So PHP 5 added a whole slew of new features to PHP, but I’ve been stuck in PHP 4, so I figured I’d learn some of that.  I’ve also been stuck to relational databases (and that’s usually what they teach at school), but I’ve started to see some of the sites I know and love switching to non-relational databases.  So that was also something I wanted to learn how to work with.

I went online to search, and the three major contenders seem to be Cassandra, CouchDB, and MongoDB.  I decided to go with MongoDB since it seemed like the easiest to use and setup, and I liked the idea of document-oriented storage.  CouchDB can be ran on webFaction as well, but I’m not too sure about Cassandra (I’m guessing you can with effort).

So here’s my guide on getting it setup and ready to run.

So installing MongoDB on Webfaction:

1. Create a new custom application listening on port called mongodb
2. Create it and take note of the port
3. Login to your account via SSH
4. Switch to the directory of the mongodb app you just created
   cd ~/webapps/mongodb
5. Download the latest version of the 32-bit version of MongoDB (1.4.3 as of writing)
   wget http://downloads.mongodb.org/linux/mongodb-linux-i686-1.4.3.tgz
6. Extract the files from the archive
   tar -xf mongodb-linux-i686-1.4.3.tgz
7. Create a data directory for your MongoDB installation
   mkdir data
8. Start up MongoDB
   /home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/mongodb-linux-i686-1.4.3/bin/mongod ‒‒dbpath /home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/data/ ‒‒port [port]

Doing that will launch MongoDB in the terminal.  To have MongoDB run as a background process and restart should it quit can be done with a few scripts.  My way isn’t probably the most elegant way to do it.  If mongoDB doesn’t exit cleanly, then you have to delete the lock, run repair, and restart the daemon, so there are 3 parts to my way and a dummy file, but you can probably easily merge it all into one file (I’m just too interested in playing with PHP and MongoDB to do so yet).

This is mongo.sh, it checks if the mongo daemon (mongod) is running, and it calls the appropriate action.

This is startmongo.sh, there’s a dummy file called “isnt_running.txt”  If it exists when startmongo.sh is ran, that means that mongod didn’t exit cleanly.  If it didn’t exit cleanly, we have to delete mongod.lock and run repair on the database.  Otherwise, we just try to start up mongod.

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php
// Check if MongoDB did not exit cleanly
if(file_exists(“/home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/isnt_running.txt”)){
unlink(“/home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/data/mongod.lock”);
exec(“/home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/mongodb-1.4.3/bin/mongod ‒‒dbpath /home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/data ‒‒port [port] ‒‒auth ‒‒repair”);
exec(“nohup /home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/mongodb-1.4.3/bin/mongod ‒‒dbpath /home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/data ‒‒port [port] ‒‒auth”);
}else{
exec(“nohup /home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/mongodb-1.4.3/bin/mongod ‒‒dbpath /home/emokid/webapps/mongodb/data ‒‒port [port] ‒‒auth”);
$fp = fopen(“/home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/isnt_running.txt”, “w+”);
fwrite($fp, “Starting up”);
fclose($fp);
}
?>

This is runningmongo.sh, it just deletes our dummy file letting us know that mongod is running.

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php
// Check if MongoDB did not exit cleanly
if(file_exists(“/home/emokid/webapps/mongodb/isnt_running.txt”)){
unlink(“/home/emokid/webapps/mongodb/isnt_running.txt”);
}
?>

I just add mongo.sh to the crontab.  Mine runs every 20 minutes, but you can make it run sooner because if it does run every 20 minutes, that mean that the database could be down for 40 minutes.  Make sure to change [user] and [port] to your username and the port number you were given.

crontab

*/20 * * * * /home/[user]/webapps/mongodb/mongo.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

The PHP Stack

In order to run PHP with the mongo drivers, you need your own installation of Apache and PHP.  WebFaction makes this somewhat easy to do.

