Regarding my comments on MSN Music and the lame comments by some people, Daring Fireball has made some interesting observations on the help site for MSN Music. Microsoft claim that Apple’s store uses a proprietary format and it is difficult to use the store with the 70 other standard music players on the market. Interesting spin, though as is pointed out in the post, those 70 or so other players also work only with WMA or MP3. In the case of Apple, the iPod only works with AAC and MP3. So both are DRM-encumbered, but, Microsoft makes a really big spin on it and makes the iPod look like the beacon of incompatibility.
The only format of music you can buy on the MSN Music store will be DRM-enabled WMA. Most players that support Windows will play only this format plus maybe MP3. The MSN Music store only works in IE and uses ActiveX. So who’s being incomptible with everyone else here? Apple makes iTunes available for both Mac and Windows and people have even been able to play the stuff in Linux as AAC is a standard format, unlike WMA which requires you to get the Windows DLLs from somewhere to play in Linux. Anyways, enough of this rivalry. They both have their limitations and lock-ins. Let the best man win. I have a feeling Microsoft might eventually take the lead again somehow because they have deeper pockets and most people who get Windows with their PCs will not know any better to go out of their way to buy music from Apple. Yes I know Apple is the leader in online music sales right now, but for how long?
I uploaded a bunch of older entries from my weblog yesterday and it is really striking to me how much more funny and free-spirited I used to be back in 1999 
Staying awake everyday until 3:00 am, reading a lot of technical books, documentation, eating a lot, watching a lot of movies. All my older entries have a much funnier streak. I hope I don’t lose what I have left as I get older.