JerryS wrote: > Arguably, not so, since someone will buy them at a reduced price from > the Salvation Army instead of from the record company which will > therefore be deprived of legitimate returns on their intellectual > property. The Law of Unintended Consequences applies to ethics as well > as to the physical world... > > Jerry
I understand your point (and expected someone to raise this). (I was actually referencing the notion of giving things to charity to help others rather than selling something to personally profit. That I think is a good lesson in general.) Regarding CDs, this is a legal issue and depends on the jurisdiction one lives in. In the U.S., if one makes digital copies of a CD, that's OK, as long as the person retains the CD. If they sell or give away the CD, then the letter of the law would require the person to also delete their copies of the digital files. But other countries laws may be different. (Heck, I think in the UK, one is technically not even allowed to rip files from a CD at all, even for personal use.) I personally keep all my ripped CDs (which meets the letter of the law), but mostly because I can't bear to part with them (yet!) and view them as the ultimate backup. >From an ethics standpoint, its not so clear cut to me. Whether its a CD, a book, a car, a table, a computer, etc. the issue at a high level is the same. If I buy a used Honda from my neighbor, Honda lost out on selling me a car. But my neighbor doesn't owe Honda just because he on-sold the car to me. Same with a used book. So I have no problem with the generic issue of a person being able to sell or give away anything they've previously purchased without that being considered cheating the company that sells new versions. Of course the difference is that if the neighbor could sell me the Honda *and* keep the use of the Honda for himself, so now we both get use of the same item, then this would be a problem. And that's why CDs and digital books, and software, and IP/knowhow is very different of course. One person can rip a CD, distribute the perfect copies of the CD to 10 friends, and this is unethical and more importantly blatantly illegal (at least in the U.S.). Anyhow, I fully understand your point. And more generally, I worry about the future of musicians and their ability to make a living given how the music business has changed. On the other hand, the music industry has ripped off many musicians for 100 years now, just in different ways. All any of us can do is support music the best we can. I buy 10 to 15 new CDs every month, attend lots of live shows, and always buy a CD from local artists at their gigs (the main way they make any money). *Home:* VBA 4TB (2.4)>LMS 7.9.1>Transporter, Touch, Boom, Radio (ethernet) *Cottage:* VBA 3TB (2.4)>LMS 7.9.1>Touch>Benchmark DAC I, Boom, Radio w/Battery (Radio WIFI) *Office:* Win10(64)>LMS 7.9.2>Squeezelite *The Wild (no internet): *PiCorePlayer 4.0 on rPi 3B+, hifiberry Dac+Pro, 4TB USB (LMS & Squeezelite) *Controllers:* iPhone6 & iPadAir2 (iPeng & Squeezepad), CONTROLLER, or SqueezePlay 7.8 on Win10(64) laptop *Files:* ripping: dbpa > FLAC; post-rip: mp3tag, PerfectTunes; Streaming: Spotify ------------------------------------------------------------------------ garym's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=17325 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=109985 _______________________________________________ Touch mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
