Sony Music Testing New Copy Protection 426
RandyOo writes "According to this Reuters article, Sony Music is about to start testing a new type of 'copy protection' in Germany. It looks like they'll be releasing multi-sessioned discs with normal audio in the first session, and compressed, DRM'ed music files in the second session, as well added 'extras', including access to exclusive online content. The article explains that the disc's audio can still be copied, and there's a hilarious quote at the end by a BMG spokesman: "All copy-protections can be hacked, but if (we) give people what they are asking for in terms of value, they won't go out and steal it. It's called trusting the consumer." "
so now what, (Score:5, Funny)
Re:so now what, (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:so now what, (Score:4, Insightful)
Joe lines up 20 ISOs for download and goes to bed. He is not worried if they take a day or two to download. He thinks nothing of downloading a 1.5Gb movie screener. He has a 24/7 connection and bandwidth to spare.
Joe also knows that only real men download ISOs.
Joe is your typical leech.
Re:so now what, (Score:5, Informative)
Music can be losslessly compressed to about 1/2 of the original size on average, depending on the source material. There's a slight difference in size and speed when using FLAC vs. Shorten vs. Monkey's Audio, but nothing too significant. But most people are going to stick with the 10:1 compression offered by mp3 and vorbis since few care about the additional quality offered by an exact copy of the original.
Re:so now what, (Score:3, Informative)
Hilarious? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:5, Insightful)
If they trusted us, they'd just print up CDs as usual and assume we wouldn't steal them.
I guess they're "trusting" that the ordinary consumer can't program his VCR, let alone evade a simple scheme, but that isn't the sense of trust that one wants.
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:5, Insightful)
Trust has to be earned.
Judging by the vast amount of MP3's available on Kazaa, I see no reason why they shouldn't trust people who have shown time and time again that they'll happily make copyrighted material available to everyone for free.
Re:Hilarious? (Score:5, Insightful)
So why didn't I earn that trust when I went out and bought the CD, rather than grabbing it off Kazaa?
I'm the guy actually buying music, and 99% of the time, I'm not the guy who then goes and puts it on Kazaa. And if I was, a little thing like DRM isn't going to stop me.
You might as well trust and give good service to people who have demonstrated that they are legitimate customers.
Re:Hilarious? (Score:3, Insightful)
Shudder. I point this out everytime there is an article about DRM on audio CDs. Yet people just don't get it!!
This system is completely counter-productive. Yes, I feel bold type is neccessary. Now, as the parent post points out, DRM is not going to stop someone determined enough, if they want it, they'll find a way to rip it.
This is where the industries lack of understanding about p2p is r
Re: Hilarious? (Score:5, Interesting)
> Trust has to be earned.
> Judging by the vast amount of MP3's available on Kazaa, I see no reason why they shouldn't trust people who have shown time and time again that they'll happily make copyrighted material available to everyone for free.
You missed the other half of the formula, "if (we) give people what they are asking for in terms of value".
Your cynicism may be justified, but the full formula hasn't been tested for about a generation now. (I refer not just to the subjective quality of the music, but also to the price of the media. CDs' steep pricing was originally justified on the basis that they were retooling the industry and the output was limited, but curiously the prices never did come down. Except of course among counterfeiters, who can sell them for $1/disc and still make a killing.)
The other half of the formula (Score:5, Insightful)
As you correctly point out, there is a problem in that current pricing has no link to the cost of production (which has dropped dramatically). Piracy happens when the product pricing motivates pirates.
Sony can either try and add value to justify the pricing, or they can fight a losing DRM battle. Unfortunately, most of the "value added" is just a workaound to the losing DRM battle. I see no need to pay them just to work around a problem they created in the first place. I can solve the technical problem without Sony's help.
At a price of $1/song or $2/disc, piracy would be a waste of time, and the product could still be profitable. At some price higher than that, piracy would be tolerable and the product would be more profitable. Then we have today's prices -- the pirates are in the driver's seat.
