Cyclic Defrost: Poiracy-Arrrgghhh!

Poiracy-Arrrgghhh!

By Lyndon November 23, 2005

Another forum discussion regarding the pros and cons of music piracy in todays’ SMH.
Some opinions are more informed than others, but it’s food for thought.
Walk the plank here.

http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

Ahhh the SMH shits me.

Check Copyfight, Commons Music and The Register’s Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs for much better, more up to date and interesting ongoing discussion.

And read Promises To Keep.

UTS law student/researcher Alex Malik always writes some great pieces for The Reg. Here’s two important recent ones – parallel importing revisited and Oz downloads failing to deliver.

At the moment iTunes is all about selling iPods and the music industry is still relying on an outdated business model. Consumers want the same user flexibility with digital music as they have with older formats such as CDs, vinyl and tapes – the ability to copy and share. This doesn’t necessarily equate with not paying for music – just that once they’ve paid for it they want to do more with it.

Certainly most music enthusiasts are more than happy to compensate artists – but very few are willing to buy another format of something they alreasdy own, or buy something that is locked down to play only on one brand of music player.
lyndon

Thanks Seb, will give those a read tomorrow. BTW, the SMH shits me too.So does the whole iTunes palava – grrrrr.
http://www.fightingasdancing.com Richtea

Cheers for posting up this interesting debate guys. I’ve been pondering the move to buying digital music for a while now, but have my own concerns, although I have to admit that copyright is not one of them.

The reasons for me buying music electronically would be firstly because its cheaper, and secondly because I would like to convince myself that I am only really interested in hearing the music – nothing else, so why do I need to buy a physical object in order to do this?

Except that this second point then leads me to my big problem with online music buying – namely NO ARTWORK! If I am going to buy an album online, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be given the artwork too – as a jpg for example, or dare I say some other electronic form – say a flash movie. Surely there is scope there for some creative expression. I hope you guys will agree given your packaging reviews included in Cyclic Defrost.

All other issues regarding file format etc. I would imagine are fairly irrelevant as a quick google search will give you the wares you need to unlock protection on these files I’m sure.

As for iTunes Oz style – one word – Crap! Virtually zero content and no discount for buying an album over buying individual tracks. Forget it, go with Bleep, intertia, and allofmp3.com for the mainstream stuff.
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

Personally I find that it is pretty much always going to be more flexible and just as easy to buy the CD or LP version. Except for a few rarities on Bleep.com, I’m yet to find something that I’d buy as a download over the ‘physical’ copy.

But I know that I’m not the taregt market for these services. The target market is, by and large, younger people.

CDs are not attractive to have lots of hanging around the house, certainly not in the same way LPs are. And I can understand how a 16yr old might prefer to have some files on her hard drive than a lot of clutter around her room, given that she is probably living at home and doesn’t have a lot of space. Likewise I can see why such services will work in places like Japan where physical space is a premium. These are the kinds of situations where it, perhaps, makes sense to have the download version over a physical version.

But for everyone else, surely it is just as easy to buy the CD and if you need to put it on to your music player, then just rip it.

BTW Allofmp3.com is of questionable legality, especially outside of Russia. Check the story on The Register.
http://www.fightingasdancing.com Richtea

I guess the reason I have used Bleep is that record shops are limited here in Brisbane and don’t always stock the stuff I can get online. That’s the beauty of the net I guess – and if broadband ever makes it to the Bush then all this content will be available to people who probably have little chance of accessing otherwise which is great I think.

Also its a more realistic price when buying online as personally I think paying $35 for a CD is overpriced and vinyl is often just crazily expensive!

AS for allofmp3 – perhaps the legality is questionable, but I figure it is more legal than going onto P2P. Not the greatest argument in the world for sure but well its something I guess.

Cyclic Defrost

An Australian magazine focusing on interesting music

Poiracy-Arrrgghhh!