Ludicrous Restrictions
Record Label Sucker Punch Here’s an excellent op-ed on the Fast and Loud website. This guy just nails the problem with pinpoint accuracy. A lot of people, I’m guessing, think exactly the same way this guy does. It’s not about theft. It’s about pragmatism.
It’s about the frivolous ideology behind (and the piss-poor implementation of) the copy protection. Think about it…I can download the entire album for free (illegally, but free none the less), rootkit free, while I eat breakfast, and have it readily available to every audio device I own. Or…I can goto the store, deal with some floor salesman who doesn’t know what band/album I’m talking about while trying to sell me an extended warranty on a CD, stand in line for 20 minutes, and pay $20 for Sony to install some virus-ware unknowingly on my computer that I can’t remove, and hopefully it will play on one of my CD players.
There’s no decision here folks. Therein lies the problem. I don’t need record labels making it hard for me to enjoy the music. And even harder for me to buy it.
found by Ryan 20
Yeah, he put it nicely: the labels are trying to screw over paying customers.
It’s seemingly hard to understand why the music industry is hurting the very people who ARE buying their stuff. It really makes no sense until you realize that DRM isn’t about keeping people from copying. It’s about control. It’s about getting us used to the idea that we don’t own anything. It’s a change in business model from where we bought packaged music we kept for a lifetime, that we could sell, trade, or simply give away, to where we lease it, e.g., pay for it every time we listen, or maybe via a monthly subscription.
The music industry knows that some people will copy and more will infringe. But they also know that the vast majority of people are sheep. That they’ll capitulate. And at that time the music industry will profit like you’ve never seen before.
I would think that if I bought a CD and it DID NOT play on all my Phillips Industry Standard CD drives, I would be taking it back to the store. And because this incompatibility is not advertised before the sale, I think I would be asking the store for my travel expenses as well. I am not returning it because of any fault of my own, but because of the onerous conditions discovered only after opening the wrapper. Knowing that they would not reimburse me, I then would be taking the matter to Small Claims Court. I would sue the store, not the label.
Most jurisdictions require that a company be represented by an Attorney in Small Claims Court. The cost of the pseudo CD and traveling expenses would probably total $25 max. An hour of attorney time would be about $100 minimum, and probably use at least two or three hours for preparation and court time. If enough people did this, then the stores would become very reluctant to sell CDs that people might return. It would only take a few people returning their CDs to get Sony’s attention.
paul t. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. It is not about being litigious, it is about having an independent forum to arbitrate a dispute. The alternative might be to do something like go to Sony and break the President’s kneecap to get my money back. So don’t bother getting on my case about this.
DRM will never end unless the masses stop buying DRM enabled media. As far as the records companies are concerned as long as they can get away it, why stop.
The recording industry has enjoyed a sweet position for decades. Sign a contract with a record label and they practically own you body and soul. They certainly own your music.
The RIAA can see the writing on the wall. There are not stupid. Evil perhaps, but not stupid. The record industry knows it could change its business model and still make money, but they are scared to death that the new model would free musicians from their choke hold. Like the Roman emporers of old, they fear a slave revolt.
For contrast, look at what Jim Baen (baen.com) is doing with his publishing company. His also sees the future and is trying to adjust his model to cope. He posts, with his author’s approval, many of their earlier work for free download. The theory: if you like the author’s work, then maybe you will buy his or her books. Apparently the data so far supports the theory.
He also is experimenting with downloads of yet-to-be-published books at reduced prices. I know I paid $8.00 for a download of Dave Weber’s latest book three months before the book hit the shelves. Then I forked over another $25 for the book when it came out.
But what I found surprising was that inside the book’s back cover was a DVD with over a dozen works by Weber and other authors. An interesting experiment by Baen. I hope he succeeds.
I believe the media industry got this idea of making the consumer pay for something that they can’t own from M$. Sure, they always had control over their artists that they signed but this new idea that you could get people to pay full price for something and not have any rights to it was sheer windfall genius. The only problem that they have is that they don’t have the ability to screw the customer later if they pirate it like M$ can with extra code in the their “patches” so the media industry has to screw you right from the start and make everyone suffer for their overzealous control. It’s amazing what rights government ownership buys these companies.
Imagine if food companies were allowed to “protect” their product from theft by all means necessary and were allowed to “poison” the food and you could only get the antidote after you could prove that you made the purchase. Then people could defend the practice by saying that if you don’t like their methods don’t buy their food. If you die, it’s your fault cause you should have read the box more closely.
Here we have yet another reason that the vinyl LP is not dead. Note that vinyl will still play, even if scratched, unlike most digital media.
I’m no Luddite..I have hundreds of CDs. Most of them were purchased more than 10 years ago. I average about 2 a year these days.
I suspect that the next phase in the “licensing” bushwa, will be trying to find a way to charge you extra for playing your CD with another person in the room. “This CD is licensed only for the use of the original purchaser. Additional user licensing may be purchased at extra cost.”
I guess W. listening in on the phone line would be a freebie.
Best Regards,
DAve
An attorney for a $100 an hour?