Is The RIAA Lawsuit Acting As Free Advertising For The XM Inno Device?

from the could-be... dept

Mon, May 22nd 2006 2:52am — Mike Masnick

We don't normally pay much attention to product reviews around here, because that's not our thing. However, with the Washington Post putting up a glowing review of the Pioneer Inno device for XM subscribers, you have to wonder if the RIAA's lawsuit against XM (which they had promised they wouldn't do) is having the opposite effect. It's another Streisand Effect situation, where a product that many of us never would have paid attention to gets a lot more publicity. If anything, the RIAA's decision to sue over this device probably alerted many more people about how XM was offering such a useful gadget.

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13 Comments

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Devin, 22 May 2006 @ 3:16am

Yes!
It certainly is, I'm not sure why the RIAA can't figure this out. (Actually I'm pretty sure it's because they're stupid judging by them thinking their business model still works) A good portion of the time when they start suiing mass public hasn't even heard of them yet. Then they get a huge surge of traffic when the mass media starts carrying the story.

As a person who hasn't bought into the whole satelite radio yet I'm considering getting this just because it pisses off the RIAA.
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Mike4, 22 May 2006 @ 3:24am

I thought the same exact thing when I heard about the story. I had never even heard of it before, so I did a search and started looking into it. The price is a little high for me, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who will buy it.

The thought of it becoming an illegal product should definitely help sales.
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Music Pirate, 22 May 2006 @ 3:41am

You cannot copy the music you record back to your PC......

So why is the RIAA suing again?
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necro, 22 May 2006 @ 4:07am

so why are they suing again?

because that is the way they make money now a days. i think its the only way they make money.

tell me again why we need the RIAA?
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Mike4, 22 May 2006 @ 4:39am

Re:
"You cannot copy the music you record back to your PC......"

I have no experience with this, but I'm sure there's a way to copy the music back to your PC - even if it's just a line-in method. Of course, you can do that without the feature of saving songs to the Inno and just recording while it plays, but this does make it easier to copy them.

If you're that determined, you'll probably just go download them somewhere.
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the average citizen, 22 May 2006 @ 5:30am

DOWN WITH THE RIAA
I hate the RIAA and hope anyone involved with them catches a nasty disease
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Jeff, 22 May 2006 @ 5:32am

"I have no experience with this, but I'm sure there's a way to copy the music back to your PC - even if it's just a line-in method."

I do have an Inno, and I can attest to what a terrific device it is. The storage space can either be 100% allocated to programming recorded off the XM signal or split 50-50 between XM recordings and MP3 files. The MP3 space is accessed as if it were an additional hard drive when you connect the Inno to your computer via USB, but the XM space is not accessible at all. I suppose you could use a "line-in" method to copy XM recording off the Inno, but the quality would certainly be degraded from the original. That being said, I can't imagine that the RIAA has a leg to stand on with their lawsuit.
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ibeetle, 22 May 2006 @ 5:53am

XM PCR all over again.
A couple of years ago XM introduced a product called the PCR. A XM receiver that was made specifically to be hooked up to a computer and played through using a special XM Radio PC Player software.

I do not remember if recording required a hack or third party software or if it was a built in feature of the player software, but when the audio entertainment industry found out you could make a direct digital recording they went nuts. They sued XM and forced them to take the PC Receiver off the market.

For a few months they sold for hundreds, even close to a thousand dollars on Ebay. Now they are less than $100.00.

Now the RIAA is suing again under similar reasons and XM owners are convinced the same thing is going to happen with the Inno. If not removed completely from the market the fear of the recording feature being removed.

Thanks to the publicity of the RIAA suit there is now a complete sell out of the Inno and a 6 week backlog.
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Rob G, 22 May 2006 @ 6:31am

Conspiracy
Yes! I think the RIAA and XM planned this whole lawsuit as a gigantic publicity stunt to sell more XM subscriptions which, ultimately, results in more revenue for XM and more fees paid to the RIAA. Nice job XM & RIAA on a promotional stunt even more creative than Sony not showing the Da Vinci Code to critics!
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Nick Burns (profile), 22 May 2006 @ 7:29am

RIAA Inducement
So with this lawsuit, the RIAA is causing people to buy the Inno. Thus, they should sue themselves on "inducement"!
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Patrick, 22 May 2006 @ 7:29am

Time for someone to step in
I think this lawsuite should really be the last straw. How in gods name is this any different that making recordings off of the radio? basically the RIAA is saying that they are ok with you recording music with the low fi - tape deck but once you get to the high quality all digital realm then it magically becomes stealing? And what I find most rediculous about all of this is that the Record companies are actually paying to get these songs played! They spend millions of dollars to get the song played once the radio but they can't see the value of a song being played on demand by the consumer.
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BigRef, 22 May 2006 @ 8:55am

Lawsuits
You don't get it. Lawyers live to lawyer. RIAA lawyers run the RIAA and they are happy to sue anyone they can find. They could care less about the artists. They could care less about the technology. They could care less about any consequence other than their paycheck. THe XM lawyers closed the doors and did a happy dance. They have paycheck security for the foreseeable future. They can defend. They can countersue. They can show that they are worth more than radios in low geosychronis orbit. They see this as a win-win.
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rijit, 22 May 2006 @ 9:50am

Conspiracy by Rob G on May 22nd, 2006 @ 6:31am

"Yes! I think the RIAA and XM planned this whole lawsuit as a gigantic publicity stunt to sell more XM subscriptions which, ultimately, results in more revenue for XM and more fees paid to the RIAA. Nice job XM & RIAA on a promotional stunt even more creative than Sony not showing the Da Vinci Code to critics!"

I believe Sony screenes the Da Vinci Code at Cann this year, a whole week before it's release so check your info...
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