New blog: Big Family Wisdom

I’m not necessarily retiring Phil’s Blog. But I’ve got a topic that I’m determined to learn about, and to share the knowledge I gain: Big Family Wisdom.

Read it at http://BigFamilyWisdom.wordpress.com, or follow it @BigFamilyWisdom on Twitter.

The Differences between Glory and PR

In a nutshell: Motivation, Justice, and Truth.

Motivation
A PR rep is someone who is motivated by selfishness. What they are paid, or what favors they will get, is the only reason they promote their products.

A worshipper of God has a selfless motivation – the desire to see God receive glory, and nothing else.

Justice
Money is spent on PR and advertising for products whether they deserve the attention or not. As is commonly known, sometimes the company that spends the most on advertising has the least-deserving product.

Giving God glory, on the other hand, is truly justice served. There is no thing, and no person, more deserving of glory than God. None, in fact, even comes close. To give anyone or anything else glory that belongs to God is an injustice and a moral travesty.

Truth
PR representatives are held to truth only by the law. And law is not all-encompasing – there are loopholes and gray areas in the law that PR reps and advertisers know well, and navigate easily. So there is always “spin” in advertisements of any kind, and usually some question about intentional omissions or outright lies.

Glory given to God, on the other hand, is always understated. We don’t have the words to describe, nor even minds to comprehend the glory God deserves. Whatever pitiful utterances and vocalizations we can produce as praise, He is humble and gracious to accept. However far we fall, or misguided we are, God is still kind enough to consider our intent as we live lives for His honor.

This article is not intended as a slam on Matthew Paul Turner, who humorously asserts (and proves daily on his blog) that Jesus needs new PR. But I think we as Christians do need to remember that giving God glory is not the work of a PR rep or an advertiser. It is a much higher calling than that, and one deserving our full-time attention in every activity we pursue. And it is one I have not remembered nearly well enough.

Censorship on art: a STIFLING impact?

Slashdot covered a recent blog post claiming that censorship stifles artristry.

I disagree.

Although I am myself not an artist, I have professional experience with what I consider a very close analog: mandated development tools in an enterprise IT environment.

While no developer really likes being told what tools/languages to use, I have found that it is the younger and less-skilled that are most vocal. The more experienced programmers just expect such arbitrary restrictions, and the ensuing difficulties. The better programmers realize that most programming problems can be solved in almost any programming language. And both groups understand that the customer is always right.

How does this apply to art and censorship? Younger and less-capable artists whine and cry because they’re either unable to express themselves within censorship limits, or they’re accustomed to the unrealistic anything-goes environment of their art college and are balking at the real world of rules and restricted freedoms.

Childen growing up are constantly whining over the ever-increasing responsibilities thrust upon them as their abilities grow. I was quite disappointed to see the same whining in myself as I complained about the tools and coding standards being imposed upon me. While I haven’t quite grown past that phase of professional development, I at least am now aware of it and am working through it.

But my industry and training are of an engineering and problem-solving nature. I was able (evntually) to view the restrictions as a challenge to be solved. Art is a much more emotional and expressive industry. So I suspect that the artists are seeing this as a professional insult. I would not be surprised to find them complaining about any imposed restriction or limit, however sensible or low-impact.

I would encourage these artists to view these censorship rules as a challenge to be overcome, to help them grow professionally. I would also suggest that they learn to work within these new sensorship rules. In one form or another, whether imposed by goveremt of conservative corporate clients, this is the reality in which they will be expressing themselves. Crying about things you can’t change is totally non-productive, and makes you look like a child throwing a fit.

MP3 on iTunes: Right format, BUT…

Well, they’ve done it. Apple has finally started selling MP3s through the iTunes Music Store (ITMS). However, they’ve driven me back to plastic CDs in the process, and they may have driven-up music piracy as well.

I just downloaded Darlene Zschech‘s excellent rendition of Agnus Dei from ITMS. I originally heard it on Pandora for iPhone. (If you don’t know what Pandora is, it’s an excellent Internet radio site.). Darlene Zschech has earned a reputation as one of the best worship leaders in the world, and this song is a wonderful example of her talent.

The Problem

So imagine my disappointment when I get to the peak of the song, worshipping right along with her, only to hear a familiar static crackle erupt in the background of the song. “Fingerprinting”, “watermarking”, or whatever you may call it, it’s still DRM, MP3-style. Just like Amazon has done with many of their MP3s.

Now, I’m no audiophile. (Carrie will gladly tell you how good my hearing is.) So this is not something the average listener is likely to miss. It certainly interrupted my enjoyment of the song, and left me wondering when I could get to a store to buy the CD.

What?

When I bought an MP3 from Amazon and found watermarking throughout the track, I forgave them the offense. I figured they had a lot of PR money riding on being the first-to-market with legal MP3 downloads. (I forgave them, but I haven’t been back. Watermarking is why.)

But Apple is known for higher-quality stuff. They have always priced their products above the competition, and have earned their keep (under Steve Jobs’ leadership) with consistently industry-leading design and customer support. I’m guessing I won’t be the only customer who feels their investment in Apple just lost some value. And with the Palm Pre just around the corner, the “fall” of ITMS forces the iPhone to stand on its own, making the Pre look that much more attractive as an upgrade.

The End Game

So where does this leave us?

Apple

In my mind, Apple is risking the monopolistic tie between the iPhone and the iTunes Music Store. If their target audience – the buyer looking for higher-quality goods – stops buying music in ITMS, there’s nothing to prevent them from switching to another phone platform like the Palm Pre or Google’s Android. Since Apple has been getting bad press lately for behavior reminiscent of Microsoft’s Bill Gates era, I hope this means they’ve got a different plan for keeping customers.

The Labels Win

I believe Apple made the switch to MP3s due to market pressure. Steve Jobs has always given lip-service to eliminating DRM, to keep the Apple faithful…well, faithful. With Amazon’s service apparently doing well, they must have felt the time was right to sign-up for MP3 offerings from iTunes. Amazon probably wasn’t too hesitant about watermarking their MP3s as long as they got to be the first to offer them.

But Apple’s acceptance of the same terms signals to me that the two best chances we had to put DRM to rest are gone, and that the labels have finally won. The labels tried everything they could – suing ISPs who allowed music to be downloaded through their network, polluting the pool of trafficked files with corrupted or watermarked versions, and even suing their own customers in an attempt to stop the slow march of progress. But now, with the cooperation of both Amazon and Apple, the labels have managed to destroy the quality of purchased downloads from the two biggest legal sources online.

In other words, the labels have won. High-quality music can no longer be downloaded legally.

The Customers Lose

Sadly, I will go back to buying CDs. With the labels’ victory, ripping purchased CDs becomes (again) the only way I can hear the music on my iPhone as the artist intended it to be heard.

Why Now?

Carrie’s Tutelage

As I’ve talked to Carrie about her blog, reading posts on other people’s blogs, and seen how comments are used on a couple of different blogs I read, my interest in blogging has gone up.

Much To Say

I have a lot of random thoughts, and my poor wife has for too long had to listen to them alone.

Why WordPress?

They’ve got an iPhone app. I figured that maybe, just maybe, with the ability to post from anywhere, I could one day begin posting at the insane pace of once per MONTH instead of my already-hectic once per quarter. We’ll see.

My First Post

Welcome to my new blog, faithful readers! My promise to all three of you first and foremost is to continue the same hectic pace of posting AT LEAST once per quarter.

That is, after I figure-out the WordPress interface.

My First Psot