posted
I'm distributing Mp3 files from my computer. Am I making profit from it? Not that I can see.
But the vast majority of those files were ripped from CDs, which would be equivalent to making copies of purchased tapes and distributing them. The only legal audio equivalent to the videotape ruling would be if you'd recorded those songs off the radio and distributed them.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Aside from the quality, there's no diffrence.
What's next? Mabye the publishing industry should sue to have libraries closed....after all, why buy the book when you can read it anytime for free? Surely, they must be on the very edge of bankruptcy.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Well if my countryman and namesake, the Kazaa-creator Niklas Zennstr�m will get his wish through, soon I won't have a telephone bill.
Telephone calls (any calls, local or international) are routed through the broadband connection, and are free! The software is called "Skype", you might wanna search it up, the Beta's already out. Skype.com.
He wants the transition to be similar to that of when e-mails turned cost-free, years ago.
We live in interesting times.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
It call already be done with various services - nobody yet has it packaged as neatly as "regular" phone lines.
Moving back to the states last month I noticed how hard the phone companies are pushing their "flat rate" plans - I think their CEO's are seeing this coming too. If they're going to survive they'll have to repackage themselves....
-------------------- Twee bieren tevreden, zullen mijn vriend betalen.
Registered: Oct 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Mabye the publishing industry should sue to have libraries closed....after all, why buy the book when you can read it anytime for free?
Because you can't read it anytime for free. You have to go out and hire it. And you have to return it. And you can only hire it out if it's in stock at that time.
Besides, you can hire CDs from libraries.
Do libraries have to pay some sort of fee to the publisher to stock books?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Mabye the publishing industry should sue to have libraries closed....after all, why buy the book when you can read it anytime for free?
Because you can't read it anytime for free. You have to go out and hire it. And you have to return it. And you can only hire it out if it's in stock at that time.
Besides, you can hire CDs from libraries.
Do libraries have to pay some sort of fee to the publisher to stock books?
Of course not: that's my point. Use of library services is paid for by the state (via taxes to some degree) and the money is used to buy a limited number of books for widespread public consumption.
Despite the obvious ease wich anyone could read a book or download a song. both industries are reporting record sales.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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"Because you can't read it anytime for free. You have to go out and hire it. And you have to return it. And you can only hire it out if it's in stock at that time."
Except, after you check it out once, you can just make a copy of it. Which is really all people are doing when they download music. They aren't stealing actual physical CDs. They're just making copies.
"Do libraries have to pay some sort of fee to the publisher to stock books?"
They just have to pay to buy the books, like anyone. And, typically, there's actually a discount.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
And mp3s aren't 1:1 copies of CD tracks. At most they're very good approximations. So the stealing argument doesn't hold water anyway.
Registered: Nov 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Cartman: And mp3s aren't 1:1 copies of CD tracks. At most they're very good approximations. So the stealing argument doesn't hold water anyway.
If you're recording at anything over 160 kbps, then they're pretty much indistinguishable from CD tracks. It's not like taking a photocopy of the Mona Lisa...people can't tell if they're listening to the original or a good quality mp3.
quote:Originally posted by TSN: Except, after you check it out once, you can just make a copy of it. Which is really all people are doing when they download music. They aren't stealing actual physical CDs. They're just making copies.
Well then, do you think there's anything wrong with getting CDs out of the library, and making copies of them?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: If you're recording at anything over 160 kbps, then they're pretty much indistinguishable from CD tracks. It's not like taking a photocopy of the Mona Lisa...people can't tell if they're listening to the original or a good quality mp3.
Depends, I suppose. I have NEVER heard an MP3 that I couldn't tell was an MP3. There's ALWAYS some loss of quality.
But then again, at the risk of sounding vain, I doubt that many people are as attent as I am. I have also always ALWAYS been able to tell CGI from physical models as well. Essentially without exception.
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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"Well then, do you think there's anything wrong with getting CDs out of the library, and making copies of them?"
I've ripped MP3s from library CDs, sure. I don't think that's particularly wrong to do occasionally. To use it as an alternative to ever paying for music again is bad, of course. But not if you're just getting a song here and there. Just like it isn't wrong to copy a couple pages from a book.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
No. But a couple of pages of a book is fairly useless by itself, whereas a single track from an album works fine as a self-contained entity.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
A single tracy only make you want to hear more (if it's good) and hence more copies of the original are sold. If the entire album is readily available online, and everyone loves it enough to download it, sales of the album will still increase as people will want the better quality version or at the very least, the demand for the band's next album will be greater and the band's concert sales will increase.
Bad for the RIAA in the shortterm, but good publicity for the band (particularly bands with no radio coverage).
If the RIAA would just resume releasing singles from newand popular bands for a cheap price (say .25 per song), they'd make money and still increase awareness of their artists. They'd rather not release singles though as theyt think it somehow de-values the entire album's sales (mostly for sucky bands with only one decent song).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: A single tracy only make you want to hear more (if it's good) and hence more copies of the original are sold. If the entire album is readily available online, and everyone loves it enough to download it, sales of the album will still increase as people will want the better quality version or at the very least,
That's the crux of the argument. I don't think it's necessarily true that people will go out and buy albums of songs they've downloaded for the increased quality, because 99% of people can't tell the difference.
I've bought some albums based on songs I've downloded, but I'm not kidding myself that it's anywhere near the number I haven't bought, even from artists I've liked. And judging by the size of most people's mp3 collections, I'd say that holds true for a lot of people.
It is nice and noble, saying "I only download songs to test them, and then I immedietly rush out and buy all those that I've liked, while deleting those that I haven't". But I doubt it's true.
Quick check: How many commercially available songs do people have on their computers? And how many albums have they bought since they've started those collections?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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