Are you accusing me (or anyone else on this list) of copying books? -----Original Message----- From: pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Robert doc Wright Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 10:54 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: It's Still Stealing
i am quite sure that if your library knew that you were copying whole books that you borrowed from them they would address that issue with you. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Ventura" <frank.vent...@littlebreezes.com> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 7:42 AM Subject: RE: It's Still Stealing > That is where you are wrong. There are many folks whom have made very > handsome profits from BARD. Those players don't just fall from the sky > you know. They cost money to make and design and that is profit for > someone. Also the very existence of BARD is, and has always, been to > provide paid positions for some very connected blind folks. Think about > it. Why do we even need our own system of libraries? Hundreds of > thousands of local lending libraries throughout the US provide a range > of print, audio, visual, and electronic media to lend to the masses > every day without the same knee jerk concerns of copyright violation. > You can just as easily go to your local library and photocopy a book, > dub a audio tape or copy an overdrive book. Does the government think > blind folks are more predispositioned to piracy than ordinary folks, > that we need such extreme measures that the rest of our culture does > not? There is no reason why our nations infrastructure of lending > libraries could not be the venues for electronic media not just for the > sighted but blind alike but that would take payola out of the pockets of > quite a few blind folks now wouldn't it? Yes folks you cannot leave > profit out of this conversation, sad to say. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org > [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Christopher Chaltain > Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 2:16 AM > To: 'PC Audio Discussion List' > Subject: RE: It's Still Stealing > > The reason in my mind is that you are signing up for a service provided > by > the US government. This service is free of charge, and you are agreeing > to > it's terms when you sign up for it. The law enabling this service aims > to > provide material free to the blind while protecting the rights of the > publishers. This program is intended for all blind citizens of the US > and > not just those with PC's. This is not a business or profit making > venture, > but is paid for by tax dollars, of which I'm a tax payer. Your analogies > to > Sony and Apple just don't apply. Even though we have the luxury of > keeping > the books around and playing them on multiple players, it doesn't change > the > fact that this is a library, and we're borrowing these books. > > BTW, there is no way to listen to these books on a PC. You need a player > provided for free by the NLS or you can purchase several different book > players. > > -- > Christopher > chalt...@gmail.com > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org > [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] > On Behalf Of James Homuth > Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 6:48 PM > To: 'PC Audio Discussion List' > Subject: RE: It's Still Stealing > > Kevin, the point is this. Why should you, after obtaining the NLS books, > have to go and get one of the NLS approved players just to enjoy the > privelege of being able to listen to the book while not at the computer? > That would be like Soni putting out an album with copy protection that > limitted what you could play it on to CD players manufactured by Soni. > Soni > already tried the whole copy protection to prevent people from putting > the > contents of CD's on their computers, or copying them to other CD's. A > pretty > high-profile lawsuit later, they don't do that anymore. Apple tried to > say > you could only put music you purchased from iTunes on your iPod. You > couldn't burn that to CD, or play it in anything else that wasn't either > your iPod or iTunes. Specificly, the version of iTunes on the computer > to > which it was downloaded. Without getting into the nitty gritty details, > let's just say they don't do that anymore either. The same applies to > NLS. > The only reason it hasn't changed yet is because there's no reason for > them > to, according to them. Hence, people will continue to break the copy > protection anyway. > > -----Original Message----- > From: pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org > [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] > On Behalf Of Kevin Minor > Sent: April 18, 2010 6:02 PM > To: 'PC Audio Discussion List' > Subject: RE: It's Still Stealing > > Hi John and list. > > I'm going to comment on several messages that I've seen on this topic. > > First, John, I wonder if your direct boss is the owner of the station. > If > he is, the station may get into trouble if publishers find out he is > allowing material sent to the station is being copied. This material is > specificly for the use of the station. In fact, I'm not sure if the > owner > of the CD actually owns the music. With software, you are licensed to > use > the software. You don't own the copy you use, you just have a license > for > it. I'm not blaming you for copying the CD's. Just be aware that the > station could be in legal trouble if investigated. > > As for using VCR's or tape recorders, this has been a debate that the > publishers of material have had with people for years. I don't know the > legal wording, but I believe that courts have ruled that so long as you > use > the material you obtain from over the air, you have the right to use it > for > your own private use. This also holds for albums you buy. If you > decide to > make a compilation CD for a friend, technicly you're breaking the law. > I'm > guilty of doing this myself. I'm not getting anything for what I do > either, > but that doesn't make what I do legal. > > As for recording material over a computer, there has been a product > cease > production precisely because of this, and it made many blind people mad. > XM > had a great device called a PCR. You'd hook the antenna to it, run a > cable > from it to either the line in jack of your sound card or stereo, and > hook it > up to your computer with a USB cable. The software that came with it > displayed the channel you were on, as well as the title and artist of > the > song being played. Unfortunately, someone figured out how to convert > the > audio into labeled mp3 files. I say unfortunately, because the RIAA > learned > about this and threated to sue XM. The product no longer was made. I > did > get lucky and purchased one of these. It's not the most accessible > piece of > equipment with a screen reader, but you can view the title of the song > that > is being played, as well as easily switch channels by entering their > number. > > Now for my comments on BARD, which I'll call NLS. First, it's not true > that > you have to buy a player to listen to NLS books. Your local library can > provide you with a free player to play this content. It not only plays > NLS > content, but mp3 files, as well as some other standard audio file > formats. > It's true that you can't play things like books from Audible, but you > can't > beat the price of either the player or the books you can download. It's > true that the books are in a protected form, but I personally don't have > a > problem with this. > > Finally, we could have limitless arguments on what publishers should get > for > their work, how they protect it, and ways to circumvent these protection > schemes. In short, if someone copy protects something, someone will > find a > way to crack it. As for NLS, I think it's sad that it's limited to U.S. > citizens, but I understand why. > > Have a good day, and don't work too hard. > > Kevin Minor > kmi...@windstream.net > > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org
