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No Levy on iPods in Canada
colinemckay writes "The fight over a levy on iPods and other digital music devices ended Thursday when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear any further arguments on the matter. That means there will be no levy applied to digital audio recorders such as Apple's popular iPod and iPod Shuffle as well as other MP3 players like iRiver."
Who the hell are they giving tariff royalties to from blank media? That's asinine. The CPCC are just like our RIAA, all a pack of crooks. If you want royalties to go to the Artists, than lower the damn price of the music your sell and people might actually buy a CD. Inflating the price of a CD to pay for the CPCC/ RIAA Rats, who claim to "protect" Artists is wrong! I'm curious how much of these collected tariffs actually makes its way back to the Artists.
"Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
Is there still a levy on that? Seems like they could use this to try and get rid of that . . .
But as far as I know DVD-R and CD-R blank media labeled for "music" use have a piracy tax applied to them.
Many consumers are tricked by this because they don't know much and think blank media labeled for "data" will not support mp3s, etc. which is not true.
If you "get" pointers add me as a friend (116)!
"The money is sitting in an account and will be returned to the importers and manufacturers of the products, said Basskin."
I think it should be going to the consumers not the corporations and distributors. I spent way too much on my 3Gen iPod when it first came out. I wouldn't mind an extra $25 in my pocket.
in fact, of the legal products and services generated in Canada, music is in the top ten, along with telecom and other useful things.
So if they don't need this tax, why do we, music importers in the US, need one?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
"Obviously we're disappointed. We felt it was self-evident that those products are sold for the purpose of copying music," said David Basskin, of the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC), the non-profit agency which collects tariffs on behalf of musicians and record companies.
Yes, yes, everyone who owns an mp3 PLAYER, must have bought them to STEAL MUSIC. As opposed to, oh I dunno, LISTENING TO MUSIC.
Next thing we know everyone who owns a kitchen knife must have bought them to KILL PEOPLE.
Why these people didn't suggest a levy on tapes while they were widely used, this is all greed...
How is $4million, split between the many record companies and artists, a substantial amount? I don't agree with the levy, however, was it even doing much in support of the artists? Yes each little bit helps, but if the CPCC was serious about collecting lost profits on behalf of the artists and companies, they would at least have a bit more bite imo
do.what.promptcmds
No levy on IPods By ANGELA PACIENZA TORONTO (CP) - The fight over a levy on IPods and other digital music devices ended Thursday when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear any further arguments on the matter. That means there will be no levy applied to digital audio recorders such as Apple's popular IPod and IPod Shuffle as well as other MP3 players like IRiver. "Obviously we're disappointed. We felt it was self-evident that those products are sold for the purpose of copying music," said David Basskin, of the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC), the non-profit agency which collects tariffs on behalf of musicians and record companies. The group had wanted the high court to overturn last year's Federal Court of Appeal decision which quashed the levy on the popular gadgets. The non-profit agency had been collecting the tariff - $2 for non-removable memory capacity of up to one GB, $15 for one to 10 GBs, $25 for more than 10 GB - since December 2003 through a tax built into the price of the devices. It stopped in December 2004 when the Federal Court overturned the policy at the urging of retailers and manufacturers such as Future Shop, Apple Canada and Dell Computer Corporation of Canada. The CPCC argued that since the new technology opened yet another avenue to make illegal copies of songs, a levy should be collected on behalf of music creators. The group said Thursday that approximately $4 million was collected between December 2003 and December 2004. The money is sitting in an account and will be returned to the importers and manufacturers of the products, said Basskin. The CPCC is an non-profit agency which collects and distributes tariffs on behalf of performers, songwriters, music producers and record companies. It also collects a levy on blank audio such as CDs and mini-discs.
There is an insane clown who stands on a podium in the middle of the computer room to make sure that all the code is extremely poor in quality. The clown holds his cock all the time for no reason.
Oh, he has his reasons.
