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John Mellencamp has never been known to pull his punches. “I saw through the music business very early, with the ‘Johnny Cougar’ thing,” he says, referring to the cringeworthy stage name given to him by a former manager in the 1970s. “I had the reputation of being very difficult—but I’m not, really. I’m just doing what most guys don’t do, which is stand up for yourself.”

Though still a small part of the market, Ultra HD Blu-ray players are outpacing unit sales of original Blu-ray players in the same time frame, with 300,000 units sold in 2016 according to the Blu-ray Disc Association.

You can call me old fashioned. You can call me a Luddite. You can even call me Ishmael. But I like to read books. Paper books, thank you very much. Based on that, my homies at Barnes & Noble apparently think that I like to listen to vinyl too.

You gotta give the guys at Spika International credit for trying to raise fifty grand on Kickstarter for an “inflatable lounge” with built-in Bluetooth speakers. But after 38 days, the campaign was canceled, having met less than 20 percent of its goal ($9,393).