1. Create a new custom application listening on port and call it phpstack
2. Take note of the port.
3. SSH onto the server and go to the phpstack webapp directory
   cd ~/webapps/phpstack
4. Download the PHPStack setup script (this is the one for PHP 5.3.1).
   wget http://wiki.webfaction.com/attachment/wiki/MiscellaneousFiles/build_php_worker_531.sh?format=raw
5. Rename the script to build_php_worker_531.sh
   mv build_php_worker_531.sh\?format\=raw build_php_worker_531.sh
6. Make sure the script is executable.
   chmod +x build_php_worker_531.sh
7. Run the install script and specify the path to the phpstack, and the port number
   ./build_php_worker_531.sh /home/[user]/webapps/phpstack [port]
8. We have to install Pear twice in order to get PECL.
   1. Download the go-pear.php installer script
      wget http://pear.php.net/go-pear
   2. Rename it to go-pear.php
      mv go-pear go-pear.php
   3. Run it with the php_fcgi version of php
      /home/[user]/webapps/phpstack/php_fcgi/bin/php go-pear.php
   4. When it asks you about the paths, set $prefix to:
      /home/[user]/webapps/phpstack/php_fcgi
   5. Then run the installer.  Repeat the process for php_rawcgi
   6. For each installation (php_fcgi and php_rawcgi) run
      /home/[user]/webapps/phpstack/php_fcgi/bin/pecl install mongo
   7. Then in each php.ini (php_fcgi/lib/php.ini and php_rawcgi/lib/php.ini) add
      extension=”mongo.so”

To keep things easy, you can place all of your website stuff inside of the phpstack/htdocs, or you can edit the httpd.conf to point towards one of your other webapps.

Now you might want to secure your MongoDB a bit, and read up on how to use it with PHP.

I already stalk her on twitter and subscribe to her blog.  Lately, some big issue came up about breast feeding in public.  I for one support a mother’s decision to feed their child when the child is hungry, whether it be breast feeding, bottle, injections, or whatever.  Breast feeding in public is probably the most loving thing you could do for your child, so take a picture and show it too them when he or she is older because when your child grows up, they’ll probably appreciate it.

In the argument, someone was arguing that Jem was a bully.  What a shocker.  Jem has her “pants” award (last one given out in January 2009)…  She rants and raves about everything, but she does it in a way that grabs you and hooks you into reading.  She’s actually quite entertaining, but back on topic!

People kept bringing up “Freedom of Speech” and “Cyber Bullying.”

Jem is in the UK, and those “targeted” were in the USA.  I’m not too sure about UK laws, but there’s not a lot of Federal laws in relation to cyber bullying (at the moment).  Currently, if Jem threatened to kill, kidnap, or injure someone, then she’d be in violation of USA Federal laws.  If she were to commit slander or libel on someone, then she would also be in violation of the laws (and I think the UK has a similar law about online content and Internet Service Providers about it?).

In terms of harassment online, several states have laws against it (not too sure how that plays out internationally), but there is currently a bill trying to become a law.  H.R. 1966 makes it if you harass or intimidate someone online, then you can face some jail time or a fine.  I understand the point of the law, but I personally think it’s too vague as it is.  An online argument would get you fined or jailed, but a verbal argument wouldn’t?

So Jem currently has nothing to really worry about.

Some of the other people have something to worry about.  Freedom of Speech does not cover inciting riots or acts of violence.  So be careful, because this could be considered illegal soon.

The target (not jemjabella above) of the alleged attack was complaining about how she would respond and keep getting more and more replies.  Lesson 1 in keeping web site visitors and traffic, maintain good communication.  If you want people to shut up, don’t reply.  If you want attention and conversation, keep on replying and writing about it.  Jem provides a wonderful example of this.  Jem has written 4 blogs posts around the topic of breast feeding and she has over 116 comments on those blog posts.  That’s good communication.  Jem is my hero.

Don’t start thinking I condone or encourage cyber bullying, I don’t.  Jem is defending her right to breast feed her child in public to someone who publicly voiced their opinion on the issue.  (Facebook and Twitter are public by the way, I mean, if the privacy settings let it be seen).  If you’re going to voice your opinion, prepare for the backlash from the masses.  Hope for the best, expect the worst.

