Obama Taps 5th RIAA Lawyer to Justice Dept.

[wrobert]

Mahvelous! I'm a violator! I wonder what the sentence might be?

But, seriously! Look at how they rig that up!? If you don't agree, it doesn't go to the next screen, which is most likely the screen providing the button for the download unless you're on iTunes. So, if I actually took the time to read it and decide I want to line through something (one item I disagree with) and initial it, I can't get to the download! I don't think their argument would hold up in court.

Line through and initial? That would mean nothing unless you sent it back and waited on their approval. Their argument has already held up in court and now they are going to control the Justice department. Just listen to Pandora.

 

[Danny Burns]

I think every reasonable person would agree with your statement.

But...what if I download an mp3 from Amazon. Do I have the right to burn the song to a CD?

I think you should. The reason you may not be able to do so, is to disable you from giving or selling it to others in its original digital form. You can record it to a CD, but it will be an analog copy, not the original digital copy. If you don't mind listening to an mp3, you shouldn't mind listening to an analog copy of one that badly.

 

[30ashopper]

I think this is more directed at "Filesharing " and Filelending" sites that attempt to get around the copyright rules by playing with language. Once you pay for and download a song, it should be yours to do whatever you want, and any law is impossible to enforce past that, at this point anyway. I believe this is just an attempt to prevent commercial sales (or sharing, lending, or any other method of distribution) of someone else's property on any kind of large scale.

Because I am a fairly honest person, I would ask a friend to buy the product if he/she liked it after hearing it through me. But because many people aren't doing it that way, expect some sort of copy protect device to be implanted in players in the future.

Companies and individuals are simply trying to protect what is legally, creatively, and ethically theirs, not prevent us from enjoying music with our friends.

The device manufacturers aren't adding stuff like that, they are removing it. iTunes now sells non-copy protected mp3s and Amazon's mp3 store is gaining ground as a major competitor.

The fact is DRM didn't work. It hurt sales and it hurt the industry because it made music you purchase incompatible with different players. That is a violation of fair use laws and is the reason why people are rejecting music tainted with DRM.

What I think the music industry needs to come to understand is that paying for a physical device (a CD, a record, a tape) to get your music is a dead concept. Locking a downloaded song to a particular device was tried and failed, so that too is a dead concept. The industry needs to re-think how it generates revenue because the old way of doing things is pretty much obsolete.

Myself, I've never purchased a DRM'd song in my life. Until mp3s started selling on Amazon, I would buy the CD and rip it once I received it. I think the good news for artists is (and this is just a personal observation) since Amazon's mp3 store opened I've purchased more music in mp3 form than I ever did with CDs. So maybe the new way of doing things is to open things up rather than lock them down and in so doing, make even more money?

 

[Lynnie]

Line through and initial? That would mean nothing unless you sent it back and waited on their approval. Their argument has already held up in court and now they are going to control the Justice department. Just listen to Pandora.

:funn:Well, if I'm gonna have to wait even longer, then I shall continue my fast forward click throughs and not read anything! ;-)

 

[Danny Burns]

The device manufacturers aren't adding stuff like that, they are removing it. iTunes now sells non-copy protected mp3s and Amazon's mp3 store is gaining ground as a major competitor.

The fact is DRM didn't work. It hurt sales and it hurt the industry because it made music you purchase incompatible with different players. That is a violation of fair use laws and is the reason why people are rejecting music tainted with DRM.

What I think the music industry needs to come to understand is that paying for a physical device (a CD, a record, a tape) to get your music is a dead concept. Locking a downloaded song to a particular device was tried and failed, so that too is a dead concept. The industry needs to re-think how it generates revenue because the old way of doing things is pretty much obsolete.

Myself, I've never purchased a DRM'd song in my life. Until mp3s started selling on Amazon, I would buy the CD and rip it once I received it. I think the good news for artists is (and this is just a personal observation) since Amazon's mp3 store opened I've purchased more music in mp3 form than I ever did with CDs. So maybe the new way of doing things is to open things up rather than lock them down and in so doing, make even more money?

No, DRM didn't work. But major record companies are still greedy and they think in strange ways. I'm not sure they are quite ready to give up their huge profits and marketshares without a fight. These are the same people who purposely degraded the quality of vinyl recordings in the early eighties to sell a more profitable format, the CD. Do they have a more universally compatible protection format up their sleeves?...

Although, they may no longer think of recorded music sales as they once did. They make money from publishing, merchandising, radio, TV, and movie play usage of musical products... will they simply expand this revenue base?

If it is the former, we'll all get p!$$ed off again and their recorded music sales will decline. If it is the latter, artists will get squeezed even more. If it is both, look for an exponential increase in indie labels and artists (as if it hasn't already started) who won't put up with this kind of cr@p any more, and go out and do things on their own.

Personally, I can't believe mp3s are as popular as they are. Except for convenience, most commercially popular digital formats are mediocre, at best. Sonically, music has taken a huge turn for the worse and most people don't even realize it. If you have ever heard a 30 IPS 1/2 inch master tape played back on a finely tuned Ampex ATR 102 (or a Mobile Fidelity album made from such a master tape) through a really good system, you know what I'm talking about. Until then...not so much. But that's just one Analogman's opinion.