Oh boy, you obviously haven't taken any sort of class in economics. First of all, $20 for a CD is extortion to you. There are people out there who feel that $20 is a perfectly acceptable price point, and a fair trade for that CD. They're called customers. Its(sic) basic supply and demand. More to the point, while CD's are cheap in terms of reproduction and raw materials, you have to pay to develop the content which actually goes on that CD. Studios, artists, producers, advertisement, instruments, etc are not cheap.
Oh, boy, you took Econ 101, but didn't bother to pay attention to anything more than supply and demand. You appear to be confusing Fair Trade - the market price of a good or service in a market free of unfair constraints and Market Value - what a good or service actually sells for on the open market. By your logic if I held a gun to your head and asked for, and received, $1,000 for sparing your life, $1,000 would be the Fair Trade value of your life because we made the deal. Clearly your misunderstanding of Fair Trade does not take into account what is best for society at large - the raison d'etra for any concept of fair pricing.
What the music companies are doing is not nearly as dramatic as holding a gun to your head, however the logic describing how they distort pricing is similar. The record companies use their monopoly power to inflate the price of their content. On each CD they are stealing from society the difference between the Fair Trade price (something close to the minimum dollar value for which artists would be willing to accept and still provide the same performances) and the market price. Because the difference isn't great for any one consumer, and the litigation costs to recover the monies illegally charged are way out of proportion for a $10 purchase, these customers are have little recourse to paying extra for each purchase.
Just because people are willing to pay the price that the record companies illegally charge, doesn't mean that they aren't stealing from society to line their own pockets.
Those damned whippersnappers probably never heard a tube amp. The music reproduction industry has been going downhill since the transistors.
Blah blah blah... tube amp... pleasing harmonics... blah blah. Hey Gramps! Did you ever worry that your ears may be going down hill that you think that tubes with their measurably less accurate response sound better than solid state? Just because you've hit your golden years doesn't mean you have golden ears.
I'm not of legal drinking age yet, so I shouldn't and won't profess an interest in this
But are you of voting age? If so, it is entirely proper that you have an opinion on the laws of the land - even if you are prohibited by statue from benefiting from them.
I doubt that they ever really own their inventory - they just transfer it from one place to another.
I belive they do - but for less than an hour between when it is unloaded into their facility and when it is assembled into a final product for which a customer can be charged.
HP is doing this because they feel that the economic damage caused by bad PR will be less that the regained 'lost profits' caused by geographical arbitrage.
Say What?!
HP is clearly attempting to make money by exploiting regional differences ( i.e. their own region coding ) a tactic which is explicitly listed as a barrier to arbitrage on the very site you link to:
"Barriers to Arbitrage
Exploitation of regional differences: The product makes use of regional differences that makes it difficult or impossible to use in an alternate region. This can include subtle techniques such as instruction books in a single foreign language or a technical incompatibility that prevents the product from being used in regions that have different power, telephone or other connections."
The only opportunity for arbitrage (buying something at a low price in one market and reselling it at a higher price in a different market) would be if you found a way to buy US cartridges at a low price and resell them in a usable state at a higher price in Europe.
Seriously though, why is it such a horible thing to have an alternate view presented.
It is not horrible to have an alternate view presented. It is however, horrible to have the state lend credence to the fringe beliefs of one particular group of religious nut-jobs.
If creationism is going to be taught in schools, then the creation myths of all other religions should be taught as well, unless it is the state's position that one particular religious viewpoint should be preferred and promoted.
I, for one, would prefer not to have a state established religion. Presumably there is a silent majority that agrees with this viewpoint, seeing as how seperation of church and state made it into the Constitution. ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...")
Not all failures are a bad thing. Absent the positive reinforcement of a passing grade, the student is forced to value the experience and the education on its merits. Clearly this student feels that the inherent value of what he learned more than makes up for the failing grade.
As MasterCard would put it: Learning that you love to learn...Priceless.
I'm willing to bet that going forward this student remembers this class as the most valuable part of his education, and rather than desiring his money back or his grade changed, will wish for more classes like it.
This is a tired argument; copying content neither destroys the essence of the original nor lessens the motivation of an artist to create additional content. Witness the number of "starving artists," people who perform at the community level not for millions, but for the love of entertaining. Part of every dollar that goes to a media conglomerate comes out of their pocket.