Re: Hilarious? (Score:5, Insightful)
If CD's drop below that special price point for their main customers, they will be as 'free' as the stuff one can download.
Remember folks, the whole equation is over T.
Re:Hilarious? (Score:3, Interesting)
The thing is that it only takes one person to buy a CD, encode it to MP3, and share it with the world. Why should the rest of us have to be penalized and inconvenienced for one person?
That's the thing that always really frustrated me with the product activation schemes for software: the people who pirated it just hacked it and went about their merry way. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to struggle with calling Microsoft or some other company just to explain that we installed some new hardware or that w
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2)
Judging by the vast amount of CD's that has been price fixed by the major labels, I see no reason why we should trust companies who have shown time and time again that they'll happily make deals that makes copyrighted material available to everyone at an inflated price.
You're missing the point. (Score:5, Informative)
Ripping a CD to any desired format for use in a personal mp3 player, or on the computer or for any other purpose is clearly covered under fair use. There's no reason someone who purchases a CD should be additionally limited by some hackneyed copyright scheme.
All the RIAA is trying to do, is make someone click 'ok' to some licensing terms when they copy music from a CD, so that when their watermarked copy shows up online, they don't even have to -prove- that it ever got traded, or even got traded outside fair use guidelines. its mere existence is proof of guilt. (lower legal burden of proof)
no copy protection scheme will ever stop hackers, and they know this - but they're trying to leverage an inconvenience against all their -paying-customers- to try to make life easier for themselves in punishing the few criminals.
it is however, a self-fulfilling prophecy for the labels. the more they sue customers, the more they illegally fix prices, the more they monopolize all methods of distribution and cripple their primary product -- the more customers they'll lose.
they of course will only interpret this as being 'due to filesharing', and in a sense they're right. but to be complete, it's due to their -response- to filesharing.
beyond all that, there has never been any data to prove that downloaded material online represents lost sales. CD sales rate fell well within the bounds of every other industry who has been taking a hit in the economy -- and only knocked sales Ffrom their -all-time-high- in 2000. (pre bubble bursting, post napster)
the RIAA is simply fighting to maintain their distribution monopoly. they aren't worried about losing customers - because if they win, you'll have no choice if you want music (as now). but if they lose - they'll cease to exist.
Re:You're missing the point. (Score:3, Interesting)
and their revenue model is predicated upon illegal vertical, -and- horizontal collusion, monopolistic practices, and price fixing (proven guilty on all counts, remember the class action suit?).
seeing as how the reported sales decline is certainly representing the minority of music purchasers, and does seem to at least correlate with the rise of consumer embracing of
Re:Hilarious? (Score:3, Insightful)
Its like: Ok, you can copy the Album for a friend, but if he wants the extras he will have to buy it.
Pretty sensible stand for a music exec, imho.
Re:Hilarious? (Score:5, Interesting)
If they trusted us, they'd just print up CDs as usual and assume we wouldn't steal them.
This is a bit callous. The fact of the matter is that Lots of People(tm) pirate music and the music industry wants to stop it. This is the first sign that they are listening to consumers and their advocates. Instead of relying on just DRM (lest we forget CSS?) they recognise that its use is limited and they are offering consumers more bang for their buck.
Look at DVDs. I'm speaking only for myself but I would be far less interested in downloading a DiVX rip of a movie than a MP3 of a song. The fact of the matter is that more is lost in the translation of the DVD; I don't get surround sound and I don't get extras or outtakes.
I'm glad Sony is taking this tact; it's far nicer than dragging 12 year olds into court.
Re:Hilarious? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:4, Interesting)
You've almost hit I what I suspect is Sony's plan.
They know that, aside from piracy, there are good reasons to have copies of music on a PC, notably ease and convenience of use -- with music on a PC, I don't have to change CDs, I can play tracks from multiple CDs in one playlist, etc.
