Anyway, Claire, look: the gays have had a chat and we’re going to launch a sexual preference wiki, listing everyone in public life, to satisfy your curiosity. Oddly, Miller found no space to mention Cook, even when rewriting her anguished communiqué after complaints from readers about her definition of “openly.” (They were really saying: butt out of our bedrooms.) Apparently, CEOs, your sex lives are the subject of fascination to bien pensant Times bloggers. Apple’s chief exec, Tim Cook, is one of the most powerful men on the planet, and I’ve lost count of the gay-run startups on their way to becoming titans of tomorrow. So it was a pity to read Claire Cain Miller’s hand-wringing about the lack of openly homosexual chief executives in America. Regulars will know the high esteem in which I hold “explainer” websites like The Upshot. ![]() Organ donation, physical violence, you name it. While we’re on the subject of deluxe editions, do you have any idea how absurd it is to give exclusive tracks to Japanese fans in the era of BitTorrent? I mean, do you? Do you not understand that you are practically forcing fans-even silly people like me who insist on paying for what they listen to-to illegally download those versions of the albums? This time around, you’re releasing a Target-only edition of the album with a Mariah cover of “America The Beautiful.” There’s almost nothing I wouldn’t do to get that into my library. I Am Mariah" days ago, and that was that. I’m hoping no one bested me and flew to Australia, by the way, because that would murder my standing in the forums.īut this really shouldn’t be necessary any more, should it, Universal? Can you even imagine how little I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and invest in the “deluxe” edition right now? The fact is I will, because I’m one of those people. (Since you ask, Mariah devotees are called “lambs.”) In this age of torrents and iTunes gift cards (which can be used to open foreign accounts, if you’re really determined), it’s getting harder and harder to demonstrate that you’re a proper nut-job groupie. It puts you squarely in the premier league of fans. There’s a certain cachet to doing something so ridiculous. I admit that there were less expensive tickets available, but thankfully the easyJet phase of my life is over. This, Universal, is what you drove me to. That’s why, on Monday, I spent £714-about $1,200-on a ticket to get me to Berlin so I could listen to the album at same time as fans in Australia and Germany, at my own convenience, and without illegally downloading it. I’m chained to my laptop instead of listening at the gym or in the car. Two: iTunes Radio isn’t available in any of the places I listen to music. But there are problems with this: one, determined pirates ripped the stream and uploaded illegal copies within hours. ![]() To be fair to the label, the album was streaming on iTunes this week as part of iTunes Radio’s First Play series. Does Mariah’s record label really expect fans not to download a major new release at the earliest possible second?Īnd for those who aren’t obsessives and simply like her music, why would someone spend money on an album a week after they already downloaded it? Replacing a torrent with a new, legal copy would totally mess up iTunes play counts, for a start. London time the previous day-i.e., before I even arrived at the airport. Thanks to differing time zones, a Friday release in Australia actually means that the album was in the wild as early as 3 p.m. In the age of torrenting, staggered international releases are ridiculous. The album comes out today in Germany and Australia, but, for some reason, the U.S. ![]() Why am I travelling across Europe to purchase a CD? Because I don’t steal music, and because record labels are a-holes. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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