I strongly object to this one. As an avid music fan who usually buys tens of albums a year, there's a reason that I haven't bought any in 2003 and only 10 in 2002, quite frankly the product sucks.
The onset of manufactured music leaves me with nothing more to own. The Beatles or Floyd albums which I frequently buy now cost approximately 33% more than they did in 1999 (albeit according to my findings only).
I now purchase indie recordings, as well as artists that just aren't signed by the RIAA. Of those albums, 100% of the companies are not with the RIAA, they're all Israeli.
The point is simple, don't tax me for something I don't do. I won't pay a premium tax to download music, especially as one who never does and only *always* legally buys music.
That's an interesting tack. But you are quite right, if the RIAA had ignored these services, their promulgation would probably have been much slower. Albeit the problem would still exist.
But their problem is still that many people trade mp3s and have no intention of buying the music. While I purchase music if I like it and delete the mp3 if I don't, no one else that I know has similar morals. In fact, most download the cd rather than purchase it.
And while it is true that individual sales have gone up (yes I've read the Janis Ian articles), it's also true that sales for the industry on the whole have gone down. One can argue the reasons for this: precanned crappy acts (spicegirls.com) with no talent, crappy music, p2p, the economy, etc. But the end result is the same; sales are down, p2p is popular and it still amounts to theft.
And while I don't like or even condone how the RIAA operates, they have a simple stranglehold. Many, many artists that I love are on RIAA labels, and it's impracticle to boycott theses artists since they simply won't produce music without a paycheck. And for those of you who argue that filesharing has no effect on the artist, here's how you're quite wrong (purely annectdotal from a friend's band):
Sure they pay for the cost of cd production, sales, etc; and yes it does suck. But the record company pays for the tour, and arranges to a very nice split in profits if the album sells reasonable well. If the album doesn't sell well then there's no support from the record company. No support = no touring. So for those of you who would just go the the concert, you have to realize that a certain amount of album sales grease the wheels.
We can argue this until the cows come home, but there is basically one thing to remember. It doesn't matter how much you own or don't own, by copying the music, even if it's just dupping a friend's cd, you have committed a felony. In fact it's theft.
Arguing the fruitful/less ness of the law is something else, contact your local parliamentarian for that. We're not discussing how dumb or smart a law is, rather simply that it exists.
To make it far more black and white, what's being suggested is that existing laws be honoured and obeyed. If you purchase 100, 1000, or even 10000 chocolate bars from a given store, you still don't have the right to take those other than the ones you've purchased. Plain and simple.
I'm not sure why the website says that. I've happily used my SL5000d (that's right the developer model 5500) with Linux and only Linux. I sync using qtopia (when I care). I transfer files to my Z using either 802.11, usb, or the cf card.
You do not need windows to use this puppy.
The real answer isn't stow, it's gentoo. Sure you could spend time trying to manage packages. Or you could just use a distro that source compiles everything, manages your packages, and lets you write really simple scripts to contribute back. Of course maybe that's just why I run it.
Something Smarter Is Needed
on
Cornucopia of Spam
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Creating laws, regulations, and whatnot will come nowhere near solving the problems. Sure, if a spammer lives in the US then maybe this would work; but what about all these scams from Europe, Australia, Britain, etc. Just because laws exist in one jurisdication, it doesn't mean that others will play ball.
And even having laws does nothing if they're not enforced. Why not have a group of IT police hunt down spammers? After all, they're already guilty of theft and fraud (think bandwidth people). Why not prosecute under existing laws and treat spammers like the theives they are. Even though you won't catch spammers outside your legal jurisdicition, you'll help. And every country that helps would quickly be eliminating the spam problem we live with.
Privatizing things works very well, especially communications; the government just needs tighter controls over the privatized industry. Here in Canada we have just that.
First there's the Telephone Pole Act, basically it states that all telephone poles must be leasable by any communication provider, regardless of competition to Ma Bell. That alone has created a booming cable industry since pole costs were covered. It further helped expand communications infrastructure as Telus, and others were able to reasonably enter the market.
