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Playing CDs a Privilege Not A Right

Brett writes "Tommi Kyyrä, of IFPI Finland has said that being able to play music on a Linux or Apple computer is a privilege not a right, and that those that can't because of DRM'd CDs should just go out and buy a CD player. Is switching the debate to rights and privileges really where they want to go when we're talking about something we pay for?" From the article: "If the public and 'their' politicians believe that the entertainment industry is on the verge of collapse, they'll be much more likely to accept restrictions on use of content that they've paid for. For this reason, most industry talking heads keep their comments in check when talking about DRM schemes, but from time to time we've seen people truly speak their mind."

9 of 661 comments (clear)

  1. DRM by trosenbl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, it's not inherently a right.

    I'm suprised the RIAA isn't charging 25 cents a song for DRM "enabled" music, and subsidizing the cost of DRM players. That'll encourage market penetration, and once they've got a certian portion of the market unable to play anything else, they will finally have their freedoms.

    Not like their employees (Congress) will do much to stop them, at least for a while.

  2. Fuck them by Cally · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, seriously, I mean it. Fuck them and their stinking business model that's based around parasiting off talent and screwing the pressure down on young artists to be as commercially successful as possible. BTW I speak as someone who worked at a music publisher for a couple of years. I thought I was pretty cynical when I started there, by the time I left I was a physical and emotional wreck (this was partly caused by my trying to live on 140 quid a week in Notting Hill Gate [expensive & flash area of West London] and partly by trying to reconcile their world view with my own and manage to build myself a career in the industry that didn't involve fucking artists over, lying, cheating, and generally behaving like a dick. (This was over ten years ago, by the way. )

    --
    "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
  3. Re:Funny, I was thinking something similar... by LewsTherinKinslayer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Given that when I pay for a CD, I'm paying for the music, not the plastic and mylar, can any RIAA person please explain to me why my position is any less valid than Tommi Kyyrä's?

    These companies obviously don't want my business as a linux or mac user, therefore they don't foresee any losses as a result of me just pirating their music now do they? After all, if I'm just listening to it on my computer, no on my home stereo or in my car, then they must not feel like they are missing out.

    /end broken logic.

    Seems justified to me.

  4. Re:Funny, I was thinking something similar... by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My purchased music folder on itunes has around 1000 songs in it, from a couple years of purchasing. (Damn one click downloading/buying combined with alcohol)
    Sometimes I feel like a sucker for paying when I could have just gotten the songs free, but usually I can justify it by saying at least the artist gets a penny or two of my 99 cents.
    Comments like this one about how if I buy the music I am "privledged" make me feel more like a sucker for paying for music. Seriously- free/stolen depending on your position have zero DRM.
    If I can't listen to a CD on my computer, or can't load it into iTunes, I am likely to say FUCK YOu to the RIAA and get it for free online. The RIAA needs to be very careful not to alienate paying customers.

    --
    And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
  5. Another aspect: Getting my money is a privilege by einhverfr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I used to buy a lot more music before the whole Napster thing. I don't buy much music today because I get an unpleasent feeling when I think about the fact that the RIAA is behind much of this. I still get indie music (mostly from folk singers who own their own record lables), but I buy a whole lot less music.

    Why should I feel guilty when I buy the latest Andrea Bocelli album? Isn't it better simply not to buy it?

    I don't pirate music either for the same reason. I would rather give mindshare to independant artists.

    So, most of the losses aren't due to piracy, they are due to people making a decision not to support the RIAA.

    Hello RIAA: Getting my money is a privilege, not a right. You are not entitled to get my money simply because you think that I should buy your product. I don't buy Microsoft software either for the same reason-- that they treat their customers as criminals for the simple reason that they use their product.

    --

    LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  6. Re:Funny, I was thinking something similar... by KUHurdler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was loaned a DVD of the movie "Hitch" from a neighbor last weekend. I tried to pop the movie into my xbox (XBMC rules!!!) to watch it. But for some reason it wouldn't play because of some type of DRM.

    Since my wife and I didn't want to sit at my computer to watch the whole movie, I ripped the movie to my hard drive and encoded an xvid video (AutoGK rules too!). We enjoyed watching the movie on my xbox, and now I have a copy I can watch again any time we feel like it.

    I enjoy the humor in the fact that I wouldn't have ripped a copy if there were no DRM to begin with.

    --
    Fix Your Own TV - RiddledTV.com Avoid the Landfill
  7. Re:Funny, I was thinking something similar... by acroyear · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things."

    -- Douglas Adams, personal quote (and nicely included in the Quintessential Phase radio shows)

    it fits, doesn't it? stereos were part of these men's natural order of things; cds were invented when they were under 35 so they got a career in it; mp3s were invented while they were fat old execs and therefore are against their particular natural order of things.

    i'm sure its evolutionarilly necessary for our survival as a species for such short-sightedness to reign in the long run, but in the short run, it simply pisses me off.

    oh, by the way, i'm 35 as of saturday. so nobody better go invent anything, ok?

    --
    "But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
    -- Joe
  8. Re:Funny, I was thinking something similar... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's sad that so many of us think that we can't make a difference right now in the way our politicians think. You want clout? Go to your next party caucus meeting with 10-15 of your friends (all from the same neighborhood). Even with only that many people you're likely to be able to vote all of your friends in as convention delegates, precinct officers, etc. Suddenly your small group of friends represent 1000s of votes from your neighborhood at convention, and that's a big chunk of a US Congressman's constituency. He or she will be much more interested in what you have to say.

    Of course, this applies to US states that use the caucus/convention system, but representative democracy everywhere starts with just a handful of votes.

  9. Re:Funny, I was thinking something similar... by 0biter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    indeed. if their modus operandi is so overwhelmed by notions of "property" (the art of exclusion) rather than "culture" (the art of communication), i think they need to stop and think of the following truths that are no longer as self-evident as they ought to be:

    (1) music and culture existed before corporations;
    (2) no one actually needs a corporation to make music;
    (3) no one actually needs a corporation to promote their music anymore;
    (4) no one actually needs a corporation to distribute their music globally anymore;
    (5) i don't need a corporation to tell me what music i like, or which is good.

    Seems more likely to me that the corporate mouthpiece's insulting and condescending *existence* is a privlege, and not a right...