By including a version of the music that's already in a convenient PC format, they hope that users won't even bother to rip the normal tracks (and maybe they'll have made that harder to do, to, by including munged tables of contents or whatever).
Once enough people have swallowed this new format -- say in five years --, they'll point out that for many users, the audio-CD portion is redundant. So they'll come out with "Bonus" CDs that contain twice as much music, for the same cost as a regular CD, omitting the audio tracks in order to have the space for the bonus DRM'd tracks.
Once that's been swallowed, they'll start producing "CD"s that contain only DRM'd tracks, probably validated by phoning home to a central server, possibly with mandatory registration.
At that point, Sony will hope they've stamped out file sharng, and will raise their prices.
Now I don't do file sharing (at this point I used to plug emusic.com, but no longer), but I do want to ensure that ay music I buy is convertable to MP3, as I have hardware that only plays MP3s, andvcan't play DRM'd music.
For the moment, Sony's hybrid CDs will probably work for me, but if they go to full DRM, dropping audio tracks, it will be a problem for me. (And, no, I won't upgrade to a DRM capable player, as I assume that it wouldn't be open source.)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2, Interesting)
This way, you know if you find a copy of the song in the wild it is there as an illegal copy. Hopefully the number and availability of pirated material
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2)
Re:Hilarious? (Score:2, Interesting)
Why bother? If they're trusting us, they don't need to use DRM, do they?
Doesn't sound like a great idea to me. The quality of the tracks won't be as high as the CDDA data, and this extra content will simply reduce the amount of space available for the 'proper' audio data. I don't want all the music artists doing a 'Linkin Park' and releasing albums with 30 minutes of mu
Re:Thieves Hate Locks (Score:3, Informative)
DRM doesn't stop music copying - all it does is make it inconvenient for honest people. As you say. So those who are whining about it are exactly those who are being inconvenienced.
The pirates don't give a damn, 'cause all of these 'protections' can be easily circumvented with a bit of tech (eg linux+cdparanoia, cdplayer+optical out, etc.).. People who download music don't give a damn either, because they can just as easily download this music too (see previous sentence.)
F
Hilarious quote? (Score:2, Insightful)
Daniel
Re:Hilarious quote? (Score:2, Insightful)
Ppl say "I don't want to steal music, I just want to rip it to play it in my [mp3 player|mac|windows|linux pc]"
Well, if it's DRM'd WMA files or something it will probably be supported in most consumer MP3 hardware sooner or later.
No chance in linux though.
Re:Hilarious quote? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who modded parent up insightfull?!
The parent-post and replies to it completely miss the irony of putting copy right protection on a disc and then claiming to be 'trusting the consumer'.
This is the kind of 'trust' I give to my three year old kid!
Unfortunatly, to 'the bottle-is-half-empty' me, the sadness of the statement overshadows the funny aspect. Others may well perceive the text to be hilarious though...
Sheesh people, wake up...
Re:Hilarious quote? (Score:2)
What copy (right) protection? Read what the story submitter wrote:
Re:Hilarious quote? (Score:2)
Where?
- Ost
Re:Hilarious quote? (Score:2)
Well, the submitter might have read it like that, but the following quotes (which comprise almost the complete article) don't follow that conclusion at all:
Sony Music, home to such artists as Beyonce Knowles and Bruce Springsteen, says it plans to introduce new CD technology in Germany that prevents users from copying songs to file-sharing sites, but allows them
Re:Hilarious quote? (Score:2)
I consider anything that makes an audio-cd not conform Redbook standard, solely for the reason of making it 'less copyable', copyright protection.
The extras are only there to cover this fact up, I'm sure (or it wouldn't be Sony Music.)
how can they ever stop it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:how can they ever stop it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Some people, and even some organisations, are capable of being worried about more than one thing at once - and even as they try and deal with one situation, they also try and deal with others. The pirates are a known problem which doesn't change people's buying habits that much - Napster and Kazaa on the other hand are new for these companies - and they're right to be worried. With codecs improving and broadband access increasing, it's really not hard to obtain an even better selection than the big music stores have, and at a cheaper price.