Beyond that we have the mandated position of extending broadband to every canadian by 2005 (I think it is). With regulations like this the government is both driving innovation and allowing for meaningful privatization.
Ah, the joys of Canada.
Slashdot Mirror
I now purchase indie recordings, as well as artists that just aren't signed by the RIAA. Of those albums, 100% of the companies are not with the RIAA, they're all Israeli.
The point is simple, don't tax me for something I don't do. I won't pay a premium tax to download music, especially as one who never does and only *always* legally buys music.
Phew: rant over =)
That's an interesting tack. But you are quite right, if the RIAA had ignored these services, their promulgation would probably have been much slower. Albeit the problem would still exist. But their problem is still that many people trade mp3s and have no intention of buying the music. While I purchase music if I like it and delete the mp3 if I don't, no one else that I know has similar morals. In fact, most download the cd rather than purchase it. And while it is true that individual sales have gone up (yes I've read the Janis Ian articles), it's also true that sales for the industry on the whole have gone down. One can argue the reasons for this: precanned crappy acts (spicegirls.com) with no talent, crappy music, p2p, the economy, etc. But the end result is the same; sales are down, p2p is popular and it still amounts to theft. And while I don't like or even condone how the RIAA operates, they have a simple stranglehold. Many, many artists that I love are on RIAA labels, and it's impracticle to boycott theses artists since they simply won't produce music without a paycheck. And for those of you who argue that filesharing has no effect on the artist, here's how you're quite wrong (purely annectdotal from a friend's band): Sure they pay for the cost of cd production, sales, etc; and yes it does suck. But the record company pays for the tour, and arranges to a very nice split in profits if the album sells reasonable well. If the album doesn't sell well then there's no support from the record company. No support = no touring. So for those of you who would just go the the concert, you have to realize that a certain amount of album sales grease the wheels.
We can argue this until the cows come home, but there is basically one thing to remember. It doesn't matter how much you own or don't own, by copying the music, even if it's just dupping a friend's cd, you have committed a felony. In fact it's theft. Arguing the fruitful/less ness of the law is something else, contact your local parliamentarian for that. We're not discussing how dumb or smart a law is, rather simply that it exists. To make it far more black and white, what's being suggested is that existing laws be honoured and obeyed. If you purchase 100, 1000, or even 10000 chocolate bars from a given store, you still don't have the right to take those other than the ones you've purchased. Plain and simple.
I'm not sure why the website says that. I've happily used my SL5000d (that's right the developer model 5500) with Linux and only Linux. I sync using qtopia (when I care). I transfer files to my Z using either 802.11, usb, or the cf card. You do not need windows to use this puppy.
The real answer isn't stow, it's gentoo. Sure you could spend time trying to manage packages. Or you could just use a distro that source compiles everything, manages your packages, and lets you write really simple scripts to contribute back. Of course maybe that's just why I run it.
Creating laws, regulations, and whatnot will come nowhere near solving the problems. Sure, if a spammer lives in the US then maybe this would work; but what about all these scams from Europe, Australia, Britain, etc. Just because laws exist in one jurisdication, it doesn't mean that others will play ball. And even having laws does nothing if they're not enforced. Why not have a group of IT police hunt down spammers? After all, they're already guilty of theft and fraud (think bandwidth people). Why not prosecute under existing laws and treat spammers like the theives they are. Even though you won't catch spammers outside your legal jurisdicition, you'll help. And every country that helps would quickly be eliminating the spam problem we live with.
Privatizing things works very well, especially communications; the government just needs tighter controls over the privatized industry. Here in Canada we have just that. First there's the Telephone Pole Act, basically it states that all telephone poles must be leasable by any communication provider, regardless of competition to Ma Bell. That alone has created a booming cable industry since pole costs were covered. It further helped expand communications infrastructure as Telus, and others were able to reasonably enter the market. Beyond that we have the mandated position of extending broadband to every canadian by 2005 (I think it is). With regulations like this the government is both driving innovation and allowing for meaningful privatization. Ah, the joys of Canada.