If this means that people will have to start paying for their music again, like they pay for everything else that they love and costs money to produce, that would truly be an affront to freedom and democracy everywhere. Wait. What?
It's only when you realize the lengths the recording and motion picture industry will go to make a buck, that you will truely understand the problem.
A small proportion of the public downloading movies and music for free is not hurting the industry near as much as they would like you to believe. They're still getting rich and we're still getting poor. The fact that the average Joe the Plumber doesn't know a torrent from a turnip pretty much ensures that the respective industries will still get paid.
If they maid music and movies easier and cheaper to acquire legally by means other than expensive cds and dvds or movie tickets, and got that message out to the public on how easy it is and made the media DRM-free, we'd be ok. iTunes, Zune Marketplace, etc. are making that dream come truer every day and I have no problem paying a buck for a song because I can freely move it around and burn it to a disc if I want. Movies on the other hand are a bit trickier and you still have unnecessary restrictions on what you can do with them in many cases. Make the price fair and don't worry about what we do with the files. At the right price point, paying for a quality copy and downloading is much better than pirating, music or movies.
@fsusmithc2: "A small proportion of the public downloading movies and music for free is not hurting the industry near as much as they would like you to believe."
@ShrutiHamlegs: Really? Has it been dismantled? That's the first I am hearing of this. You should talk to the New York Times about it. Breaking news and all that.
Really? I didn't know the New York Times printed anything other then pinko commie leftest propaganda. In an effort to infect our population and have the populous reject and surrender our Republic values. All done in the name of Fairness.
These guys arent avengers. Theres nothing personal to them other then the fact they love their MONEY they will work for whoever has the most money. They will side with whoever they think will help them get the most money after their little bout of public service is over. money money money. Take the money out of the RIAA by any means neccessary and they will work for someone else.
@IMWylde: Exactly! The only way you'll make RIAA bend backwards at your will is through sales. Giz posted an article a while ago where Universal became Jobs' bitch with iTunes.
While Biden bills himself as a friend of the "little man", history has proven otherwise. Remember, this is the guy who pushed forward the 2005 bankruptcy bill which prevents credit card debt from being discharged through bankruptcy.
@OMG! Ponies!: Wow, check you facts, I know he is pro CC-Company and that bill did make it harder for people to qualify for bankruptcy, but it didn't make it ANY harder to get rid of CC debt.
There are ONLY TWO THINGS that filing for bankruptcy can't get rid of under any circumstances:
Back Taxes (but if handled correctly they can be renegotiated and settled for much less)
Hahahahahaha...this sucks, but anyone who didn't expect this sort of thing is going to get a real quick lesson how politics works over the next new months.
To be a successful DoJ lawyer or federal prosecutor, you have to be kind of an a** to begin with.
That means that when sorting through the pool of people available to fill these positions, you're essentially deciding between different kinds of a**es.
Are you going to pick the a**es that like to advocate for torture or the ones that support cracking down on state-legal marijuana sales? The ones that bust people who were forced into drug-muleing in order to keep their families safe instead of the money makers or the ones that ask for maximum penalties on disproportionate drug laws? The ones who categorize your political statement as terrorist acts or the ones that fight to enforce overly draconian copyright laws? The a**es that did all of this in the public context, the private context, or (as is true with most of them since the public jobs are good experience but don't pay as well) both.
Really anyone who is qualified for the job has had to do at least one and probably all of the above by choice or by assignment. Until we get the laws changed, our legal enforcers are going to be the a**es that fought to enforce bad laws.
@cyberlink7474: Absolutely not the generals. The military and military lawyers have been for the most part top notch on the rule of law and the illegality of torture. It was the lawyers in the DoJ and AG offices that pushed that issue, leading to the resignation of and criticism by many military lawyers.
I have no beef with the military - personally, politically, or professionally.
I'm not pro democrat or pro republican. Honestly, I think all politicians are the same.
People with all this hope that Obama is going to turn this country around and make everything better are fooling themselves. The government is the same old steaming pile of shit, just with a different face.
