.

However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man
standing at the end as though he were waiting for her.

She became uneasy and began to pray,
asking for God’s protection.

Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness
and security wrapped round her,
she felt as though someone was walking with her.

When she reached the end of the alley,
she walked right past the man and arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the newspaper that
a young girl had been raped in the same alley just
twenty minutes after she had been there.

Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and
the fact that it could have been her, she began to weep.

Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman,
she decided to go to the police station.

She felt she could recognize the man,
so she told them her story.

The police asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup
to see if she could identify him.

She agreed and immediately pointed out the man
she had seen in the alley the night before.

When the man was told he had been identified,
he immediately broke down and confessed.

The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and
asked if there was anything they could do for her.

She asked if they would ask the man one question.

Diane was curious as to why he had not attacked her.

When the policeman asked him, he answered,
“Because she wasn’t alone. She had two tall men walking on either side of her.”

Amazingly, whether you believe or not, you’re never alone.
Did you know that 98% of teenagers will not stand up for God?

Repost this as Love vs. Sex if you truly believe in God..,

PS: God is always there in your heart and loves you no matter what…..and if you stand up 4 him he will stand up for you.