Ebert, Gillmor on the Music Industry

TTop writes "Roger Ebert has weighed in with a scathing critique of the Universal Music Group and its new copy-protection scheme which renders CDs unplayable in non-Windows operating systems, DVD players, and CD-compatible game consoles. It's nice to see the mainstream press start to come out against the idiotic copy-protection war the RIAA is declaring on their best customers, music lovers. Having to agree to a legal contract to hear a CD you've purchased on your own PC? Puh-leeze. Ebert compares these copy-protection schemes to Circuit City's failed DIVX DVD format." Columnist Dan Gillmor wrote a piece a few days ago about drawing a line in the sand.

Comments

However

[wiredog]

If enough people boycott their products, then it won't matter what they claim. They either recognize the boycott, or go out of business.

For that to happen, the 12 year old girls will have to be convinced of the importance of the boycott, so that they will stop buying CDs by BoyBandOfTheWeek and J'Britney.

Maybe we could find a way to make buying CDs uncool.

Walt Mossberg did the same thing

[svferris]

A couple of weeks ago, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal did the same thing in his article, "Digital Consumer Takes Up the Fight Against Copyright Plans in Congress".

In the article, he proposes a whole new digital copyright law that gives the user back their priveleges to make copies of the content they have legally obtained.

He proposed the following rights:

- The right to "time-shift" audio or video content; that is, to record it for later playback.

- The right to "space-shift" music or videos; that is, to copy material to blank CDs, multiple PCs, or portable players in different locations.

- The right to make backup copies.

- The right to use the content on any platform they choose: a Windows PC, a Macintosh, a DVD player, whatever.

- The right to translate content into different formats.

I think this, along with Roger Ebert's comments should hopefully catch the eye of Congress and the RIAA and actually get something done. Kudos to the two of them for realizing that our rights are being infringed upon.

Re:RIAA always is the victim

[K8Fan]

Record company executives always find something to blame a decline in sales on. And any increase in sales they attribute to their own brilliance. Back in the 1980s, they were blaming cassettes with the "Home Taping In Killing Music" nonsense, with it's pathetic "cassette & crossbones" stickers. In the 1990s, they were blaming used CD sales, and trotted out Garth Brooks to clame that the legal "right of first resale" was taking food from his children's mouths. And before that it was:

• Parallel imports
• Video games
• Radio play (yes, they sued to stop radio)