I’ve just bought the new Velvet Revolver CD.
Big Wow, says everyone. That’s not hard. True.
Except it isn’t a CD. It looks like a CD. It seems to follow most of this.
It doesn’t however, conform to the Red Book standard, and has a copy protection system too. This has several effects.

1. You might have trouble doing a digital audio extraction on your PC (and therefore copying it). Ok, I can see the point. It might stop piracy. It might stop you using an Ipod or other MP3 player too, especially if you don’t have a windows PC. Apparently if one were to try this, one would hear crackles, clicks, and skips.

2. It won’t play in your Volkswagen. Great.

3. If you put it in a windows PC and blindly click the licence agreement, it loads a CD-nobbling driver. This makes DAE even more unlikely.

4. If you don’t do that, this disc can lock up your CD drive until you reboot.

5. Nowhere on the disc or packaging is a Compact Disc Logo, because it doesn’t meet the licence terms.
The ironic bit is this:

1. The album is already available on the internet filesharing groups for download. Copy protection worked, then.

2. I’m intending to return my copy, on the grounds that it’s faulty :-P.

I’ve been reading Eats, shoots, and leaves (“The Zero-Tolerance Guide to Punctuation”) while away. It actually made me laugh out loud. I’m something of a pedant (so I’m told), so this book appeals. My current hated sign is on the way to work in a country lane:

” Slow Lorry’s turning”

Who is Lorry, and why is it his turning? Can no-one else use it? Is he really slow? (in that case, did he write the sign?)

Anyway, a reason given in the book for the abomination that English has become today is that it wasn’t taught properly for a time: No-one explained the rules fully, you were just expected to know. This was certainly the case when I was at school (mid 1970s to mid 1980s). Anyway, don’t get me started on my schooldays. Don’t even go they’re. 😉