Nice link Monty and quite scary too. The picture I posted in the galleries section which shows my computer setup with some blank CD-Rs and DVD+Rs in it, should I now go back and remove it?

Being a big fan of analog sound, I look at this whole digital copyright mess as just some really fitting karma coming down upon the recording, movie and photography industries as proper punishment for them bringing the evils of digital audio and video upon the world, not to mention all those one-sided record and movie contracts they inked to help screw countless artists out of their rightful and hard earned money for many decades. What goes around, comes around.

How long before it mutates into "iPods fund terrorists"?

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How long before it mutates into "iPods fund terrorists"?

You mean to say that those iPod earbuds and iTunes aren't forms of audio terrorism?

I'm with you, jazzfan -- send 'em all to digital hell and maybe we'll get our licorice pizza back. They can spend eternity spying on each other, between lawsuits. Clifton

There are times when I'm sitting back listening to some vinyl, doesn't even have to be a fancy audiophile, 200 gram virgin vinyl, original master, clean room pressing, but just any old run of the mill, bought back in the good old days of analog right of the shelf of Sam Goody's, average vinyl and I say to Mrs. Jazzfan "Now you tell me, what is wrong with the sound of that? Why did they have to go and ruin everything with with this digital crap? There is nothing wrong with the sound of analog." And dear Mrs. Jazzfan just nods her pretty head in total agreement. And not just to make me happy but because she also believes it to be true.

Another funny thing about analog sound is that back when you had to trade cassette tapes if you wanted copies of out of print LPs or rare live material, one rarely, if ever, heard any mention of copyright infringement. Isn't tape hiss great

So, it this the end of convergence? Is this the end of the media server? Is the sky falling? I think so. Convince me otherwise. I have decided to call a halt to ripping CDs for my audio server. Why waste my time if it is a dead end street? Back to discs on my CDP for now (not that that was ever so bad, come to think of it.)

How do these people stay in office, anyhow? November is just around the corner, ya know?

Bob

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So, it this the end of convergence? Is this the end of the media server? Is the sky falling? I think so. Convince me otherwise. I have decided to call a halt to ripping CDs for my audio server. Why waste my time if it is a dead end street? Back to discs on my CDP for now (not that that was ever so bad, come to think of it.)

How do these people stay in office, anyhow? November is just around the corner, ya know?

Hi Bob,

Please check out my post from last Thursday in this same section called HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray vs. DVD vs. DRM, which I believe addresses very similar issues but from the perspective of software versus hardware.

Things are sure getting crazy out there.

Hi again Bob,

I do find it rather strange that except for a small handful of us (you, me, Monty and maybe a couple of others), no one else seems to get the connections between DRM, copy protection, copyright infringement, copyright enforcement and media formats. Or if they do, then they just don't seem to care. Which is too bad because at their worst these laws pose a very serious threat on the future of the advancement of technology, something I don't like to think about.

The hollywood and music industry approach to solving the problem is akin to sticking one's head in the sand, or more appropriately joining the Luddites. Digital copying is not going to go away any time soon and these industries are going to have to find a way to deal with that fact and more importantly, find a way to make money off of that reality, just as Apple did with their iTunes music store.

Here's a radical suggestion for future music and video sales. Sell them in a way similar to the way computer software is sold. One buys the whole package once and than pays a lower price for upgrades. Say one buys a DVD copy of the Peter Jackson King Kong movie for $25 and registers the copy online, when the hd-dvd comes out (in 2108) one is then entitled to purchase a copy for a reduced price.

Same thing would apply to music. After all, how many times to I have to pay Mick Jagger for a 1966 Rolling Stones record? Let's see, there was the single I bought that summer, the album I got in high school, the greatest hits album not long after that, the original CD, the remastered CD, the virgin vinyl LP, the SACD, etc.

And now it's happening again with movies: first the VHS, then the DVD and soon the hd-dvd (or blu-ray or both). Is it any wonder that hollywood is worried that the consumers just might not bite this time but rather bite back and bite back hard in the form of increased support of illegal copying? Fool me once....

