Copy-protected CDs - philosophical discussion

ahem.... stepping back up on her soapbox...
well, we are CONSUMERS here and don't really care about the record labels continuing efforts to make money off everyone else's back!
If we roll over and just accept it, then shame on us.
and Tim, I appreciate yer passion!
aj

With all due respect, the idea that once we buy a cd we own it and can do with it whatever we please is absurd. We are talking about copyrighted material and I find it interesting that in this entire discussion only one fleeting mention has been made of the rights of the artist. Every illegal copy that is made of a recording does in fact cheat the artist of income that he is entitled to by contract with the record company. Even in cases where not every copy sold means a piece for the artist, a recording's profitability definitely means better chances of another recording contract for that artist.

The unfortunately prevalent corporate greed should not be confused with the rights of artists; and while it is difficult to feel a whole lot of sympathy for pop artists who earn millions for putting out dreck, there are many especially in the jazz and classical fields, who are far from being properly compensated for work that is inspired and brilliant. There is a long history of abuse of artists and musicians by the industry and these artist's rights should be protected.

I believe that we are probably entitled to make copies of recordings for personal use; unfortunately there is a lot of copying going on that is not for personal use. As I left my relative's home a couple of days ago, he hands me a stack of copies of cd's that he made for me "for the road". A nice gesture to be sure, but I had to ask myself: "why on earth should these artists, and yes, even the record companies, not be compensated for their work?". I think they should.

As far as encrypting or watermarking is concerned, I don't know what the answer is. What a shame that we may have to deal with something that degrades the sonics of a musical project; as an audiophile I find that unacceptable. I suspect that a solution will be found; I can't believe that with the fact that more and more consumers are using their computer to play music, that the record companies will shoot themselves in the foot like that. I have not heard any watermarked CD's that I am aware of, so I will reserve judgement.

The last thing that I am interested in is helping corporations profit at the unfair expense of the consumer; but I am very interested in doing what I can to make sure that an artist receives the compensation that he/she is entitled to.

Happy New Year.

Frogman, you bring up some interesting points, but at the same time not many people are burning CD's for resale. I don't agree with copying CD's period, but many here enjoy a "spare" copy for the vehicle which is wrong and they should not do it, but I don't think you are going to change them. Hackers hack everything, if encryption is going to be what happens those who break laws will continue to break laws and in the end the only people who will suffer and pay for it are honest consumers like most all of us here, sad eh?

So what, specifically, do people recommend we do as consumers to not just roll over and accept encryption and watermarking? I don't imagine anybody on this forum wanting either of these, but it seems just as apparent that the major players are going to bring it to us, like it or not. Call it corporate greed or whatever, it's deep-pocketed corporations who have a huge revenue stream to protect and, having woken up, they're going to do something even if audiophiles don't like it, so what are we going to do? Will we just stop buying the "tainted" product? Will we say "this is war" and start leveraging the efforts of the hackers to utilize the product as we see fit, whether that's to make personal copies to protect your investment or dozens of copies to give to friends for "evaluation"? Anybody planning on suing Sony or organizing a class action suit?

Suing sony, no way but I made a hell of a law suit against Mcdonalds and their too hot coffee :) well maybe not me but I am sure we are all familar with that one. I am sure someone will find a way to file a class acion law suit, but I probably won't be involved, I would simply boycott who ever's product is "tainted", hell I have been looking for an excuse to focus my energy on vinyl! There are plenty of good recordings out there already(on digital) perhaps it will bring value to our current collections, maybe the used non-encrypted CD arena is the next BIG thing, who knows, but I will NEVER buy an infereior CD simply because others are breaking the laws. Tyrants rule when good people sit back and do nothing, it is time for those who follow the rules to stand up and say that this isn't fair!