Is Peer-To-Peer Music Sharing In Danger? (page 2)

bluesapphire

I think the consumers need to stick it to them and boycot buying cd's. The other day I bought the new Fleetwood Mac album just because I liked two of the songs. I thought the whole album would be good. It sucks! The only two songs I like are the original ones. I should have burned them instead! The record companies need to stop loading albums with crap.

StinkyPantz

Uh-oh, I might be in trouble. . .

Abaddon

Well, maybe they've now realised that any anti-piracy feature on a CD (which costs $$$$$ to develop) can be defeated by with a double-ended minijack cable costing virtually nothing. As for legally going for the users; yeah... next time you load kazza up, look at the bar at the bottom; 700 million files and how many users?

I don't think this will work either. As has been commented, they could actually change their business model so that people would buy a CD for $5. $1.50 manufacturing costs (inc. booklet), $1.50 to the retailer, $1 to the record company and $1 to the artist. Massive boost in sales, as it would actually (apart from obsessives or those with very little cash) be more convenient to buy legally than rip of a P2P.

But no, we have to pretend that a law designed to exploit an archaic recoding format barely produced any longer is really relevent in the 21st Century. Enforce the uninforcable. Head in sand.

Speaking of P2P, you have to realise there are other dangers; morons.

I was downloading Bob Marley songs the other day. I never knew he had done 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' and 'Red Red WIne'. I mean, who seriously is dumb enough to think that a UB40 song is by Bob Marley? ANd the Bobby McFerrin one is just sureal...

Now everytime me and the Dutchess don't know who did a song, it's automatically by Bob Marley...

Hamas

Heard it all before, I am afraid.

They will never stop piracy. They have tried, but even the coppers do it.

Piracy rules.

pr_capone

The Recording Industry Association of America, citing significant sales declines, said it will begin to search Internet file-sharing networks tomorrow to identify users who offer "substantial" collections of mp3 music files for downloading.

This sentence is the key to the whole thing. Just do not share any of your files and you should be ok. They are going after the people who have a ton of mp3's and are making it available, not the ones d/l'ing the stuff.

Kansas District Overbeer

rocketman

It does look as if, a pr_capone mentions, they will target those who have been sharing large collections.

Recently, I explored downloading music from a service that my ISP offers. But, they charge a monthly membership fee of $9.95, plus .99 for each song downloaded. To me, that's too much - it saves little over going out and buying CDs.

I don't download, but buying at the ridiculous prices of CDs gets to be, well, ridiculous. In my view, a typical CD should cost, by now, $6-10. The CD is a 20-plus year old technology, and the prices should have dropped as the years went on.

I can understand why many folks want to download, considering the costly alternatives. And when I think back on how much money I wasted buying CDs or LPs with one or two good songs on, I just shake my head sometimes.

I'd like to see downloading for about $ 0.25 - .50 per song, with no membership fees. I think that could possibly catch on.

Also, downloading is only a part of the reason why people are not buying CDs like they used to. DVD sales have skyrocketed in recent months, so people are spending entertainment dollars, just not on CDs as they used to. There is more and more competition for the entertinment dollar these days.

OrbitingTheSun

Still, you can't blame them for putting up a fight; it just seems they could have put up a much more intelligent fight a few years ago, simply by accessing the new technology and the needs and wants of their customer.

You're right on it, Six. Piracy isn't the only threat...I actually believe this is a small part of a greater paradigm shift (motivated in many ways by new technology) that is empowering the average user and forcing companies to consider the user's needs and wants--or go under.

This sentence is the key to the whole thing. Just do not share any of your files and you should be ok. They are going after the people who have a ton of mp3's and are making it available, not the ones d/l'ing the stuff.

I noticed that too, Pr_capone. When I switched from KaZaA to KaZaA Lite I moved all of my files to a new folder. So I'm only sharing about 5-10 songs that are recent downloads and that can't be seen as a threat.

Also, downloading is only a part of the reason why people are not buying CDs like they used to. DVD sales have skyrocketed in recent months, so people are spending entertainment dollars, just not on CDs as they used to. There is more and more competition for the entertinment dollar these days.

That is a really good point, Rocketman...but even DVDs are usually cheaper than CDs. I guess it's because the film industry gets so much money in theaters and other venues they are willing to lower the price of DVDs.

RandomTask

Well, if nobody is sharing files then nobody is going to be able to download them.

I think that people will even find ways around this recent tactic of the music industry. They have been pricing the consumer out of buying music for years and they had this coming to them. Like someone said, they could have harnessed this technology early on and turned it into another way to make money, but they were greedy and short-sighted. Eventually the law will step in also and protect peoples' rights. Some of this stuff goes way beyond constitutional IMO

ballistic

In Britain, music is even more expensive - we are so ripped off. Also, what about people like me who "try before I buy". I listen to music on kazaa and have recently been spending more and more on CDs. I expect where they are loosing out is to kids who don't have much money and can't afford the over priced CDs.

Is Peer-To-Peer Music Sharing In Danger?

Share this