![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Sunday, February 10th, 2013
international MP3 sales
Sunday, February 10th, 2013 11:57 amI was looking to legally buy an mp3 version of a particular song (Margherita by Massara) which was popular when I was a kid.
(I had stumbled across Boney M's version of the song, which subsequently led me to discover the name/artist of the original song which I was familiar with.)
I didn't find the song on Amazon.com - it is only available there on vinyl (used). The song must not have been much of a hit in the U.S.
Since I lived in Germany when it was popular, I then checked the Amazon.de German MP3 site. But again, the only results are on vinyl (used).
Then, since it was an Italian band, I checked the Amazon.it Italian MP3 site. That site didn't have any results for it.
Now, I just thought to check the UK Amazon site... it doesn't have the song for sale individually, but it *does* have a EuroDisco MP3 album for sale with that song included! The other songs on the album sound good enough that I'd consider buying the whole thing.
I wonder why there isn't an Amazon page that lets you search all the country-specific Amazon sites at once...
While browsing other songs on the German site, I couldn't help but notice the Terms of Use link. The Terms state that based on agreements with the music content providers, the German site only sells music to people living in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. ("Wie von unseren Anbietern von Musikinhalten vorgeschrieben, sind Musikinhalte nur für Kunden in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz verfügbar.")
Furthermore, all the other Amazon MP3 sites, including the U.S. one, have the same restriction in their Terms of Use. It is the last sentence of section 2.2:
2.2 Restrictions. You must comply with all applicable copyright and other laws in your use of the Music Content. Except as set forth in Section 2.1 above, you may not redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, license or otherwise transfer or use the Music Content. We do not grant you any synchronization, public performance, promotional use, commercial sale, resale, reproduction or distribution rights for the Music Content. As required by our Music Content providers, Music Content is available only to customers located in the United States.
What a let-down.
Well, let's see. The MP3 album from the UK site is sold in CD-format on the U.S. site. The name of the Margherita song is spelled differently on that page, which may be why it didn't show up in my search results before.... Nope, doing a search on that alternate spelling brings up nothing at all, not even this album. Weird.
So, I could buy the CD, and then rip the songs to MP3. It would be a lot easier if I could simply buy & download the songs in MP3 format to begin with.
(I had stumbled across Boney M's version of the song, which subsequently led me to discover the name/artist of the original song which I was familiar with.)
I didn't find the song on Amazon.com - it is only available there on vinyl (used). The song must not have been much of a hit in the U.S.
Since I lived in Germany when it was popular, I then checked the Amazon.de German MP3 site. But again, the only results are on vinyl (used).
Then, since it was an Italian band, I checked the Amazon.it Italian MP3 site. That site didn't have any results for it.
Now, I just thought to check the UK Amazon site... it doesn't have the song for sale individually, but it *does* have a EuroDisco MP3 album for sale with that song included! The other songs on the album sound good enough that I'd consider buying the whole thing.
I wonder why there isn't an Amazon page that lets you search all the country-specific Amazon sites at once...
While browsing other songs on the German site, I couldn't help but notice the Terms of Use link. The Terms state that based on agreements with the music content providers, the German site only sells music to people living in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. ("Wie von unseren Anbietern von Musikinhalten vorgeschrieben, sind Musikinhalte nur für Kunden in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz verfügbar.")
Furthermore, all the other Amazon MP3 sites, including the U.S. one, have the same restriction in their Terms of Use. It is the last sentence of section 2.2:
2.2 Restrictions. You must comply with all applicable copyright and other laws in your use of the Music Content. Except as set forth in Section 2.1 above, you may not redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, license or otherwise transfer or use the Music Content. We do not grant you any synchronization, public performance, promotional use, commercial sale, resale, reproduction or distribution rights for the Music Content. As required by our Music Content providers, Music Content is available only to customers located in the United States.
What a let-down.
Well, let's see. The MP3 album from the UK site is sold in CD-format on the U.S. site. The name of the Margherita song is spelled differently on that page, which may be why it didn't show up in my search results before.... Nope, doing a search on that alternate spelling brings up nothing at all, not even this album. Weird.