So why in gods' names do we pay a levy on blank CDs, when blank CDs are MUCH more likely to be used for non-music purposes?
I hate politicians and special interest groups.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Since the link is down, here's another article.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Here's more info on what we pay in Canada: http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml Check out their proposed levies if you want a good laugh! I believe you pay similar levies on older recording media in the U.S. (like tapes), but the legislation regulating that hasn't been updated to cover newer storage mediums. Lots of countries have similar legislation.
Life, Liberty, Some Property, but not TOO much, Healthcare, French People, The Word "Eh", Maple Syrup, Mounties and now, I-PODs. Perhaps it is time to move north! Wait... French People... I'll bide my time.
"Digital Audio Tape (DAT) and micro-cassettes are not typically used by individuals for copying music for private use and, therefore, are not subject to a levy."
"Yes. Both "ordinary" CD-Rs and CD-RWs and their "Audio" counterparts can be used to copy music, and both are commonly used for this purpose. In fact, in volume terms, most CDs used to copy music are "ordinary" CD-Rs and CD-RWs (subject to a levy of 21), not "Audio" products (subject to a levy of 77)."
do.what.promptcmds
"The money is sitting in an account and will be returned to the importers and manufacturers of the products, said Basskin."
So what will happen to this money when it's returned to the likes of Apple, Dell, Rio et al? Will it actually be returned to the customers who were screwed into paying the levy or will they just pocket it?
And why would I want him on my iPod anyway?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Let me first state that I am against DRM as much as the next guy .. But I wish to compare Apples to Microsofts here ...
.. but the whole thing helps Apple keep it's monopoly position without worrying about iPod clones (competing mp3 players arent legally allowed to play protected songs bought off iTunes). Also, if you wish to sell music online ..unless you are prepared to make it mp3 and have no DRM .. you have to sell it through iTunes .. and they will take a chunk of the profit and/or tell you what to charge subject to whether they'll accept the song even.
.. anybody can add DRM to their song and sell it on the net (without having to use itunes as the middle man and give Apple a chunk of change). You can protect your music and sell it online on your own website or elsewhere.
..dunno the point of making this point that others have been trying to make for a while .. cause people who hate DRM will mod me down, and Apple folks will mod me down too.
Nobody can sell music DRM'd music that plays on the ipod. Yes, they can sell mp3's but these aren't protected. Yes I know DRM is crackable blah blah
With Microsoft DRM
I'm not saying M$FT did this out of goodness etc. They basically had no choice.
Anyway
If they wanted to just sell mp3s, how come many indy and local bands don't put their music up for sale online?
Maybe this is the final word on the matter, but I'm pretty sure these levies were ended months ago. Any mp3 player fanatic in Canada (such as I) probably noticed the significant reduction in prices.
You can now roughly predict the price of an Ipod in Canada by just taking it's US dollar price and doing the exchange rate. It used to be that it was much more expensive here.
This ruling also puts into doubt the legality of copying music to Ipods.
There is no such thing as fair use rights in Canada. The levy was designed to provide an exemption for copying of audio recordings (the ruling suggests this does not apply to Ipods).
Does this now imply that Ipod's are not covered under the private copying exemption?
...kind of makes you wonder if perhaps you got it wrong the first time when you put the levy on blank media, huh Parliment? Death to the CPCC and their outrageous greed.
----- sXe
Obviously you care, or else you wouldn't have posted here.
iRiver isn't an MP3 player, it's a company who happen to make MP3 players.
In Soviet Russia, fuck up shut YOU.
I find that, for the money, the iRiver is a much better player and has many more features. I have an iHP-140, and the things it has built-in that a standard 40GB iPod does not have are: A) Vorbis support - the best (in my audiophile and freedom-loving opinion) lossy format! http://vorbis.com/ MP3s distort the high and low end a *lot*. Makes songs sound awful. But everyone loves .mp3 for some reason... weird.
