Comment Re:warnings get sony off the hook? (Score 1) 1209
It seems to me that a better anology would be software... after all, that's what a music CD is. I bought the Mac OS X Public Beta, which very well could have crashed my computer (or potentially worse). Even finished software can harm your computer if it isn't compatible with your system. Do I think this is wrong, or illegal? Of course not. (It's perhaps unfortunate, but that's a different topic.)
If a company wants to sell software -- music or otherwise -- that will only run on specific machines, it seems to me that's their business. However I don't see how limiting your customers' options is good business, especially after they're already quite used to those options. I can't think of one case where that sort of practice proved successful in the end.
The way I see it, the music industry is still pretty new to the world of computers, and they're trying to figure out how to cope. It's an understandable concern, when suddenly people can make unlimited copies of what you're trying to sell, without any loss in quality. They'll figure it out eventually: those that have no intention of paying will always find a way around it, and the rest of us will gladly pay for good stuff we can use how we want to.
If a company wants to sell software -- music or otherwise -- that will only run on specific machines, it seems to me that's their business. However I don't see how limiting your customers' options is good business, especially after they're already quite used to those options. I can't think of one case where that sort of practice proved successful in the end.
The way I see it, the music industry is still pretty new to the world of computers, and they're trying to figure out how to cope. It's an understandable concern, when suddenly people can make unlimited copies of what you're trying to sell, without any loss in quality. They'll figure it out eventually: those that have no intention of paying will always find a way around it, and the rest of us will gladly pay for good stuff we can use how we want to.
