Venture Geek

Over wo years ago Brandon Purcell posted a blog entry about converting iTunes M4P files to MP3 files (something anyone who wants to play those files somewhere other than iTunes or an iPod needs to do). Two years later the comments to that post keep coming, and since everyone on the thread gets an email every time a comment is posted, it has become a running conversation about the ins-and-outs of dealing with Apple’s DRM, an impromptu listserv of sorts dedicated to the aftermath of a single blog post. Now, don’t get me wrong, it has been valuable to hear about the various technical approaches to solving the problem of exercising fair use by violating the DMCA, but every time I get another message I can’t believe that 2 years later people are still commenting. In recent weeks the conversation has come full circle, with new people joining in (probably found it through Google searches, I suspect) chiming in with old suggestions (and often with bad advice — such is the nature of a blog comment thread that has been going on for two years — people don’t tend to read through the whole thing before commenting again). Based on his home page, Brandon seems to have stopped blogging altogether in April, but that one post lives on (and on and on and on).