B) FM tuner - Not that I *listen* to the radio
C) Built in recording support as either .wav or .mp3 - and the ability to use an external mike.
D) Shows up as a USB Mass-storage device on every operating system - so you don't need any crappy proprietary software to get access to *your* data! Besides, you have music players and jukeboxes on your machine already, right?
E) Long battery life - mine lasts 13 - 16 hours playing 256K vorbis files, after owning it for more than a year.
F?) Not sure if iPod has this, but optical output as well as analog. Awesome sound quality.
G) Other codec support - .wav, .wma, .ogg, .mp3.
Check it out if you are thinking of buying a music player - http://www.iriveramerica.com/
Also check out the XClef, who's main feature is that it has a *lot* of storage space. The largest I have seen was 100GB. Disadvantage is that it is shaped like 1/2 of a brick.
http://xclef.com/pro03_e.htm This is the up to, apparently, 137GB model.
-Nick
My memory is really foggy on this, but when I was a teenager back in the late 1970's, I had heard that when you buy blank cassette tapes, you paid a one cent [tax|levy|fine] for each cassette. I asked my father (whom worked peripherally with recording studios) about this. He told me that you are paying "the industry" because they think you are going to pirate music with it.
I'm thinking that this is the same or similar situation happening now.
-Scott
My other sig is a Glock
eCommerceTime article
It sounds better as "In Soviet Russia, fuck up shuts YOU", heh I'm kind of liking that. Thanks man.
No Levy on iPods in Canada
I read that as Levis, ie pants.
I know Paris Hilton has some funky cases for her cell phone and such, but I didn't think an iPod had to have pants on too.
How about a thong for it?
Don't steal. The government hates competition.
Canada most certainly does have fair use exemptions to copyright. But regardless of that fact, the levy was designed as a way for corrupt scumbags to steal from consumers, it has nothing to do with fair use in any way.
3 9149
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/39129.html#rid-
I've read Canadians complaining that their courts were getting increasingly strange. Now I understand what they mean. There's no other way to make sense of this.
For what it's worth, I think all these levies are absurd. But if a tax exists, it should at least be fairly applied. As is, it's like apply sales tax to paperback books but not to hardbacks.
--Mike Perry, Seattle, Untangling Tolkien
Let's consider for a moment what would have happened if this levy passed. Quite simply: Free music for everyone!
Does this sound counterintuitive, or just nonsensical? Hear me out.
As a Canadian university student, I feel I have a pretty good idea of how the music-swapping scene looks in Canada. There's one group of people who happily share as much music online as they want; then, there's a second group of people who still buy CDs (either because they like the pretty package, or because they actually want to pay for the things they receive).
However, everyone I know in that second group (including myself, among many people) stopped purchasing audio CDs after the Canadian levy was placed on blank CD media -- after all, even though it was of grey legality, the prevailing thought was, "Hey, I'm already paying the music industry each time I purchase a blank CD, to compensate them for people downloading songs and putting them on blank CDs. By that token, it is my right, since I have paid this compensation, to go and download all the songs I want and put them on this CD."
This very line of thinking played a role in trials held against music sharers in Canada in early 2004 (they were all exonerated).
Since I no longer burn songs to audio CDs, but rather put them on iPods, I (and everyone I know in that "second group") have once again started purchasing music CDs in stores. However, were a levy to be placed on iPods, well...that exact same argument used for blank CDs could be applied to iPods. And you know that wouldn't make the industry very happy. I mean...40 GB iPod vs. an audio CD...heh.
Of course, now some audio CDs in stores include copy protection. I have yet to purchase one, but I assume this would make it impossible (or difficult) to get the songs onto my iPod from the CD. So, you can probably tell exactly what will happen with that "second group" as soon as this protection becomes more prevalent. The industry is so skilled at alienating its remaining customers (with what is an illegal practice in the first place, since under Canadian copyright law, to the best of my knowledge, you must be allowed to make a backup copy of any digital media you purchase).
