Re: OT: Music

[Bill Swallow <bill_swallow -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

I hate to jump into this WAY OT thread, but here are
some items to consider:

DLing music and sharing it is the same as asking a
friend to make you a tape of an album or recording the
song off the radio. Can you honestly say to yourself
that you have NEVER recorded a song onto a blank tape
for enjoyment, either for yourself or someone else?

Napster and these other P2P technologies are a medium
for sharing files, not a means of pirating music.
People are the problem, not the technology.

No one is complaining about AudioCatalyst and other
MP3 ripping technologies. These techs are what allow
us to save music as MP3 in the first place.

But AudioCatalyst and the like are no different than a
cassette deck, CD-R or MiniDisc.

So... IMHO, big can of worms opening here. Do we
completely outlaw the exchange of music outside the
record label? Else, on what fair and honest grounds
can we isolate a few choice technologies?

I like my MP3s. I also have a ton of "legal" CDs,
cassettes and LPs (about 10 packed boxes full at the
time of my last move). I give artists my money when I
like their songs. If I DL an MP3 and like it, I get
the album. If I don't like it, it gets wiped from my
hard drive. But I know I'm only one of a handful of
people who actually behave this way.

Oh well. This issue, combined with the free speech
story on ABC last night, has really bummed me out.

=====
Bill Swallow
Technical Writer
PowerAdz.com
518.687.6107
bswallow -at- poweradz -dot- com

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