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The Law and P2P
Anonymous Coward writes "Here's some interesting legal commentary on the continuing saga of copyright enforcement and Apple's attempt at a constructive approach."
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Napster was ruled against because it isn't really P2P; requests went through a central server.
Grokster and Morpheus were not ruled against because they are really P2P; if the backend companies shut down the users wouldn't be affected.
Previous attempts at online music services failed because they were too expensive and too restrictive.
Apple's online music service will not fail because it is not expensive and not restrictive.
The media industries should follow Apple's lead.
IMO, this article wasn't that interesting, nor that informative. It was yet another summation of the story thus far. At least it was a quick read.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
Guarenteed quality. Guarenteed speed. Instant preview streaming. No one cuts off your download because they're shutting down, or just being an asshole. Guarenteed complete albums. Cover art. Exclusive artist news and videos which are also free with the service.
$0.99 isn't exactly rock bottom prices, but it's better than going to a store and dropping $19 for the one track you like, and it's way better than sitting on the computer for 3 days trying to find a reliable download on Gnutella.
I just tired the iTunes store yesterday, and it's BETTER than I thought it would be, and I'm a die-hard Mac user. Honestly, I have no idea why it took so long for someone to get it right, and all sly remarks about "leave it to Apple to show you how it's really done" aside, I'm glad it's been done, and prehaps this whole "Threat of the Digital Age" bullshit can finally be the fuck over with.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
What is needed is an application that scans your MP3 (or whatever) collection, matches up artists with labels through some database and allow you to choose what you already have a paid-for copy of to remove from the list (it would store this information for later use). Then it would calculate a cost for a licence for your entire MP3 collection. A bulk discount would be applied for people with thousands. Then you could whip out your credit card and make that 10Gb legal.
I know people who would do this if they could.
Actually what's going to happen is that Napster is going to reform, retool and re-appear on the scene letting users download any and all music for $0.10 per song with no DRM restrictions using lossless open source audio compression techniques. The RIAA will take them to court, be defeated, and all of it's members will be jailed for being jerks to music lovers.
Naturally I have no evidence to back up these wild claims.
Which is exactly the same amount of evidence you have for claiming that Apple and the RIAA are going to pull a PressPlay on its customers.
Here's a concept: Maybe they're the first people to do this thing correctly. Maybe in a year's time everyone will be doing it this way. Maybe all non-Mac users will look back on the fact that Apple led the way with this model and laugh nervously and rapidly change the subject. Kind of like they do with most of the other innovative firsts to come out of Cupertino.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
I wonder what the pricing breakdown per song for iTunes is. What percentages are going to the Record Industry and the Artists? Since there is no cost of the physical "CD", besides advertising, promotions, etc.
I don't think that this is necessarily a solution for the artists, but a solution for the consumers. The RIAA always talkes about how it's artists are loosing money because of P2P. I hope whatever "tax" that Apple has to pay the record industry to pay for the copyright use of these songs, that a greater percentage goes to the artist.
The customer was not being served by the music industry. Apple's recent Music Store opening offers ample evidence of that. It certainly has shortcomings but the overwhelmingly positive response to it clearly demonstrates that people will pay a reasonable amount to download a quality recording.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor