RE: Music Playback Technology
(Copied from Rande Is board) Message 18476700
Van, I appreciate your concerns and you raise an interesting question. Vinyl LPs were the state of the art, when you bought them. At the time, nobody knew of another way to get music to play back. 8-tracks made sense for the car, because there was no way to play a record on a bumpy road, though many had tried. But 8-tracks were terrible technology from day one. The cassette made far more sense. It could be used in the house or in the car. But yes, like all recording tape, it had a life expectancy. CDs were like a miracle when they came out. And with proper care, they will last a lifetime. DAT should have been the next wave, but the lawyers screwed that whole thing up, so people began recording their own CDs for use in vehicles. MP3's compression ratios allowed downloading off the net within a reasonable time.
Really the whole thing has been an evolutionary process concerning methods for playback and recording. It now continues with DVD, VCD and the like. Now people are finding ways to record movies so they don't have to rent them from the movie store, wait for them on HBO, pay to own them or pay-per-view them. . . they just download and record the VCD or whatever and the film makers, cast and crew are cheated out of the money they deserve.
Did the music industry continue charging $17 per CD long after the cost of the technology was paid? Yes they did. That was business. But at the same time, they knew that they would be unable to keep up with technological advancements that would allow widespread piracy. And they haven't. They have done, in my opinion, a poor job at keeping with the times.
This federal ruling is a gift to the movie and music industry by the federal government. But it is one that is right. U.S. Copyright laws date back to 1909 and were established for the protection of creative property. Without such laws, there would be no financial reason for anyone to be creative. And frankly, with the amount of piracy and theft going on today, there is barely any financial reason for being creative.
Today the nations leading music store, Wherehouse, filed for bankruptcy. Why? Because they cater to the high school and college crowd. And this crowd has taken to stealing music off the net through services like Morpheus, Gnutella and Kazaa. A young person today would be seen as a "square" if they paid for their music. Increasingly, that is relating to movies as well.
So, yes, I am in favor of the Feds enforcing the laws of the land. This HELPS to ensure that the record and movie industries have a future and all those creative parties contributing to them have a future as well. . . bleak as it may be.
Imagine going to work and finding out that your salary has been dropped in favor of a "per job" royalty. Then you learn that hundreds of employees are accessing your files, so that they can turn in your work as their own. When your paycheck comes it is but a fraction of what you are used to getting. And there is nothing you can do about it.
That is the way composers, songwriters, producers and the like within the music industry feel. Piracy cuts into their bottom line, making things so bad for some that it is no longer a means to making a living.
So it is not only about Sony making more money. Not by a long shot. It is about preserving the integrity of the creative process itself. So next time you (everyone) complain about not liking the music you are hearing, take a good look around your house and make certain you haven't been contributing to the problem.
Best wishes,
Rande Is |
