These are the real music pirates
 

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/2928869.htm

Music is their booty, the Internet their high seas. Their landlubber cohorts copy CDs by the millions, selling illicit tunes from car trunks and teeming marketplaces.

Online or on land, via downloads and pirated discs, music pirates plunder the world's recording industry of $4 billion a year.


These are who the real music pirates are, not the average joe who sits in front of his/her pc sharing mp3's.

Re: These are the real music pirates
 

Well Oscar,

on the other hand, it is the average Joe sharing his MP3s that makes it so easy for the pirate to get his stuff to burn on CD and sell for an easy profit.

But before I get thrown into the lion's den: No, I'm not condemning file sharing. Yes, it's the pirates that are the bad guys, not the average Joe. Just trying to show you the obvious stand-point of the RIAA on this issue (which I don't share).

Stoepsel

Not a bad article, but not a good one I think. It begins and ends with the "Napster Bad" line and only focuses on CD piracy for a portion of the article. It has lots of good information but it still implies that file sharing is as bad as CD piracy. But thanks for the article oscar.

You would think that given the choice between a $2 CD and a free MP3 people would always go for free. But filesharing has not reduced CD piracy, it has increased despite the p2p revolution. Makes me wonder...

interesting observation and an answer may be that pirates actually find the true value of a compact disc. any higher and they lose the sale to a free download. any lower and the burn's not worth it economically.

- js.

Right on the money, Jack. :tu: In two decades the CD pricing has gradually lost almost all connection to the real manufacturing costs and this is one of the main reasons why p2p has been such a shock to the music industry. Instead of gradually adapting their economy and business models to the changing technological environment - which computer and blank media manufacturers have done - the record companies have instead concentrated on lobbying the copyright legislators in the hope of being able to continue their overcharging practices. 2-3 US$ would indeed be a competitive price for CDs even in the p2p era, leaving a clear margin above the industrial manufacturing costs and making the product again attractive to the consumers. CD sales would almost certainly multiply in numbers and the total turnover might well increase too but to make a profitable business out of it would require major restructuring in the record industry. Instead of 1-2 % success rate and huge promotion budgets for a few chosen megastars the industry should aim to a much more economical model based on profitable operation with most of their signed artists.

- tg ;)

Its funny how people always rationalize things with degrees.

If you download music, your equal to the guy selling cds out of his trunk.

I download movies all the time, I am just as guilty as the guy who sits in the theater with a camcorder.

Whether its a car, choclatebar or an mp3 theft is theft.
It causes the record companies to loose money, the RIAA is put in a tight spot.

I say good! I really dislike the RIAA. I also feel that artisits arent treated nicely by thier own record companies. So I am content with ripping the record compnaies off by downloading as many songs I can.

The only artists I support without stealing from is independent local groups, who arent in bed with goons that serve thier own greed by pissing on net freedoms and rights.

Its funny how everyone sugar coats thier own adventures in theft by trying to push guilt on others. Just admit you love to steal from record companies. (Not cars!)

Bottem line its easy to steal music, file sharing has made p2p theft a national sport, and I am going for gold. :)

Look at your hard drive full of music and movies, toss your morals out the window and smile as you wait for the rest of your downloads to finish. Cheers.

I still buy CDs. Very few, just the ones I have thoroughly tested in mp3 form. If anything, mp3s have helped me rip off the industry by deflating the hype surrounding many 'musical geniuses'. (only the best are good enough for a CD purchase) And getting b-sides and lim. editions - where they add two songs, tint the cover art in gold or silver, put it in a slipcase and want you to buy the CD again for more than the first time. You know, to prove you're a fan. :PO: