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backus's profile
John Backus
John Backus
John Backus
@backus

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John Backus

@backus

Seeking alternative compression. Hopefully wrong on average. Shameless. Started @getcognito and @bloom

San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2012

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    1. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 7

      ... wow. Ben Affleck perfectly predicting Spotify and Netflix in a random 2003 interview Almost exactly right about the unit economics of annual music subscriptions and the timing of online movie streaming. Solid point too on how shareware (Napster) is a necessary predecessorpic.twitter.com/mpEgRPK4zL

      148 replies 3,836 retweets 12,133 likes
      Show this thread
    2. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      John Backus Retweeted John Backus

      I've been diving deep on the history of file sharing. If you listen to early news reports about Napster, it sounds a lot like fear around blockchain todayhttps://twitter.com/backus/status/1012070561306963968 …

      John Backus added,

      0:44
      John Backus @backus
      Fear of file sharing tech in 2000 even sounds like crypto today. "If they think Napster is bad ... there is a lot worse coming. Software that is untraceable" "The soon to come Freenet will offer completely anonymous and untraceable file trading" pic.twitter.com/340Ru6YmPb
      5 replies 29 retweets 145 likes
      Show this thread
    3. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      John Backus Retweeted John Backus

      Artists like Soulja Boy got their name out there by leveraging file sharing services like Limewirehttps://twitter.com/backus/status/1014034580473434117 …

      John Backus added,

      John Backus @backus
      Soulja Boy on how he got his name out there using Limewire: > I would look at the billboard charts ... and I would upload [my song] to Limewire and title it "50 Cent - In da club", "Britney Spears", "Eminem", etc
      3 replies 11 retweets 79 likes
      Show this thread
    4. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      John Backus Retweeted John Backus

      Fun fact: Music industry revenue actually went UP after Napster took off. It didn't start plummeting until the iPod was releasedhttps://twitter.com/backus/status/1006242203050610688 …

      John Backus added,

      John Backus @backus
      Disruption of the music industry came in three parts: the mp3, Napster, and the mp3 player. Revenue didn't start plummeting until all three pieces of the puzzle fit together. pic.twitter.com/gXLnh0U2Sv
      Show this thread
      3 replies 37 retweets 127 likes
      Show this thread
    5. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      John Backus Retweeted John Backus

      People in the 2000s warez scene risked going to prison in order to leak music online, pseudonymously. When you think about what motivates people, does your model explain the warez scene?https://twitter.com/backus/status/1006391268216205312 …

      John Backus added,

      John Backus @backus
      Does your mental model of human behavior explain the 2000s warez scene? • Competition to leak high profile albums • High risk of prison • Not for profit! • Against rules to share leaks outside The Scene • Not about love for music. They leaked the SpongeBob movie soundtrack
      Show this thread
      3 replies 7 retweets 48 likes
      Show this thread
    6. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      If you're interested in the connections between p2p file sharing history and blockchain, I've written about a bunch of connections in this article:https://medium.com/@jbackus/fat-protocols-arent-new-42d2c538db41 …

      2 replies 18 retweets 72 likes
      Show this thread
    7. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      By the way, I found this clip by digging through the @internetarchive’s incredible resources which include a lot of old TV news clips. I basically spent last night watching everything that comes up when I search “file sharing”

      2 replies 3 retweets 48 likes
      Show this thread
      John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      John Backus Retweeted John Backus

      MP3s catalyzed the music revolution by compressing music to 1/12th the original file size. Did you know that a lot of the compression techniques work by reducing the quality of audio that the human ear can’t pick up?https://twitter.com/backus/status/1006958023321870337 …

      John Backus added,

      John Backus @backus
      Beautiful description of mp3 compression. "The filter bank worked on sound the way a prism worked on light" 🔊🌈 pic.twitter.com/LNjcNVCSBJ
      Show this thread
      6:29 PM - 8 Jul 2018
      • 7 Retweets
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      3 replies 7 retweets 28 likes
        1. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

          John Backus Retweeted John Backus

          Music studios were slow to embrace music subscription services like Spotify for many reasons, but IMO part of it was that even a complete elimination of piracy in favor of subscriptions would have destroyed most of their revenuehttps://twitter.com/backus/status/1014664705544089601 …

          John Backus added,

          John Backus @backus
          Music industry wasn't just anti-tech By 2000, they were addicted to inflated revenue: album bundling and illegal price fixing meant you payed $15 for a $10 album to get a $1 song. Even if $1 songs replaced piracy, revenue would fall by ~90%. More for fixed price streaming.
          Show this thread
          3 replies 3 retweets 14 likes
          Show this thread
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        2. Adheeth Praveen‏ @bull500 Jul 9
          Replying to @backus

          Lots of new formats are lining up to replace mp3. Better quality and smarter compression. Google, Mozilla, Netflix, Amazon are all on board

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 9
          Replying to @bull500

          Yup. MP3 wasn't even better at the time but it won culturally enough to takeoff. Now Spotify for example uses Ogg vorbis

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        4. Adheeth Praveen‏ @bull500 Jul 9
          Replying to @backus

          Yup! Personally think we need another iPod/Walkman revolution for consumers to know&adopt new formats. Sony is doing a good job with its HiRes audio lineup. A smarter Walkman with streaming/downloads support will be the way to go.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
        5. End of conversation
        1. Adrian‏ @Adriancomp777 Jul 8
          Replying to @backus

          But we have a problem with audio quality here, I cand understand this in the early 2000s but now you can have the Rolling Stones discography in your phone, it's time to use flac, you can see HD in YouTube, NetFlix and other platforms, audio industry is waaay behind!!

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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