TED: Technology Entertainment Design

An annual conference held in Monterey, California and recently, semi-annually in other cities around the world. TED describes itself as a “group of remarkable people that gather to exchange ideas of incalculable value”. Its lectures cover a broad set of topics including science, arts, politics, global issues, architecture, music and more. The speakers themselves are from a wide variety of communities and disciplines and have included such people as former US president Bill Clinton, Nobel laureate James D. Watson, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

The list goes on, but even more noteworthy is the TED Prize, introduced in 2005. Every year, TED awards three individuals $100,000 and grants them “a wish to change the world”. Past winners include Larry Brilliant (with a name like that…), E.O. Wilson, and Bill Clinton.

This year’s winners?

Neil Turok - Cosmologist and education activist
Dave Eggers - Author, philanthropist and literary entrepreneur
Karen Armstrong - Authority on comparative religions

It is great to see the organization so strongly focusing on education this year. Turok and Eggers have both done great work in Africa, and Eggers also has wonderful educational philanthropy throughout the United States (love or hate his books, it is hard to discredit his compassion and influence). Armstrong is a former nun turned “freelance monotheist” who has done much to educate others on the expansive spiritual similarities between Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and even Buddhism.

Further tastes of TED:

Mathemagics - In a lively performance, “mathemagician” Arthur Benjamin races a team of calculators to figure out 3-digit squares in his head, performs a massive mental calculation, and guesses a few birth days. How does he do it? He’ll be happy to tell you.

Beauty and truth in physics - Wielding laypeople’s terms and a sense of humor, Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann drops some knowledge about particle physics, asking questions like, Are elegant equations more likely to be right than inelegant ones? Can the fundamental law, the so-called “theory of everything,” really explain everything?

How creativity is being strangled by the law - Larry Lessig gets TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, following this elegant presentation of three stories and an argument. The Net’s most adored lawyer brings together John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights, and the “ASCAP cartel” to build a case for creative freedom. He pins down the key shortcomings of our dusty, pre-digital intellectual property laws, and reveals how bad laws beget bad code. Then, in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you’ve ever seen.

Recently hitting the internet is Good Copy Bad Copy, a 58 minute documentary about the current state of copyright and culture. The film is free and wonderful, available as a torrent download or viewable at Google Video.

Download: http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net/download
Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-166095432964105847

Watch the trailer:

The past couple of years have seen a surge in interest over copyright and intellectual property, and it is fantastic to have a film that firmly places the issue in its worldwide context. Good Copy Bad Copy is a thorough, literally globe-spanning documentary, with its makers going across the world to interview various people on the topic.

Furthermore, the film does so in a largely objective manner. Those fighting against the copyright powerhouses such as the MPAA certainly get more screen time, but the copyright-as-it-is-now proponents are portrayed just as intelligently. Besides, the whole collection of antiquated rulings really does need to be upgraded and integrated with the current digital landscape.

And if you like the movie, consider donating to the filmmakers; they’re only a quarter to budget so far.

A glossary:

iTunes - a music jukebox program with built-in music store (iTunes Music Store) developed by Apple. Since the iPod gained an outrageous lead in popularity over other MP3 players, iTunes has become similarly popular.

Digital rights management (DRM) - a system of digital theft prevention that severely limits the usability of whatever the DRM is on. In this case, because of DRM, music bought through iTunes can (to simplify things) only be played on the computer on which the music was purchased, and the owner’s iPod.

Steve Jobs - CEO of Apple and sexiest man in the computer biz.

Back in February, Steve Jobs posted his Thoughts on Music, calling for labels to abolish DRMs entirely. DRM systems are too restrictive and too fragile to ever be truly viable, Ridding the world of DRms is “clearly the best alternative for consumers,” Jobs says, “and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat.” Some thought Jobs was talking out of his ass, but it seems he really meant it.

Starting in May, Apple will offer DRM-free music from EMI through iTunes. Single songs will sell for $1.29 (30 cents more than the usual $0.99), and be completely DRM-free. Moreover, every DRM-free track will have twice the sound-quality as the 99 cent DRM tracks. According to CNet, “Full albums in DRM-free form can be bought at the same price as standard iTunes albums.”

Thirty cents is a small price to pay for unrestricted music that has twice the sound quality as everything else iTunes offers, but it is a relatively large increase compared to the 99 cents customers are used to paying, and a few (significant) obstacles. Assuming most of the people who use iTunes have an iPod, the lack of a DRM won’t matter to most users. Who cares about being able to play the song on any device if all you use are authorized devices? Those wanting higher-quality sound might jump on the bandwagon, but I have a feeling they go elsewhere for their music. Most of the iTunes library remains at a lower sound quality, and it doesn’t make sense for users to buy just their EMI music through iTunes.

Another notch in the cons column comes from the fact that, although the objective sound quality is doubled, the songs won’t sound twice as good. For many, myself included, the jump from 128 kbps to 256 kbps is imperceptible. This in mind, what incentive does a consumer have to upgrade? iPod users do not need DRM-free music, audiophiles do not use the iTunes Music Store anyway, and everyone else might not even notice the sound difference.

Hopefully, the above does not turn out to be true, and this does not turn into a way for EMI to “prove” that consumers are perfectly happy with DRM. Ideally, sales will go up, and EMI (and the other labels) will finally see DRM-free music as capable of being profitable. In other words, the labels will see that selling music online without restrictions does not result in rampant piracy and a total collapse of the music industry. Of course, labels could also see any success as consumers simply wanting higher quality music. But, fingers crossed.