BOHICA folks, I can see the "royalty recovery fee" being added to blank media any day now.  

www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/15/riaa_cdr_p2p/

RIAA admits CD-R more a threat than P2P

By Tony Smith
Published Monday 15th August 2005 11:38 GMT


The Recording Industry Ass. of America has acknowledged that P2P file-sharing is less of a threat to music sales than bootleg CDs.

The RIAA's chief executive, Mitch Bainwol, last week said music fans acquire almost twice as many songs from illegally duplicated CDs as from unauthorised downloads, Associated Press reports.

According to Bainwol, in turn citing figures from market watcher NPD, 29 per cent of the recorded music obtained by listeners last year came from content copied onto recordable media. Only 16 per cent came from illegal downloads.

Legal downloads accounted for four per cent of music acquisitions, while official CDs accounted for almost 50 per cent of the total.

The RIAA's favoured solution appears to be copy-protected CDs, which are gradually spreading throughout the music CD market. This approach "is an answer to the problem that clearly the marketplace is going to see more of," Bainwol told the news agency.

Over the last few months, we've seen a growing number of stories published by the mainstream media that highlight the growing number of copy-protected CDs in the market and, in particular, those that have become big sellers. If we didn't know better, we'd suggest this was all part of a scheme to attempt to ease consumers' concerns that the music industry is out to make it a darn sight harder to listen to music on a computer. But they wouldn't do that, would they? Ahem.

Now that copy-protection has gone beyond crude early attempts to foist poor Java music player software on consumers, and to limit their ability to make copies for personal usage - in those territories where such 'fair use' rights are enshrined in copyright law, at least - the music industry seems a lot keener to release anti-rip discs. Much-improved hardware compatibility has helped too.

The fly in the works is, of course, Apple. A recent Reuters story covering the sales success of copy-protected CDs contain quotes from a number of folk bemoaning the lack of support for the iPod. So far, copy-protection schemes are Windows only, since they dump PC-ripped music as Windows Media files. The iPod doesn't support Windows Media file formats or DRM.

Music industry figures were grumbling that Apple's apparent unwillingness to license its FairPlay DRM technology - or, more likely we suspect, do so at a price the music industry is willing to pay - prevents them from creating music files that can be transferred to and played on an iPod.

What the report failed to note was that the Mac version of iTunes has generally been fairly robust in its unwillingness to cater to copy-protection technologies. When we reviewed Macrovision's then state-of-the-art CDS-300 version 7 copy-protection scheme last year, while it happily imposed restrictions on Windows users, the sample tracks we were challenged to rip where easily converted from CD audio to MP3 on a PowerBook G4 running iTunes. Right now, the solution to copy-protection appears simple: buy a Mac.

In any case, Apple wants iPod owners to buy songs from the iTunes Music Store, not on CD, so there's little to be gained from licensing FairPlay for incorporation into CD copy-protection systems. That may change when Apple comes to renegotiate its iTunes sales licences from major and minor labels, on which Apple is undoubtedly banking on the growing success of iTunes as its prime bargaining tool that the current licensing regime be maintained.

Damn RIAA.  

Someone will always find a way around their shit.  If there weren't a direct way to rip directly from disc, I can always make a digital recording via optical cable from my PC to my HiMD player, then upload that and encode it track by track.  :P

Right now, my process is

Find music I like
Buy the CD locally
Rip the CD to MP3 and add to my Winamp playlist
Burn to CD in MP3 for use in my car's MP3 player
Copy to Minidisc to play on my portable
Put the CD in my rack, almost never to be pulled out again (so I always have a good backup)

And you are legally allowed to do that, Matthew_Q, no matter what BS RIAA puts out.

I haven't bought a new CD is many years, due to RIAA's heavy handed tactics, and the near $20 dollar pricing.

I buy used, second hand whenever possible. Or borrow the CD from a friend, and rip it myself.

I'm a bit-rate snob. 192kbs variable or better only in my collection.

