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Two US States Restrict Used CD Sales
DrBenway sends us to Ars Technica for a report that Florida and Utah have placed draconian restrictions on the sale of used music CDs; Wisconsin and Rhode Island may soon follow suit. In Florida, stores have to hold on to CDs for 30 days before they can sell them — for store credit only, not cash. Quoting: "No, you won't spend any time in jail, but you'll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes copies of all of your identifying information and even collects your fingerprints. Such is the state of affairs in Florida, which now has the dubious distinction of being so anal about the sale of used music CDs that record shops there are starting to get out of the business of dealing with used content because they don't want to pay a $10,000 bond for the 'right' to treat their customers like criminals."
So much for buying used CDs from some dude at a garage sale. Is the MAFIAA going to go after garage sales, too? Where does the witch hunt end?
The article says "The Federal Trade Commission has scrutinized the music industry for putting unfair pressures on retailers who sell used CDs"... This seems to me to be similar unfair pressure, but this time it's coming from state governments. Is this sort of law even enforceable?
until the fascists outlaw that. I swear, I have long been a proponent of paying for my music. There are several out of print titles I've paid top dollar for on ebay and in the used section of the local record store. But if this shit becomes the norm, I'll start downloading everything for free, lawsuits be damned. Fuck these sons-of-bitches.
Garth Brooks was pushing royalties for used CD sales way back when I had a shop that sold used CDs. This is right before he quit doing shit, so I guess he was just wanting some extra royalties on his old stuff. I thought it was a money grab then, and it is now.
Since I have always only bought used CDs, I guess now I will need to start downloading and burning all my music instead. No way I'm paying $20 for 2 good songs, and I don't want an ipod.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
You would think this would get some attention, but the whole reason the music industry gets away with these ridiculous laws is because nobody is paying attention. Besides, why would we trust the media to tell us about something like this? They probably have the same owners as the record companies.
And yet you can still buy a firearm at a gun show in Florida with no background check, and police must destroy records on gun sales within 48 hours and are prohibited from maintaining gun sale records that could be used for gun tracing and criminal investigations.
What THE HELL is wrong with this country???
I lived in Utah for 2 years and it's a very nice place. Far from a hellhole. Now the PEOPLE on the other hand....
"...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."
I haven't actually put a commercial CD into a drive in a year or more, and all the ones I still own are long since ripped. I was thinking about selling all my CDs, but then my ripped copies would be illegal, and I'm one of those weirdoes who actually likes to pay fairly for what they have. So what do I do if I don't want the clutter? Throw them all into a landfill?
It seems like the days of the used CD store are almost gone anyway. Despite the DRM politics, it's awfully convenient to buy online. And with CDs so easy to rip and resell, used CD stores are little more than rent-to-steal shops these days.
E pluribus unum
Now this debate can happen all over again.
For the record, I was buying back CDs at a used record store in Washington State in the early nineties. We required photo ID. We wrote the information on your photo ID in a Big Scary Book. After we bought your CDs, we held on to them for 30 days. Then, after 30 days, we typically sold them. And it was no big deal. Didn't hurt business, didn't scare customers. Didn't have a damn thing to do with filesharing (I don't believe the original Napster existed yet). We caught a decent number of CD thieves by matching sales of odd CDs to lists of stolen CDs. It worked to everyone's benefit except maybe the thieves.
By the way, it's Really Freaking Obvious when someone's selling stolen goods. Seriously. We're checking the lists of stolen CDs before they even walk out the door. Thieves are idiots, and not subtle idiots either.
These laws are similar. They include a fingerprint provision presumably to combat fake ID's. I think that bit is unneccessary and odious (because, in my experience, we were able to catch all of our fake-ID-using thieves because they kept coming back). It requires a business permit. Sigh, whatever. It requires trading for store credit rather than cash. That's stupid--people selling their old CDs hardly ever want store credit, even if the value of that store credit is more than the cash. Reason? People sell their old CDs with "I'll finally dump these old CDs" on their mind. Buying new CDs is typically not what they want to do. We offered trade or cash to people, and most chose cash.
So it's basically a dumber version of a law that has existed for over a decade in my state. Big freakin' deal.
All kinds of things get fenced. By the same logic, we should ban selling any used goods. That used VCR you just bought, why that could be the proceeds of a crime.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I was gonna say that I lived in Toronto, where there are also used CD stores everywhere, then feel all cocky about it ... then I remembered the Canadian government is charging a levy on blank CDs. Sigh.
Really. Who the hell signed the deal on this???
Anti consumer, anti business. Pro RIAA.
I guess Craigslist will get a surge for CD sellers/buyers in those states for the time being.
Once they criminialze your average Joe from selling used CDs person-to-person like it's a controlled substance, the pitchforks and torches will come out.
if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
Just listen to local LIVE bands. If what's on the radio & CD's sucks, do something else entirely! Do your own thing! THINK for yourself!
What exactly are you getting at here? A used record is just a used record. You can buy a Britney Spears CD today and sell it tomorrow as used. It's not your right to be entertained. If you don't enjoy something anymore, don't use or pay for it anymore! It doesn't give you a right to steal it!
But we are talking about buying real CDs, are we not? With your reasoning, would it also be illegal to give away CDs that you have already purchased? You don't have to be entertained constantly!!! Support your local artists directly!
Maybe your friends need it. I have no friend who needs 24/7 entertainment. Support my local artists? I listen mostly to radio music and don't give a shit about local artists. Why should I support them just because they create music? In that case, I want them to support me because I am a graphical artists. I demand that they buy my paintings.
The issue is not that we don't want artists to get paid. Quite frankly, there is a lot of great music that is not produced by "local bands" and I like diversity. I don't mind paying for it, but I refuse to sign a contract on what I may and may not do once I purchase a CD. If I have bought it, I want to be able to sell it to anyone I want without having anyone watching my back.
Full Tilt
While I fully admire your optimism, I think that, sadly, it will change nothing. Jimbo invented apathy.
The truth about Led Zep should never be told on
That doesn't make sense. How could there possibly be enough evidence to convict somebody of stealing them, but not any evidence that they were yours?
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Actually, if I was enterprising enough, and lived in the area, I'd open up a bunch of used CD stores just over the border in Georgia near the main Interstates, and advertise like crazy in Florida. "Selling your old CDs, but don't want to feel like a criminal? We'll make it worth your while to drive that extra mile!"
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
"They want your money"
Sounds better with no qualifiers.
bang goes my karma... again...
And the reason why we're just going to bend over and take it is the same reason why we're grabbing ankles for the DMCA: the politicians that make the laws were bought and paid for a long time ago and they aren't available for purchase in the aftermarket.