Great podcasting moments
December 5th, 2007 -- by Augie De Blieck Jr.
If you missed it, go download the latest episode of This Week In Tech right this very minute. Run, don’t walk.
Fast forward to the 42:32 mark, where host Leo Laporte attempts to do an Audible commercial. Problem is, Audible heavily DRMs all the books you download from them. And TWiT panelist Cory Doctorow is a die-hard anti-DRM kind of guy, and not ashamed to talk about it. As an author, his dealings with Audible have been disappointing.
So every time Leo tries to defend Audible, Cory smacks him down.
By the time everything is said and done, Leo’s bailed on the commercial and you’re listened to five minutes of wonderfully awkward podcasting.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
*sigh*
You know, I like Mr. Doctorow. I like Boing Boing. But every time he gets on the subject of copyright I just immediately skim past it; it’s like listening to Ron Paul talking.
December 5th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Yeah, the world needs its idealists, even when they ought to be slightly more pragmatic. They walk a fine line between being pure of spirit and being blind to reality and thus defeating their own cause.
December 9th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Cory may be an idealist, but it really helps to balance things out. I have great respect for Leo and know almost nothing about Doctorow, but I nearly cheered out loud when I heard his comments.
Audible is welcome to DRM their stuff. I don’t have to buy it, and I won’t. But Leo has been vocal in the past about how DRM does not work and that it is generally a bad idea, yet he consistently keeps his mouth shut about Audible’s DRM, and continues to take their money. Leo has talked a lot about journalistic integrity and how that paid reviews and “pay per post” type schemes destroy the blogging world. But here he is engaged in the same practice. Yes we know they are a sponsor, but he seems to not be saying what he truly believes about them.
Maybe this episode will set some changes into motion.