It's not that most of us don't get the connections, Jazzfan. It probably comes down to the DRM issue being an extremely sticky wicket. As I like to make CD-R's to play in the car, and as I've never copied any piece of recorded music that I didn't purchase in hard copy form my first reaction was that the industry and the government were punishing me and others like me instead of focussing on real pirates. Early on, I felt that DRM needed to be stamped out. I found the Sony Root debacle enfuriating, and decided to boycott Sony.
Unlike you, I never came up with an alternative approach which I thought would offer some satisfaction to all concerned (composers, performers, producers, purchasers). I don't download from iTunes or any other legitimate download service, but only because I don't see the sense of investing in compressed formats. On the other hand, I'm in the minority in that sense and I say iTunes and its customers deserve happiness and success.

Then along comes France. They, as a government, don't want to condone DRM. They're about an inch away from leaving Apple with the choice of divulging their DRM scheme or doing without iTunes sales in France. I don't think Apple will knuckle under, but what if they did? Do you suppose the producers will go along? Doubtful. Like it or not, the big recording companies have pretty strong contracts with lots of fine artists. What happens to composers and performers? Maybe lots of artists have been screwed by recording companies, but most of them have done pretty well and want to continue to do so.

Sure, there are the indies. I just bought John Corbetts country album from his personal website. So far as I know, the CD I'll receive won't involve any copy protection. Should that approach become the only way we buy music? Maybe it would offer some advantages in terms of more of the pie going where it really belongs, but a change from here to there is bound to involve a long dry spell in the flow of new music.

You point to the frustration of buying the same piece of music in format after format as the technology advances. Your choice. Not a problem. It's a free country - at least in that sense. Where really we can hope to go regarding DRM is, in my view, a real problem and one I have no ready solution for.

Yes, I do remember your post, Jazzfan. I find it incredible that hardware makers are not more vocal about these issues. Every week I see the ads from Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. touting media PCs. Do they not understand the potential loss of this market because of laws like this? How about Slim Devices and makers of DACs? Are they educating and lobbying their legislators? I hope so for all our sake. Maybe the business people can get through where us lowly constituents can't.

Bob

The upgrade idea is interesting. I don't see it getting implemented, though. Record companies will want the most money for what they have to offer, and as long as people keep paying full price for the same stuff, the companies will keep expecting it. I imagine tracking receipts or registration will be too difficult given the numbers and possible maintenance issues. "The server with my info died? But, I bought that disc only a couple years ago and registered it and everything. What do you mean? I might still have the receipt... where do I send it?"

One of the problems with the music industry is that they want to treat albums as both a product and a license. But, not a license to the content in general; even though I've bought the music several times in several formats, I've only purchased the right to play it on that specific piece of vinyl, tape, or polycarbonate. All I own is the vehicle in which the music is stored. With the way things are heading, soon I won't have the right to make a backup of these things... I'm sure we all have albums that haven't been reissued or contain a version that exists only in the 1st run. What about those? I don't know. Things look bleak and we're all going to suffer in terms of creativity. These erosions of rights are going to affect all kinds of arts. A collage artist like Romare Bearden wouldn't be able to exist in this day and age, and that's very sad.

Thinking further about this topic of DRM and restrictions on CDs, the following thought came to me this evening while doing the dishes and listening to Mahler's Sym. No. 2. Do you think classical CDs will be less likely to be tainted with whatever form of DRM emerges? Are classical buyers, who are for the most part older and less likely to download, considered less of a "pirate" threat than the younger crowd? Not trying to stereotype. Just wondering if the record companies will attack everybody, or certain genres.

Bob

Hi Bob,

What stikes me about the whole DRM and copyright issue as it pertains to music CDs is how the industry has just overlooked almost every type of music there is except for popular or best selling styles. Pop, R&B, Rap, Country, Smooth Jazz, and couple of other styles get some attention paid to them but everything else might just as well not even exist.

Ever try to buy a classical or hardcore jazz track on one of the online music stores, such as iTunes. It's a joke. The depth of their catalogs are shameful. So basically to answer your question, "Just wondering if the record companies will attack everybody, or certain genres" it appears that, at least for the moment, the industry is only interested in the popular music genre.