Posted on 02/13/2006 11:02:23 AM PST by nickcarraway
If you sell your iPod and don't remove your music first, you could find yourself with the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) breathing down your back. The organisation last week told sellers in the US that doing so is a clear violation of copyright law and warned them that it's sniffing out for infringers.
Apple's rapid iPod refresh schedule, not to mention those of its competitors, have generated a tide of old music player offers in classified ads columns and on sites like eBay. Rather too many sellers are shipping their old machines with music libraries intact - some we've seen even make a virtue of the fact.
But it's illegal, not only in the US but also in the UK and the rest of Europe. As, incidentally, is ripping all your CDs and LPs to MP3 then selling or even giving away the originals. By disposing of your physical media, you're ending your right to use the music they contain. The RIAA's point, made in an MTV online report (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1524099/20060209/story.jhtml) is that handing over music on a music player is no different from duplicating a CD and selling the copy.
The only way around the problem is to either erase the iPod, or make sure it ships with only copies of the music - downloads if that's how they were obtained, or the original physical media. And don't keep copies yourself.
Does difficult enforcement of a law equate to moral justification for breaking it?
Here is the proof. If you burn a copy from an original CD, your CD-R will sound better than the original on good enough sound system. The explanation is simple. CD contains digital information, but the production process (pressing)is analog one. During pressing process, the printing plate is getting worn out due to excessive use and the pits on the aluminum foil do not have the optimal shape on all pressed CDs. Yet, they are all sold for the same premium price. On other hand, when you make a copy on your CD burner, ripping software is doing error correction and laser burns CD-R without pit error.
It is roughly comparable to purchasing magazine with blurred print that is difficult to read, scanning it on your PC, doing error correction and printing the clear text on your laser printer.
Luxury car manufacturers can not sell cars with damaged paint as brand new, they have to discount the price when paint damage exceeds certain percentage.
However, for more than 20 years, CD plants are churning defective discs and manufacturers charge premium price for the defective products.
Any takers?
Meh. File sharing is free.
I don't know the answer, but these gentlemen might.
Bingo. You explain the RIAA rationale better than they do.
Sign me,
Music Publisher
Make some CD's with music "derogatory to Prophet Mohammad", complete with liner notes & illustrations.
Next, attribute them to the RIAA, and send copies to Jihadist websites, mosques, and Arab news outlets.
Sit back, pop some corn, and let nature take its course.
This is BS!
If the iPod "owner" bought the download service from Apple and loaded their iPod...then the license for those songs IS transferrable!
It's the equivalent of selling a record or tape or CD to a store that sells used CD's etc.! You "OWN" the CD, and treansfer sale and rights to the new owner...just like the purchased downloads for an iPod from Apple!
The RIAA is a mastodon, eyeball deep and sinking in the tarpits of technological advancements, still bleating that it is relevant!
The reason you still pay $13.99 for a new CD is the Industry is reusing to admit that the CD is now the accepted medium. When CD's were introduced in the late 80's, they were way more expensive than an album or tape, because the technology and equipment to make them was new and pricey!
After 20 years or so, the CD price hasn't dropped, and the quality of "Artists" and music sure has! You can buy a pack of 10 CD R/W's for the same price as a "new" recording by Moby...why bother. It's like taping off a record (which we ALL did)...there was a "tax" on the blank tapes to cover the supposed losses to the RIAA and "artists". Now that a PERFECT copy can be made, they are panicing!
I'm also a pro musician, and have a 48track Digital Studio...let me tell you, I can record, mix, and Master my own music for WAY less than even just the studio time costs for conventional recording contracts. and THAT is what the Industry is afraid of!
The RIAA and others in the Music Industry are the pinky-ring wearing Mafioso, and their fiefdoms are going away as new talent can bypass the horrid contracts and crappy royalty rates from Dinosaur Music Companies by producing, distributing and selling their own music...and the Dinos are grabbing for every $$$ they can, because they smell their own extinction!
Actually, that's $.0915 per the legal Statutory mechanical license rate set by Congress.
Since stealing the music seems to be acceptable to you, I suppose if the opportunity to steal an IPOD to play them on happened to come around you wouldn't think twice, right?
An application called iPod Agent might be able to do it.
That's not what people are doing. The RIAA's action is in response to people loading up mulitple IPods and selling them at a profit, the added value coming from the music that the seller has not licensed for re-sale.
To convert files, you can use the iTunes feature to import/export to any format you need (mp3). In iTunes go to Preferences/Advanced/Import (or Export) format.
What is the difference between that, and my having a few friends over to ALL listen to a SINGLE record (vinyl); or to, with those same friends, send a record home with them for the weekend?
The technology makes us able to 'listen with our friends' while not phsically together; ie, linked cyberly with keyboard, monitor, speakers, camera, etc.
We have the ability 'to be together, apart' while "sharing".
It's a curious phenomenon, no? We don't like the RIAA, so we'll happily commit theft, and then bray on and on about how bad the RIAA is for pursuing restitution.
My thoughts exactly. And who, praytell, is gonna run around the country arresting people for not wiping their I-Pods? Jumpin' Jiminy! If we have those kinds of federal resources, then let's get some support for our sieve borders.
The scope of distribution. Presumably, having a few friends over is a limited venue that likely isn't something you would sustain at a level approaching each person having unlimited use of their own copy.
Not to mention the fact that I don't believe you're all logging on at the same time for listening party.
Unless they get a warrant to search your computer for files and your house and car for cds, and yes, they will do that. RIAA will also go into offices and demand monthly payments from companies that play music radio stations in the waiting room or over speakers in the stores. They're nasty little money-grubbing weasels, who have no problem ruining your life. Right now, I'll guarantee you there are some of them on eBAy buying iPods for the specific purpose of suing the seller and ruining their lives. They love the publicity, because they want people to fear them.
this case is a bad example I grant you, but there are a whole host of other efforts from both the RIAA and the MPAA to eliminate fair use.
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