Anonycat - Slashdot User

Viacom Says "YouTube Depends on Us"

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Anonycat

on Saturday March 24 2007, @09:39PM

Anonycat writes "Michael Fricklas, a lawyer for Viacom, has an opinion piece in the Washington Post that asserts that YouTube is responsible for damages in the $1B lawsuit initiated by Viacom. Fricklas attacks on several fronts, including that the DMCA's "safe harbor" provisions don't apply because YouTube is knowledgeable to infringement and furthermore derives financial benefit from it, that putting the burden of spotting infringement on the content providers is an undue burden to them, and notably that "Google and YouTube wouldn't be here if not for investment in software and technologies spurred by patent and copyright laws" in defending the relevance of the IP sector. Whether you agree with the case being made or not, it's a nice look into the minds on the pro-Viacom side."

EMI Exec: "The Music CD is Dead"

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Anonycat

on Friday October 27 2006, @11:53AM

Anonycat writes "Alain Levy, the chairman of EMI Music, made a speech declaring "the end of the music CD as it is," stating that most CDs are simply used for ripping onto digital audio players. Levy adds that by the beginning of 2007, all EMI CDs will come with additional material to make them more attractive to the consumer. Revenue from CDs still outranks revenue from downloads by better than 6 to 1. Would it take "additional material" to get you to keep buying CDs? What material would you like to see?"

Allofmp3.com Offers Free Music with DRM

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Anonycat

on Wednesday October 18 2006, @10:45PM

Anonycat writes "The New York Times reports that controversial online music store allofmp3.com is offering a free music service called Music for the Masses in an attempt to phase out its pay-per-download system. The catch? Music you download under the new system will only be playable using allofmp3's ad-supported software, and the songs will be locked down with DRM. Is this a debilitating blow to the prospect of unencumbered music?"