Office Depot bootlegs

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on June 29, 2005). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

I stopped by the downtown Seattle Office Depot on lunch to do some coveting, and had to wonder how customers were expected to compare the quality of the various LCD displays when they were all playing a highly-compressed (crappy) video — possibly a VCD — of music videos taken from CMT‘s broadcast stream (complete with a “Ripped by…” banner that popped up every few videos).

I halfway considered saying something to the one employee on duty, but as he could barely manage to grunt a greeting at me as I walked by since he was so engrossed in watching a (highly-illegal) bad quality (overcompressed and the wrong aspect ratio) bootleg of Star Wars Episode III — yeah, the one still in theaters — I didn’t think that it would be worth it.

iTunesFour Sticks” by Rollins Band from the album Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (1995, 3:31).