Mr Omneo gives credit where credit is due… the following article was penned by enigmax over at TorrentFreak, that probably explains why it was so well written =)

Following the bust of the OiNK BitTorrent tracker, most of its 180,000 members are keeping their heads down and trying to stay inconspicuous. However, Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nails isn’t worried: “I had an account there” he said. “it was like the world’s greatest record store.”

The driving force behind the Nine Inch Nails isn’t frightened of talking about file-sharing. Back in May 2007 he admitted to sharing himself: “I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t” he said.

Now Trent has gone public and admitted where he did a lot of sharing – OiNK. In an interview with New York Entertainment he sent his clearest pro-sharing stance yet. When asked what he thought about OiNK being shutdown, he had this to say:

“I’ll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world’s greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted.”

Everyone knows that OiNK was free to use and this fact was backed up by Trent: “If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn’t the equivalent of that in the retail space right now.”

Levelling criticism at professionals who are failing to make a better job of music distribution than OiNK and failing to create a brand which people like to be associated with, Trent explained: “iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc.”

Trent says he prefers Amazon to iTunes but says none of them address the issue of pre-release leaks, calling it a ‘difficult puzzle’. “If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it?”

The quality uploaders at OiNK get a mention too: “People on those boards, they’re grateful for the person that uploaded it — they’re the hero. They’re not stealing it because they’re going to make money off of it; they’re stealing it because they love the band.”

Underlining the fact that sometimes people pirate because they aren’t getting what they want from the music labels, Trent finishes up: “I’m not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.”

And what people seem to want is OiNK replacement sites – and that’s what they seem to be getting.

Need any invites Trent?

What track could accompany this but that wonderful cover of NiN’s Hurt by Johnny Cash

Today was one of those days when it seemed like all the niggly little things that I don’t like about my life – think: work (abundance of), love life (lack of), social life (lack of), money (lack of), inspiration (lack of) – descended en masse to annoy the shit out of me, knowing that I am powerless, due to apathy, to do anything about them.

Now, before you start dispensing a lecture to me, via the screen (trust me, I can’t hear shit) that everything is within my control, rewind and read what I said… I’m powerless due to apathy. I know what the root cause of the problem is, I just can’t, at this moment in time, be fucked dealing with it… 2007 is heading into the final straight so why worry about it for now? I shall try making one of those new year resolution things, you know the ones, make n break within a month…2008 I’ll try being less apathetic, or something like that, who gives a fuck anyway?!

I tell you one thing tho, I’m back at that stage in my life where I wish I had kids but at the same time wondering what sort of irresponsible fuck up would I be to bring a child into this world which, if you would believe the media, is on course for meltdown in 30 years or so… Don’t they get it? Earth goes through a whole cosmic Buddhist cyclic birth/re-birth thing… where else do they think the dinosaurs and cavemen went? It’s quite obvious the high levels of methane in the farts of those herbivores shot a hole in the ozone layer the size of Kazakhstan and put an end to them, why should we try and fight the inevitable? Let nature do it’s thing.. now get up and turn on all your electrical appliances and print off my blog on your colour printer, not only will it save your eyesight it might help you spot the end when it comes…

Now, I might as well end this entry with a suitably upbeat musical interlude and what better than a remixed, dance version of a classic Rolling Stones track?? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you Alex Fakey and Painted Black

Sometimes I enjoy me time, not always but sometimes. I believe it makes me happy, happy to be at one with myself, happy to think my own thoughts without anyone interjecting with reality and explaining that my thoughts are little more than pipe dreams… and what exactly are pipe dreams? I often wonder about the terms we use and where they actually derive from, usually I can’t be bothered to research them, my lackadaisical nature is such that I’m content to wallow in ignorance rather than seek out the truth…what does that say about me? For what it’s worth I like to imagine that pipe dreams is some reference to the thoughts garnered by people who have smoked some marijuana, in a pipe obviously, and who have not thought out the practicalities of their thoughts… a bit like me believing Jennifer Aniston or Neve Campbell will one day call me up and ask me for a date, actually…fuck the date, I always imagine they just want to make love to me… yes, make love, not fuck me senseless =)

But pipe dreams make us happy, even if only for a moment and that moment is all we need to get along isn’t it? Let’s face it, what else do we have? The vast majority of the human race, if they are fortunate enough to be employed, don’t actually enjoy their jobs, most of us do it as a means to an end, it pays the bills and, if we’re lucky, allows us the freedom to buy a decent bottle of wine or malt which will numb the pain of reality for a few hours…If we’re not so lucky we’ll make do with the cheap supermarket hooch that does the same job but leaves us with a shitty headache the next day.

Happiness, what is it? why doesn’t it last? I’ve been happy, quite a few times actually, but it never seems to be long lasting… I mean if happiness were anything other than a state of mind we’d be happy all the time wouldn’t we? Hmm… upon writing that I realise I’ve slightly contradicted my own statement… If it is a state of mind then surely we can condition ourselves to be always happy, you know, like those nutjobs you see who are always grinning and trying to spread cheer to us all… usually religious nutjobs who believe ‘god’ or ‘jesus’ has entered them and is channelling good thoughts to us all.. well, I’m sorry, the only Jesus I know is a dumb fuck Spanish waiter in Soho and whilst he may enter you, I doubt the brand of happiness he’s offering is any longer lasting that the one you get from a 1986 Borolo, sorry to burst your bubble folks…

Let’s face it, life sucks, if we take the good times and add them up and then take the not so good times (I’m reluctant to say bad for fear of imposing needless negativity to the subject) I’ll bet my sweet ass to Jesus (the waiter from Madrid) that the good times end up in the minority column… Don’t believe me? Count how many times you’ve been happy since you were 18, I won’t start before then as the formative teen angst years are too much of a handicap, so come on, just looking at your life as of today, can you really say you’ve been happy the majority of the time? If you’re sitting there saying yes and disagreeing with me then I’m calling you a fucking liar! Be honest, you’re fooling no one but yourself… yeah that’s right, add them up, the happy times are outnumbered but that doesn’t stop us believing and nor should it… don’t for a second believe I’m happy being unhappy that’s too easy, if I believed that I wouldn’t be constantly questioning the whole charade we call life…

I read a great quote by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy, it sort of puts it all into perspective and one day, when I get high on marijuana again I’m gonna try and remember it so I can pontificate over it with friends who will tell me to shut the fuck up. Here’s what Mr Adams had to say…

It is known that there is an infinite number of worlds, but that not every one is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so if every planet in the Universe has a population of zero then the entire population of the Universe must also be zero, and any people you may actually meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.

Beautiful, isn’t it? OK, well I thought it was… it made me happy so who’s to say I’m wrong and you’re right? or vice versa for that matter!

For all I’ve said on the frailty of happiness, I still cling to my own happy memories as I’m sure you do to yours, with luck during the reading of this entry you’ve recalled a few happy times from the past that were close to being buried under the avalanche of shit we call life… However, I urge you not to cling to those moments too tightly, don’t hold onto them as beacons to be held up in the night as if to show us the path forward, rather remember them with respect and use them as motivators to future happiness because eventually we will forget them, hopefully only because we’ve replaced them with more recent memories that bring us warm, snugly feelings of joy and no, I’m not back to thinking of Jennifer and Neve… or maybe I am?!

And so, I end with the usual musical interlude, provided today by Nick Drake and his hauntingly melodic Ride…enjoy, I always do =)