So who do I think was right in this whole argument thing?  No one really.  I just think it’s something fun and interesting to read.  If you can’t handle the arguments or criticism, then turn off the computer.

As for breast feeding in public, go for it.  Don’t flaunt your stuff, but if the baby needs food, the baby needs food.

In other news, my mom raised twins, and I know she breast fed them.  I’m wondering how that worked out in public when both were hungry…

This semester was fun and challenging.  I took the hardest math class offered for undergrads and passed (I won’t say with what though).  My GPA for the semester was a 3.5.  I made a ton of new friends, did some fun new and exciting things, and had a blast all along the way.

Some of my highlights from this semester:

• Did the Spring play, “While the Lights Were Out”
• Participated in “Humans vs. Zombies” which is a massive game of tag
• Made a tons of new friends
• Got a Nikon FG SLR (which takes awesome photos)

And yeah…

Enough about the good stuff though, the semester was great overall, but this summer was supposed to be more productive, but it won’t be due to some people who lack communication skills.

I originally wanted to dual major in Computer Science and Mathematical Sciences.  So I filled out the form and turned it in.  At the end of the semester, I was told they lost the form.  I was also told that courses they said I was exempt from, I wasn’t exempt from.  So I signed up to take summer courses.  I called the school I was going to take summer courses at and asked if they offered the courses I needed to take for the summer.  They said they did, I went online to register, but the courses weren’t listed.  So I called back, and this is how the conversation went down

Me: Hello, I called earlier and was told you offered Biology and History for the summer?
Them: Yes, we do offer Biology and History for the summer.
Me: Well, I checked online and they aren’t available for me to register for.
Them: Oh!  That’s because we aren’t offering them this summer.

If someone calls to ask about courses for the summer, which summer would they refer to?  I guess they technically weren’t lying, but in the first conversation it was something like “Do you offer History and Biology for the summer?”, “Yes”, “Is it too late to register for summer courses”, “No, please fill out the form online”, “Alright, thanks.”  They didn’t say the courses weren’t being offered this summer then…

So next semester, I need to argue to get exempt from a few courses, and then I need to convince some people that I can handle 21 credits a semester if I still want to dual major.  I might just switch it to a minor and see if that works out.

So how did your guys’ schooling go this year?

I’m running into a, well not an issue, but a hurtle or something like that.  I really want to learn how to use it and take good photos, but I’m hearing and reading the strangest things.  People compare film brands.  I understand comparing them for which one’s better, but I’ve been told that Kodak is good for pictures of people, while Fujifilm is good for landscapes and other things.  Off brand films might be Fujifilm, or some random brand.

I’ve also looked at filters.  There’s far too many.  I understand the ones for different lighting, and some people say to use them in unintended environments for cool effects.  Somewhat easy for me to understand.

The main thing I have issues grasping is how people know what settings to use on the camera.  I’m guessing it comes with experience.  I love film cameras, but when I don’t have the experience, sometimes I wish I could see the results instantly instead of taking a number of shots and waiting for a surprise from the photo lab.  But it’s all fun none-the-less.  The main confusing part is the f-stop or aperture setting.  I understand it changes how much light the lens lets in, but it still bewilders me.

Anyways, I bought some film to play around with, and hopefully I can get a hang of it and take the camera off of automagic mode.  There’s supposed to be a photo center that offers lessons, but they specialize in digital cameras, and I’ve been told they aren’t cheap…  So I’m hoping to go the experience route

Anyways, I’ve started a new photo blog which will hopefully be kept alive.  You can see it at photos.km-w.net

I do love finding a program that I say, “Oh, I can do all of my needs in this one application.”  It’s awesome because I feel less bloated in a way.  Take for instance, VMWare Fusion and Parallels Desktop 5.  They both do the same thing, but VMWare Fusion has (in my opinion) a better Unity mode than Parallels’ Coherence.  But Parallels has better support for OpenGL and 3D Graphics on their virtual machines, but VMWare feels more stable with the features it provides.  So, what do I do?  I have both (and use the both evenly just to let you know).

