Sony BMG chief anti-piracy lawyer
Jennifer Pariser was put on the stand yesterday in the trial Capital Records et al v. Jammie Thomas (Duluth, Minnesota). During her testimony Pariser had this gem to say about copyright and personal use:
...asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased [like to rip to an iPod], even just one copy. Pariser replied, "When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Making "a copy" of a purchased song is just "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'," she said.
Countless studies have shown that the majority of music on portable music players like the iPod comes from sources other than download services. For most people, that music is comprised primarily of songs "ripped" from CD collections to MP3 or some other comparable format. Indeed, most portable music players comes with software (like iTunes) which is designed to facilitate the easy ripping of CDs. According to Pariser's view, this is stealing.To this I give Pariser, Sony BMG, and the entire music industry the flaming middle finger. You are trying to tell me that after I paid upwards of $20 for a CD I basically have to buy the album
AGAIN from iTunes or another digital music store if I want to listen to it with my MP3 player?!?! Pariser also implies that if I want a copy on my computer and my MP3 player I better buy two copies. That is ridiculous, and if thats the case I will never buy an album again.
When I purchase a CD I obviously don't own the actual songs contained on the CD...those rights belong to the artist and the record label. So what did I just pay for? Does this not imply that I have purchased the right to listen to the music
whenever I want? It's the
whenever I want that's important here...I can listen to it for
FREE whenever the radio station decides to play it. I can listen to it for free if someone in my office decides to play the music over their computer speakers. It's the ability to listen to the music
whenever I want to hear it that motivates me to buy the CD. I feel that once I own the rights to listen to the song whenever I want how does the format matter? It's not like by making a copy and listening to both at the same time I gain something...I can still only listen to one at a time.
If I buy stick butter but I decide I'd like whipped butter today do I have to let the stick butter rot in my fridge and go buy whipped butter?! Can't I just hit that with my mixer?
These companies have overcharged for music with price fixing for decades, I don't feel bad that their profits have been shrinking steadily. I refuse to let them manufacture a new revenue stream out of thin air. If they charged say $0.05 a song maybe having to buy multiple copies wouldn't be such a big deal...
Hats off to SanDisk for creating a great new gadget that makes watching downloaded videos on your television extremely easy and for cheap. The Sansa TakeTV video player works just like a standard USB drive. Drag and drop video files (DivX,xVid,Mpeg-4) to the TakeTV player then move it to the TV connected cradle and voila. It even comes with a remote control.
Looking to jump on the HD DVD band wagon but not wanting to plop down big bucks to do it? There have been grumblings in the news about Walmart offering a sub-$200 unit from second tier manufacturer Venturer, but who would want a crappy Chinese manufactured machine? Never fear gadget junkies Walmart has actually come through and will be offering the Toshiba HDA2-W for $198 nationwide on November 3rd. Some stores are already offering the deal as evidenced by the pic on the left. Let's hope the Walmart effect will cascade to other major retailers for the holiday season and we might just see quality $179 or maybe even $149 offerings from the likes of Circuit City/Best Buy!
Sony BMG chief anti-piracy lawyer Jennifer Pariser was put on the stand yesterday in the trial Capital Records et al v. Jammie Thomas (Duluth, Minnesota). During her testimony Pariser had this gem to say about copyright and personal use:
