Jim Baen and I set up the Free Library about a year and half ago. Leaving aside the various political and philosophical issues, which I've addressed elsewhere, the premise behind the Library had a practical component as well. In brief, that in relative terms an author will gain, not lose, by having titles in the Library.

What I mean by "relative" is simply this: overall, an author is far more likely to increase sales than to lose them. Or, to put it more accurately, exposure in the Library will generate more sales than it will lose.

I like this car analogy:

There's a different analogy which I think, in many ways, captures the reality even better. Anyone who has ever bought a car-new or used-knows perfectly well that one of the standard techniques used by a car salesman is to offer you the opportunity to take a "test drive." So far from being concerned that a test drive represents "lost mileage," car dealers know damn good and well that it's often the test drive which closes the sale.

Does it always? Of course not. Usually, in fact, people simply take the test drive and wind up walking away. Does the car dealer then start moaning about "lost sales," or whine about the mileage he's given up on a new car?

Hell, no. The dealer just shrugs his shoulders, writes it off to the inevitable overhead expense of his business, and offers the next customer a test drive. But if car dealers followed the moronic practices of most publishers (and, to the best of my knowledge, the entire music recording industry) they would sternly refuse to let anyone even sit in one of their cars-much less give it a test drive-unless they'd already paid for it.

10:43:13 PM   []

Bob suggested:

Emergent Music

Come give Gary a hard time.

Ah well. It killed me! :)
3:42:04 PM   []

Emergent Music is a Web site for the purpose of identifying the best undiscovered music. A key problem it faces is motivating people to do the work involved in finding that music, such as inputting ACCURATE ratings, reliable recommendations of music, etc.

Log in there and read on if you're interested in how our predictive rating system works.

Update: I've never been a big K5'er so its interesting to see its engine in action. I'd also note that we get an excellent click through rate for K5 which is why we keep buying ads there. And hey if you have recommendations on where we should be buying ads then let me know.
3:28:44 PM   []

You may not link directly to any media file located on an MP3.com server

Can anyone reference a lawsuit involving directly linking to something? First one that comes to my mind is 2600 vs the MPAA (or whoever) but that's a different animal.
2:29:17 PM   []

The drug in question is Accutane, a powerful acne drug. Look there's even an Accutane Suicide Legal Help page (alleging 66 suicides because of the drug). MeFi has a few more links if you're interested.

Back in highschool I did a 'session' (3 months?) of the stuff and it was supposed to clear up my face forever. It cost a small fortune and it worked till I got to Waterloo where I've now established a direct correlation between being in Waterloo and my acne. Don't know what it is.. Maybe it's the stress, maybe it's the water, maybe it's the polluted southern Ontario air (but I did live in Toronto for a summer and was fine.. ). I've considered going back on Accutane because the alternatives just aren't strong enough for me but really, Accutane is too powerful, and sort of scary so I'd rather stay in on Friday nights than pop those $5/day pills.

I could go on about how acne shaped my teenage years but I probably have work to do.
10:46:37 AM   []

Could be fun, I even have an old school camera (nothing special just a Fuji automagic) so maybe I'll see if I can find some film and participate. (Jam, you should enter!)
10:33:31 AM   []