Anyways, back on topic.

Word processing has always been an issue for me on a Mac.  Windows keeps it simpler, somewhat.

Word Processing on Windows

In terms of user interface and design, I think that there are 3 main holders of power in Word Processing on Windows.  There’s Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, and IBM Lotus Symphony.  Sure that are some more out there, like OpenOffice.org and AbiWord, but they follow the trend, and don’t try to set trends.  You may argue that IBM Lotus Symphony itself is based upon OpenOffice.org, but the user interface of Symphony sets it apart.  Symphony has it’s own look and feel, not something like “Hey, use us, we look just like the expensive stuff.”  I think OpenOffice.org and AbiWord are great projects and very useful, but they don’t really try to stand out among the crowd.

All of them pretty much have the features I need, it’s just the interface or pricing.

I love the interface of IBM Lotus Symphony.  The only problem right now is how bulky it is.  I can’t use it because of how slow and clunky it feels.  If it were snappier, it’d be my word processor of choice, but right now, I just keep my eye on it hoping for speed improvements.

Corel WordPerfect is a great tool.  I know people who refuse to use anything else.  I could never really get into it.  I’m looking at it now, and I like what I see, but now I’m on Mac, so I don’t see a point in buying it.

Microsoft Word is pretty much the standard.  I personally don’t like the “ribbon.”

On Windows, I currently use AbiWord or OpenOffice.org (the build from Go-Oo).  Sure I bash them for following, but they’re reliable and useful.  I also don’t use Windows very much, so I just need something cheap to open up documents when I am on Windows.

Word Processing on a Mac

On a Mac, you get the same basic choices that Windows has, MS Word, OpenOffice.org (or NeoOffice), and IBM Lotus Symphony.  You also get a load of other choices like Nisus Writer, Mellel, Bean, Mariner Write, iWork’s Pages, Pagehand, and much more (not to mention things like Scrivener or WriteRoom).

MS Word is still the standard for most people.

OpenOffice, NeoOffice, and all the other derivatives still aim to provide the same feature set of MS Word.  I really hate the user interface on the Mac because it doesn’t flow.  Even though it no longer requires X11, it still looks like a Windows MS Word 97 clone.

IBM Lotus Symphony looks the same as it does on Windows.  I still love the user interface, but it’s still bulky and slow to run.

PageHand is a relatively new player in the Mac OS X Word Processing game.  I really like what it has so far, but it still has a long way to go.  I really need footnotes, headers, footers, and some other things that PageHand currently doesn’t provide.  I want to buy it, but I’m reluctant (although buying it would probably aid in development and get me the features I need).  Another one of my concerns, yet also my likes is it saves to the PDF format.  The actual markup is a comment in the PDF (I believe), which makes me concerned about necessary file size when sharing the document (but I can always Print->PDF I guess).

Mariner Write feels really old.  It’s still updated, but there’s times when I believe, that a meeting should be called, and an update to the modern age should happen.  Sure it’s friendly, but it feels like it’s designed for old people.  Not sure how to describe it, but I feel like I lose control in the wrong direction with it.

iWork’s Pages, on the other hand, makes me feel like I lose control in the right direction.  I really like Pages, but I don’t see me using it in my day to day writing.  I enjoy the interface, I enjoy the features, but when it comes down to some of the parts of the document I need to edit for classes, Pages needs a few more steps than what I want to take.  Mainly for custom footers and headers on every page, easy foot notes, and some other things (although I’m probably doing things wrong because I’ve been told it’s actually easy to do in Pages).

Mellel is a word processor that I keep looking at, trying, and finding myself hating for tampering with.  It’s a great tool, but the learning curve is too steep for me to make the jump.  I’d like to learn to use it, but I can’t find the time nor patience to do so.

Bean is a free minimal word processor.  It has the basic features most people need.  I think it’s okay for basic word processing, and it’s fast as can be, but it lacks the power I need.

