I thought it was a little late in the year for an April fools joke!
Seriously, though, it's times like these I'm glad I'm a Mac user. You poor schmoes who use Windoze are really in for something now. My girlfriend has already had a few of her MP3's "expire" on her Win -2K (negative sign, not hyphen). I'm sure M$ automatically applied a "security patch" that for some reason added a "feature" to make some MP3's unplayable.
Honestly though, how can they get away with that? I wish there was a computer hacker deterrant system like the car alarm in Robocop 2. (bad movie, like this one scene). Someone hacks into your computer, suddenly they are suck to their keyboard and a giant flame thrower cooks them up. Sounds like a good idea to me!
If they actually do this, I can almost guarantee that every hacker worth a penny will break into the RIAA to make sure they don't have one bit (pun intended) on their computer's HD. I don't think the gov't can prosecute thousands of hackers per day (although they would try). I'd say 90% of my MP3's are legit, that I ripped myself. The only one's I got off Napster (God rest it's soul) were ones that I didn't feel like paying $15 for one good song on a CD, or rare tracks, such as live performances.
I may not be an expert, but I don't think there is a way that they could tell which songs on my computer are legit and which aren't, unless they also break into my apartment and look through my CD collection. Correct me if I'm wrong on this (I'm sure you all will.
Also, before they go blaming file sharing services for the downfall of the music biz, why don't they first explain how the price of a CD hasn't gone down very much since the CD was first put to market 20 years ago, even though the cost of the medium has plummeted (they can thank the expanse of CD writers for that profit margin increasing tidbit).
Also, while they are at it, why don't they do a study to find out if people are not buying CD's simply because there is very very little good music coming out these days worth purchasing. I know of only 2 or 3 CD's that came out this year that I would even consider buying. All the rest just sound the same (Brittany Spears sound-alikes and Menudo/New Kid's on the Block wannabes).
I'm pissed off. Sorry about the rant, but this is just infuriating. They can take my MP3's out of my cold, dead hands. And good luck getting thorugh my firewall(s).
Last time I checked, VHS was an analog standard. How this legislation could apply to this is beyond me. Audio cassette tapes are also analog, so Congress can eat a big 'ol bag of crap if they think they can get away with moderating that under this bill.
My first reaction was to think to myself, "Gee, do you think that they could extend this to mean that I am no longer able to download video off of my DV camera to my computer, or dub the recording to VHS?" I'd like to think they'd NEVER do something like that, but judging by the wording of this proposed legislation, I certainly wouldn't put it by them.
Anyone else think they'd do that? They are already basically making it illegal for me to put music I've personally made in Acid on a CD that will play in any CD player (especially once all CD's will require a digital signature crap).
Long live communism, I guess.
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I thought it was a little late in the year for an April fools joke!
Seriously, though, it's times like these I'm glad I'm a Mac user. You poor schmoes who use Windoze are really in for something now. My girlfriend has already had a few of her MP3's "expire" on her Win -2K (negative sign, not hyphen). I'm sure M$ automatically applied a "security patch" that for some reason added a "feature" to make some MP3's unplayable.
Honestly though, how can they get away with that? I wish there was a computer hacker deterrant system like the car alarm in Robocop 2. (bad movie, like this one scene). Someone hacks into your computer, suddenly they are suck to their keyboard and a giant flame thrower cooks them up. Sounds like a good idea to me!
If they actually do this, I can almost guarantee that every hacker worth a penny will break into the RIAA to make sure they don't have one bit (pun intended) on their computer's HD. I don't think the gov't can prosecute thousands of hackers per day (although they would try). I'd say 90% of my MP3's are legit, that I ripped myself. The only one's I got off Napster (God rest it's soul) were ones that I didn't feel like paying $15 for one good song on a CD, or rare tracks, such as live performances.
I may not be an expert, but I don't think there is a way that they could tell which songs on my computer are legit and which aren't, unless they also break into my apartment and look through my CD collection. Correct me if I'm wrong on this (I'm sure you all will.
Also, before they go blaming file sharing services for the downfall of the music biz, why don't they first explain how the price of a CD hasn't gone down very much since the CD was first put to market 20 years ago, even though the cost of the medium has plummeted (they can thank the expanse of CD writers for that profit margin increasing tidbit).
Also, while they are at it, why don't they do a study to find out if people are not buying CD's simply because there is very very little good music coming out these days worth purchasing. I know of only 2 or 3 CD's that came out this year that I would even consider buying. All the rest just sound the same (Brittany Spears sound-alikes and Menudo/New Kid's on the Block wannabes).
I'm pissed off. Sorry about the rant, but this is just infuriating. They can take my MP3's out of my cold, dead hands. And good luck getting thorugh my firewall(s).
Last time I checked, VHS was an analog standard. How this legislation could apply to this is beyond me. Audio cassette tapes are also analog, so Congress can eat a big 'ol bag of crap if they think they can get away with moderating that under this bill.
My first reaction was to think to myself, "Gee, do you think that they could extend this to mean that I am no longer able to download video off of my DV camera to my computer, or dub the recording to VHS?" I'd like to think they'd NEVER do something like that, but judging by the wording of this proposed legislation, I certainly wouldn't put it by them. Anyone else think they'd do that? They are already basically making it illegal for me to put music I've personally made in Acid on a CD that will play in any CD player (especially once all CD's will require a digital signature crap). Long live communism, I guess.