Signed.... John Hancock etc etc
I don't like proprietary systems either, but to play devils advocate:
- Most MP3 players don't play DRM'd music at all
- competing players CAN legally play apple DRM'd music. You just can't legally un-DRM it in the US. The problem here is the law sucks.
- You aren't limitted to MP3 for non-DRM'd music on the iPod. It still plays non-DRM'd AAC.
If you sell music online, you have to expect that people will do one of the following:
a) not have a clue what DRM is or care and just work within the system provided (for example, iTunes/iPod)
b) hate DRM and not buy any DRM'd music
c) be annoyed by DRM limitations and crack it so they can excercise fair use
d) pirate it regardless
I suspect most of the people under "a)" would not own an iPod and use a music store other than iTunes anyway; but I could be wrong there.
----
All of whose base are belong to the what-now?
"Who the hell are they giving tariff royalties to from blank media? That's asinine. The CPCC are just like our RIAA, all a pack of crooks. If you want royalties to go to the Artists, than lower the damn price of the music your sell and people might actually buy a CD. Inflating the price of a CD to pay for the CPCC/ RIAA Rats, who claim to "protect" Artists is wrong! I'm curious how much of these collected tariffs actually makes its way back to the Artists."
/.ers love to bitch about their rights but then tranple over the rights of those they disagree with, and get modded up by other hypocrites.
People steal (yes copyright infringement is theft, don't bother with equivocating) music, and the only option the Canadian govt. gives music labels is this lame tariff on media. So music labels accept this as better than nothing, but they're the crooks? Give me a break.
Forcing someone to lower their prices under threat of theft if they don't is a vioation of indivdual rights.
Vote for Pedro
Mean old levy taught me to weep and moan, oh yeah
Mean old levy taught me to weep and moan, oh yeah
Thinkin bout my baby and our iPod at home
All last night, spat on the levy and moaned
All last night, spat on the levy and moaned
[song continues]
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Please shut up.
You're giving us a bad name.
If I can't smoke and swear I'm fucked.
Everything I've experienced when I go to Montreal is amazing. Montreal is a very relaxed / cultural / party city. People there are friendly, easy to talk to, don't take themselves serious. It's very similar to europe where it's more about slowing down to smell the roses then it is about working so hard that life passes you by.
The food is amazing! I don't get it. In the states everything is deep fried. Everyone is fat because all they eat is greasy food. The French in Canada created Poutine. French fries, cheese curds and gravy. It's a heart attack in a single dish, and it is just so amaizingly tasty. It's what every Mc Donald's eating american dreams for. I think French food alone would make people fall in love with them.
Last but not least is the French women. They are very beautifull, and with cities like Montreal where the people are very relaxed, the women too are very friendly and aproachable.
Overall, they are great.
Treat me like a marketing stat, and I'll treat your movie like a series of ones and zeros
As a musician, and member of a musical band, I would say that I encourage "free music". Our CDs aren't sold that much, as we did not sign any contract with big label corporations such as Sony Music. We do not make our profits from the CDs we sell directly but more on the shows and materials we sell there such as t-shirts. We even intentionally share our music over the internet! As a result, we get to make more shows and the t-shirts sells more. Long live the MP3! Long live Free music! :)
Hey it sucks to have the levy on optical media (How in the world did this pass in the first place I don't know) but it has essentially legalized downloading of music. See, I bought these blank CD's with taxes on it specifically because they need to make up for the lost revenue of 'real' cd's not bought, now why in the world would I pay double the CPCC tax and buy the proper album.
If I want to support the artists directly I buy their stuff at a show.
For god sake don't go and mod such an ignorant statement as informative, the guy blatantly assume stuff and judges others on it. Lemme set thing straight a bit:
-All the money they get trough the Levy is splitted proportionnally amongst all artist who received royalties during the year.
