Thanks for your thoughtful post. I always operate within the spirit of the law as do my companies by trying to find a balance. I do not believe people should get get all music for free, but I do think that if they buy the music it should be there's to listen to anywhere. Whether it's the letter of the law probably depends on who you ask and when you ask since I'm often involved with new technology that are forging new territory. When it comes to digital media there is lots of new ground and people will have different interpretations of what is legal. I know that I have 2 young boys and I take pride in telling them about my businesses and how I am pushing the world in a positive direction.
"All that evil needs is for good men to do nothing." I think calling people "evil" is a bit strong in the digital media business, but I do believe in standing up for what I feel is right and of course that often means taking positions that others disagree with - and at times even major media companies. Remember these same media companies have tried to block nearly EVERY piece of new technology and business as illegal. Thankfully me and other people will take on the challenge and you can thank those people for the right to your VCR, Movie rental, Cassette Recorder, MP3 player and more. I would caution you though that just because a lawsuit was filed does not mean there was wrong doing. If you're going to make a moral declaration that is surely your right, but I do encourage you to look deeper into the issues. Let me give you some examples: - The RIAA filed a lawsuit against the first commercially available MP3 player declaring it an illegal device. I went to court with Diamond Multimedia and helped convince a Judge that the first MP3 player was a legal device by giving them song listings of legal music we were distributing with permission from MP3.com. Do you have a MP3 player? Do you like it? Thank God I was willing to get involved and help defend it otherwise who knows if you would have the right to own one today. - You mentioned DVD Jon. He was tried twice and acquitted both times. His "crime"? Contributing code which let people decrypt DVD movies. I think people should be able to watch their own DVD on whatever device they choose. I think personal ownership of media is a good thing and is worth fighting for. Without it you could NOT listen to your own music on your 2 squeezeboxes. I"m glad there are people like Jon around. And if I can help (and I did when he wanted a job in the US) I am happy to support causes which I believe in. - My.mp3 was a service I launched while the CEO of MP3.com. It let people in possession of a physical CD listen to it online from anywhere. This was a good thing for the industry because it made CDs more valuable by giving them a digital life and encouraging sales and was good for consumers because they could listen to their music from anywhere. One Judge ruled against our position and we never got a chance to appeal. (Note: A lower court also ruled the VCR illegal and was eventually overturned by the supreme court.) It should be noted that while I was vilified in court (and apparently it worked from your response) the same company that led the lawsuit bought my company for $400 million. Your contention that Squeezebox working with an online locker like MP3tunes might drag them into a lawsuit is unsubstantiated speculation with no legal foundation. I encourage you to do some more research. What you will discover is that there are other substantial companies that have products with direct tie-ins with the MP3tunes locker. Companies like Nokia and Tivo and in the next couple months you will see more than a dozen more. Storage is storage - whether it's on your personal computer or from an online service it can hold the same files. Yes, you could put files that you did not pay for into your locker, but the same is true with your own hard disk. There is no difference. -- MR -- michael-mp3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ michael-mp3's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11381 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=34874 _______________________________________________ squeezenetwork mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/squeezenetwork