Nisus Writer Pro is what I currently use.  I love the interface and the features, but it’s still a bit rough around the edges in comparison to some of the other things out there.  I rarely use images in my documents, but when I do, I always question why I’m trying to do it in Nisus.  Other than that, foot notes, headers, footers, and a lot of other things are easily.

I really like Nisus Writer, PageHand, and Symphony because the most common things I need to do are easily and readily accessible.  MS Word, OpenOffice, and some others have floating windows and a bunch of other things to customize regularly accessed or regularly changed  parts of a document creating too much clutter (in my opinion).  The person working on PageHand probably read my mind or something because they way it handles typography is simply beautiful to me.  I love the way it works.  I wouldn’t have bought Nisus Writer Pro if Symphony worked well enough for daily use on my computer (sorry Nisus).  Symphony is great project, but I think they need to work on making it more usable (or tolerable?).

My main issue with word processing on the Mac is that there are so many choices, and each choice handles things in its own way, which is both a blessing and a curse.  On Windows, it’s more of choose the one that opens the right file formats, or which one works nicely with your wallet.  On Mac, the concern is how do you, as the user, want your word processor to work with you (or how do you want to work with the word processor).

I think there are many great things coming out in the future.  OpenOffice is working on a new user interface (at least for Impress?), MS Office 2010 is supposed to come out soon, and PageHand is still relatively young and growing.  I haven’t heard that many rumors about an iWork ’10 (other than there probably won’t be one).

Anyways, what do you use for word processing and why?

I start taking courses for my Master’s next year, and I finish my Bachelor’s at the same time.  I got into an elective I think will be interesting (World Folklore).  All of my classes fit in, and I can sleep in next semester (YAY!).

In other news, school has been draining the life out of me.

The Play was a success, and now that it’s over, there’s a lot of work to catch up on.

The play was awesome.  I played “Pierre Pourri,” the “International Playboy,” which doesn’t fit my image at all.  It was odd having to play the roll.  I’m not one to touch, let alone touch other people.  So it was awkward, but people seemed to like it none the less.

In terms of work.  I have two programming assignments to catch up on, an essay or two, and a lot of studying that needs to be done.

The good news is there’s only 5 weeks left in the semester.  The bad news is there’s only 5 weeks left in the semester.

Hopefully I can pull through with flying colors…

I mostly bought it for CoverScout, Flow, and Tales of Monkey Island.

CoverScout

CoverScout is really cool, but I’m annoyed at the SongGenie integration thing…  I don’t want to buy SongGenie.  It should check if it’s installed and then decide whether or not to use it.  It also installs SongGenie by default (then tells you you have to pay for it after a trail).

Other than that, it’s pretty awesome.  It usually finds the cover I’m looking for instantly.  If it’s not directly on Amazon or Google images, you can launch a web browser, search for the image, and set it by clicking “Apply” from the web browser.  Pretty nifty.  It’s better than my previous way of searching through iTunes for albums with no covers, then passing the song name to a dashboard widget which would search amazon and yeah…  This ways a lot faster, nicer, and easier.

Flow

Flow is another FTP/SFTP/AmazonS3 client.  It looks and feels awesome.  I’ll admit that there are many similar clients out there, and many of them also boast the same features.  One main feature Flow has that other don’t is an internal editor.  Other’s (ForkLift, Fetch, etc.) allow you to open files in an external editor, but for some of the smaller edits, it’s sometimes useful not to have to launch a separate application.

How does Flow go beyond the competition?  Pretty much just in the user interface.  It’s beautiful.  Transmit feels a bit outdated.  Fetch is awesome, but there’s small things that irk me (mainly presentations of transfers, and I swear it’s not at fast, but it’s probably just me).  Forklift is also good, but there are tiny visual elements to Forklift that offset me.

In all honesty, I already own Fetch and Forklift and probably would have never bought Flow if it weren’t for the nanoBundle.  It’s beautiful, but it won’t cause me to go “Oh, I already own an FTP app, but Flow is just to beautiful not to buy.”  But now I’m using Flow, mainly because I feel that a nice interface will increase my spirits helping to produce better results…

Tales of Monkey Island

For those of you who don’t know me, “The Secret of Monkey Island” is about the only computer game I play.  Tales of Monkey Island being on the nanoBundle sold me.  That’s pretty much why I bought it.  I don’t like spending more than $20 on a game, so a $20 bundle with a game I was itching to get had me sold.

