At first we complained that CDs were overpriced and it was too inconvenient to find good music, that's why we were pirating it online. Companies put it online more cheaply and half the people went legit. The rest of us had to fall back on other excuses.
Next we complained that the DRM on these new digital files restricted our legal rights to play the music in the ways we saw fit. "It's not that we want to pirate it," we clamored, "it's just that we don't want to be treated like criminals!" So Amazon and iTunes (eventually) removed the DRM and we could play our music whenever, wherever, and however they wished. Half of the remaining holdouts rejoiced and went legit; the rest have to find new excuses.
Allow me to offer my suggestions for your remaining options:
"I want the ability to temporarily share or permanently sell my music to other people and I don't trust them not to upload the files."
"The identifying information on the files could be used maliciously by a third party to get me in trouble."
"Amazon/iTunes/RIAA is evil and giving them money is supporting evil. I do, however, support independent labels and bands by buying their products. (not just talking about it on slashdot.)"
"The formats provided are too lossy. I only keep files in [favorite format] at [obscene bitrate/lossless]"
"I fundamentally believe that I shouldn't have to pay for music and my other arguments are just rationalizations to lend an air of credibility to my position."
In conclusion, it's been a fun ride but this is my stop. I'm happy: my demands have been met. You guys will have to go the rest of the way on your own and I wish you the best of luck. But I don't hold out much hope. At a certain point it's not worth it for Amazon/iTunes/RIAA to bend over backwards trying to convince the last holdouts. On the positive side, that means you can cling to whatever rationalization you want for as long as you want!
Slashdot Mirror
At first we complained that CDs were overpriced and it was too inconvenient to find good music, that's why we were pirating it online. Companies put it online more cheaply and half the people went legit. The rest of us had to fall back on other excuses.
Next we complained that the DRM on these new digital files restricted our legal rights to play the music in the ways we saw fit. "It's not that we want to pirate it," we clamored, "it's just that we don't want to be treated like criminals!" So Amazon and iTunes (eventually) removed the DRM and we could play our music whenever, wherever, and however they wished. Half of the remaining holdouts rejoiced and went legit; the rest have to find new excuses.
Allow me to offer my suggestions for your remaining options:
"I want the ability to temporarily share or permanently sell my music to other people and I don't trust them not to upload the files."
"The identifying information on the files could be used maliciously by a third party to get me in trouble."
"Amazon/iTunes/RIAA is evil and giving them money is supporting evil. I do, however, support independent labels and bands by buying their products. (not just talking about it on slashdot.)"
"The formats provided are too lossy. I only keep files in [favorite format] at [obscene bitrate/lossless]"
"I fundamentally believe that I shouldn't have to pay for music and my other arguments are just rationalizations to lend an air of credibility to my position."
In conclusion, it's been a fun ride but this is my stop. I'm happy: my demands have been met. You guys will have to go the rest of the way on your own and I wish you the best of luck. But I don't hold out much hope. At a certain point it's not worth it for Amazon/iTunes/RIAA to bend over backwards trying to convince the last holdouts. On the positive side, that means you can cling to whatever rationalization you want for as long as you want!