|
- Selected Article - |
 |
Halo |
Topic: Man sells recording product for XM, RIAA gets uppity.
Posted: 2004-08-26 @ 23:27:28
I have to write something on this as I find it absolutely hilarious. A man has invented a way to record XM radio, and the RIAA is now busy looking for a way to sue him for it. His product is designed for personal use, and intended to be a way to catch shows you otherwise couldn’t. This time shifting method has been completely kosher for audio cassettes, video tapes, cd-burners, and dvd burners; but now that it involves a computer the RIAA wants to step in. If they’re worried about somebody recording a couple of songs and putting them on the web, then I think they’ve got some bigger fish to fry. There are a relatively small number of XM subscribers, and even if every one of them started distributing songs on the web it would be small potatoes to what is already available.
A recent conclusion was made that file sharing networks are legal because they’re just a tool, and can’t be held responsible for what people put on them. So how can the RIAA hope to make a target out of something that takes the principles of acceptable products and brings them to the newest medium? I really can’t tell you why. I also can’t tell you why the RIAA doesn’t just leave XM to try and deal with this, because if anybody has reason to be upset, it’s XM. XM should be upset they didn’t think of this first and have a patent for it, so they could receive a dime from every recorder sold.
In other RIAA news, they’ve recently sued more of their own consumers, and started spending more court dollars as a way of keeping profits up. They’re continuing to advertise the easy ways of getting music online instead of coming up with their own alternative, and advertising it. They could also try working to lower CD prices to bring consumers back, or try and broaden the reach of radio. I guess they don’t want to bother with something so sensible when it’s so easy to piss away millions of dollars in court. That’s what you get when you have a large collection of lawyers in what is supposed to be a creative industry.
I’m going to wrap this up with a plug for CD Baby. Do you want to get lots of $5 cds without having to join some crappy music club? Do you want an extremely wide selection with the option to sample before you buy? Do you like buying music without supporting the RIAA? If you do, then check out CD Baby for the low price, independent alternative to the mainstream money grubbing crapfest that is today’s music industry. I’ve purchased several CDs from them myself and had no shipping problems or untimely deliveries, and I can’t recommend them enough.(3)Comments
|
|
|