-The idea comes from the fact that most popular artist get pirated more often and indeed that's true, while the obscure ones don't get pirated much.
-The system isn't perfect but it's the artists who receives the money comming from the Levy, it is directly proportionnal to the royalties they initialy generated.
-Before you draw doubtfull conclusions again: the various types of royalties are all taken into account here, royalties for public diffusion, mechanical reproduction and the grand rights. So when some artist play more on radio or in live events then they sell record they also get royalties from the levy proportionnally to what they generate.
I am agaisnt that levy big time since I never have copied music on blank cds, if I did it was my music that I composed, I use cd-rs to backup or transfer files hence I have ammassed enough copyrights to download almost all I want but it doesnt work this way. If you don't use your levy it's gone. I am not against it because this money goes into some big scary abusive organisation like you claim but because it is an abuse it itself. It isn't managed abusively though...
check your facts before spitting venom...
As there is on blank CDs, DVDs, and minidiscs.
Now what's also absurd is that the money collected is distributed only to Canadian artists, so, sorry Britney, this tax is not for you eh?
/ Library/Computers/cd_levy.htm
How did this get passed? Ask Sheila Copps why on earth she passed this assinine "guilty so pay up" levy.
Here's an update from London Drugs in Canada on the Levy:
http://www.londondrugs.com/Cultures/en-US/Content
Bavarian Purity Law of Rice Krispie Squares: Rice Krispies, Marshmallows, Butter, Vanilla.
Good work Canadian supreme court.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
>> Dude man, the French in Canada are the best!
You're obviously not talking about Quebec City
Montreal is a paradise, yes... but Quebec City balances it out
If I can't smoke and swear I'm fucked.
he levy was designed to provide an exemption for copying of audio recordings
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! The levy doesn't affect any laws. Laws are made separately and the Canadian Copyright Act was made BEFORE the levies were imposed.
"competing players CAN legally play apple DRM'd music."
This is news to me. I am aware of a few audio players that support AAC without DRM...in fact the fine print for those products say "will play AAC, but not AAC files purchased from iTunes Music Store"
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
The tax is not about piracy; it is about good taste. If you can prove you have not used your blank media to record Alanis Morissette, Celine Dion, Bryan Adams or Geddy Lee, you can recoup the extra charges.
Hilarious!!
It's not really free music, if you've paid for it :) lol... anyway you know what i mean
replacing it with NEW Folger's Crystals! (lets see if they notice the difference)
They should put a tax on listening to music. After all, Mozart could reproduce any piece of music after listening to it only once, obviously he'd be a cp infringer in these days.
Hey hey mamma, said the way you be,
Gonna take your iPod, play my M.P.3....
[Self-indulgent guitar solo...]
Old people fall. Young people spring. Rich people summer and winter.
Celine Dion.
Now I need to go bleach my brain, as simply mentioning her name has caused that horrific "Titantic" song to lodge itself in my brain once more.
If the damn easterners vote in another corrupt liberal gov't after this last fiasco, Alberta will separate. We don't need Canada for anything. We have NO DEBT, billions in the bank, good healthcare and people that want to work. /rant ... damn french..
We always have a french prime minister
I wasn't aware that McDonald, Borden, Pearson, and Mackenzie King were French...
C'est beau. C'est pas comme si on te voulait ici de toute façon.
In case you're too lazy for babelfish, he/she said that it was pretty up there, and they didn't want you in Canada anyway.
Luke
----
Tired of answering basic computer questions for people? Send them to ChristianNerds.com instead!
Did someone say Free Music?
All songs are RIAA free as far as I can tell. In short, I've already got the free music. The 'industry' hopes I haven't found it yet, so they'll trot out Shitney Beers or some other jailbait teen with more T&A than talent hoping I'll bite. The special interest groups can go f' themselves as far as I'm concerned. I don't buy, listen, or even want any of their crap, so they'd best keep their grubby hands out of my pockets.
