The latest episode in the war between music companies and their paying customers (the one where Sony decides it’s OK to surreptitiously take over your PC so you can’t make a copy of the music you thought you bought from them) has finally pushed me over the edge.
I’ve been a big buyer of prerecorded ‘media’ for over 35 years. I have two or three hundred vinyl LPs, several dozen 45’s, a hundred or so audio cassettes, and roughly 60 prerecorded reel-to-reel tapes. They are jammed in my closet with a couple hundred VHS tapes, 450 CDs, and 500-odd DVDs. (Mercifully, I skipped the 8-track, Betamax and laserdisc formats.)
Part of my media collection
I have to believe the record companies and movie studios would consider me a good customer. But with every day that passes it becomes more and more obvious that the greedy bastards who run these media companies prefer to treat me (and all their customers) like criminals. They continually expect us to pay more for less, and even then they are not satisfied. They want to pretend to ’sell’ us their product, but they don’t want us to actually have it. Well I’ve had enough.
From this day forward I will never spend a another dime on content that I can’t use the way I please. If I can’t copy it to my hard drive and play it using the devices I want, when and where I want, I won’t be buying it. Period.
They can all take their DRM, and their broadcast flags, and their rootkits, and their Compact Discs that aren’t really compact discs and shove them up their bottom-lines.
Additional Thoughts
Nov 11 – 8:50 AM
I’m blown away by the reactions my little tirade has produced. A raw nerve must have been hanging right out there in the open.
But there’s a few points I want to add/clarify.
- I said I was going to stop buying content that is burdened with these ridiculous and futile restrictions. I did not say I was going to start stealing that content. My point is to patronize only those companies that treat their customers with some respect.
- I forgot to mention the looming disaster of HD video on disc. Both of the competing HD disc standards will come equipped with the most monstrous, invasive, and customer-hating DRM ever devised by engineers and lawyers. If you want something to boycott, that would be it.
- Finally, a further rant. How did this shit come to be called copy protection? It is clearly intended to be copy prevention.
True. That.
‘Nuff said.
bleep.com is perfect if you like cutting edge electronica. They respect and trus their customers.
I agree totally with the sentiment here – I am not a criminal and resent being treated like one.
As a person with a similar collection to yours, I feel it would be a good idea to have a ‘Do not buy music today’ Day. Any takers on this idea? One day of not buying music would hit the people behind this evil issue where it hurts most. Also, any musician who has their music crippled like this should be protesting also.
Great call for personal rights!
I’m with you!
For myself it has been relatively easy to transition to listening to new music that is offered free by the artist themselves. Heck, Mercedes offers a new “Mixed Tape” CD every few months or so. There’s a lot of great music out there just waiting to be heard by new ears.
DRM… uh, I don’t think so
Right now, I’m using Yahoo! Music Unlimited, so I’m paying $6.99 a month for unlimited DRMed songs.
Then, like $15 for Tunebite. ( http://www.tunebite.com ) Which will play the track in WMP, record it (it speeds up the playback at 4X, so its faster than realtime), and save it as a unprotected MP3 or OGG file.
So I’m getting my music legally, removing the DRM in the grey area (I’m just playing and recording my music. And technically, I’m not actually removing the DRM. The DRM is still in the file, I just have a new file that for some reason doesn’t have it
), and listening to my music in bliss on my iPod and iTunes.
But yeah, I’m fed up with DRM too. It won’t prevent any serious pirates from pirating music, it will just fustrate and enrage your everyday music listener.
Josh
Mike – Amen!
@Mike
the problem with allofmp3 is so paradox i love it. industry goes for globalization,fine,but as soon as the user joins the global market, industry chickens out,calls crime,taxes and their moms.
so what does one learn? globalization is great as long as only industry may take advantage of it.
Here’s what I do. I’ve given up on buying music through iTMS. Yes, its convenient. But its also lower quality than CD’s. And its got DRM. I don’t care that it doesn’t really affect me, I know its there, and that one day it could affect me. Apple may have put DRM in to please the RIAA but I guarantee you they don’t want to take it out now because its a lock-in mechanism. Thats why they aren’t licensing their DRM.
I have also stopped purchasing new CD’s. Purchasing through iTMS and buying big label new CD’s give money to the RIAA. I refuse to give them one cent. What do I do? I purchase only used CD’s or CD’s that are sold directly from independent labels or artists themselves.
The wonderful thing about “allofmp3″ is that not only are you breaking the law by using it, but your money is going right into the pockets of the Russian mob. That’s just great, isn’t it? But hey, you got your latest Pop-Nonsense album and who cares if it means criminals are using your money to fund their activities.
@anders:
How would you know it is the mob? And what is the difference with the music industry?
You hit it on the head with that one. LOL.
Here’s what I do:
- download a 192 or higher quality mp3 from P2P
- buy the track at iTunes
- remove the iTunes DRM using hymn
That way I’ve got a higher quality version as well as both the DRMed & non-DRMed versions. And I don’t feel like a freeloader.
Thanks, Mike, for bringing this all up.
Let me get back to allofmp3 briefly: These folks are paying full copyright license fees in russia – thats why the state attourney in Moscow refuses to be after them. Its the IFPI who are refusing to take the money (and give it to the artists), but waging a legal war vs allofmp3. In the meantime the european union mandates to simplify licensing of music downloads all over europe: pay fees in one country, sell downloads in all. russia is just the next step, so the IFPI needs to settle the case. but: take a look at Apple’s figures of costs involved in iTunes downloads: about half of every 99cent would go to the record label. this is about not copyright fees or laws in general, but plain profit.
as someone whos income is paid by copyright holdings, all you theves should be sued and taken for what you dont have. i hope you own a business and someone comes into your store and steals anything they want at any time, because you could. then you will understand why you need strong copyright laws and DRM. in fact i hope someone comes into your house and rapes your family, and then says it was ok because you could do it. same goes for all you little napsters….
including the jarhead that wrote this blog…. how about someone stealing your code that you wrote for a system or project, and then making that great idea available for free? and your income was paid by those royalties on your patent… just because you can steal content, doesnt make it right…. try lifting a dvd at best buy and see what happens…
your generation is doomed to live like the street thugs you are.