In the past it was easy enough to copy from the radio - if you wanted to listen long enough and be taping all the time just in case the song you wanted came on. It was easy enough to copy a CD that a friend already had - but harder to search for anything and everything. There's also the matter of convenience - it used to be more convenient to go to a store and browse shelves of music than hunt around amongst your friends for the song you wanted. Even putting price aside, it's now easier to download off the net than to search in a store. Get a good enough codec at a high enough bitrate, and the stores have nothing to offer:
* not cheaper
* not more convenient
* not sufficiently higher quality
As for how - well, laws of course. They work well enough for other things - underground markets don't hurt the established providers anywhere near as much as legal and better alternatives.
Re:how can they ever stop it? (Score:2, Interesting)
Place your bets! (Score:5, Funny)
So, what's gonna crack it this time? Green felt tip pen? Rubbing a small kitten on the disc? Looking at it funny? Placing sliced cheese on it?
Re:Place your bets! (Score:2)
A single session CD drive. Ebay will provide, though I'm not certain about extracting digital audio from such devices. I'm thinking about thinks like the original Apple CD-ROMs which required caddys.
Has anyone ever tried this approach?
Cheers,
Ian
Re:Place your bets! (Score:2)
Dumb software drive (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Place your bets! (Score:4, Funny)
Not gonna work, dude. Slashdotters have already killed so many kittens.
Will it play on my discman? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I've stopped buying copy-protected CD's (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I've stopped buying copy-protected CD's (Score:2)
If I buy a CD that is not labelled but won't play properly, I'll take it back because it's a DOA, and demand a refund.
Re:Will it play on my discman? (Score:2)
Dude... This is SLASHDOT! Do you *realize* what you've done? Your discman probably doesn't even play ogg, does it?
Poseur...
I can beat that (Score:3, Interesting)
So I dropped it in the Linux MP3 server, and it ripped straight away, no problems.
So the "copy-protection" actually forced us to copy the disc in order to listen to it.
not quite as stupid as previous efforts (Score:2, Insightful)
ed
I trust you. (Score:2)
Hilarious QUote? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hilarious QUote? (Score:2)
If the extra value won't make them go out and steal it, then why copy protect it?
Re:Hilarious QUote? (Score:2)
If you think that any kind of DRM is going to stop file sharing, then you obviously don't understand the situation. Any widespread DRM will be cracked, period. Once it is done, any teenager Joe can download the DRM-ripper program and start to share.
For the record (sorry!), I have ripped all my CDs.
We borg.... (Score:2)
Its the consumers saying "we are right and there is nothing you can do about it but agree, otherwise we will not buy."
If they really trusted the consumer... (Score:5, Insightful)
I just don't get it. Large scale-piracy outfits have access to large commercial presses, hence their being able to put out CDs that look just like the real thing. They sure as hell don't use burners, so all this copy protection is useless in combatting large-scale organised piracy. So, the only people that these new copy prevention and DRM techniques inconvenience are the consumers.
Tell me again how Sony is showing trust in the consumer?
Seems like a fair system (Score:4, Insightful)
However, it only needs something along the lines of
1) relying on a custom music playing application (windows only)
2) relying on Windows Media Player (ugliest nastiest application ever)
to make the whole system pointless.
But it is a step in the right direction of not messing with the audio on the CD, adding more value to the CD, and yet trying to maintain the rights of the copyright holder without messing with the rights of the consumer.
Re:Seems like a fair system (Score:2)
If you look at it from this angle, it would look like the industry finally has been struck with a cluebat. It may not be the final solution in this situation, but acknowledgement of the fact that people want to play music from computers and mp3 players is a step in the right direction IMHO.
