On the brink of something…

Let us walk through my most recent purchase. I strolled into the store, located the CD I was after, paid for it in cash and left. At no stage was I asked to sign a licensing agreement – not even a post-sale agreement like those for software. It was a simple transaction of cash for a physical product.

”No,” cries the music industry, ”you are bound by the licensing agreement that you did not sign and that we cannot produce for inspection.”

Fine – let’s suppose I now have a licence for personal use applying to all the CDs I own. I should be able to take advantage of that. A CD I bought 10 years ago now has a scratch down the middle so that five of the 10 songs refuse to play. Luckily for me, this problem is solely with the physical medium. After all, my licence for personal use should allow me to reacquire ”my” content, especially since it is digital data and can be reproduced an unlimited number of times at virtually no cost.

”No,” cries the music industry, ”you bought a product, not a licence. You are not entitled to a free replacement, you need to buy it all over again. And when you do, you will be covered by another identical licence. Until something happens to this new physical medium.”

More than 100 people, many of them dressed in black, are expected to gather around a coffin Thursday to say goodbye to an old friend.

The deceased? Internet Explorer 6.

A year ago, AT&T Inc. learned a hard lesson at the South by Southwest music, film and interactive festivals and conferences: Thousands of smart-phone users in a limited area, all sending text messages, photos and video clips, can produce a cellular traffic snarl. Some attendees, many of them users of Apple Inc.’s Internet-friendly iPhone, noticed the wireless traffic gridlock and weren’t happy about it.

“South by Southwest draws what I call the cool-kid tech people,” said Michael Cote, an analyst with Redmonk.com. “They all have iPhones, and they all want to upload photos that they take. When the network runs slow, they get upset, and they get vocal about it. … There was a lot of complaining.”

Things should be different this year, AT&T says, when the film and interactive events kick off March 12.

“We have been doing a lot of work,” said Chris Penrose , vice president and general manager of AT&T South Texas.

That’s great. You can get your 3G and voice service up and running for one city during a special event, now would you please make it work the other 50 weeks a year in my town!!!