...the more they change.
Back when this battle was fought over VCRs and casette tapes, the eventual conclusion was levys and then the matter was settled.
I think, however, that this time around, the companies and corporations have enough influence, a greater hold on the justice system, that consumers won't get the same deal they did before. The slow warping over time of copyright laws shows this trend quite clearly, methinks.
The argument, of course, is that this digital stuff is somehow different; in reality, it's only more effective at distribution, the fundamentals of being able to copy, etc are still the same, and the fact that (with the exception of Canada, for the moment) the issue is not being resolved the same way it was in previous technological iterations, well, that's a sign of the times a changin'.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
So where is the refund for my iPod, iPod Shuffle, and the multiple CD-R's and DVD-R's that I've bought over the last few years. And no I didn't write copyrighted material that I didn't pay for to this media. Yes, some people still backup their data once in a while. So, Government of Canada, where is my refund...maybe I can charge interest and penalties on the outstanding amount just like when I owe them money...
What rights did I acquire through my purchase of an MP3 player w/levy? How can music distributers apply DRM to limit my ability to obtain music for which I have already paid such a license? I am only going to pay for something once.
They represent less than 25% of the population but somehow every damn government we get seems to pander to them and pay them off.
From a statistical point of view, that's already better than pandering to the 9.9% of the population that is Alberta .
They are a have-not province. That alone is ridiculous. That means basically that they're a fcking welfare state, that makes our laws, takes our money and shits on our flag.
Now don't you get too american on us.
You can't get any government job of note without being bi-lingual which is BLATANT DISCRIMINATION!
Well, this worlks both ways. In Quebec, you also have to be bilingual to get a federal job of note even though the anglo population is small. But your frustation is understandable.
We shoulda shipped them back to france over a 100 years ago.
Like when Alberta did not even exist yet?
America got that part right. Speak english or get out.
I don't remember the americans doing that. You just get assimilated into the great melting pot although language laws have been creeping up in the last decades. The British did deport 10 to 12 thousand acadians between 1755-1762.
If the damn easterners vote in another corrupt liberal gov't after this last fiasco, Alberta will separate.
Quebec has been voting Bloc for the last ten years or so. You can't blame us for voting in the liberal government for that last decade. The Rest of Canada has been doing a great job at that without our help. It's not as if we liked Chrétien anyway.
We don't need Canada for anything. We have NO DEBT, billions in the bank, good healthcare and people that want to work.
And none of that is of your doing. I wonder how rich was Alberta before they started investing in the oil fields after the 1947 discovery of oil in Leduc (a french name by the way). Only because you're sitting on an oil field doesn't make you any better at administration or government (see the Middle East, not that i'm comparing Alberta to Saudi Arabia). Give me a pile of cash from oil and i'll make my province the richest.
damn french
You're funny.
I won't say i'm the best or portray that role, but i'm up to top two and my father's getting old.
From the original post: That means there will be no levy applied to digital audio recorders such as Apple's popular iPod and iPod Shuffle as well as other MP3 players like iRiver.
I thought most people on /. don't RTFA but obviously this guy doesn't even read the f'n overview of the article. It says SUCH AS...and names iRiver and acknowledges that there are other MP3 players. Also, Bill's lackey, maybe you should check your facts iPod is the market leader...
More info on the various Canadian tariffs is available here.
The bits on the bus go on and off... on and off... on and off...
Just kidding...
I think, therefore I am...I think.
Learn a little economics. It doesn't matter who you charge the tax/levy to, the end result is the same. The consumer will pay a portion, and the producer will pay a portion. Charge Apple and they'll just raise their prices. Charge the consumer and they'll just buy less.
No Levy? Poor guy, I didn't even know he had an album out, let alone be barred from iPods.
Unix is mysterious, and ancient, and strong. It's made of cast iron and the bones of heroic programmers of old -
I see a lot of misinformation here about the levy and private copying in Canada.
