kklemme wrote:
Regarding the rights issues with WMA. Is this significant if one is
ripping one's own CD's? I've ripped thousands of files, and maybe I'm
oblivious, but I thought I had heard that this was really only an issue
with downloaded files....????
IANAL, but you do not own the music, at least according to the RIAA.
How can the system tell if the resulting file is downloaded? or just ripped?
This is a fundamental problem (or feature) of digital media, whether it
be music or movies or software like Office: how do you know that it is
owned? It is hard because properly copied files are bit-identical to the
original. We rely upon this all the time with our computers.
Not to pick on Microsoft and WMA, but the idea behind DRM is for the
authors and owners of content to control the digital rights. This is
what Sony did with the 20 or so music CDs last summer. And it is what
CSS was all about, which led to deCSS so some Linux folks could watch
movies on Linux.
Microsoft has gotten a lot of press, not all good, not all bad, about
"Genuine Microsoft Software" which is exactly a DRM for Windows itself.
It is a small step for Microsoft or Apple or Sony to want more DRM.
I know of no DRM in the current WMA products. But I know that Microsoft
is very interested in DRM, and has implemented it for their own software.
To paraphrase Smokey Yunick, you can't tell what is in a CD/DVD from the
bits. Could be application software, could be an operating system, could
be music or a movie. I write software for a living, and expect to get
paid for it. I have a recording studio, and expect to get paid for it.
Software is software. That some software that I produce is Java and
others is bluegrass is a minor characteristic.
But all I know about the RIAA is that their lawyers are better and have
bigger budgets than my Internet music company's, and they shut us down.
We were encouraging CD sales, and paying licenses, but it made no
difference. Whatever you do, do not rely upon legal advice you get on
the Internet on this topic. Most people writing about it know less than
I do, and IANAL.
So in my basement, next to the guitars and recording gear is a large
filing system with well over 700 CDs in jewel cases. On my music server
are all the music software in FLAC format.
YMMV
--
Pat
http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html
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