No screenshot yet because I haven’t played it (downloading it now).  I love the original game, and I’m hoping that Tales of Monkey Island is just as fun.

The other apps…

So there are a bunch of other apps you get as well.  I can see myself using RipIt, but I don’t normally watch movies, so it may just sit there…  MacJournal feels a little bulky.  I’ve never been a fan of journal desktop clients, especially big and bulky ones…  I might use Clips.  Never really tried a clipboard manager or anything like that because it was never part of my workflow.  RapidWeaver hasn’t been unlocked yet.  I might use it, doubtable, but still possible.  I’ve never been a fan of WYSIWYG or template editors, but recently I’ve been caught in a “quick make a page for _____” and would have preferred a faster method, but I’m currently looking at Flux for something like that (as it has more freedom than RapidWeaver).  For everything else, I use Espresso or Textmate.

I’m all for learning something new like Git, Hg, or Bzr.  When looking, I sortof eliminated Bzr from the list.  There’s only one main host for it, and I’ve just heard bad things about it (yup, I listen to the rumors).

So here’s basically what I was looking for.

• Public and Private Repositories
• Have collaborators on projects
• Reasonable priced
• Eye candy (sadly)…

So I’ve been looking around and saw GitHub, BitBucket, Codaset, and Codebase.  I won’t really go into a feature by feature comparison, just point out what I like and don’t like.

GitHub

This is probably the most popular at the moment.  It’s known for it’s awesome Git hosting, being fast, reliable, and feature rich.

My favorite part of GitHub is the interface.  It’s nice on the eyes, easy to navigate, and makes it fun.  The downside is the features of the plans.  Public repo’s allow you to have as many collaborators as you want.  For Private Repositories, it’s based on your plan.

I usually only have 2-3 private repositories at a time, but the number of people I work with fluctuate.  The smallest plan (which provides much more space than I need), only provides 1 private collaborator.  Normally, it’s me and 2-3 other people (per project).  I don’t really want to pay that much more just to have more people collaborating on a project.

So GitHub is great, but needs to be more flexible in the number of collaborators.

BitBucket

BitBucket is pretty awesome.  It does Hg hosting.

It’s not as pretty as GitHub, in my opinion, but it does provide a great set of features.  What I really wish for is that the Source tab would display the readme file.  Other than that, it’s okay.  Could use a few minor changes to make it friendly and lovable, but good as it is.

My main nit-to-pick is how the project pages look.  Not that big of a nit-to-pick, but I like my eye candy .  Other than that, it has a lot of the features I want.  I can have my private repositories, and have as many collaborators as I want.

I’ve heard rumors about uptime issues they previously had, but nothing recent.  I do wish the blog were updated more because (like I said earlier) it needs a more welcoming feel to it.

Codebase

Codebase supposedly hosts Git, Hg, and Svn.

I like what features it has listed.  My main issue is that the site isn’t well documented.  It has good instructions for using Git and setting stuff up, but there’s nothing much about the other features.  In terms of cost, it’s reasonably priced.  Good number of people you can have collaborating and everything, but it’s too costly for what I’ll be doing.

Codebase seems more like something for a small group or company.  So it’s really cool, but it aims to be in an area that’s not aligned with mine…

Codaset

Codaset is another Git host.  I think it’s kindof new…

It’s kindof like GitHub, but I think Codaset is more social.  Codaset provides a lot of what I want, but right now it doesn’t have a price setup.  The developer is still debating and setting up how to pay for it.

I love the features of Codaset, but my main nit-to-pick is how they’re setting up pricing.  It’s a great idea (don’t get me wrong), but I prefer a flat fee.  They haven’t implemented it yet, so I’ll see if I like it later on, but it’s sortof leaving me with my current setup of host personal stuff on GitHub and group projects on BitBucket.

