<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
<br> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><br></div></span><div><div>Hi SJ,</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Thank you for responding and first, a word of apology for words that came out harsher than I intended. I make amends further down.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; ">Free music, like free culture, is not simply a great concept -- it is a reminder and affirmation of the inherent right to cultivate and share cultural artefacts.</span></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Leaving aside monetary questions for a moment, free culture is an illusion and a potentially dangerous one. Not everything created is worthy. Culture is largely based on historical canonical values without which it cant evolve. This is true in all cultures. Like language and grammars. Without canons, nothing can be shared except self-referential and empty expression. (My Aunt Irene was never very good at the piano, no matter how heartfelt her renditions were). </div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>The XO is a nice package to fabricate and share cultural artifacts. Combined with the web, the "tools and access" issue is largely solved. Every Aunt Irene now has a violin and a blowhorn to play it through. What i am concerned with is what, in context, gets presented as worthy to be listened to and, as the case may be, emulated.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; ">If as you say choice of music is of fundamental importance in the education and socialisation of a child, I hope you will agree that the right to educate and socialize a child 'properly' should not be owned</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">by a small group of individuals who can choose whether or not to</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">license said music to you.</div></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Precisely. This is why I talked about OLPC's "curatorial" and "examplary" powers in setting up a core music library. Whether this comes by way of Jamendo, another community or is self-appointed, it leads to the same situation. Who arbitrates? What is arbitrated? When decisions are made to form a core library on school servers and individual machines, the choices made will be, by definition, "what's worthy" to children who access the library. I am not against a core library. I am against a core library constructed on licensing issues as opposed to one constructed on historical and cultural relevance. OLPC should never put itself in the position of suggesting what is good for a child outside the accepted cultural norm of a given culture. This decision belongs to local communities. Serious backfiring is almost guaranteed to happen otherwise. Consider that music will perhaps be the activity most often done on the XO.</div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; ">It should go without saying that old yet beautiful recordings of</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">canonical works which have been enjoyed and revisited for centuries</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">should be available for anyone (such as OLPC) to share with millions</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of children throughout the world.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>That there is a legal sense in</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">which this is not possible is a testament to deep failings in our</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">conception of how and where culture is created.</div></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>I dont know enough about licencing to be on solid footing. But I would think, on the contrary, that obtaining the appropriate licences is entirely possible for our endeavour. There must be thousands of recordings of Bach's Partitas and hundreds of the Gumboot music of South Africa. I understand it is difficult to make a careful picking of everything under the sun but it is not impossible. Its a project that has to be taken on if the OLPC is to be considered culturally informed.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>I woudl argue a core library should *only* contain multicultural canonical works (styles unrestricted) and shoudl be curated independently, not through community polling. If you poll across the world, you'll get Celine Dion. A contemporary canon is not western; all cultures have ways and means.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; ">To your implied criticism of the Jamendo collections: If there are particular pieces you find of poor quality, not merely distasteful,</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">please let me know which they are. The collections posted were selected</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">with care, and none would suggest that low quality works have a place</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">there. If you link to the Jamendo collection, your comments will appear</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">directly on that page[1].</div></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>I was unduly harsh to the Jamendo project and I apologise. I know they do great and generous work and i personally do like much of their selection. But I live in the west and I have a sophisticated understanding of musical trends. When you say "selected with care", I have no reason to doubt the sincerity and dedication of those who made the selection. But, alas, the music world is a big place. A few million kids would have the right to know who took the decision to give them the music, why they did and why they consider it "better" than, say, Aunt Irene doing Moonlight Tango after a few drinks. Kids will believe the weirdest things in the absence of explanations.</div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; ">I would like nothing better than to see those collections become better rounded. While we must start somewhere, that is not because we philosophically privilege the first entries over others. I would likewise love to see our collection of sounds grow to include samples from every family of the animal kingdom.</span></div></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Why not get ethnomusicologists involved? Musicologists from purchasing countries?Contemporary musicology is no more about Beethoven than it is about Gamelan music. A world-wide canon is a pretty serious endeavour, akin to the selection of Voyager audio tracks in 1977 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record</a>). I am certain It would be a welcome project in their community. And yes, sounds do have the benefit of being more culturally neutral. </div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; ">You are in a position to help ensure this. Your input, and suggestions of specific works and collections, is most welcome. While we are careful about the licensing of collections we distribute, we can be more flexible about the collections we link to.