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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 162 responses total. |
gull
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response 125 of 162:
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Sep 4 22:32 UTC 2003 |
That's pretty much what I've done. My assumption now is that any store
I walk into isn't going to stock what I'm looking for, so I might as
well buy online and save myself the trip.
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remmers
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response 126 of 162:
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Sep 5 00:38 UTC 2003 |
Most of my music purchasing is ragtime, a very specialized niche
indeed. It's been my assumption for years that any store I walk
into isn't going to stock what I'm looking for. By contrast,
without expending much effort I can find just about anything I
want for sale on the internet. Online purchasing is a godsend
for me. In many instances, I can even listen to samples from the
recording before I buy. Although stock diversification might
make me *slightly* more interested in going to a record store
and browsing, I can't imagine that the brick-and-mortar stores
can come close to matching the diversity of product that I can
find online.
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gull
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response 127 of 162:
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Sep 5 20:37 UTC 2003 |
A handful of items from The Register today:
First is an editorial about the Universal Music price cuts. Among other
things, it points out that CD prices have remained constant since they
were introduced, even as volume increased, and that Universal was, along
with other record labels, found guilty by the FTC of price fixing only a
month ago.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/32690.html
Second is an article about the RIAA's apparent plans to offer amnesty to
small-time noncommercial file traders. Frankly, this is probably the
only way for them to stick with their enforcement program without
creating a PR disaster.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32681.html
Finally, U.S. District Court judge Rebecca Pallmeyer has denied part of
a motion for summary judgement against Skylink Technologies, brought by
Chamberlain Group. Chamberlain had argued that Skylink was violating
the DMCA by producing garage door opener remotes compatible with
Chamberlain's openers. Judge Pallmeyer commented, "The homeowner has a
legitimate expectation that he or she will be able to access the garage
even if his transmitter is misplaced or malfunctions."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/32684.html
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krj
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response 128 of 162:
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Sep 5 20:37 UTC 2003 |
The Washington Post ran a puff piece about Mitch Bainwol, who is
Hilary Rosen's replacement as the head of the RIAA. Bainwol, as has
been mentioned before, is frighteningly well connected; as former
chief of staff to US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, he has direct
access to the most powerful circles in government.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1804&ncid=1804&e=1&u=/washp
ost/20030905/tc_washpost/a29504_2003sep5
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mcnally
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response 129 of 162:
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Sep 6 19:41 UTC 2003 |
Today's New York Times has a piece entitled "Aiming at Pornography to
Hit Music Piracy" which relates the music-industry lobby's new tactic
in their war against peer-to-peer file sharing networks: smear them
by linking them in lawmakers' minds with pornography and then play the
"won't someone please think of the children?" trump card.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/technology/07PORN.html?pagewanted=2&hp
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tpryan
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response 130 of 162:
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Sep 6 22:25 UTC 2003 |
Gee, I thought it was mostly children teaching the adults
how to file-trade.
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albaugh
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response 131 of 162:
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Sep 8 16:55 UTC 2003 |
-----Original Message-----
From: BreakingNews@MAIL.CNN.COM [mailto:BreakingNews@MAIL.CNN.COM]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 12:46 PM
Subject: CNN Breaking News
-- Recording industry files 261 lawsuits against Internet music file sharers,
announces amnesty program for individuals.
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krj
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response 132 of 162:
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Sep 8 19:37 UTC 2003 |
Best story I've seen so far is on Cnet. The RIAA is promising thousands
more lawsuits.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023_3-5072564.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed
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krj
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response 133 of 162:
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Sep 8 22:05 UTC 2003 |
It was thought that the RIAA was fishing for unsympathetic defendants after
it subpoenaed names from the ISPs. I guess they didn't filter well;
the first publicized defendant is a 71-year-old grandfather who says
his grandkids did it:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/08/state1547E
DT0101.DTL
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gull
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response 134 of 162:
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Sep 9 13:35 UTC 2003 |
I'm a little suspicious of the RIAA's amnesty program. It seems to me
that what you're doing is identifying yourself to them and admitting
guilt, thus saving them a lot of work if they ever want to prosecute you.
|
dah
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response 135 of 162:
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Sep 9 18:36 UTC 2003 |
It's a bit hard to sue someone you've promised not to sue.
|
otaking
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response 136 of 162:
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Sep 9 21:56 UTC 2003 |
The Ann Arbor News has 2 articles on the RIAA in today's Connection section.
(Unfortunately, I do not have the links.) One article dealt with the lawsuits.
The other talked about how the recording industry wants to keep everyone from
copying CDs, or create half-assed method to make it less worthwhile. One
proposed method would allow you to send an MP3 to a friend via email, but
would block your computer from listening to it until he deletes it off his
hard drive.
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dah
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response 137 of 162:
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Sep 9 22:24 UTC 2003 |
That sounds silly and like it probably wouldn't work with MP3.
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scott
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response 138 of 162:
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Sep 9 23:04 UTC 2003 |
It would probably require that everybody runs Windows, too.
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polygon
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response 139 of 162:
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Sep 10 16:58 UTC 2003 |
Re 135. Yes, but there are many other plaintiffs (e.g., songwriters)
who could use those amnesty documents as evidence in a lawsuit.
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russ
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response 140 of 162:
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Sep 11 00:33 UTC 2003 |
Re #134: With good reason; the various entities which make up the
RIAA probably are not all bound by the hold-harmless clause, and
could subpoena the full list of confessors.
|
other
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response 141 of 162:
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Sep 11 03:04 UTC 2003 |
RIAA is being sued over the Amnesty for deceptive practice and fraud.
