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TiVo-like Application for XM Radio Under Fire
Strudelkugel writes "USA Today reports: 'Catching Blondie's reunion tour broadcast at 4 in the morning wasn't an option for XM satellite radio subscriber and single father Scott MacLean. "I was missing concerts that were being broadcasted when I was asleep or out," he said. So the 35-year-old computer programmer from Ottawa, Ontario, wrote a piece of software that let him record the show directly onto his PC hard drive while he snoozed.' As expected, the lawyers are coming out. Seems like a good idea, though. This capability might actually entice me to get an XM radio."
They're just upset because they're planning on introducing a similar feature in a couple months. I don't see how this is much different than something like Total Recorder. Just recording for yourself (time shifting) is perfectly legal fair use.
From TFA-
Music labels fear that the convenience of MacLean's software will lead millions more to copy and distribute songs over file-sharing networks such as KaZaA, a music industry source said.
"Millions more"? Aren't there a hell of a lot of people sharing music as it is? Something like 60 million people?
Even if all 2.1 million subscribers jump on the bandwagon, 2 million subcribers (Q2 - 2004, XM website) seems like a drop in the bucket.....TFA states that only something like 2400 subscribers have gotten a copy. 400 have paid.....The RIAA's got plenty more people to sue, and an archaic business model to sustain......
A thought though - if they aren't sharing, but only recording copies to listen to, doesn't that fall under fair use somewhere? Time shifting != illegal, right?
"
the Recording Industry Association of America said his organization had not reviewed the software, but said that in principle it was disturbed by the idea."
Tell us something we don't already know......
-thewldisntenuff
My MythTV HowTo
They release a radio with USB connectivity and are surprised when someone figures out a neat and easy way to "Tivo" their content? Funniest reference in the article was to the fact that the RIAA and XM are busy figuring out if any copyright laws or user agreements were broken. Management really should have gotten a handle on this before the product was released.
You see, it's just like a tape recorder, but because it's on a computer, it's illegal, get it?
I wouldn't be surprised if the music licensing powers will start to contractually require XM to somehow "muck" the start/end of all songs by having some sort of DJ chatter or station identifier sounder play to make sure that at least the seconds at the edge of the song are disturbed from being a "perfect" copy of the song.
So they're predicting a shutdown even though they've no idea if it is breaking any laws. You can translate this as "Our revenues are $20million a month, we can afford lawyers who will bury this person under frivolous litigation until he's bankrupt. And hey, if we can find a law that will support us, then we could win in court assuming it manages to go all the way to a judgement"
It's pretty much all posturing. The company is working on the same exact thing which they are going to sell for an additional monthly fee. Of course there will shortly be an open source competitor up on sourceforge (assuming there isn't already).
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
Given the courts decisions which have established
time shifting as a legitimate use of consumer recording technology, it's damned hard to imagine what law they think consumers might be breaking. It is not illegal for me to tape every broadcast of a television show and to build my own personal library. It would seem very difficult to argue that doing the same thing using XM radio would be any different.
There is much pleasure to be gained in useless knowledge.
Man I cannot BELIEVE that people are saying stuff like this with a straight face:
... It's our expectation they will be shut down," he added. "We're also researching any potential legal violations.")))
.. provide the company with a list of purchasers.)))
((("That's a product that's not authorized by XM," Chance Patterson, vice president of corporate affairs, told Reuters last week.)))
Excuse me, but why does the world need YOUR permission to record broadcasts? Can I set my coffee cup next to the radio and illegally alter it's temperature?
I know the law is fucked up right now but this kind of stuff still continues to amaze me.
Yes, it's not authorized by XM, so what?
((("That program is something we don't condone
I was actually thinking of buying an XM radio and recording shows was a *specific feature I wanted*. I was planning on writing my own program to do what this guy is selling. How hard can it be? When I was a kid I used to record the radio all the time, that's probably why I'm a big music buyer now.
I'm not going to bother. XM is spawned from the same primordial ooze that the RIAA crawled from. These guys are all the same. You can't even jerk off within 10 feet of their "licensed product" without paying a fee.
(((Michael McGuire, an analyst at technology research firm Gartner. "It's very hard for policy and copyright law to keep up with the pace of technological change.")))
What does copyright law need to do, make sure it gets in the way of any product that comes out? It's funny how we have this constitution that's supposed to be a firewall from government, but it has a big open port: the copyright clause. Pretty soon, are whole legal system will revolve around some form of copyright, since everything is based on information. Just amazing and frightening.
((("We remain concerned about any devices or software that permit listeners to transform a broadcast into a music library,")))
Un-fucking-believable. One thing is for certain, you're not transforming any of my money into vacations in Europe anytime soon, Mr. RIAA exec.
(((In a letter seen by Reuters, XM's lawyers told MacLean to
And what will they do with that list I wonder? Report it to Tom Ridge? What on earth?????
20 years ago this kind of stuff would be great satire. I can't imagine what 20 years from now will be like. And honestly, I I don't want to.
I'm all for supporting the artists, but I am already paying 10 bucks a month for XM radio (actually it'll be about 21 a month, with my second radio, and the Opie and Anthony premium subscriptions). If I want to record a few songs for my own personal use, as long as I don't put them up on Kazaa, who the hell's business is that - this is supposed to be my damned right, and the artists ARE getting paid. XM needs to pull the stick out of its ass re: their EULA, and the RIAA needs to die.
You can't sell people on a product (the XM PCR) and the freedoms and flexibility it gives you (seriously, read their marketing copy selling these things), then get pissed when people start paying you money in order to take advantage of its freedoms and flexibility using third party software.