Stop the RIAA

[voh]

I get weird looks from colleagues all the time.

Must be because of my fully legal unpaid MP3's, that always gets themÃ, 

[ManicMatt]

I'm developing "something" (sorry, under wraps can't talk about it) that I intend on selling. 

I have to ask! If people think the price you charge it at is unreasonable, do you mind if they obtain a duplicate copy of it without paying?

because loads of people like it doesn't mean it's good!

Just because millions think something is good doesn't mean it is.

So we agree then!  And yeah Helm didn't need to say that. If he brings up his death metal bands that I don't like, I see no point in telling him what i think of them in a spiteful manner.

[EagerMind]

Not to mention that America in it's turn pressures other countries to enforce similar copyright-laws.

I think you'll find that it's more than just America that's pressuring other countries with weak copyright laws to tighten up their standards.

What's interesting is to see how studios survive in countries with rampant piracy. For example, in one country I read about (I want to say India, but I don't think that's right), a film basically has 1-2 weeks to make all its money before the pirated copies hit the streets.

As a result, films are produced on a very low budget (at least by American standards), and DVDs are available for purchase at the movie theaters. If people liked the movie, they could buy a copy right at the theater after seeing it. I also wanna say that it actually encouraged experimentation in an effort to draw people to the theaters, but I could just be making that up.

I guess the point is that there are business models that work even in an environment where pretty much everyone gets their content from piracy. The situation in America (and other countries with a strong tradition of copyright law) isn't nearly this bad, and it just goes to show companies could still continue to rake it in (not that they're not now) if they had the wisdom to adjust their business model to accomodate changing technology.

[MrColossal]

yes but darth... you don't like the price of DVDs and as I said you could save hundreds of dollars and protest the price point of DVDs by setting up your house to play downloaded movies easier.

And again, what about computer programs?

[Erenan]

EDIT: an interesting thing about 1 dollar per song on iTunes, if the concept is actually embraced, and people stop putting out cds... I think artists will just make one song at a time. Not book for 60-minute album recording sessions. That'd be interesting, for me. Then again, an artist that has made a 15-minute opus would feel ripped off! I guess that means most songs will be in the 3-4 minute range. Oh pop music, how much more will you become like disguised advertising.

Yikes! I'm very much in the habit of composing 2 hour opuses. Is this bad news for Erenan?

Actually, I suspect this won't pose too much difficulty in the long run, because it will almost certainly continue to become easier and easier to use home recording environments and distribute music independently. And in that case, there'd be no excuse for stealing the music because it wouldn't be filtering through a corporate monster.

[Helm]

Nickelback is one of my favorite bands.

sorry, this is off-topic, but OUCH

Why "OUCH"?  Because you don't like Nickelback?  Well ... they must suck then.  I'm sure their millions of fans who keep them at the top of the billboard charts and selling out concerts world wide would agree.

Yeah all I ment was 'nickelback sound awful to me'. It doesn't have any bearing on this discussion, I just find them extremely bad. I am certain the millions of fans that like them think otherwise, but then again, they're mostly stupid, probably.

[LimpingFish]

The russian site allofmp3 sells mp3s for next to nothing, something like .79c an album.
The legality may be shrouded in grey, but it's not illegal per se.

As for DRM...

I buy a CD, I can play it on any CD player. I should be able to rip a least one copy of that CD to a portable media player.

I really don't see any way companies can put in place any software or hardware based security that won't infinge on my basic consumer rights.

Music purchased from iTunes is only playable on an iPod and that's fine. You have an iPod, you shop at iTunes. Everybody's happy. I presume iTunes has a way to back up the files you've paid for, which covers the right to make at least one back up for your own use (if it doesn't allow this, I'm sure someone will point it out to me.)

This also limits Apples consumer base to those that own iPods, which doesn't make the most financial sense, but they seem happy with it.

Apple might be seen as forcing people to shop at iTunes for their musical needs, but it's part and parcel of buying an iPod. So if you don't like it, don't buy an iPod.

The other, more nebulous concept of DRM that most companies seem to be flogging is a lot less black and white in my opinion, and until it's made more accessable I'll be staying well clear.

[ManicMatt]

My brother's laptop is broken. He has an ipod. And there wasn't enough room on his hard drive to keep everything he ripped off discs, so it was mostly deleted after he transferred the files to his ipod. Now he is within reach of another computer - mine. However he tells me that if I install the ipod software on here, and he plugs his ipod in, he will lose all the music on it if it's not in my library. DRM or something, I presume. This of course, sucks, and I am glad my mp3 player is not an ipod.

EDIT - Also, his CD collection is in another city, out of reach for the time being.. and I don't like the idea of ripping 500 discs to my computer either!

[evenwolf]

Nickelback is known for their full-soul depth lyrics.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yWxaohCvQFg


Nickelback is the the number 1 band in Portugal!   http://youtube.com/watch?v=r3k8Z1n657E&mode=related&search=