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The Piracy Debate Has Once Again...
12 replies
LittleSpooky said on June 10, 2003 06:21:
Raised its head. I felt the need to comment on this from my point of view only because I have quite a few mp3s on my computer and I thought I should explain why. Not to justify it, nor rationalise it. Just to explain:
Mr. Gessle’s right when he says: “It’s stealing. Of course the writers, producers and musicians should get paid. It’s not good when people feel it’s OK to download without paying. It’s not good when an entire generation takes it for granted that music is for free.” (See Front Page for the rest of the micro-article)
I’m not going to get up on a little box and say “But this...”, “But that...”, “But yer uncle...”
I download mp3s for a few simple reasons:
1) You can’t find it on cd ANYWHERE. It’s either out of print, never released to cd, or on a cd with stuff I DON’T want. For example: “Play That Funky Music, White Boy” by Wild Cherry. “Joy To The World (Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog)” by Three Dog Night are a couple of songs that are on albums I just flat-out don’t want. Then there are those that I have YET to find on a CD. Not released, NEVER will be released, and good luck on finding the cassette (those are on their way OUT of style, like the 8-tracks of the 60s and 70s)
2) Ever buy a CD and regret the choice? I have. I’ve got 3 or 4 of them I’d just as soon make into a lamp or something decorative like that than listen to again.
3) I wanna try out the music before going to buy it. As a matter of fact, Mr. Gessle, because I have the new songs off of The Pop Hits and The Ballad Hits, this is what prompted me to go ahead and BUY THOSE CDs!!! Despite the fact that I have all the other songs on their respective albums. Know another reason I buy the compliations? Ya ain’t never heard those songs on the same track listing! We’ve all made our own little play lists and what not of the different songs, this just is different from our own ideas.
To expand the “try before you buy” thought, I just got onto a recent kick. I’ve been digging for EVERYTHING I can find on a band called “Dogstar”. Some of you may or may not know it. Dogstar is a band that is pretty much a trio of men: Bret Domrose (vocals, guitar), Rob Mailhouse (drums), and Keanu Reeves (bass). Yes, the same Keanu Reeves from “Matrix / Matrix: Reloaded”, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure / Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey” and so on.
I discovered that Mr. Reeves is a bass player, and I am as well. Plus, I wanted to know what Dogstar sounded like. I’d heard of them before, just as “Matrix” took off, but chalked it up to another band I REALLY didn’t care for (along the lines of Russell Crowe’s band of “30 Odd Foot of Grunts”. I just don’t like that band.) So, I’ve searched and found just about all that I can on the band in mp3 format.
And I have to say that ’WOULD THE POST HURRY UP AND DELIVER MY CDs TO ME PLEASE!!!!’ Gah!!! I HATE waiting. I would have never grabbed these 3 CDs if I didn’t listen to the songs first.
Long and short of it: I download the music and then get the CD (If I can find it). If I don’t like it, it’s in the Spooky Mulder 3 Point Basket (don’t ask, I just named it that) and I delete it off my hard drive and spend my money on things I know I like.
coyboyusa said on June 10, 2003 21:01:
well look at apples i misuc..its the first successful launch of an on line pay service to donwload digital music. its proff that we do want to buy music just not at the reidiculous privces and not until we can hear an entire album before buying it. I just bought annie lennox’s bare....hope its good
sweet_stalker57 said on June 11, 2003 00:48:
Marie out of Roxette!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Per Gessle is the Michael Jackson of Sweden.
LittleSpooky said on June 11, 2003 05:37:
I stay away from anything that says “Apple” or “Macintosh” (Smack-N-Squash in my book) just because when IBM first started out, they didn’t wanna be nice and share software. That’s why you have games for the IBM/Clones and Mac. Anyway....
I posted these thoughts for the simple reason of:
I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. Most of us who have these mp3s on our computers aren’t people who are doing it to “rob” artists out of their money, we’re people who are just wanting the music we like. For example, I have a friend of mine who has taken songs from just about EVERY Roxette album and created a kind of promotional / compilation CD. I have a copy of that and it’s FANTASTIC. He took the music that spanned Roxette’s career and made fade / combinations that are really quite good.
And I don’t download entire albums very often. I have a total of 3 complete albums on my hard drive and those are actually Movie Soundtracks that I am presently trying to find on the internet to purchase. The one I’m having a time finding is the one version of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” that I have. I think I need to just grab the copy that is the closest to what I’m looking for. And that’s okay. The other ones are” “A Knight’s Tale” and “Flash Gordon”. I have those on back order from Media Play. Although I’m betting the email that I’m looking at right now in my inbox is one from Media Play telling me that they now have “A Knight’s Tale” in stock. Yup.
Those that download albums and what not, to skip paying for them, that’s wrong. Those that download songs in order to determine whether or not we want the CDs.... believe it or not, IS wrong as well, BUT I’m still going out and spending the USD$15+ for the ENTIRE CD. So, the artists and so on are still getting their money’s worth out of me that way.
*shrugs* Just my opinion on this.
Mfan28179-Jason said on June 11, 2003 05:53:
There are a few arguments here. Some people are taking advantage of the system and just downloading music for free because they don’t want to pay for CDs. Others do it so they can decide if they wish to purchase a certain CD or album. Then you have rare material that is not available commercially which is finally made available for file sharing programs - take Roxette’s ’Dance Passion’ as an example. Never been issued on CD format officially. Fans have to download this material for free. There are many points of view on this subject. It should be interesting to see exactly what record companies do. And I don’t think copy protection is going to work that well.
LittleSpooky said on June 14, 2003 05:29:
Here’s a thought:
There’s an album that you want. It’s out of print. You download the songs from it and then make your own disk for it. Piracy? Yes, but how do you pay for it when it’s out of print but want it for your collection?
No... Ebay and a few others are TOO expensive, I’ve checked
Mfan28179-Jason said on June 14, 2003 05:37:
People shouldn’t have to resort to *bidding* to get the music they want. Hopefully with the Internet, record companies will make this out of print material available again. But then again, I’m not going to count on it.
LittleSpooky said on June 14, 2003 05:38:
No kidding. So, I have the 4 songs that I wanted from the one album. I am thinkin about tossing on some other stuff just to fill the disk.
Anyone else’s thoughts on this?
derek said on June 15, 2003 20:12:
if its old music which is nearly immpossible to buy anymore then i dont see the problem of downloading if it is for yourself ok but if you want to sell it then thats not ok. but what do i know
zeeshan said on June 10, 2003 06:35:
Spooky couldn’t have said it better myself!! SO TRUE!!