Fronz, I hear you and agree, there is a dark side to DIY. One company I'm checking out is songtrust, and another I'm waiting for is muckwork (not launched yet). ONe more is mywerx. You'll have to spend some time to grok these services, but they seem legit and potentially very helpful, at least for all the legal mumbo jumbo. You might also look at Ariel Publicity. Hope all this helps. i feel your pain.

Wow, I am impressed with how you are responding to all these comments. Very cool of you. Anyway, to answer your question, I would say no, but you also didn't refer to copyright law much (what it means, etc) and I think this is crucial. To my mind, the debate should not be about whether music is a product or a service, but rather, is current copyright law good (I think it is) and, if so, why aren't we enforcing it? I mean, all the debates around free don't happen much with books and movies, but music, well, I'm just staggered at how many people think it should be free by law. Nuts, I think!

Made me feel good to read this. Very happy for you.

Why is this so compelling? It's a rant, devoid of specifics. Truly, this is no better than drunk at Speaker's Corner. Or, am I wrong? If so, why? I don't get it...

You're gonna hate me for writing this, but I'm with Coke. Sure, the name of the product indicated something healthy but plain as day on the nutrition label are the facts. Further, anyone who took even a teensy sip of this garbage could taste in an instant that it was sugar water. That said, yes, I was duped. My first purchase was fast, impulsive, and my last.

Very good advice. When I was in the hospital after my brain injury, Catherine was there with me almost 24/7 and she kept ACCURATE track of everything being done, so much so that she corrected the nurses several times and prevented them from overfilling me with various concoctions. That said, the main reason hospital records are so haphazard is that people are concerned about their privacy. Personally, I don't think I get this. I would rather have my medical records in an encrypted file than scrawled on a piece of paper. I know, I know, once the data is in the computer it can be anywhere else almost instantly. But I'm okay with this. Fact is, most computer breaches don't happen because some cracked an encryption algorithm, they happen because someone left a laptop in a cafeteria -- which they could also very easily do with a medical file. The difference: the data in the computer can be encrypted, the paper record not!

Maybe Martin Sorrel "designed" this cover because this is how he thinks the world should work. I agree with you, it is wholly unoriginal.

What did Suzanne Vega say about file sharing?

Funny, but stuff like this bothers me. People watch it and think the understand, when they don't. Not that anyone out there cares, but Wall Street thrives on change, not ups or downs, but ups and downs. I don't understand the Goldman Sachs situation or Magnetar to comment in depth, but the real issue does not seem to be that they shorted housing, rather, it was that they bet against their own clients. Even this, however, is unclear. Housing prices could not go up and up forever. And if you really want to get upset at someone, blame Uncle Sam. Borrowing from China on a massive scale has fueled all kinds of problems -- with more to come.

Hi, I just discovered your blog today, cool stuff. I have to ask, though, why does Bob Dylan's departure from Sirius/XM indicate a decline in American culture? I mean, is he being forced off the air to make room for Rush or something? Or is he just wanting to free up time for other pursuits? Jeff www.cerebellumblues.com

This window into your thoughts reveals how strong you are. In you, RA has a foe it cannot conquer.

I mostly try to give my business to local independents first then Amazon. Seriously, it's about that simple. If I have time to visit a local independent for something and the local dude has it in stock, I'll buy it. Otherwise, I just go to Amazon, which I'm totally cool with. Jeff

Wayne, Thanks for sharing your knowledge, super generous. I confess, when I saw the title for this post I was skeptical, as I am of all "surefire" ways to write a hit. But you "hit" on truly elemental stuff. My only quibble would be with your thoughts on active vs. passive. As an advertising writer, I have had this drilled into my brain, ACTIVE, ACTIVE, ACTIVE. Heck, even Strunk and White hammers this one. But here's the thing: sometimes passive is right, it just is, and to avoid it as a rule is to deny yourself the beautiful and evocative language that the passive voice can create. Just my two cents... Jeff Shattuck www.cerebellumblues.com

Welcome home. Love the photo, can't wait for more. WebMD segment is awesome. You're prime time! Jeff

The Web. Gotta go to the source! Jeff

Hey, Kanye, two words: two means two, not too, not to and certainly not four. Jeff