So, I could buy the CD, and then rip the songs to MP3. It would be a lot easier if I could simply buy & download the songs in MP3 format to begin with.
trying to post reviews at Target.com
Sunday, February 10th, 2013 03:30 pmI wanted post reviews of 2 items I had bought from Target.com.
After writing the first review, I was informed that it was over 1800 characters, but only 1000 were allowed. So I had to figure out what to cut out while keeping the important parts. Then, after submitting it, it didn't even show up with the other reviews! Hopefully that is only temporary.
Now, after writing the 2nd review, the page keeps giving me an error message "Please modify your submission before continuing." It doesn't even say what is wrong with the submission! If I change the review to just "TESTING TESTING this is a test", then I don't get the error. So apparently, it doesn't like what I wrote in the review. But it doesn't say why!
I spend my precious time trying to be helpful by posting authentic reviews, and this is what I get for it.
Now I'm not going to trust any reviews I read on their site. Surely any other real reviewers like me would be similarly off-put by all this BS.
... after more fiddling around with my review, I've determined the error is shown whenever I include the word "pipe" anywhere in the review. If I remove the "pipe" word, no error. WTF???
The product has metal pipes! What is so bad about me mentioning something about the pipe!!??
After some thinking, I thought the problem might be because I used the words "knob" and/or "rubber" (as in "wood knobs" and "rubber band"). But "pipe"!?
Oh, looky. "Pipe" is not accepted, but "pipes" is. Well, maybe "pipe" should be my new 4-letter word. That pipe-dammit pipety piping site wouldn't piping accept my piping wonderful review.
After writing the first review, I was informed that it was over 1800 characters, but only 1000 were allowed. So I had to figure out what to cut out while keeping the important parts. Then, after submitting it, it didn't even show up with the other reviews! Hopefully that is only temporary.
Now, after writing the 2nd review, the page keeps giving me an error message "Please modify your submission before continuing." It doesn't even say what is wrong with the submission! If I change the review to just "TESTING TESTING this is a test", then I don't get the error. So apparently, it doesn't like what I wrote in the review. But it doesn't say why!
I spend my precious time trying to be helpful by posting authentic reviews, and this is what I get for it.
Now I'm not going to trust any reviews I read on their site. Surely any other real reviewers like me would be similarly off-put by all this BS.
... after more fiddling around with my review, I've determined the error is shown whenever I include the word "pipe" anywhere in the review. If I remove the "pipe" word, no error. WTF???
The product has metal pipes! What is so bad about me mentioning something about the pipe!!??
After some thinking, I thought the problem might be because I used the words "knob" and/or "rubber" (as in "wood knobs" and "rubber band"). But "pipe"!?
Oh, looky. "Pipe" is not accepted, but "pipes" is. Well, maybe "pipe" should be my new 4-letter word. That pipe-dammit pipety piping site wouldn't piping accept my piping wonderful review.
nap-time already?
Sunday, February 10th, 2013 04:13 pmI'm about ready to take my shower now. It's 4pm and I'm still in pajamas. But at least I've been up since before noon. I didn't go to bed until after 5am, so I would have liked to have slept longer, but it wasn't working out that way.
Qiao, on the other hand, went to bed way earlier than me. He just got up out of bed a little while ago, and now is already lying down in the recliner. I asked him what he had accomplished to warrant him taking a nap already?
His reply:
"I got up!"
"I took 2 dumps!"
"I took my pills and let the dogs inside!"
Qiao, on the other hand, went to bed way earlier than me. He just got up out of bed a little while ago, and now is already lying down in the recliner. I asked him what he had accomplished to warrant him taking a nap already?
His reply:
"I got up!"
"I took 2 dumps!"
"I took my pills and let the dogs inside!"
fake reviews
Sunday, February 10th, 2013 07:32 pmOpinion Spam Detection: Detecting Fake Reviews and Reviewers - another site with various info about fake reviews