Pay as you go is good, but I’m concerned about the implementation.

In Conclusion…

What do you currently use for your projects and why?  Do you work with people?

As I stated, I currently use both GitHub and BitBucket.  I might move it all to Codaset once I see it up and running with payments and all.  So yeah…  Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

I’m hoping to take a break from everything, but there’s a lot to do to prepare for next semester.

So yeah…

Final grades came out today.  I’m proud of myself.  I’m hoping to raise my GPA up a little more to be in my happy zone, but it’s sitting at a safe level right now.

Still working on a poem for the Transformations Project.  I was told it good right now, but I still feel like it’s missing something.

As for videos comparing VMWare Fusion to Parallels, VMWare Fusion just published an update that was supposed to fix a lot of stuff.
I couldn’t get Team Fortress 2 to run well under Fusion (it kept glitching), but it ran fine under Parallels.  The new update (3.0.1) is supposed to offer a big boost in speed and whatnot.

The more I compare Parallels to VMWare, Parallels seems much better.  The only issue I run into is that Parallels will crash more often, although I’m guessing it’s the same reason why it seems better.

The was mostly a discussion of purchasing music online, but we also talked about applications and programs.  Most of the people I talked to felt it was fine to download music illegally.  Most said you should purchase applications, with a few saying alternative methods should be used.

I personally believe you should buy the music, movies, or applications.  I know that some of the stuff is expensive (and I’ll agree that some applications are over priced), but most of the time, the pricing is reasonable.

The main argument about music was a bit odd.  You can have 7,000 to 40,000 songs depending on your iPod (not including the suffle).  Songs normally cost anywhere from $0.69 to $1.29.  So assuming you’re luck enough to buy all of you music at $0.69, then you spend at least $4,000 (all prices in USD).  Larger iPods could go up to ~$30,000 to fill.  If you’re caught downloading music illegally, apparently most of the time, it’s a $3,000 – $10,000 fine.  So they were arguing that if you do get caught, it can be cheaper than filling up your iPod (but some get charged millions).

Some other arguments were that there are other crimes that are much worse that have a lower fine (don’t know how that’s an argument).  Apparently if you’re caught shoplifting a CD, it’s a lot cheaper.  I argued you don’t get as good quality when you rip the CD…  That was a joke… Anyways, I found this blog post analyzing some different crimes in Illinois that are cheaper than illegal downloading.  Instead of struggling to make ends meet though, you’ll be given a free room and meals in prison.  I’m not sure about you, but free food has me sold.

Some of the more sound arguments were that if it’s not made available to a person, then illegal downloading could be fine.  I still disagreed, but I do understand.  If a dead band you liked isn’t signed anymore and published an album on a vinyl record independently (and the songs weren’t sold on CD or anything else), there’s no way you’d find that in a store or an online store (you might, but chances are slim).  I wouldn’t say “Go and download it.”  I’d first say check eBay or check some pawn shops or something.  I’d advise not to download it illegally, but I wouldn’t be calling the music police if they did.

Anyways, in looking at some previous cases, it’s really odd.  One woman downloads 24 songs and pays $1.9 million (although she was just being tried for 24 songs when there were over 1,000?).  Another guy downloads 30 songs and pays $640,000.  I’m guessing it varies by song?  I’m wondering if the RIAA would take it easy on you if you logged all the people you shared music with or downloaded music from and gave that to them (not that people should try to find out).

So yeah, I do know this post is late on the whole “OMG RIAA is suing people!”  But the conversation just came up recently.  So what are your thoughts or feelings on the debate?  Apparently a lot of my friends disapprove of Obama now because he supports the whole RIAA fining up to $150,000 per song.  I didn’t vote (so I don’t think I can argue so-and-so would have been better because I didn’t voice my opinion at the election), but I do think the punishment is a bit high.  A song is usually at most $1.29, so I think the fine shouldn’t be 116279 times that.  $150 for downloading a song is punishment enough (I think), but then I agree that people distributing the music should pay more (but it should be proven that they distributed to # number of people, so they pay $150 * # of people or something like that up to a certain amount).