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.
Yes, actually.
And yes, it is ridiculous. But these weasels will do everything they can to hold on to the property they have unConstitutionally stolen from Americans. Why is it unconstitutional? Because the Constitution provides Congress with the power to set copyrights:
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
Anyone who thinks a copyright or patent should be extended to the terms currently alloted is not reading the clear intent of the law nor the early precedent in common law from which it derives.
Good thing I bought that...I mean, fortunately I would NEVER buy a DVR or TiVo, they are a disgrace and a theft from the American recording industry in their quest to protect consumers from practicing fair use, er, unfair use!
well, a DVR/DVD burner combo unit that you own, is different then a DVR that you essentially rent from your cable provider. they will lock those things down tight.
Say I think you may have a good idea there...we can do the same thing with the Democrats and Hillary for that matter!
Theft from a thief is still theft, sure, but the moral lines are a tad more blurred than you put it. The Constitutionality of their title to the "property" is certainly disputable, which means they've stolen the works from the public domain.
iTunes is a program that catalogs your music library and has a feature that links to the Apple store for downloads. You can use the former without the latter, as I do. I've never downloaded anything from Apple and have used iTunes since it first came out for Windows. All my CDs are ripped in my collection, loaded on my 60g iPod, and I have set up playlists to not only listen to, but also sync with my iPod Shuffle. The headphones and wires are more noticable while using the Shuffle than the actual device is.
The 1g lyra with the FM transmitter is more than the iPod shuffle of the same size with an aftermarket transmitter (or, at worst, roughly the same). Not only does the iPod sound better, its smaller and lighter. iTunes is easier to use (and better) than MusicMatch, and Rush will sound better on there!
I'm not a big Apple fan either. iPods are the only thing of theirs I own. Their computers are overpriced and way overhyped. iPods are now reasonably priced.
I can't copy DVD to DVD legally, on a computer or off. They will go after anyone with a DVD burner, and you can bet the software will be built into the next generation of DVDs to try to ensure their burner is trackable, too.
you can with a Sima unit, but the MPAA has them in court now.
Just how the hell do these idiots think that they are going to get paid like this? IS there some stupid legal clause that gives them a shot at this?
The RIAA is evil.
I watched a rerun on C-SPAN of a hearing that took place a couple or three weeks ago WRT the new legislation Congress is planning to hit us with that concerns the RIAA and others.
The new RIAA guy took the extremely strong position that if you record a radio show (from Sirrius or a similar source) to timeshift it, and you only listen to parts of the show, like listening to your favorite music cut a zillion times without listening to the entire show, you are in violation of what the RIAA considers to be the license to listen to the (Sirrius) show.
What a load of manure!
(I know nothing of Sirrius; is it still in operation?)
"Wipe your Ipod"--Boy, that should be a new euphemism for something.
I thought the RIAA agreed to have us license five computers and unlimited iPods with the music we buy on iTunes. Seems pretty clear to me that RIAA needs to butt out.
Just wait tell this group get's into your TV.
US analog TV switch-off in 2009
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1570312/posts
Digital TV Transition Date Approved - stop using analog signals in 2009
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1575470/posts
Check out #96
And let's not forget your food
Animal ID Makers in Hog Heaven (long but good)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1574414/posts
The ironic thing is that Apple is the one company that has actually instituted a somewhat rational DRM scheme for the music it sells: Authorization to play on four or five computers at the same time, unlimited burns to CD and downloads to your iPod, etc.
There's nothing surrepetitious about it, really. The serial number alone would get most people, unless they bought it from a B&M store and never registered it. But songs sold by Apple won't play on an "unauthorized account" anyway. If you give your iPod to someone else, as soon as they try to sync it to their own machine, those songs won't play any more. So Apple itself doesn't really have anything to do with this; it's all about songs ripped by the end user.
And I'm skeptical how much Apple itself would be willing to help the RIAA in its little crusade; they don't get along all that well as it is. (The RIAA keeps trying to force Apple to dumb down their hardware to make it ever more anti-consumer, and also keeps trying to force Apple to charge far more per song in iTunes. Thankfully, Steve Jobs has continually told them to go to hell.)
yup. and some of the digital TV stuff is out of this world too. but they've bought enough influence in congress to get this stuff passed, the consumer has little to no voice.
Let 'em try. All I need is a hard drive and Linux.
yes, I know. but remember, the RIAA simply wants to control 95% of consumers. if 5% of them are saavy enough to cobble together their own technology to get around the controls and restore fair use for themselves, that is acceptable to them. especially when they can go after those 5% with new laws given to them by congress.
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