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iPod May Become Next Fair-Use Battleground
jaredmauch writes "USA Today is reporting on a trend of selling iPods on eBay which are preloaded with music and movies. This raises interesting questions about the legality of the files, including those that offer seemingly legitimate services of transcoding DVDs for the iPod video (while selling you the DVD disc as well)." An example from the article: "A 60-gigabyte video iPod loaded with 11,800 songs, with a starting bid of $799. The iPod alone would cost about $400. 'I don't see how it's different than selling a used CD,' seller Steve Brinn, a Cincinnati pediatrician, wrote in an e-mail to USA TODAY. 'If the music industry asked me not to do it, I just wouldn't do it.'"
video rental places spend lots of money on a copy of a dvd, because they get a copy thats licensed for rental.
Sorry, that's not right. Video rental places (including mine) purchase DVDs from the likes of Engram entertainment at wholesale prices depending on quainty of purchase. They are the same as the ones you buy at Wally-world. First sale is the reason you can rent out tapes and DVDs. Back in the good ol days (1987) new release tapes would retail for $89 and I would buy them for $60 - $70. This may be what you are thinking about. Now everything is at the sell thru price of $19 to $25 retail so cost is around $14 to $18. Blockbuster once had a deal with the studios for a pay per rental scheme but I don't know if the still do or not.