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krj
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response 142 of 162:
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Sep 11 23:18 UTC 2003 |
Oh, there is just a ton of stuff today... I only have time to dump
in some of the highlights.
"Music Firms Claim Public Backing"
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/09112003d.php
(with a click-through to the BBC)
The RIAA had a poll done in the days before the lawsuits were filed,
and they claim the support of 52% of the US public for their campaign
against song swappers. No news on whether that support holds for
suing Brianna LaHaie, age 12.
-----
"Artists blast record companies over lawsuits against downloaders"
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/11/MN12066.DTL
(SF Chronicle)
Quotes:
Artists are feeling the downturn in sales, too. "My record royalties
have dropped 80 percent since 1999," said Steve Miller, whose
greatest hits album has been a perennial best-seller since its 1978
release. "To me, it's one of the weirdest things that's ever happened
to me because people act like it's OK. "
Recording artists have watched their record royalties erode over the
past few years ("My Van Halen royalties are history," said vocalist
Sammy Hagar), but, in fact, few musicians earn the bulk of their
income from record sales.
...
Many artists painted the record industry as a bloated, overstuffed
giant with too many mouths to feed and too many middlemen to pay,
selling an overpriced, often mediocre product. "They have all these
abnormal practices that keep driving the price up," said Gregg
Rollie, founding member of Santana and Journey. "People think
musicians make all that money, but it's not true. We make the
smallest amount."
((end quotes from SF Chronicle))
-----
Yale's LawMeme carries an article suggesting that the RIAA's lawsuit
tactics are whipping up anger, at least among the targets, at Kazaa,
for allowing them to get sued. The author suggests that this is a
tactic to encourage Congress to pin liability firmly on Kazaa and
make it easy for the RIAA to sue Kazaa, and any future technology
which deals with copyrighted work such as the VCR, into oblivion. Or
else Congress might just ban Kazaa outright. The longer term
question is: do the copyright holders get to have veto over new
technology?
http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=119
7
Even more stuff at lawmeme which I have not had a chance to digest
yet, but which I don't want to lose and which looks fascinating:
http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1196
|
mynxcat
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response 143 of 162:
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Sep 12 13:45 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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gull
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response 144 of 162:
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Sep 12 13:48 UTC 2003 |
I'm kind of surprised at how the lawsuits are playing out. I figured
the RIAA would be careful not to sue anyone who would be a sympathetic
defendant. Suing a 12-year-old seems like really poor PR.
|
polygon
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response 145 of 162:
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Sep 12 14:53 UTC 2003 |
A lot of the predictions about this seemed to hinge on (a) the public
becoming outraged over lawsuits against sympathetic defendants, and/or
(b) the tiny number of possible lawsuits dwarfed by the tens of millions
doing file sharing.
But I'm not seeing any outrage from the unaffiliated public, and I do see
file sharers becoming worried.
I tend to subscribe to the music-industry-is-doomed thesis. Is it really
a workable business model to deliberately price people like me out of the
market? But the lawsuit offensive may be at least somewhat effective in
suppressing MP3 sharing.
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krj
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response 146 of 162:
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Sep 12 19:25 UTC 2003 |
BMG/Arista are going to give CD copy prevention another whirl on
Sept. 23. They're going to use the SunnComm system which installs
a "lock" on your PC. I was worried they were going to be somewhat
stealthy about this but apparently when you put the CD in your PC
you'l have to click on an End User License Agreement. In this
posting from cdfreaks.com, the first response has pasted in the
FAQ from SunnComm on this process:
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/7953
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tpryan
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response 147 of 162:
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Sep 12 20:16 UTC 2003 |
Use of the compactDisc logo ensures that the disc will play
in all compactDisc players. Subverting that is deception or
creates a defective disc.
I fell that a label, at least as big as the parental
advisory label should be on disc, saying that copy protection
has been added to this disc. It should be a permanent label
on both the materials and the disc.
|
jep
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response 148 of 162:
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Sep 13 03:47 UTC 2003 |
It happened 20 years ago with computer software. There was a big push
among software providers to copy-protect their work. Some developers
even required one of various hardware devices ("dongles") be attached
to the computer, which were necessary to enable the software to run.
It wasn't long, just a few years, before there was a big backlash.
First of all, there was no software program which could be used but
not copied. Clever programmers found ways to copy anything they
wanted to copy.
Second, people refused to buy software that was over-protected. Some
previously very successful companies evaporated over their refusal to
get rid of their copyright schemes. Floppy disks were too fragile to
use without backing them up. The dongles were obtrusive, they
interfered with other programs, and they also got damaged or lost.
Most software companies -- all of the ones you've ever heard of --
turned to installation key strings or just gave up on copy protection
entirely. They turned to a marketing effort which worked. Lots of
people consider it dishonorable to make copies for friends of computer
programs now.
The music industry is going down the same path. I don't believe it
will last for them, either. People *needed* particular software
packages. There are few who can't live without a specific CD or
song. I am confident the market will channel people's tastes around
the more unreasonable efforts by the music industry, and that we'll
wind up with very reasonable methods of distributing music,
specifically including the Internet, in a few years.
|
scott
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response 149 of 162:
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Sep 13 13:31 UTC 2003 |
Dongles are still around, although not for mass-market software.
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