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RIAA Trying to Copy-Protect Radio
doctorfaustus writes "The EFF is reporting that "the RIAA has been pushing the FCC to impose a copy-protection mandate on the makers of next-generation digital radio receiver/recorders (think TiVo-for-radio)." According to Mike Godwin, "Never mind that digital audio broadcasting is not significantly greater in quality than regular, analog radio. Never mind that its music quality is vastly less than than that of audio CDs. In spite of these inconvenient facts, the RIAA is hoping that the transition to "digital audio broadcasting" will provide enough confusion and panic that they can persuade Congress or the FCC to impose some kind of copy-protection scheme or regulation on digital radio broadcast." "
In other news, the RIAA is pushing the FCC for copy-protection on vocal cords.
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shoot RIAA, and take them out of our misery.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
From Ronald Eagleye, our on the spot reporter, Fenwick Finster was apprehended while recording FM radio broadcasts on his digital video camera at the public swimming pool, after RIAA informers tipped off police. Finster claimed it was clearly a misunderstanding, though he refused to explain why he was in the women's locker room with the video camera under his trenchcoat.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I ran tens of thousands of dollars of radio ads this year for my retail stores (focused on 10-22 year olds). Few people heard them.
Why? Radio is dead or dying for most younger people. All my employees under 21 podcast or listen to playlists. The RIAA doesn't really have any idea what they're chasing. Putting a Band-Aid on a corpse is useless.
I'm not fan of music piracy (I used to run a warez pirate BBS 15 years back) anymore. Why? There is nothing worth pirating. The radio doesn't appeal to the market that likes that music. People used to go to concerts, too, but my last concert was $95/ticket for an fairly-unknown electronica band -- the crowd was thin.
Let them DRM everything valuable to them. I'm fine with it! I have no desire to bootleg what I can afford to buy if it pleases me enough. I'll continue to go to $8 Indie bar shows, buy the bands' $10 CDs and $10 T-shirts, and ignore my car radio. My house hasn't had a radio for 10 years.
As it gets harder for consumers to consume, they switch to something easier. I feel bad for record shops and radio ad sales people. The end is coming, but they don't see it.
As for quality, who cares? Radio-friendly music is already fidelity-free from excessive compression, gating, and over mastering. Even my MP3'd music is only 96k, my noise floor in the car and outside that I don't mind the loss of resolution.
Don't hate the RIAA, they're already not a concern. It's like hating VHS Macrovision.
killed the radio star.
But the RIAA is killing radio.
ClearChannel has the patent on this, by airing music not worth copying in the first place.
"My ears! The earmuffs do nothing!"
The recording industry has proposed that the FCC (1) prevent redistribution of recordings onto the Internet, removable media or to other devices; and (2) limit searching and automated copying such as by artist or song title so that individual recordings cannot be separated from surrounding content.
Good for them.
Vague solution, so are they saying that they want the recording to somehow STAY on the recording device? They must have some magick or something that will accomplish that! And that you cannot just record a song, without,say, recording the lead-in from the DJ and the commercial afterwards (surrounding content)?
They just don't get it. If people want your songs for free, they will get it. One way or another. Goddamnit, how long will it take them to realize this so I don't have to see the "**AA is trying to steal our rights again" versus "Our revenues (and even the hard working music store clerk too!!) are going to be devistated! Waaah!" get rehashed over and over and over.
And the sad thing is most of whats out there on commercial radio I wouldn't care about even if it was truly FREE from the get go.
Blah.
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
I just took a micro cassette recorder, and recorded myself farting onto a snare drum. I wonder how long it will be before the RIAA says that is copyright protected.
I know nothing
Well, yes, but those fair use priveleges exist by statute. (And they are privileges, not "rights".) Hence, the RIAA wants the statutes changed.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
The differences between analog and digital can seem numerous and great - especially if you get a couple thousand on the side from the people presenting these "facts" to you.
I got to the point a little while ago where I'm not completely blaming the RIAA etc for pushing stupid legislation but for the politicians in accepting it. If stupid legislation gets passed, we really only have a small group of people to blame.