I still believe however, that copying will continue (as long as I can hear it, I can record it...), and that the record companies will have to change their business model. They are not selling physical prod
Re:Seems like a fair system (Score:2)
Re:Seems like a fair system (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not interested in deciding which DRM player format to buy. Music Match, I tunes, Napster, Get real. Provide MP3's. I already have the equipment. I don't need a 4-way VHS-Betamax DRM format bat
No, it's not fair (Score:2)
If you don't believe me, just make a search on Kazaa for any of the "copy-protected" releases. See? It's there for anyone to take.
But those miserable customers who actually paid for these discs, have to find out that it does not play on their CDman/car CD/DVD player/computer and they can not transfer the music to their shiny new iPods.
This "new system" does next to nothing to change that: the a
"give people what they are asking for" (Score:2)
One has to wonder what kind of crack do they smoke when come up with such statements.
ps: is it just me, or everyone receives the Thinkgeek anti-RIAA T-shirt ads for this article?
Economics (Score:2)
Seems to me that with the amount of money they spend on trying to protect their offerings, and any sane reckoning of real losses, they're flogging a dead horse...
I can see how thwarting the mass pirateers can be co
Almost, Sony (Score:2)
Re:Almost, Sony (Score:2)
Um, I think this will result in lower sales. If I can't rip it to my MP3 mix CD for the car, I won't buy the album because it's useless.
I wonder if the Reduced Piracy makes up for the Reduced Sales. I don't buy CD's without the Compact Disk logo.
Trusting the customer (Score:3, Insightful)
Better article on The Register (Score:5, Informative)
The Register also have an article [theregister.co.uk] today on the subject.
According to the article in The Register, the old discs where unpopular with consumers because they could not be played on PCs, or riped to portable music players.
The new discs will have a second session, containing encrypted audio data, that can be played on a PC, using Sony's software (On supported platforms, non lintel users need not apply). The audio can also be copied to a portable music player, but only sony players are supported.
In conclusion, I would say that while sony have listened to consumer complaints about their last copy protected disc, their solution is hardly any better. Even John Q Public will see these new discs as no better than the old ones if he owns another brand of portable music player.
Re:Guranteed incompatible (Score:2)
Interesting, how do they sell lots of these if it's compatible with only the Sony portable player? I have a feeling this will get wide spread acceptance just like the Data Play music player. The market is already full of incompatable formats. WMA-Music Match, Apple I-Pod-I-Tunes, Napster-Napster branded Samsung, now a Sony only format for a portable player. Sheesh I thought the VHS/Betamax wars were bad. Somehow in the betamax wars, they are probably providing the
still not worth it to me (Score:5, Insightful)
Spending $14-18 on a CD-ROM (no longer an Audio CD) that has CD Audio, low-quality WMA files, links to low-info "exclusive" websites, and tiny music video files, just isn't worth it.
Re:still not worth it to me (Score:2)
so are you doing some sort of hack or do you only listen to "unprotected music"? i must admit, i've not been up to date on all this.
Reasonable compromise (Score:2, Insightful)
hellooooo (Score:3, Insightful)
what we are asking for in terms of value.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Exclusive Online Content (Score:2)
I bet it all sucks. How many times does a big company throw "exclusive online content" at the customers only to find out it's really shameless self-promotion. Take Lord of the Rings, for example. I like the films, but a little too much hype, thank you.
iTunes and similar services still better (Score:2, Interesting)
Back to vinyl Album Lengths? (Score:3, Interesting)
What's pathetic is the DVD and CD prices differences of like releases. Take Rush for example with their latest "Rush In Rio" live releases. 3-CD set and 2-DVD set are roughly the same price, even though the DVD set gives you a documentary, Dolby Digital audio, etc.
Re:Back to vinyl Album Lengths? (Score:2)
And this will work how? (Score:3, Interesting)
How will this prevent CD copying? Where's the real extra value in the "compressed" (which I read as lossy) DRM'd content? Oh, I get to go to an "exclusive" website with extra content. Whoopee. If I have the CD, I'm ripping tracks in an unprotected format regardless of whether there are already pre-ripped tracks available. Why would I want to copy DRM'd material to my machine?
