will songs on your ipod become illegal?

Moderator Joined: Sep 12, 2002 Posts: 1850 Location: NYC

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:52 am

Another example of the kind of shi*t you can get into if someone decides to go after you, for whatever subjective reason. Reminds me of those cop shows where they shake a guy down for info in a murder case, and if he doesn't cooperate, they threaten to turn him over to the IRS.

For most people in this situation, it's probably similar to the "Don't ask, don't tell" rule in the military. Who would know or care if you DID make a copy of your favorite CD (That you legaly bought & paid for) in case it goes belly-up someday from overuse or scratching? Does Lars from Metallica REALLY care as long as you bought your own CD in the first place?

I NEVER, EVER sell or let anyone copy commercial releases or copyrighted material. At this point, most people who know me know that I'm very serious about this sort of thing, including my own clients' works.

I've almost lost friends over it, and have caused serious family squabbles over it as well. (Yes, I'm the type that gets into arguments with friends or family members who "just want to borrow a CD to make a quick copy for their library. NO FREAKIN WAY, JOSE. Go buy yer own!!) I find it a personall affront when someone thinks they're entitled to walk into my home, browse my CD shelves, and brazenly ask to take a CD home with them - to make a copy. (WTF!?!?!? I should just be buying CDs for someone ELSE to rip and enjoy? I don't THINK so...)

But, what about single, personal copies of things I really treasure, knowing I would beat the heck out of them in my car, or travelling, etc.? It makes sense to play & abuse the copy and keep the original safe on a shelf. (I wouldn't keep ANYTHING copyrighted on my HDs, though, partly for space, and partly because of that very fact: I wouldn't want someone snooping around accusing me of storing & abusing copyrighted material on my HD.)

I've also made a point of buying the actual CD instead of downloading the MP3 files, for my own personal use in my own ipod. I consider this a matter of professional pride & courtesy as well. I buy the REAL thing to get the album art, full res wav files, etc. THen I'm able to play either a wav file or convereted MP3 of my own size & choice. Is that illegal as well?

Where does one draw the line? Should they sue Apple & other software makers for making MP3 cloning software? (Another very old argument, to be sure). Blank CD manufacturers? (Music CDs are just a bad joke as this point.)

This is a very old argument - going after "personal use" cases, and I'd be very disappointed to find out that the RAIA is doing this based only in the info in the story. As always, there's usually a lot more going on that triggred the lawsuits. The media usually only reports part of the story - the sensational stuff. I wouldn't rush to judgement, but I wonder what that guy did to trigger such interest in him by the RAIA. Perhaps theres'a lot more going on here we don't see in print.

Same thing for that woman they sued last year. (Should have never pursused that case in the first place, IMHO.) After the trial, a lot of other info came out, and from what I read, it sure seemed like where there was smoke, there could have been fire. She wasn't all THAT innocent from what I read, and she did some really dumb things.

No copyrighted stuff on MY computers, thankyouverymuch; just what my clients are paying for. Twisted Evil

Moderator Joined: Sep 12, 2002 Posts: 1850 Location: NYC

I'd be very very surprised if everyone didn't have a least one copy written copy of something they purchased on another medium other than what they purchased it on. even vhs copy of a tv show? cassette copy for your car? an ipod with songs on it?

This case will affect EVERYONE in the world. Heck my grandmother could be fined because she made a cassette of her Frank Sinatra CD to play in her car.

This shows you how much trouble the big labels are in, they are going for broke. They probably figure "what do we have to loose".

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:40 pm

I heard a song by a band on internet radio one that I really liked. So I went to my HMV to get them to order a copy, after 3 months of waiting they told me the distributor was out of copies. So I emailed the band and told them about how hard of a time I was having buying their music. I got a response from the guitarist in the band who told me that I could buy a used copy of the disc off ebay. I really tried so I said "fuck it" and I downloaded their whole discography. I live in a small town so I know about supporting the local economy but these guys earned this one. Sad thing is the band is a really big band.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:42 pm

I heard a song by a band on internet radio one that I really liked. So I went to my HMV to get them to order a copy, after 3 months of waiting they told me the distributor was out of copies. So I emailed the band and told them about how hard of a time I was having buying their music. I got a response from the guitarist in the band who told me that I could buy a used copy of the disc off ebay. I really tried so I said "fuck it" and I downloaded their whole discography. I live in a small town so I know about supporting the local economy but these guys earned this one. Sad thing is the band is a really big band. I really wanted to put my money in their pockets but I was unable to.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:47 pm

Joe, you're right.
In this case the defendant was found to not only convert the songs for personal use but to then store some of them in his Kazaa shared folder.

Atlantic v. Howell
Specifically, it is undisputed that all 54 of the Sound Recordings at issue were in the KaZaA shared folder on Defendant’s computer and that Defendant distributed 11 of them on January 30, 2006.

His argument?
Kazaa was not 'setup' to share.

So, out of a quoted 2,000 files, they are being sued over a total of 54.
Hmmm........ Sounds like no problem concerning personal use... But, putting some of them in a P2P folder? Ooops! Sorry folks, possession is 9/10 of the law; The moose out front should have told ya.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:33 pm

I can't belive they are going to try to stop me from making copies of my cd's on my HD. I can't see how I'm breaking the law by keeping a backup of stuff I bought.

Makes no sense to me what so ever!

Sharing the backup is another story.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:35 pm

How did they know he even had mp3's on his computer? Maybe I'm missing something but I did not read anywhere that he made them available on the internet.

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