And honestly, the only change we're guaranteed to see is less rights. More governmental control.. yeah is that what we REALLY need?
@timak: Hopefully this is the least of our worries. I mean don't get me wrong this bums me out a lot-I love pirating music-but I still think this is a small issue compared to a lot of larger issue that I don't feel would would swing in the right direction had McCain won. No one will ever have the perfect politician in their corner.
@beardedkid: "this bums me out a lot - I love pirating music."
Yeah, it really sucks that the gov't cracked down on stealing cars, computers, houses, clothes, food, airplanes, furniture, phones, exotic pets, and personal chefs, because I really loved pirating them too. And now music? Soon, there will be nothing left to steal. Damn politicians. :)
@N@tedog: People haven't selected the Vice-President in years. Moreover, the Vice-Presidential nominee has no real influence on people's choice of candidate.
This is because the role of Vice President is defined by the President. It may be a large role like in the George W. Bush Administration or a small role like in the George HW Bush Administration. Or, it may be restricted to certain major areas like under Clinton or utilize a VP's strength's like under Reagan.
The truth is, even with Biden on the undercard, more people found him more tolerable (myself included) as a Vice President than John McCain as President.
@OMG! Ponies!: Ultimately, the person that is president does not matter; his/her policies do. It would have been very shortsighted to have voted for Obama without considering his vice president's potential influence on policies such as this. By voting for Obama, people voted for Biden as well. In addition to Obama's policies, we also get Biden's policies.
I would have been fairly indifferent between Obama/McCain, had they been running alone - both are moderate in most issues. However, I would definitely choose Obama-Biden over McCain-Palin. For me, the vice-presidential candidate mattered immensely. It is probably the same for many moderate voters.
Economic regulation was part of the Obama campaign. If you accept that other industries, such as banking, will become more regulated, then it is reasonable to expect the same for music distribution. It's a weakness of two-party politics. Policy decisions tend to become broad-based and not issue specific.
No one is going to argue that music should be free, its the 200k lawsuits for sharing 1 song. Add to that the vagueness that the RIAA is able to get passed through legislation from friends in high places. Should ripping a legally purchased cd really be illegal?
@lnlogauge: I agree, ripping a legally purchased CD should be legal, and the RIAA are supreme douches. It's just that many people use their hatred of the RIAA to justify stealing music, and say things like "I steal music because I'm not gonna pay the RIAA" as if the RIAA is the one who suffers when you steal. Ironically the more people steal, the more the RIAA gets paid.
Fortunately, the RIAA is supposedly no longer going after individuals with those crazy lawsuits. Those hurt both consumers and musicians.
why are the guys with Italian last names associated with their respective "family" while the other guys aren't? Are you saying non-Italians are not family oriented individuals? for shame...
@Lizard_King: People also didn't see how cozy Biden was with the banks, even though he represented Delaware, which is where most banks operate out of due to the laws working in their favor. Hell, he had a spot in MBNA on one of the boards there.
It's also like how everyone lambasted the Republicans for censorship and seem to forget about Tipper Gore and what she did for "the children" by requiring labeling systems and censorship.
07/06/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
It's only when you realize the lengths the recording and motion picture industry will go to make a buck, that you will truely understand the problem.
A small proportion of the public downloading movies and music for free is not hurting the industry near as much as they would like you to believe. They're still getting rich and we're still getting poor. The fact that the average Joe the Plumber doesn't know a torrent from a turnip pretty much ensures that the respective industries will still get paid.
If they maid music and movies easier and cheaper to acquire legally by means other than expensive cds and dvds or movie tickets, and got that message out to the public on how easy it is and made the media DRM-free, we'd be ok. iTunes, Zune Marketplace, etc. are making that dream come truer every day and I have no problem paying a buck for a song because I can freely move it around and burn it to a disc if I want. Movies on the other hand are a bit trickier and you still have unnecessary restrictions on what you can do with them in many cases. Make the price fair and don't worry about what we do with the files. At the right price point, paying for a quality copy and downloading is much better than pirating, music or movies.
