This is not EU law yet. It just left a committee but faces strong opposition from various political groups. Meanwhile, in the US, the "classics: act is about to extend the copyright protection of pre-1972 recordings to 2067. This is not liberals vs. conservatives - it's about media companies such as Sony or Disney who pay and push politicians. It's the way to re-define the framers idea of a "limited time" protection for intellectual property. The method has been use countless times: Hey let's extend the copyright (retroactively) for another 30 years. What? Sure it's still "limited time" . A few years later: Hey - we need to extend the copyright for another 25 years. Don't worry - it's still "limited time". This has been done 3 or 4 times already and now, with the classics act, some songs will enjoy more than 100 years of copyright. So folks please: The consumers and users in the EU and here in America are on the same side of being f*cked from behind. The dark side just uses different methods here and there.

Mozilla is (was) a grand idea. I was among those who initially donated to Mozilla because we needed an alternative browser. But they are now invested (and investing) in many things - including IoT and Speech recognition and I fear they have lost their focus. True - the browser is still mostly ok - but they are running so many unrelated projects that most if not all move very slowly (if at all) due to the fact that they are underfunded. In addition - they too try to pull users into their environment instead of empowering them to run their own environments. Take "sync" as an example - versions below 1.5 were running perfectly within owncloud environments. Not anymore. The new style is complicated with three different communications environments and clearly geared towards Mozilla's own services. This is quite the opposite of "user" empowerment.

I spent a big chunk of my morning by reading almost all posts in this thread. The condescending general attitude is amazing - it's digital - so shut up. Well - as usual - it's not that easy. I own a record label and we create vinyl records. Some with and some without the help of DAWs. First and foremost: We are specialized in vintage audio. So all our source material is either analog or derived from analog masters and transferred to DSD (if the master owner doesn't entrust us with the original masters). As long as there is no restoration work necessary (the source material is not damaged) we won't need digital. We use our fully analog tool chain in the studio to bring the sound up to par. That is tedious work - and it requires passion, know-how and determination. We don't simply crank up the big bottom on the APHEX - before we even start the work we have listened to other recordings or performances by the same artists to get a feeling how THEY wanted it to sound. The difference in a performance of Beethoven's "Eroica" by Bernstein or Karajan are critically important. Karajan, compared to Bernstein, is much more subtle not as overwhelming and the audio engineer has to understand that. So is it analog? Or digital? I'd like to start by asking: What equipment do you have and where are you listening to it? If you're sitting in front of your computer and listening to you Logitech speakers, you're perfectly fine with mp3. If you have decent speakers and decent equipment AND the time to enjoy the performance, you may want to listen to a medium that has never been in the digital domain. In all other cases, you're ok with a CD. Sound is analog. Go to classical concert, close you eyes and listen. That is the measurement for true sound. That is the sound you feel, you experience - without amplification or any kind of technology. That is the sound that Beethoven, Mozart or even Benny Goodman or Duke Ellington wanted. It can't be captured by any means. From the microphones to the tapes, mixers and other equipment - we can only try to approximate it as close as possible. And in order to be able to appreciate the performance, you need the right equipment, the right amplifiers and speakers. You need a recording that has been worked on by people who cared. And yes - I truly believe that analog sources should not be converted into the PCM digital domain. So finally - our customers appreciate our analog only approach. Yes - there's a difference between vinyl, CD and .. say .. DSD. But - to be dead honest - most people don't even have the right playback equipment or even the time to appreciate it.