[jimmccleod]

How many of you will stop downloading any music because of this. Has the RIAA won?

[singsong]

How many of you will stop downloading any music because of this. Has the RIAA won?


Well sir, I'm not stopping...because I've never started! RIAA can't have me - because I refuse to have their garbage. I'm not touching it even with a ten foot pole... It stinks.

[BOOTSTICK]

I remember back in the early 1980's a record store owner here in Clearwater, Fl. decided to "rent" record albums, and sell blank audio tapes. The R.I.A.A. shut him down in the blink of an eye.

[AntiGuv]

Well, I just unshared the My Music folder insofar as KaZaA is concerned. That's about 4,000 files... The irony is that all but ten of those were downloaded back in the Napster day, since I only got around to installing KaZaA a couple weeks ago.. Since I've hacked it so that my 'Participation Level' is always 1000 [the highest] I don't really have much need to share, anyhow..

[HighWheeler]

utility patents filed before June 8, 1995 are valid for 20 years from the filing date, or 17 years from date of issuance, whichever period is longer

utility patents filed on or after June 8, 1995 are good for 20 years from the date of filing

design patents are good for 14 years from date of issuance

plant patents are valid for 17 years from date of issuance

a patent may expire if its owner fails to pay required maintenance fees

BUT

The term for a copyright extends for a full 95 years.

This is B.S.

People would be livid if valuable patents lasted 95 years. If that were the case, the airplane patent would have just expired in 1998, and the Wright Brothers Aircraft Corporation would be too big for anyone to challenge.

Another thing, a patent can be invalidated if the inventor tries to sit on it without either making the product, or licensing it out.

If the music companies want the copyrights forever, then they need to assure us that the rare music is just as available as any other music. If not, then they forfeit the copyright.

[Golden Eagle]

This could mean you!!!!

(If you're a thief.)

How many of you will stop downloading any music because of this?

Some of us never started.

[Old Professer]

What does MP3 mean?

[doug from upland]

I haven't listened to music for years. I listen to talk radio.

[metalboy]

I don`t get this...First off, how can they prove you downloaded music? OK, maybe your server keeps a log on what you`ve been up to, but how does the RIAA get a hold of that? Do they go to each and every freggin` server demanding these logs and then spend umpteen hours going through each and every one? And what about pictures? Does this now include pictures, photos a well? How many billions of photos are downloaded everyday on the web, photos that are clearly copyrighted, but these photos are made available to anyone? I`m not talking about porn (which is probably paid for anyway) but just photos of anything, pictures that right here on FReerepublic are posted all the time..Pictures of Clinton and Hitlery for example, pictures that some photographer probably took and had copyrighted...So that means because i have a picture of Satan, I mean Hitlery on my computer, that I am now a felon? And doesn`t this whole copyright thing just pertain to making money off someone elses copyright? How does posting a picture of Hitlery "steal money" from the photographer? This is insane! And what about radio for cakes sake?? Is radio stations now going to close down?? Are they kidding? How much music is recorded by people everyday onto cassette tapes from the radio? I can understand these musicians and photographers wanting to get paid, but to me this claim that the industry is losing millions is ludicrous. Of course they`re losing millions because the music they`re putting out is so great, right? Yeah, the last time I bought a CD was about ten years ago and it sure as hell wasn`t because I couldn`t get a free copy, it`s because I thought the band kicked butt (Nirvana, yeah I know, so kick me) But since that time, nothing I`ve heard has impressed in the slightest to make me want to buy a CD, and i know Im` not the only one. I don`t know many people who are lining up to buy the latest "kick ass Timberlake CD" WOW!

[Pro-Bush]

Q: Am I breaking the law by downloading free music?


A: According to the RIAA, and backed by court decisions, sharing unauthorized copyrighted works is considered "direct infringement." A recent decision found that swap services such as Grokster cannot be held liable for the actions of their users, but that the users themselves can.

Facts about file sharing

[prisoner6]

COME AND GET ME COPPER!

TOP O' THE WORLD MA! TOP O' THE WORLD!

prisoner6

[Imal]

The RIAA is the perpetual Darwin Award winner of the entertainment industry. They have opposed every significant technology in recording since the wax cylinder, and have failed each and every time (well, except for DAT I suppose, how many Americans ever owned a DAT deck?).

The irony is that they have always profited wildly from each technology they have tried to suppress. Here they go again, pissing into the wind, with predictable results. Instead of exploiting the Internet for billions in potential revenues, they fight it tooth and nail. They may as well try to stop the sun from rising, and it wouldn't surprise me if I heard about a lawsuit to that effect tomorrow.

They'll haul a few nameless unfortunates up on charges in big show trials, there will be a big flap as the cases go to trial, hackers like the Legion of Doom and others will mercilessly torment the RIAA and its supporters online, various artists will be trotted out with their stories of poverty and misery between double-platinum albums, yada yada yada.

And then, like Keyser Soze, it will all disappear. The ringmasters, jugglers, clowns and dog-faced boys of the media circus will pull up stakes and head out looking for the next cause du jour, while music file sharing continues uninterrupted throughout, and probably increases in a frenzy of fire-sale panic swapping.

I'll just yawn now and get it over with.

Personally, I think the heirs of Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra should sue the RIAA for copyright infringement. After all, this business of jousting with windmills is not an original idea on the RIAA's part.

The RIAA: Definitive proof that you don't have to be smart to be rich.

[Z-28]

Question: Does anyone know if it is illegal to download songs you already own in another format?

Such as if I update all my already paid-for owned cassette albums from the 80's (my favorite music era) with the more moderm .mp3 format I can play on our computers and in our newer cars and from which I can burn CDs and DVDs.

Seems to me it should be legal. "Fair use" allows one legal copy.

[HamiltonJay]

hahah this is a joke, at best they can go after people sharing a file, of course to prosecute they have to prove that the people receiving the files don't already own a legal copy of the song... as a user can take a copy of any music they legally own at any time.

This is intimidation tactic, other than some huge file sharers most will have nothing to worry about.

[MattGarrett]

Apple reports FIVE MILLION in sales/downloads in first 2 months.

The RIAA just doesn't get it.

[dansangel]

ping

[Tamar1973]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/935525/posts

[A. Pole]

The Recording Industry Association of America, citing significant sales declines, said it will begin Thursday to search Internet file-sharing networks to identify music fans who offer "substantial" collections of MP3 song files for downloading.

It is comforting to know that recording industry is not affected by the present economical situation and that file-sharing is the main problem. Hopefuly the emerging Indian and Chinese markets will help.

[aruanan]

RIAA To Sue Individual's for File Sharing (This could mean you!!!!)

Sue the individual's what? The individual's parents?

[wattsmag2]

These RIAA thugs do not realize that for every visible server like Kazaa, there are a million servers around the world using software like opennap and slavanap and even IRQ servers still, many of them private. The files may go underground, but, they'll still be there. Best thing the companies can do is go with the flow and open up realistically priced music catalogues to the public via the internet.