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People who pay for digital radio arent the ones pirating material.
In fact, this is probably just gonna piss people off - I've heard of people who record digital radio, then put it onto their ipods in batches, so they can listen to new music all the time, and its portable.
The purpose of digital radio is to eliminate the need for owning so much music, and that means you dont need to pirate OR buy tons of music! The point of digital radio was to get decent quality, original material on an ongoing basis - its like Napster, only you dont have to do all the research (look for good bands) on your own - they do the work for you.
What they really need is portable digital radios! And bundle it in with another service, like cell-phones or cable TV!
Ok, I have no motivation whatsoever right now to adopt any new form of radio, and this further demotivates me.
These people keep thinking they can control everything that we think, do, or say. When the founders of the USA wrote the bill of rights and drafted our first laws, they had no intention whatsoever that they would be abused this way.
Software patents? Now I cannot program an application that is an interface for presenting and displaying playback information on a portable device because microsoft owns the patent? Come on. Lame.
Music? I'm sorry, but I have no realistic alternative to buying the CD if I want to listen to music. Radio sucks (ok, the commercials more than anything else), and I have no good reason to pay 99 cents for a song on iTunes. I, for one, like the pretty box.
I have no doubt that HDTV might have been pushed forth a lot sooner if anyone settled on a standard. Instead, they've been debating the different ways to present the media, and most recently the biggest qualm is with the feared broadcast flag. If it weren't for things like broadcast flag, I'm sure I could have been watching Sonic SatAM in HD 12 years ago.
Need another point? BluRay or HD-DVD? Nope. The biggest debate I've seen is piracy control. Encryption schemes, manufacturing processes, etc. The studios are leaning away from HD-DVD because they basically utilize the same technology as existing DVDs, but BluRay didn't have the must have CSS (Consumer Screwed Severely) version 2.0.
Bloody hell. Instead of promoting innovation, this system promotes stagnation. I for one, am sick and tired of it. And anyone who questions that... I'd like to point out that, while aural recording techniques have dramatically improved over the past 20 years, we're still using the same basic late 70s/early 80s tech to record most of the world's CDs. I know there's nothing wrong with the proven tech, but why do CDs still run $16 a pop?
Deja Vu
n. 1. The sensation that you've read this very article before.
My wife is a big country fan. She has gotten me hooked on one of our local radio stations. It is a small town station that is sometimes hard to pick up but it is well worth it.
They actually like music at that station!
Not only that but they are part of the community. They have a show called DialnDeal every morning where people call in to sell and buy stuff and they broadcast the local high school games football games.
Even the ads are not annoying. They are for local stores and they also seem like part of the community. Clear Channel is what is killing radio. The small town stations that are still independent can still be gems.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
To those who say "No one listened to my ad" as proof that no one listens to the radio, I have to ask when was the last time you actually listened to an ad? Radio tends to be background noise; I certainly don't make an effort to listen to an ad. Shoot, in the car I'll often quickly switch the station for the duration of the ads in my primary station (I find radio in the car much easier than swapping out CDs, XM receivers, or hooking up an iPod - besides, sometimes I enjoy listening to NPR).
Radio may have diminished since its heyday, but it's certainly far from dead.
Dear Sir / Madame,
It has come to our attention that you have illegality produced and recorded a reproduction of track 5 on the 2005 release "Brittany Spears Favorite Outtakes"
If you do not comply with the following within 48 hours, we will pursue legal action against you to seize all properly listed under your name and garnish your wages for damages.
Send all recordings to us.
Destroy the snare drum used in the creation of this track. Send us the remains.
Send us the micro cassette recorder.
Send us any and all hardware you possess capable of recording audio, video or still images in an analog or digital format.
Pay $30,000 in damages for each copy of the recording produced.
Pay an additional $90,000 in damages for each copy of the recording distributed by yourself or others.
Have a nice day.
The RIAA
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
All your bass are belong to us?
Had to be done.
Come on, you laughed!
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA