Add Record Stores To Those Pissed Off By Copy Protection
from the do-they-even-listen-to-what-they're-saying? dept
Is there anyone that the record labels' copy protection plans aren't pissing off? We already know how it's upsetting legitimate buyers and musicians, but apparently music retailers are also getting fed up. They're complaining that people are either returning copy protected CDs as defective, or simply putting them back down once they see the copy protection designation on the disc. Of course, these stories are anecdotal, and the article has the required defensive comment from a record label representative, saying that they don't really care about complaints, implying that anyone complaining is only trying to do something illegal: "People have had the freedom to give 10 friends a copy of a disc. For anybody that's used to doing that, all of a sudden they're limited... We know that people are used to a certain thing. The thing about it is that it's not the right thing to be doing." It's not a surprising statement, but it shows exactly how screwed up the industry is. Actually catering to customer wants isn't a priority. Telling those customers that what they want to do, and what they've been doing, is illegal is much more important. No wonder customers, record stores and musicians are all pissed off. About the only ones who don't seem to recognize how much damage they're doing are the record labels themselves.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Copy protection = no sale
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Leave them to it
Let them take a wrecking ball to their own industry. Competing (realistic) business models will take over sooner, and we'll all be happy!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Copyright law was intended to protect innovation. It is NOT illegal, or should not be illegal, to make a copy of a CD for a friend. What should be illegal is copying a CD 1000s of times and SELLING them. Apple ITMS has shown that people WILL still pay for convenience even if there is a free alternative.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I have one thing to say...
If they would drop this crap about copy protection and drop the prices of current release to $4.99 do you know how many they would sell? If all CD's were $4.99 people would walk out with handfuls of them. That's almost cheap enough to not even bother trying to find it illegally on the web!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The only reason I buy . . .
If I can't rip it the CD is useless to me. I just bought a vinyl RECORD off Ebay to get content I couldn't get on CD, I intend to rip the ONE song I want and store the record away.
I pay for my content and want that content in MP3 or WMA. If they make it too tough I just don't buy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Copy protection = no sale
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
Leaning? They're dragging their feet, kicking, screaming, and crying the entire way!
They've killed off several media formats through denial (DAC, DAT and MiniDISC just off the top of my head).
More than 20 years ago, the idea was seriously floated to have in store kiosks where you could selectively burn a custom CD and walk out of the store with it. That was stillborn as well.
I'm tired of being spanked in advance.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
I would gladly pirate every album that came out if there was something out there that appealed to me... Alas, ShoutCAST has wooed me.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Meh
I've been downloading all my music off P2P, FTP's, and Newsgroups, but I would be inclined to purchase music if it wasn't DRM'ed, and was less then 5 bucks a CD.
I would still however rip the cd, and make a copy so as to not destroy the original.
http://img415.imageshack.us/img415/4908/fullalbums6rr.gif
[ link to this | view in thread ]