I hope they burned their MP3s to CD-R before wiping their hard drives! People are clearly afraid of the RIAA, but is terrorizing prospective customers the way to get them to buy from you? I don't think so.
Don't buy CDs.
Now that HDTV is going to be saddled with DRM, I won't buy one. I suspect they will have a lot more trouble moving the merchandise now. Ask customers what we want, and sell it to us. Don't tell us what we can have, and still expect us to open our wallets. We won't.
Sadly, album art died with the LP. The cover of a CD is just too small a canvass. I miss it, too.
Back in the day, cover art gave you something tangible that a home tape never could. That is why home-taping never harmed the recording industry in spite of what they claimed. Their "piracy" nonsense over MP3 and CD-R are the same old refrain. It was about more than the sound. In fact, sound quality was hardly a concern, it was Rock and Roll, not symphonies!
When Columbia House stopped offering LPs in either 1989 or 1990, and told me I could have cassettes for the same price, or CDs for twice as much, (even though they probably already cost less to produce) I cancelled my membership.
For an example, look at Led Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy. A 2x2 miniature of the front cover on a cassette, or a 5 inch one on a CD was worth no more than a home tape made on the cheapest blanks the store down the road carried.
I am surprised so many people are willing to pay to download music when they are already paying an ISP to use the internet. I view music on the net as the new radio. I don't shell out 99 cents per song to hear the radio, and won't online either.
As for DRM; I can't abide it in any form. DRM is a seller's refusal to let go of something that isn't his any more. If I buy something such as a CD, It becomes my personal property. I decide how to use it. The seller loses the right to tell me how to use it once money has changed hands.
I suspect that only one pay-for-play service will survive in the end. Since I-tunes got there first, they will probably be the one.
Have you tried Pest Patrol. It has never failed me when I want to remove spyware crap for my father, or other non-techies who ask me for help. Tweaking The winsock registry keys might work for you or me, but not for them, and they are always asking for help.
"Robots are being bought and sold like inanimate objects. That sounds like slavery! It's high time we extend human rights to robots. After all, robots are people, too." - William Smythe
Strange, I don't see them going after the counterfeit disc dealers at flea markets, or on street corners. They are only trying to kill the new radio, file trading. Why? Because it is a new thing they don't control. The horse-and-buggy industry tried to kill the automobile industry too. It didn't work! Buh-bye RIAA. Enjoy the dustbin of history!
Soon, only historians will even know what the public domain was. They don't need to violate the constitution to create perpetual copyright. They can pass another extention every 20 years, and the U.S. Supreme Court won't do anything about it. If I can't express an idea that has been expressed before without getting permission and possibly paying a fee, then I don't have freedom of speech. So much for the First Amendment. Copyright,the new censorship, has trumped it.
There are more things wrong with the pledge than just the "under God" line. For starters, it's a loyalty oath. Free societies don't require their citizens to swear loylaty oaths. That is something despots do. The pledge began after the civil was to force former confederates to swear loyalty to one nation indivisible, rather than a voluntary confederation of sovereign states which may secede if they choose to. "Under God" was added during the cold war as an anti Soviet Union political statement.
Some religious believers, not just atheists, have a problem with the pledge. You must turn and face a symbol, put your hand over your heart, and swear an oath to it. That is idolatry. Also, swearing any oath is banned in the New Testament. Check out Matthew 5:34 and James 5:12
One of the duties of a free society is to respect the rights of minorities, otherwise Democracy is just two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for lunch. Compulsory recitation of the pledge should be ended in schools.
You know where the shift key is? Don't show people who can't find it. That would be a crime under the DMCA. How about showing people where the "Any" key is? I hope that is O.K. because I just did.
Maybe you are right. P2P networks are like a radio stations in the past that took requests. They deliver what listeners want much more effectively that today's radio, which palys the same 40 songs ad nauseum. Radio and MTV dropped the ball, Napster picked it up.
Maybe, however, one or two paid P2P networks will be viable like satelite radio if they can guarantee that there are no viruses or spyware. (Kazaa is a cesspool of both.)
To get any customers, they will also have to abandon placing any restrictions on customers' property rights. Once a customer buys something, it becomes his or her personal property. The seller loses any right to tell customers what they can and can't do with their personal property once money has changed hands. This is simply how commerce works, and the recording industry needs to accept it. Until they do learn to repect customers, don't buy CDs.
Maybe you don't call them royalties, but they pay licensing fees to ASCAP and BMI for each song played, just as any venue with live music, a jukebox, or karaoke is required to do, and these funds are distrubuted to copyright holders.(Some bars don't pay, and hope not to get caught, but that's another discussion, and a long one.)
While these fees are a pittence compared to the payola radio recieves from promoters, they do exist. Either you misunderstood the article you read about webcasters, or someone who doesn't understand how it all works was directly quoted. Webcasters can't afford to pay the fees because they don't have the massive revenue streams of traditional broadcasters. That's why they were crying foul. I agree that webcasters are getting screwed, and I you make a valid point about payola, but you are wrong about radio not having to pay out royalties.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope they burned their MP3s to CD-R before wiping their hard drives! People are clearly afraid of the RIAA, but is terrorizing prospective customers the way to get them to buy from you? I don't think so. Don't buy CDs.