02/05/09
Actually, 95% of all downloads are illegal!
95% !!!
[techfragments.com]
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
Really? I didn't know the New York Times printed anything other then pinko commie leftest propaganda. In an effort to infect our population and have the populous reject and surrender our Republic values. All done in the name of Fairness.
02/06/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/06/09
There are ONLY TWO THINGS that filing for bankruptcy can't get rid of under any circumstances:
Back Taxes (but if handled correctly they can be renegotiated and settled for much less)
and
Student Loans
02/05/09
02/05/09
To be a successful DoJ lawyer or federal prosecutor, you have to be kind of an a** to begin with.
That means that when sorting through the pool of people available to fill these positions, you're essentially deciding between different kinds of a**es.
Are you going to pick the a**es that like to advocate for torture or the ones that support cracking down on state-legal marijuana sales? The ones that bust people who were forced into drug-muleing in order to keep their families safe instead of the money makers or the ones that ask for maximum penalties on disproportionate drug laws? The ones who categorize your political statement as terrorist acts or the ones that fight to enforce overly draconian copyright laws? The a**es that did all of this in the public context, the private context, or (as is true with most of them since the public jobs are good experience but don't pay as well) both.
Really anyone who is qualified for the job has had to do at least one and probably all of the above by choice or by assignment. Until we get the laws changed, our legal enforcers are going to be the a**es that fought to enforce bad laws.
02/05/09
Advocates for torture? Is that what the New Your Times calls our Military Generals these days? (the derogatory description seems to change every week)
"Torture you? That's a good idea. I like that."
Reservoir Dogs
02/05/09
I have no beef with the military - personally, politically, or professionally.
02/05/09
People with all this hope that Obama is going to turn this country around and make everything better are fooling themselves. The government is the same old steaming pile of shit, just with a different face.
And honestly, the only change we're guaranteed to see is less rights. More governmental control.. yeah is that what we REALLY need?
02/05/09
02/05/09
Yeah, it really sucks that the gov't cracked down on stealing cars, computers, houses, clothes, food, airplanes, furniture, phones, exotic pets, and personal chefs, because I really loved pirating them too. And now music? Soon, there will be nothing left to steal. Damn politicians. :)
02/05/09
02/05/09
This is because the role of Vice President is defined by the President. It may be a large role like in the George W. Bush Administration or a small role like in the George HW Bush Administration. Or, it may be restricted to certain major areas like under Clinton or utilize a VP's strength's like under Reagan.
The truth is, even with Biden on the undercard, more people found him more tolerable (myself included) as a Vice President than John McCain as President.
People vote for President, not Vice President.
02/05/09
I would have been fairly indifferent between Obama/McCain, had they been running alone - both are moderate in most issues. However, I would definitely choose Obama-Biden over McCain-Palin. For me, the vice-presidential candidate mattered immensely. It is probably the same for many moderate voters.
02/05/09
I voted for Ron Paul, you guys who voted for the "lesser" evil still voted for evil.
02/05/09
02/06/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
Why doesn't the gov't get it that unlike everything else that costs money, time, and talent to make, music and music alone should be freeeeeeee!!!!
02/05/09
No one is going to argue that music should be free, its the 200k lawsuits for sharing 1 song. Add to that the vagueness that the RIAA is able to get passed through legislation from friends in high places. Should ripping a legally purchased cd really be illegal?
02/05/09
Fortunately, the RIAA is supposedly no longer going after individuals with those crazy lawsuits. Those hurt both consumers and musicians.
02/05/09
Verrilli as "The Comedian" no less.
02/05/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
Maybe if there was a statue to Moe Green in Las Vegas, he'd know.
02/06/09
02/05/09
02/05/09
It's also like how everyone lambasted the Republicans for censorship and seem to forget about Tipper Gore and what she did for "the children" by requiring labeling systems and censorship.