Infinite MonkeysRemember when "home taping" destroyed the record industry? Remember when the VCR eviscerated the movie industry? Neither do I, but I remember when those industries wasted a lot of time and money trying to convince us (and our elected officials) that taping spelled the end of civilization.
About a hundred years ago, the publishing industry wanted to prevent you from selling (or giving) your used books to another party after you were finished reading them. They were soundly rebuffed by the courts at the time. Today, the software industry (from which, by the way, I derive 100% of my income) has been quite successful in heavily restricting the way you use and transfer the programs you purchase. With some exceptions: Both software and entertainment industries have generally been unsuccessful in preventing you from transferring your own product to different media for the purpose of either convenience or protection of the product.
Which brings me to my position on copying music (and movies.)
While I doubt this will hold up "in court," it certainly holds up in the court of my conscience. A record, cassette, CD, etc. is just a piece of media. An album, single, or movie may be housed on a particular kind of media at the time of purchase, but just as it was established that you could legally copy your own vinyl albums onto cassettes for more convenient listening in your car, and you can rip your own CDs to MP3 files for listening on your iPod, I believe that once you have purchased a copy of a work (music, film, book) you are entitled to take advantage of technology to replicate that work for personal use, as long as you don't make a copy for someone outside your household who has not also purchased a copy.
This may not seem controversial on the surface, but here's the practical situation for which I think the entertainment industry would like to see me locked up: If I already bought an album, cassette, or VHS movie, I have absolutely no qualms about duplicating a CD or DVD of the same material, as long as I still continue to own at least one copy of the work on its original media. This is why I've spent so much time trading CD's on LaLa for the past six months - I've been restoring my record collection to a format that I can carry around on my iPod. The vast majority of discs I've "traded away" have been CD's that I also owned on vinyl and/or cassette. Now I still have a copy of that CD, and I have ripped it to MP3 format, and I still own the original record or cassette, but I've traded away the original compact disc. Does that make me a criminal? Perhaps. But I sleep like a baby, and have no problem looking myself in the mirror for having done it.
I care whether or not artists and performers get paid for their work. I even care that labels and studios get their share - after all, they take the risk of developing the "product." But I feel no obligation to pay over and over again for the same content.
What say you?
Posted by RobbL at February 18, 2007 08:16 PM