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The music wars

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    Ladies and gentlemen,
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    the history of music and television on the Internet
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    in three minutes.
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    A TED medley --
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    a TEDley.
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    ♫ It's nine o' clock on a Saturday ♫
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    ♫ The record store's closed for the night ♫
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    ♫ So I fire up the old iTunes music store ♫
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    ♫ And soon I am feelin' all right ♫
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    ♫ I know Steve Jobs can find me a melody ♫
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    ♫ With one dollar pricing that rocks ♫
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    ♫ I can type in the track and get album names back ♫
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    ♫ While still in my PJs and socks ♫
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    ♫ Sell us a song, you're the music man ♫
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    ♫ My iPod's still got 10 gigs to go ♫
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    ♫ Yes, we might prefer more compatibility ♫
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    ♫ But Steve likes to run the whole show ♫
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    ♫ I heard "Desperate Housewives" was great last night ♫
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    ♫ But I had a bad piece of cod ♫
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    ♫ As I threw up my meal, I thought, "It's no big deal" ♫
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    ♫ I'll watch it tonight on my 'Pod ♫
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    ♫ And now all of the networks are joining in ♫
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    ♫ Two bucks a show without ads ♫
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    ♫ It's a business those guys always wanted to try ♫
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    ♫ But only Steve Jobs had the 'nads ♫
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    ♫ They say we're young, don't watch TV ♫
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    ♫ They say the Internet is all we see ♫
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    ♫ But that's not true; they've got it wrong ♫
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    ♫ See, all our shows are just two minutes long ♫
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    ♫ Hey ♫
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    ♫ I got YouTube ♫
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    ♫ I got YouTube ♫
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    And now, ladies and gentlemen,
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    a tribute to the Recording Industry Association of America --
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    the RIAA!
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    ♫ Young man, you were surfin' along ♫
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    ♫ And then, young man, you downloaded a song ♫
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    ♫ And then, dumb man, copied it to your 'Pod ♫
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    ♫ Then a phone call came to tell you ... ♫
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    ♫ You've just been sued by the R-I-A-A ♫
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    ♫ You've just been screwed by the R-I-A-A ♫
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    ♫ Their attorneys say you committed a crime ♫
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    ♫ And there'd better not be a next time ♫
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    ♫ They've lost their minds at the R-I-A-A ♫
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    ♫ Justice is blind at the R-I-A-A ♫
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    ♫ You're depriving the bands ♫
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    ♫ You are learning to steal ♫
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    ♫ You can't do whatever you feel ♫
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    ♫ CD sales have dropped every year ♫
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    ♫ They're not greedy, they're just quaking with fear ♫
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    ♫ Yes indeedy, what if their end is near ♫
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    ♫ And we download all our music ♫
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    ♫ Yeah, that would piss off the R-I-A-A ♫
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    ♫ No plastic discs from the R-I-A-A ♫
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    ♫ What a way to make friends ♫
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    ♫ It's a plan that can't fail ♫
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    ♫ All your customers off to jail ♫
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    ♫ Who'll be next for the R-I-A-A? ♫
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    ♫ What else is vexing the R-I-A-A? ♫
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    ♫ Maybe whistling a tune ♫
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    ♫ Maybe humming along ♫
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    ♫ Maybe mocking 'em in a song ♫
Title:
The music wars
Speaker:
David Pogue
Description:

New York Times tech columnist David Pogue performs a satirical mini-medley about iTunes and the downloading wars, borrowing a few notes from Sonny and Cher and the Village People.
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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
03:46
TED edited English subtitles for The music wars
TED added a translation

English subtitles

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