Let's set the record straight: private copying of music in Canada is legal, and the levy still applies to CD-Rs and cassette tapes.
For more info and links, see this previous blog post: It's Not Illegal if the Law Says You Can Do It
We don't need Canada for anything. We have NO DEBT, billions in the bank, good healthcare and people that want to work.
Then why do you rednecks show up every time there is a drought with your fucking hands out looking for money? What was with all the support that was needed when you started shipping BSE infected cattle to the US? What about the farmers who will show up this fall looking for money because of too much rain? If you are so well positioned, then why not have the oil and gas companies take care of the farmers? Oh, right, because most of those companies are American companies, who don't give a shit about you either. They will employ you, but they don't give a crap about you as a people, or as a province. The day the last barrel of oil is pumped, your going to be just as have not as Quebec.
Of course you don't need the rest of Canada. Now. But when your province was just endless miles of nothing the Feds populated your province. When the only way to get anywhere was to get on your horse and ride for two days, you didn't complain when Crown Corps came in and built a transport system for you, your cattle, and your grain. You don't seem to mind the RCMP doing almost ALL of your policing. You don't seem to mind Petro Can spending piles to develop the oil sands (among others, I know). You have no problem with the HUGE amounts of money being spent in your province on millitary bases, and the communities that they support (remember, its Canada, we have NO shortage of open, unpopulated areas that could be used instead). You don't seem to mind the Feds picking up the tabs on the National Parks, how much money does that generate for Alberta (hint: every dollar generated in Jasper and Banff, along with the vast majority of tourism dollars that get spent in Calgary and Edmonton)?
I'm not a big fan of sepratists, and I don't give a shit if they are Quebecers, Alberta rednecks, or left coasters. Keep in mind, there are cities in the east with larger populations than your whole province. It is not Easterners who keep putting these people in power, it is the MAJORITY of Canadians. Some from the East, some from the west. Don't complain because your provincial population is less than the city of Toronto (3 million vs 4.5 million). Its not my fault.
Oh, and your "damn french" comment. Look at your population, retard. Those "damn french" are some of your earliest Albertans. I know because some of my family members immigrated to alberta in 1911 from, ready for it, France. Look at a map genius, notice all those French names? Why the fuck do you suppose that is? Just because you pronounce it LeDuck, doesn't mean it wasn't settled by the French. Here is a hint for you, any lake called "Lac" something, is French. Any town with a "Le" is French. Any town that is "Grand" anything, also French.
If your going to rant, at least take the time to study up on your own province. It helps to keep you from looking like an uneducated cowboy, who only stops fucking his livestock long enough to post stupid comments on topics that you know very little about.
Oh, and I have lived in Alberta, so you can delete your reply that calls me a Liberal Easterner. I have met many ignorant turds like yourself in Alberta, and most of them have nothing to contribute, to the province, or the country. Thankfully, I have met many more Albertans who actually get it. Its thanks to them that Alberta has such a massive tourist industry.
Millions of iPod purchasers cared enough to buy them. You're not going to get the help you need if you don't keep taking your medication. You don't have to stay drunk, angry and alone your entire life.
Yup, it makes no sense at all. Most obviously, there's a bizarre assumption of guilt in collecting levies on all blank media.
Not really. It's just a new spin on the age old practice of public arts funding.
The has always spend huge amounts of taxpayers money to promote the arts, in all sorts of ways. This is just one giveaway to artists and their handlers. At least this one comes bundled with the freedom to copy music, at least for the time being. When the copyright legislation before the House passes, that freedom will evaporate, too.
It's a direct handout to the arts community; in this case, musicians. Don't mistake for anything different. It's government as usual.
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AC
Since 1999 all this money has been pooling in the coffers of the CPCC. To date, the organization has collected over $87 million dollars. Now, you'd think that would be quite a boon to Canada's 4,500 performers, composers and lyricists. That comes to about $20,000 per artist.