</span></div></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>I am concerned because I feel quality is subservient to licencing issues. </div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>On the other hand, I think "sharing and playing" is really very different than quality-based learning. We have to have both.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>jp (ethrop)</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> <blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">SJ,</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Two things.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">More important:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Free music is a great concept... for people who have global access to ineternet-based music pools. Given enough "community mass" and discernment on the part of the listener, one can get to the subjective and elusive concepts of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"quality"<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and "exemplariness".<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The problem here is that OLPC, by the very fact it will include collections of music by "curated" artists out of the free music ethos, gives a value imprimatur where perhaps none is warranted. We dont need a discussion about music's influence on culture but I think everyone will agree its serious business in the education and socialising of a child, increasing manyfold in adolescence. Alas, much of the music that is presently included in the Jamendo collection is, to be honest, dreadful in style and of rather poor quality in production.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I am perhaps not in a position to be an arbitrer any more than the undoutedly generous and sharp young minds at Jamendo but I suggest OLPC thread VERY carefully here. Even when there is quality, I am not certain what to think of Nigerian children being fed a diet of DJ Spooky, no matter how much I personally enjoy his work...</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">We should be discerning about what we wish for. "Open System" ia not<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"Open Culture".</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Less important:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">A head's up on the XO audio subsystem: The speakers have a severely biased frequency response. We have recently performed a thorough analysis of the audio response curve of the machine and there is a spectacular 12dB peak between 3000 and 4500 Hz, this on all models.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I suspect these are mobile phone speakers designed for voice clarity. What this means is kids will likely crank up the volume so that they can hear some of the lower frequencies. Since the physical size of the speakers prohibits any frequencies below 350 HZ,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>as they try to get a decent bandwidth,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>they will get the "membrane-against-the-casing"<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>distortion (which has the merit of making the kids lower the volume but<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>risks killing the speakers if done routinely). Someone on the hardware side really should look at the long term prospects for audio hardware failure and see what correction we can bring, by limiting signal output and/or equalising the output of the AD1888 (we dont know what can be done on chip...)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The solution we have implemented in TamTam<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is to simply apply a reverse notch filter on the audio signals we send to the speakers. This works well and provides a more pleasant listening experience, but inevitably reduces the dynamic range. It does nothing per se to protect the speakers becasue you can still crank up the volume to casing distortion. Furthermore, our solution only works with the speakers of course, since the line out/headphone output produces an acceptably neutral signal. Thus, to make it sound good in the speakers, we make it sound bad in the earphones. Unless there is a signal we can access that tells us when the line out jack is connected....<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Anyone know?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">jp (ethrop)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://jeanpiche.com">http://jeanpiche.com</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">On 26-Oct-07, at 9:33 PM, Samuel Klein wrote:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> <blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Jamendo has been hard at work compiling albums of music and confirmations</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">from their artists, coordinating the work of dozens of curators and</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">smaller partner sites.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You can see some of the results of their work</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">here:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.jamendo.com/fr/olpc">http://www.jamendo.com/fr/olpc</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">There will be a "contribute music" interface soon; for now, you can send</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">albums and interested artists to Romain directly (cc:ed here).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And there</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">will be more information put up about the artists involved.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This has come together thanks to many people, but especially the crews at</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Jamendo, Free Culture, and the Antenna Alliance.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You all rock.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If you have contributed music in other formats that doesn't currently show</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">up on the page listed above, let us know; and make sure that you have</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">confirmed the license of your works.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">SJ</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Library mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Library@lists.laptop.org">Library@lists.laptop.org</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library</a></div> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></div><br></body></html>