Seems to me that by having a multisession CD, that means there will be less unprotected music since it takes up a majority of space. Unless, of course, there is plenty of unused space on today's recordings. I wouldn't know, I haven't bought a "major label" CD in years. Last CD I bought was from a local performer, bought right from the guy after he played a club one night (got it autographed too...another perk in supporting local talent.)
I don't know maybe I'm one of the unwashed, but this makes no sense to me. I agree with the other poster that said "just make a regular CD" and I'll add "and price it reasonably" and we will come.
Nice quote, but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
His heart is in the right place, but he really has to move away from RIAA word abuse. "Stealing" is something that has never been involved in the issue of copy protection, the p2p issue, etc.
Meh? I don't get it. (Score:2, Insightful)
Now Sony has come out with a scheme that shows they are beginning to place *some* trust back with the consumer and they are jumped all over?
I for one am pleased to see this small move towards the better from Sony.
What BMG spokesman? (Score:2)
Did you even RTFA? This Wiser character you quoted is "Sony Music Chief Technology Officer Phil Wiser." according to TFA. Nice to see even submitters are not feeling obliged to actually READ something.
Anyway, this is also bringing in a new more serious problem.. according to the article the copyprotected content "will
This is going to make my life harder.. (Score:2, Funny)
So now instead of them just ripping their own to put on their MP3 player, I usually end up keeping a copy of the good stuff too. DRM actually increases piracy, at least in this flat!
DRM usually does increase piracy (Score:2)
DRM the way it has been going usually has had an effect of increasing piracy. You end up with a purchased copy that is crippled in how you can play/use it, encouring going to Grokster to find an uncrippled version you can use.
they won't go out and steal it (Score:2)
Well if they gave us value for money, then yes. Perhaps they'll consider dropping the prices then huh?
Will it work on my system, though? (Score:4, Insightful)
My DVD stereo system can handle MP3 and WMA CDs as well as Audio CDs, DVD-Video and DVD-Audio (and some other image related formats as well).
The odds on such a system not playing back the audio tracks and instead playing back the WMA content may be quite high!
ATRAC3? (Score:2)
Clever (Score:5, Interesting)
They're going to work fine on his computer, and he runs Kazaa so they are made available over Kazaa too. Problem is, others won't be able to play them after they download them from him. However, I wonder if Joe cares. The only thing Joe will be upset about is not being able to play music he downloads from others who are simply copying DRM files from similarly packaged music. But I somehow doubt Joe will make the connection between the files copied off the CD in this manner and the problem he's getting when he downloads random track X from Y.
Re:Clever (Score:5, Informative)
This could actually have a very pleasant side effect working in favor of the free world, if those files contain DRM (which they most certainly do)...
The collective thought process of the file sharing world will become: ".WMA files are broken,
I don't know about you, but I'd be happy to see DRM and WMA become hated among non-technical users. It would be great to see the user community truly revolt against closed technology for the same reason us open source geeks do.
bleh, friggin worthless (Score:2)
How is this copy protection? (Score:2)
This seems quite good for Windows users (the music company will presumably at least make decent quality rips) but sucks for compilations as it means they will be able to fit less music on a CD - maybe 70 minutes instead of 8
Sony content only plays on Sony devices? (Score:2)
I like Apple's drm approach (Score:3, Interesting)
But Apple at least lets you transfer drm rights from one computer to another. THe tracks are yours as long as you own a system. And you can use 3 devices and systems at once. This means a friend or two can hear and decide if the file is worth buying.
Face it guys. Pirating is stealing. Yes I like downloading music but it costs serious bucks to make an album.
