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Recording Industry Hoist By Their Own Petard

An anonymous reader writes "As reported by MSNBC, the recording industry has been unable to offer combination DVD / CD discs to consumers because of the IP ownership questions as well as licensing issues between CD and DVD content. All I can say is it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch!"

10 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Silly idea by Alsee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ya know, they could put anywhere from 400 high bitrate MP3's on a single layer DVD to 1600 good bitrate MP3's on a dual layer DVD.

    Nahhhhh, what a silly idea. Who the hell would ever want to replace an entire shelf worth of CD's and cassettes and what-not with one disk you could toss in a (large) jacket pocket?

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  2. Re:uhm, what purpose does the RIAA serve again? by Yaztromo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Well, as soon as dualdisc burners are available, I have a feeling that I will be manufacturing my own DVD/CD combinations, with no help from the DRM^H^H^HRecording Industry.

    We already have CD burners, and we already have DVD burners.

    Why would we need a dualdisc burner? All we should need is the media -- developed properly, succh media should work in existing CD/DVD burners as a "flippy" -- burn one side, flip it over, and then burn the other.

    I can see why Philips might be wary about calling them CDs however. In order to achieve such a double-sided disc, the CD layer would have to be somewhere in the middle of the substrate, instead of on one side of it (under the label). As you can't really make the disc any thicker (else it might not fit into standard slot drives), you have to put it closer to the surface of the substrate, whicch violates the CD standard.

    Yaz.

  3. "hard-hit music industry" by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    hard-hit music industry had been counting on to aid its recovery
    I'm sorry, I did not realize that increased revenues means an industry is "hard-hit" and in need of a "recovery".
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  4. Does the price look familiar? by mingrassia · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the article:
    "They have sold for about $18.99 in retail stores."

    Does this price sound familiar? It is roughly the price CDs were before they were caught price fixing.

    It seems to me that the recording industry only has one business model ...
    1. Take one good item
    2. Bundle a lot of crap with it you don't want (now this includes video content)
    3. Sell it at a high price that it totally unreasonable.
    DVD of movies are still cheeper than this.
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  5. Re:tech issues by DoraLives · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Imagine trying to read that small type while driving.

    Imagine having to deal with the asshole who's doing the reading, while crossing the double yellow line coming your way.

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  6. Re:It's being used! by moonbender · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How do your "friends" making poor business decisions and signing a contract that made them unable to work turn into the record company being a "bastard".

    It clearly is not a nice thing to do by the record company, therefore they are bastards. It might be legal and something the company "had to do" given its sole goal of profiting, it's still not nice. And that goes no matter if the people who lose are "idiots" or not.

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  7. Re:It's being used! by moonbender · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Companies don't do "nice" things-- companies return revenue for shareholders.

    Yes, that's what I said. Thanks for rephrasing it. It still doesn't make it any nicer, or the company any more morally justified. The fact that they don't care about moral justificationis insignificant. If I don't give a shit about who I hurt because I'm only interested in making a profit, I'm pretty much an asshole. The same goes for companies.

    And as for the question whether that's a good thing or not, I don't know. I agree that it ought to make them predictable, and it does, but only to a certain degree. And it doesn't translate to a very good world view. But I'm rambling.

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  8. Re:uhm, what purpose does the RIAA serve again? by mcpkaaos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    uhm, what purpose does the RIAA serve again?

    To make the very thing you plan on doing illegal for anyone but them.

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  9. Idiots!!! by Gregoyle · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Check this out:

    They see these "DualDiscs" as a next generation product that marries the booming market for DVDs with declining CDs.[emphasis added]


    and then:

    They have sold for about $18.99 in retail stores.


    These things are not unrelated!! Why are DVDs doing so much better than CDs? Gee, could it be because I can get a feature length movie for much LESS than a 74 minute CD? Forget the whole problem of timebomb-popularity industry manufactured arists for just a moment, and think about price. Why is it that I can get Ghost Dog or Pulp Fiction at many movie stores for 10 bucks, but if I want to get the soundtrack it'll set me back 17 or 18? They're older albums, there is NO REASON for them to cost so much.

    The problem with the music industry is that they don't remember the laws of supply and demand. If they lowered the prices of their music, more people would buy it. I have long ago ceased feeling sorry for them. They are digging their own graves by refusing to listen to the market. Here are some quick and dirty solutions...

    People aren't buying CDs? Try lowering the price!! People still aren't buying your manufactured artists? Try signing artists with actual talent and promoting THEM over the plastic hype! People are downloading too many songs for free? (Hey let's sue elementary school kids! Great plan!) Try offering the songs EASILY and INEXPENSIVELY. If you had paid attention to this when we were all screaming at you 4 or 5 years ago this wouldn't be a problem now. Instead you opted for the head-in-the-sand technique and needed to be strongarmed by a computer hardware and software manufacturer.
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  10. Why you hate the recording industry. by teamhasnoi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Well, if you're a musician you hate them because they will only give you a contract on their terms, they promise to distribute and market your record and don't, they will cheat you out of every cent you make and send you a bill for it, they will put you in a holding pattern for as long as they can if they want to keep you away from other labels yet not release your record.

    They assume ownership of music that is not theirs, yet blast you with lawyers if you desire to sample music of theirs. They encourage the flavor of the month, but will not invest in the long term career of an artist. They pay radio stations to play what they want you to buy, leaving less or no room for music not controlled by them.

    (Hours later)

    If you're a customer, you hate them because they treat you like a thief, they only admit the right of Fair Use when backed into a corner, they lobby incessantly for backwards technologies that make the act of listening, using, and enjoying music difficult if not impossible. They push format after format yet say the new format hurts sales. They preach that you can't own a CD - only license it from them, yet won't replace a scratched CD because you own it.

    (yet more hours later)

    If you're a /.er, you hate them for their fake statistics, their inflation of CD burner speeds to number of burners to make piracy sound like a larger problem than it is. You hate them because they fail to address the issues at hand, and attack 'straw men' of their choosing. You hate them because your favorite band broke up after being dicked around by some A&R guy. You hate them because they make backing up your CD collection annoying, difficult, illegal and tainted with 'cracker' spin. You hate them because they lie, they cheat, they steal, they are a monopoly and they use their power to keep others from competing on a equal footing. They have the ear of congress, and use it to make you a criminal - whether you are 'stealing' or not.

    (hey is the sun coming up)

    There you have it Bill. Consider yourself enlightened. There are more stories out there, and not that hard to find. Enlighten yourself, and see what happens when people sell other people art.