Now that HDTV is going to be saddled with DRM, I won't buy one. I suspect they will have a lot more trouble moving the merchandise now. Ask customers what we want, and sell it to us. Don't tell us what we can have, and still expect us to open our wallets. We won't.
Back in the day, cover art gave you something tangible that a home tape never could. That is why home-taping never harmed the recording industry in spite of what they claimed. Their "piracy" nonsense over MP3 and CD-R are the same old refrain. It was about more than the sound. In fact, sound quality was hardly a concern, it was Rock and Roll, not symphonies!
When Columbia House stopped offering LPs in either 1989 or 1990, and told me I could have cassettes for the same price, or CDs for twice as much, (even though they probably already cost less to produce) I cancelled my membership.
For an example, look at Led Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy. A 2x2 miniature of the front cover on a cassette, or a 5 inch one on a CD was worth no more than a home tape made on the cheapest blanks the store down the road carried.
As for DRM; I can't abide it in any form. DRM is a seller's refusal to let go of something that isn't his any more. If I buy something such as a CD, It becomes my personal property. I decide how to use it. The seller loses the right to tell me how to use it once money has changed hands.
I suspect that only one pay-for-play service will survive in the end. Since I-tunes got there first, they will probably be the one.
Does this mean the X-4000 Launch Aparatus will be scrapped too?
That did happen to a guy who used bottled pheromones. Don't laugh. It could happen!
You better hope that your identity is really protected by posting as an anonymous coward, because the Secret Service is already looking for you.
How about Whitehouse.org?
Have you tried Pest Patrol. It has never failed me when I want to remove spyware crap for my father, or other non-techies who ask me for help. Tweaking The winsock registry keys might work for you or me, but not for them, and they are always asking for help.
The "Wow" signal was actually harmful interference caused by the Zhti Ti Kofft test-firing their death ray.
They should have gone after the Air Force first. They secretly admit UFOs are real, and have pictures.
"Robots are being bought and sold like inanimate objects. That sounds like slavery! It's high time we extend human rights to robots. After all, robots are people, too." - William Smythe
Data, even more so than R2-D2 or C3PO is why Sci-Fi fanboys want human rights for robots.
Strange, I don't see them going after the counterfeit disc dealers at flea markets, or on street corners. They are only trying to kill the new radio, file trading. Why? Because it is a new thing they don't control. The horse-and-buggy industry tried to kill the automobile industry too. It didn't work! Buh-bye RIAA. Enjoy the dustbin of history!
Soon, only historians will even know what the public domain was. They don't need to violate the constitution to create perpetual copyright. They can pass another extention every 20 years, and the U.S. Supreme Court won't do anything about it. If I can't express an idea that has been expressed before without getting permission and possibly paying a fee, then I don't have freedom of speech. So much for the First Amendment. Copyright,the new censorship, has trumped it.
Some religious believers, not just atheists, have a problem with the pledge. You must turn and face a symbol, put your hand over your heart, and swear an oath to it. That is idolatry. Also, swearing any oath is banned in the New Testament. Check out Matthew 5:34 and James 5:12
One of the duties of a free society is to respect the rights of minorities, otherwise Democracy is just two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for lunch. Compulsory recitation of the pledge should be ended in schools.
Anyone stupid enough to buy Sunncomm stock probably is beyond help, but just in case they do want investment advice, Here is some.
You know where the shift key is? Don't show people who can't find it. That would be a crime under the DMCA. How about showing people where the "Any" key is? I hope that is O.K. because I just did.
Man vs. Machine chess is a hoax. Read more.
I love it! Publishing their number is better revenge than the Tom Mabe comedy tapes.
Charter forever. The RIAA never! Don't buy CDs.
Maybe, however, one or two paid P2P networks will be viable like satelite radio if they can guarantee that there are no viruses or spyware. (Kazaa is a cesspool of both.) To get any customers, they will also have to abandon placing any restrictions on customers' property rights. Once a customer buys something, it becomes his or her personal property. The seller loses any right to tell customers what they can and can't do with their personal property once money has changed hands. This is simply how commerce works, and the recording industry needs to accept it. Until they do learn to repect customers, don't buy CDs.
To hell with the RIAA. Don't Buy CDs
Maybe you don't call them royalties, but they pay licensing fees to ASCAP and BMI for each song played, just as any venue with live music, a jukebox, or karaoke is required to do, and these funds are distrubuted to copyright holders.(Some bars don't pay, and hope not to get caught, but that's another discussion, and a long one.)
While these fees are a pittence compared to the payola radio recieves from promoters, they do exist. Either you misunderstood the article you read about webcasters, or someone who doesn't understand how it all works was directly quoted. Webcasters can't afford to pay the fees because they don't have the massive revenue streams of traditional broadcasters. That's why they were crying foul. I agree that webcasters are getting screwed, and I you make a valid point about payola, but you are wrong about radio not having to pay out royalties.
Will she be talking about the RIAA's pay-for-play radio plan?