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To: Steve 667 who wrote (10723)	4/29/2000 5:57:00 PM
From: Rocky Reid	Respond to of 60323

Steve, you are sadly misinformed. >>Why is this any different than FM radio stations that broadcast unedited copyrighted music which can be recorded freely by listeners? << Because radio stations pay the record companies and artists royalties every time they play a song. This is a fact. The record companies and artists get paid for their songs. And songs are often edited as well. The most common reasons for editing are to make the song time shorter, and for language concerns. When buying a CD, you buy the unedited song. >>Even more bazaar is that they are often paid by the record companies themselves to play the copyrighted music!<< This is against the law. This is called Payola. If you know about any of this first-hand, I suggest you report such activity to the RIAA and possibly the local police. If you are just making this up, or going purely on rumor, then you are merely promoting the propaganda instigated by Mp3 Corporate Thugs and common Copyright Pirates. >>Or what about stores which sell used CD's? Buying a used CD bypasses the royalty payment to the artist and recording company. Nobody is suing them. << A used CD is just that. A used CD is the physical delivery format and is legally tradable. However trading and selling copies of a legit CD is against the Law. >>This is no different than any individuals getting together and borrowing each other CD's and making copies. It is merely more convenient.<< Agreed. And MP3.Com becomes part and parcel part of the Illegality, and a direct and legitimate target for Lawsuits. Mp3.com is an enabler and promoter of Piracy with easy access to Pirated Copyright Material. Mp3.Com's Corporate Thugs are much easier targets for Lawsuits. MP3.Com has themselves created a database of over 80,000 Copyrighted works of art that their customers can access for free without any compensation to the Record Companies and Artists. This is against the Law. >>The horses are out of the barn, and the times they are a changing. << The have always been Copyright Pirates like you, and there always will be. It is up to legislation and enforcement to keep the pirates from becoming "legitimate" and to keep art and music from being a pure commodity. You'd be suprised to know that users like you who have been succesfully sued and are already serving sentences in jail. And with music groups suing Universities for Copyright Infringment, these instituions (whose students are reportedly the main culprits) are starting their crackdown. The "Genie" is getting his butt sued and kicked, and you'd be suprised how fast he can run back into that bottle when jail bars are what he sees in the future. MP3.Com is just a plain terrible investment. It's business model stinks, it's business practices have been found to be Illegal, and it suffers from the same type of arrogance in their Management that has led Microsoft to the point where it is now.

To: Steve 667 who wrote (10723)	4/29/2000 7:58:00 PM
From: Ausdauer	Respond to of 60323

Steve, Rocky, others interested... DSL, cable modems and a private AOL chatroom filled with adolescent boys will kill the recording industry. Pretty soon they'll be passing around MP3's in instant messages. Focusing in on eliminating software programs that facilitate file transfers will be like herding cats. The recording industry will learn this the hard way. The little guys (the musicians) will also suffer because of it, not because of the public's desire to punish the recording artist. Ausdauer