More importantly consider that there was a vital entertainment industry well before the days of recorded entertainment - or profit from recorded entertainment.
The very existence of millionaire TV, Movie, and Record execs and stars, indicates that our copyright laws are overly stringent. These people would perform the same work for less. To the extent that they are being overpaid because of their monopoly on content, the public domain ( your birthright as a human being ) is being pillaged for the benefit of the few.
Slashdot Mirror
Tragedy of the commons.
Oh, boy, you took Econ 101, but didn't bother to pay attention to anything more than supply and demand. You appear to be confusing Fair Trade - the market price of a good or service in a market free of unfair constraints and Market Value - what a good or service actually sells for on the open market. By your logic if I held a gun to your head and asked for, and received, $1,000 for sparing your life, $1,000 would be the Fair Trade value of your life because we made the deal. Clearly your misunderstanding of Fair Trade does not take into account what is best for society at large - the raison d'etra for any concept of fair pricing.
What the music companies are doing is not nearly as dramatic as holding a gun to your head, however the logic describing how they distort pricing is similar. The record companies use their monopoly power to inflate the price of their content. On each CD they are stealing from society the difference between the Fair Trade price (something close to the minimum dollar value for which artists would be willing to accept and still provide the same performances) and the market price. Because the difference isn't great for any one consumer, and the litigation costs to recover the monies illegally charged are way out of proportion for a $10 purchase, these customers are have little recourse to paying extra for each purchase. Just because people are willing to pay the price that the record companies illegally charge, doesn't mean that they aren't stealing from society to line their own pockets.
Well that... and the fact that transportation costs to Alaska are quite high.
-1 Redundant
But it often relieves you of liability.
Blah blah blah... tube amp ... pleasing harmonics ... blah blah. Hey Gramps! Did you ever worry that your ears may be going down hill that you think that tubes with their measurably less accurate response sound better than solid state? Just because you've hit your golden years doesn't mean you have golden ears.
But are you of voting age? If so, it is entirely proper that you have an opinion on the laws of the land - even if you are prohibited by statue from benefiting from them.
Shouldn't that be "1 0 Just my two bits?"
Well, considering corruption is a hanging offense in China I'd say it is proportionate.
I'm voting for the PEE.
Who says Solitare and gambling are mutually exclusive?
$5 on Red!
I belive they do - but for less than an hour between when it is unloaded into their facility and when it is assembled into a final product for which a customer can be charged.
Republicans.
Say What?!
HP is clearly attempting to make money by exploiting regional differences ( i.e. their own region coding ) a tactic which is explicitly listed as a barrier to arbitrage on the very site you link to:
"Barriers to Arbitrage
Exploitation of regional differences: The product makes use of regional differences that makes it difficult or impossible to use in an alternate region. This can include subtle techniques such as instruction books in a single foreign language or a technical incompatibility that prevents the product from being used in regions that have different power, telephone or other connections."
The only opportunity for arbitrage (buying something at a low price in one market and reselling it at a higher price in a different market) would be if you found a way to buy US cartridges at a low price and resell them in a usable state at a higher price in Europe.
It is not horrible to have an alternate view presented. It is however, horrible to have the state lend credence to the fringe beliefs of one particular group of religious nut-jobs.
If creationism is going to be taught in schools, then the creation myths of all other religions should be taught as well, unless it is the state's position that one particular religious viewpoint should be preferred and promoted.
I, for one, would prefer not to have a state established religion. Presumably there is a silent majority that agrees with this viewpoint, seeing as how seperation of church and state made it into the Constitution. ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...")
As MasterCard would put it: Learning that you love to learn...Priceless.
I'm willing to bet that going forward this student remembers this class as the most valuable part of his education, and rather than desiring his money back or his grade changed, will wish for more classes like it.
More importantly consider that there was a vital entertainment industry well before the days of recorded entertainment - or profit from recorded entertainment.
The very existence of millionaire TV, Movie, and Record execs and stars, indicates that our copyright laws are overly stringent. These people would perform the same work for less. To the extent that they are being overpaid because of their monopoly on content, the public domain ( your birthright as a human being ) is being pillaged for the benefit of the few.
Clicking through his google banner might help with the money too!