LATEST ADDITIONS

You simply <I>have</I> to read "The Peekaboo paradox," a fantastic piece of writing by Gene Weingarten. (It's long, so you might prefer to print it out and save it for later.) It conforms to a formula I admiringly call <I>The New Yorker</I> paradigm, in which a writer introduces you to a subject you think you don't have much interest in (in this case a children's party entertainer) and makes it fascinating. <I>Then</I> you discover that the <I>real</I> story is so much deeper and compelling than you could have ever imagined.

Parts is parts you say? They don't make 'em like these any more.

Rules? We don't need no rules! Oh, you mean these are <I>our</I> secret laws? Nevermind.

If we were late, we didn't care. An elevator showed us out onto a floor where people gathered round a table blanketed in champagne and wine. We made our way, and caught attention.

Here's an article from <I>USA Today</I> about vendors selling fully loaded iPods on eBay. Is this a legitimate fair use issue? My gut reaction is no&mdash;if vendors were selling loaded iPods for market value or used value, it might not trip my BS detector. But when you are charging several hundred bucks extra for the 11,000 songs you've loaded on the iPod, it seems to me that you've crossed that fair use line in the sand&mdash;we've established what you are and now we're just negotiating price.

Set your irony scanner to high and read about the kerfluffle involving the MPAA making copies of a film submitted for a rating. Even better, if the film maker sues, the MPAA's defense will probably hinge on whether or not it intended to sell it. Does that mean if they argue successfully that intent to profit is the definition of piracy that we can make copies too if we promise not to sell them?

When I was hired to sell hi-fi almost 20 years ago, I figured I knew my stuff and I knew audiophiles. <I>How hard could selling good gear be?</I> I wondered. Phenomenally hard, it turned out. I began to learn how to sell and the crux of it wasn't trickery or fast-talk, but actually listening to what people wanted (and, granted, sometimes hearing stuff they weren't actually saying).