... but more likely than not, less than that. Probably nothing at all.
Wow. Seems like a good time to be a performing artist in Canada... or so you'd think.
First, CPCC has their operating expenses. After all, they have to continually lobby the government to increase those levies, investigate and take to court anyone who may have avoided the levy. Oh - and don't forget the salaries of the CPCC staff and PR firm. That's $9 million. Oh - and up until this last year, CPCC didn't really know how it was going to distribute all this money that it's been holding on to. So of the cash collected, only $28 million has actually been paid out.
But still. That's like, $6000 per artist. Not bad. Not bad at all. Except...
CPCC doesn't actually pay the money to artists directly, but instead routes the money through about a dozen artist collectives. Now, of course, each of these organizations have their own costs and expenditures. SOCAN - just one of the organizations involved - lists their overhead as being about 18%. So of the $28 million that actually has made it out into the hands of these collectives, you can say farewell to another $5 million.
Okay - so $5000 will still reach our plucky little Musician. However...
The music publishers and record companies, being listed as the copyright owners of much of the music get their cut first. Their take amounts to about 75% - or another $17 million.
And before you say 'ah, but that leaves $1,000 in the hands of our Musician', I should point out that the way these organizations distribute royalties is based, not upon actual performances but on a survey of radio and television stations. Because, what people are burning to CDs and copying to their MP3 players is -of course- directly reflected by what's playing on the radio. In all likelihood, the majority of the funds are going to
So of the $87 million that's been paid in levies for media, about $14 million has gone to bureaucrats, lawyers and office workers, $17 million to Sony, EMI, Universal, Warner and BMG. The majority of the remaining $5 million will be split between a dozen or so big names, like Alanis Morissette, the Barenaked Ladies, and Celine Dion, leaving our plucky Musician with a princely sum of $112
Seems like a good time to be a bureaucrat, a lawyer or a music exec.
I believe most are doing option "D" now.
:D
.nes for nintendo games, .smc & .fig for super nintendo games, .gb for gameboy games (all without drm if you can find them online)
lol...
www.thepiratebay.org
www.torrentreactor.com
www.novatina.com
if yer already paying it up here in canada you might as well grab your copy.
mp3 will live forever! as will avi for movies,
they can make any shitty format they want but the smart people just won't use them. i've never known drm'd music because mp3 did it right the first time. why would i bother downloading a drm file (assuming i was paying for it...lmfao) when i can download an mp3 (legally) and not have the restrictions?
like....DUH!
it's gonna be all good untill the world police comes in and breaks up the party.
Step 1) rip the whole CD to an ISO file
- There's several programs that can do this. Go find one.
Step 2) Mount the ISO (mdaemon tools, alcohol 120% etc etc etc)
Step 3) Burn a copy a new CD
For extra points:
If they have two sessions on the disc only rip the second (music) session to the ISO.
and lastly..
My friend, who knew I was down because I'd just broken up with my girlfriend, purchased Robbie Williams 'Escapeology' for me.
GOD DAMN YOU MOTHER FUCKING ASSHOLES WHO PUT YOUR FILTHY NON-COPY PROTECTION CRAP ON THAT DISC - YOU RUIN THE DAMN MUSIC YOU FUCKWADS.
*cry*
Why I play the CD in my car it sometimes randomly jumps around and can crash (!!!) my panasonic CD player. You can hear the errors on the CD if you play it directly from a computer CD drive (the ones with earphone jack and sound controls on the front - eg - diamond ata).
*sob*
*sigh*
Oh, and one last thing:
My Robbie Williams 'Escapeology' CD has the Phillips 'CD' logo on it. It most certainly does not conform to the phillips standard.
Sorry about the rant. I really like that CD.
Just because it doesn't exist doesn't mean it can't be done.
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All of whose base are belong to the what-now?