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Posted by on January 15, 2007, 9:42 pm
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Monty Solomon wrote:
> If "crippleware" seems an unduly harsh description, it balances the
> euphemistic names that the industry uses for copy protection. Apple
> officially calls its own standard "FairPlay," but fair it is not.
> Here is how FairPlay works: When you buy songs at the iTunes Music
> Store, you can play them on one -- and only one -- line of portable
> player, the iPod. And when you buy an iPod, you can play
> copy-protected songs bought from one -- and only one -- online music
> store, the iTunes Music Store.
There are conflicting views on this subject. On the one hand,
consumers want flexibility in playing their music, on the other, music
companies and musicians want -- quite legitmately -- to protect their
copyrights.
On a recent discussion on recs.art.tv, many people thought quite
passionately that performed music was somehow in the public domain and
listeners had an unlimited moral "right" to download whatever and
whenever they wanted, and to share it at any time. This of course is
nonsense. The US Constitution clearly provides for copyright and
patent protection of creative works.
With digital media, it's real easy to make perfect bootleg copies and
widely distribute them. That's simply not fair to the music business
or musicians. (Whether we like or dislike the music business is
totally irrelevent.)
On the other hand, if someone goes out and properly buys some music,
regardless of the medium (78 or iPod), they ought to have some
reasonably usage on multiple players, just as they do with computer
software. If I buy a computer program, I can put it on as many
machines as I want (home, office, car, etc.) as long as it's single
usage. So, if I buy some music, I should be allowed to freely
duplicate it as I see fit for my tape player, for example.
I'm not happy that the electronics industry keeps introducing new
stuff so fast that other stuff is quickly obsolete. I have a nice
collection of cassette tapes I want to keep. I even have plenty of
phono records I want to keep. Many people have lots of 78s.
But at the same time, consumers have this addiction to rush out and
buy the latest fad. People actually camp out overnight at electronics
stores for the newest release of something! (Don't these people have
lives???)
[public replies please]
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