I hope Sony will do something similiar or just use the Advanced AUdio Codec that Itunes uses. Great sound quality.
how is this hilarious? (Score:3, Interesting)
isn't this exactly the way we would prefer the music companies to respond? i mean, we all know that there is in fact no way they can lock us out of copying current cd technology, so as opposed to spending lots of money on the problem, why not accept it and just move on? oh yeah, and give the consumer pre-ripped digital copies of the music as well. sure, it's DRM protected and we don't like that, but BIG F!@#in DEAL! they haven't actually tried to protect the CDDA tracks, so you can just rip with your encoder of choice.
so what's the problem? why is this hilarious? is it that they actually trust us for a change? is it funny because we can't be trusted not to steal their music? it seems to me like somebody at BMG finally "gets it".
Yet another reason to buy a Mac or run Linux? (Score:3, Informative)
It seems that any computer running Linux would be able to bypass this scheme easily enough, simply by force-mounting the appropriate (music) session and ripping from it. And on a Mac, multi-session CDs mount all sessions as separate disk images, so the user should be able to rip to MP3 or AAC from within iTunes. So unless the record label does something to break these CDs on Mac OS X and/or Linux, they should rip and play just fine on those platforms.
File Sharing in Action (Score:3, Interesting)
A few months later i'm goofing around and i search for him on Amazon [amazon.com]. I am surprised to find such a "small" artist on a mainstream site, but happy to see that he has some free [amazon.com] downloads [amazon.com]! (Don't ask me why there are two separate pages for "all free song downloads by Peter Mayer.")
I download the songs and spend a few days enjoying them. I copy them for my wife and for a few friends, then decide i really do want to support this guy. So i go to his label's site, Peppermint Records [peppermintcds.com] order his stuff (No money for Amazon today!) and check out some other artists while i'm there. Some sound good, but Anne Heaton [peppermintcds.com] really impresses me [peppermintcds.com]. Amazon has some downloads [amazon.com] for her too. Turns out i'm crazy for one song and not so hot on the others so i don't order but i enjoy (and share) the mp3 and vow to check her out live if i get the chance and to look out for any new CDs she makes.
At the same time, my friends are doing the same thing because of the stuff i shared with them. They've bought several of Peter's CDs and some of them thought Anne's was worth the investment too. We were all being responsible and trading publicly available stuff, but when my CDs arrive i'll be ripping them to listen via WinAmp and if the occasion arises, i won't hesitate to give a few out.
I didn't have to buy anything, nor did my friends. I've got what amounts to a nearly complete album of Peter Mayer's Greatest Hits on my hard drive, but i know that if i don't send some cash his way, he'll have to go get a real job and i won't be hearing any more of his thoughtful, beautiful songs.
So is this post for or against file sharing? On the one hand, i didn't engage in any Napster-scale swapping. On the other hand, if Peppermint put some DRM crap on their CDs that made it a hassle for me to rip them i probably wouldn't buy them as a protest.
I think the RIAA doesn't take people like me into account. Most of what made me buy Peter's CDs was the music, but a part of it was my desire to support an independant label and artist. The only major-label CD i've bought lately was the Dixie Chicks. I like their music, but i was content to hear it on the radio on those infrequent occasions when i turn off NPR. I bought their CD to counteract some of the crap [holyobserver.com] they were getting for exercising their first amendment rights.
I'm using my cash to reward those whose products and policies i like and withholding it from those i don't like. Maybe the RIAA doesn't have to take people like me into account. Maybe i'm just an insignificant statistical blip to them, but i'm talking to my friends and family about this stuff and some of them are doing the same thing, so maybe that blip will become significant if they don't change their ways.
Re:Not new.. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not new.. (Score:2)
Re:Not new.. (Score:2)
On a side note these new fangled crippled discs mount just fine on my mac and I end up with two desktop icons, the data partition (useless to me since its all windows fluff) and the audio tracks. iTunes rips the audio just fine.
Re:Not new.. (Score:2)
Re:Darwin Act (Score:2)
Yes, Listing on the "F*ck'ed Company website"