I'm all for recording artists making the money that they deserve, but the arrogance of the RIAA is just too much to take at times.
Actually, the terms are pretty similar. The typical EULA says you cannot rent the software to someone, but it's OK to sell it, as long as all copies of the software are transferred to the buyer, and you give them a copy of the terms of use. So, essentially the same position legally, but stated without the attitude that presumes you're out to steal something.
I'll bet it IS a crime. But the SPA doesn't have the gravy train that the RIAA (and MPAA) does.
Well, they care; they even offer online snitch forms if you want to rat somebody out. But they're mainly concerned with businesses that do things like buy one copy of Photoshop and then install it on 300 computers without paying for the extra licenses. For them, the average Joe unloading an old PC on eBay (which probably contains software two versions out of date anyway) is barely worth bothering with.
I'm all for recording artists making the money that they deserve, but the arrogance of the RIAA is just too much to take at times.
Never forget: The artists never get the money they deserve from album sales; it doesn't matter whether we're talking physical CDs or downloads. First off, for every song sold on iTunes (at 99¢ each), the record company gets 65¢ of that, without lifting a finger; it's purely a rights fee. Of that, the artist gets about 9% or 10%, so we're talking about a nickel. (Most of the rest of the 99¢ is eaten up by costs; Apple as the company that's actually providing the service, has to pay for everything out of its own pocket: hardware, bandwidth, personnel, etc., and has to eat the fees for each transaction charged by the credit card companies; in the end, they're lucky to get 7¢ to 10¢.
But of course, in the end, the artist usually never even sees that nickel. Most recording contracts are designed essentially as loans from the record company to the artist. Yeah, you get "signed", but the record company is only fronting you the money to record the album, publish it, promote it, etc. Until and unless you meet some pretty high sales targets (and most don't), you not only never see a penny, you often end up owing the record company money.
So don't feel sorry about the poor artist the next time you see someone burning a copy of a CD. If you really want to support them, go to one of their concerts; that's where they get their take. Or just buy him a cup of coffee the next time you see him walking down the street; that alone will give him more profit than if you bought a dozen of his CDs.