RIAA should STFU.

SGat1r5

sharky30 admits that the RIAA's insane pricing scheme is more of a threat to them than all the pirates combined

I wonder how long before they stop libraries from loaning out CD's.  

Quoted: RIAA should STFU. SGat1r5

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Quoted: And you are legally allowed to do that, Matthew_Q, no matter what BS RIAA puts out. I haven't bought a new CD is many years, due to RIAA's heavy handed tactics, and the near $20 dollar pricing. I buy used, second hand whenever possible. Or borrow the CD from a friend, and rip it myself. I'm a bit-rate snob. 192kbs variable or better only in my collection.

Oh, I know I'm in the right.  The RIAA is becoming too damn heavy handed.  If they had their way, you'd have to buy one to rip, buy another to keep in your rack, buy another to use in your car and buy another to take to work.  

I only buy new CDs when I know that I like the artist and a good amount of the songs on it.   And I'm a bitrate freak a little, too.   I don't like downloading songs (bittorrents or Kazaa or whatever) because most people rip them in 128kbps, and don't do a good job of it.   I set mine to 256kbs constant.  I did do 384kbps, but the file sizes were just too big!  256 is a good balance.  

That doesn't supprise me at all.
I had a feeling when they won the first P2P suite, that they would not stop there.
Now, its the media that it can be played on.

I think its a move on RIAA's part to in essance rent the music to you as an end user. Much like some of the software is today.
Probably soon after they get their tax on CD-R's they will want a chip installed in every machine that will play CD's, that will collect info on what was listened to and how many times so they can send you a bill for the "use" of it. If I was a betting man I would lay odds that the chip mentioned above will be implemented as a federal way to prohibit unlicensed music.

Just wait for it.. Google "Fritz Chip" or "Microsoft Palladium" to see what they would like to do.

RIAA can shove it.

They blame P2P and CD-R's for the drop in their sales but the truth lies in the "music" they've been putting out lately. The crap isn't good enough to sell. If it were they wouldn't be having these problems.

The fault lies in their failures and poor decision-making but they'd rather have a scapegoat.

It's the same reason that hardly anyone goes to the movies now and Blockbuster's sales have been plummeting.

Quoted: Just wait for it.. Google "Fritz Chip" or "Microsoft Palladium" to see what they would like to do.

That is some scary shit.

Wiki entry for 'Fritz Chip'

The problem is the abundance of no-talent artists, their 2-single, all filler cd's, and the $15 price tag for converting fresh cow shit into a plastic disc.

Quoted: Just wait for it.. Google "Fritz Chip" or "Microsoft Palladium" to see what they would like to do.

Damn, I didn't know that was out there.
After I posted above I was thinking to myself that RIAA sure sounds like M$ in their earlier days.
If they didn't like something they would either buy the offender or sue them out of existence.
I wonder if RIAA is using M$'s play book.

i make copies of all my cd's that i bring to work.  cd's don't last very long when i'm using them.  if i pay for a cd, i'm paying for the right to do whatever i want with it.

the riaa is just plain greedy.  they jack up the price of their shitty music, so nobody could possibly buy everything they like, and then they act suprised when people pirate that music.

Quoted: BOHICA folks, I can see the "royalty recovery fee" being added to blank media any day now.

We already pay "Royalty" fees on blank CD's and DVD's.

Quoted: BOHICA folks, I can see the "royalty recovery fee" being added to blank media any day now.

It's already there.

www.weaponforums.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=379198


Government by the corporation, and for the corporation.

Didn't seem to bother them back in the days of reel to reel, cassette, and eight track recorders did it. Why is CD-R any different.  Greedy Bastages.

Quoted: Didn't seem to bother them back in the days of reel to reel, cassette, and eight track recorders did it. Why is CD-R any different.  Greedy Bastages.

It DID bother them back then.

What these fools have yet to learn is that tapes and reel-reel HELPED their industry, not hurt it.


SGatr15