The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jan
2
Are The RIAA Retarded Or Something?
Filed Under Polemics & Politics on January 2, 2008 at 4:38 am
What is it with the RIAA that they believe that the way to get more customer loyalty is to sue their customers? Do they think people LIKE being sued? How exactly does criminalising, alienating, and literally prosecuting your customers possibly help business? I know record chiefs are out of touch with reality some what but the RIAA seem to be from an entirely different planet. They just don’t get it. I thought I’d seen it all, but I was wrong. Now the RIAA are litigating against people who rip CDs they bought legally for purely personal use. That, apparently is now also illegal and worthy of the RIAA’s wrath. Yup, us nice people who pay for our music and want to put it on our MP3 players are now targets for litigation too. Man, I can really feel my love for the music industry growing. For more check out this article from the Washington Post.
[tags]RIAA, ass-hats[/tags]
If the RIAA wins and given their track record that is a strong possibility, it will play into the hands of Apple and others selling DRM protected music. It would be a huge win for Rhapsody, Napster and Zune Market. All of these providers offer subscription services … renting your music may become the only economical and “legal” way to go.
I suspect all of the above are rooting for a win by the RIAA. To add to your misery I believe in the same law suite the RIAA is claiming just having copyrighted music in “Shared Folders†constitutes infringement.
The only way to stop this madness is with a 60s style revolt but I see nothing in the current generations that suggests they have any interest in becoming rebels.
Bart,
Like Sam said, it will be in the hands of companies like Apple, who in the past has stated that the iPod product is made to make it easy to rip your CD’s and take them with you.
Unless these big companies decide to turn against their users and try to cash from this situation, I see the RIAA being a real pain in the but for all of us.
Hang on a sec, iTunes shares out songs, does that mean that the RIAA think that iTunes is illegal too?
As for Apple wanting the RIAA to win, I don’t agree. DRM is not something Apple wanted or something Apple want. Apple did more to end DRM than any other company. It’s because of Steve Job’s open letter that some big labels have started to move away from DRM. DRM is getting Apple into trouble in Europe, the sooner it’s gone the sooner the European Comission will get off Apple’s back about the iTunes Store/iPod tie-in.
Like the article states, there is precedence here, VCRs are not illegal and by similar logic neither is ripping your own CDs for personal use.
Bart.
Looks like they have backed down a bit on this: http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/30/riaa-not-suing-over-cd-ripping-still-kinda-being-jerks-about-it/
Bart,
I think you are being a little unfair and insensitive to retarded people. It’s not their fault that they were born slow in mental or emotional or physical development.
The RIAA on the other hand…
I continue to feel that Apple and Microsoft would benefit if the RIAA continues to lock down MP3s. Apple seems to be very fond of locking things down and Microsoft as would others offering “rented music ” could benefit immensely.
I don’t see either Apple or Microsoft commenting much on the RIAA rampage.
I suspect what bothers me most is the way people simply go along with the RIAA. Yes they bitch and moan in blogs but … Don’t expect to see any iPod or Zune carrying protesters lining up outside the halls of congress anytime in the remainder of my life.
Sam, I agree that MS are fond of locking things down but where’s the evidence that Apple are? The evidence to the contrary is that Apple have pressurised the music business to remove DRM, have opened up the iTunes Plus store with literally millions of DRM free tracks and that people can play un-DRMed music from just about anywhere on their iPods. If Apple are so fond of locking down music and enforcing DRM then why these moves towards openness and away from DRM? As evidence of this openness just look at how flawlessly the Amazon music store integrates with iTunes and the iPod.
I think there is a reason Apple are staying quiet though, they need the record labels on-side. If there’s no music to sell then the iTunes store becomes a great white elephant!
Also, unlike Microsoft Apple do not pay the record labels for each music player sold.
Bart.
My comments were based on the iPhone lock down and the unwillingness to allow other hardware manufactures to bundle the Apple OS with their computers.
I have never purchased from iTunes because it made no sense to “buy” a tune only to be able to play it on the iPod. I was a professional musician when young and am sensitive to copyright issues and all of my music is legal (so far). I buy CDs and rip to MP3s or purchase MP3s from eMusic.
Yes I agree Jobs seems to embrace DRM free music but it was the DRM music on iTunes that helped propel the iPod to the forefront of the MP3 player pack.
For what ever reason I still suspect Apple sees it to their advantage not to lock horns with the RIAA. Too bad Jobs does not issue another letter decrying RIAA tactics. His is the kind of voice needed to alert people to the true down side to RIAA intentions and tactics.
Some further info on this story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20071231/tc_nf/57474
Hi Dave,
As ever thanks for the related link. It does seem that the legal team of the RIAA are not dumb enough to litigate against fair use. However, the quote form the RIAA website in the original article, and the quote from the Sony BMG exec are very worrying and seem to show that the big-wigs in the music industry and the RIAA don’t like you ripping your CDs. Thankfully they don’t appear to be litigating against people for just ripping but still, worrying stuff.
Bart.
More on Apple and its reliance on locked down audio / video content:
According to InformationWeek:
… the complaint goes beyond software licensing politics and charges Apple with deliberately designing its iPod hardware to be incompatible with WMA. One of the third-party components in iPods, the Portal Player System-On-A-Chip, supports WMA, according to the complaint. “Apple, however, deliberately designed the iPod’s software so that it would only play a single protected digital format, Apple’s FairPlay-modified AAC format,†the complaint states. “Deliberately disabling a desirable feature of a computer product is known as ‘crippling’ a product, and software that does this is known as ‘crippleware.’ â€
This is interesting. I’m surprised your were so concerned about the RIAA with this law already restricting UK residents.
“One unique feature of UK copyright law is that ripping songs from a CD isn’t allowed. Despite the fact that everyone does it in order to move music to their iPods or computers, the majesty of the law frowns upon the practice (and you don’t want the majesty of the law frowning at you”
From:
UK wants to make CD rips legal (at last)
By Nate Anderson | Published: January 08, 2008 – 11:14AM CT
I don’t live in the UK so an un-enforced and indeed un-enforceable UK law doesn’t really concern me. The actions of the organisation representing the four biggest record labels in the entire world is a different matter though. Yes, the law suits are in the US, but the RIAA represents labels that are global. Their actions have a much greater impact on me than those of the British crown.
As far as I’m aware Ireland also had a similar law and there were moves a foot to do something about that last year. I’m not sure how that effort went so we may indeed still have such a law but it is not in any way enforced, and the moment anyone tries to the government will be forced to repeal it or face the wrath of the electorate.
Bart.
Good luck with your electorate and change … have given up here.
Cheers
I am so relieved that it hasn’t come to literally suing people for riping CDs that they legally own. I swear, I don’t want to think about what would happen if the RIAA managed to get away with that.
As far as DRM-free music goes, the RIAA was on a smear campaign a while ago trying to convince people that the only legal DRM-free music out there is by some Indy-Artist that you have never heard of, something that is patently untrue; which shows that the RIAA definitely does not like DRM-free music.
This begs the question, at what point are they going to come out and say, “Purchasing unprotected music is illegal because it is technically bypassing DRM” or something stupid like that? And if they do, how are they going to justify this egregious stance?