From: adam at hif.hu (Szilveszter Adam)
Subject: Re: Do you really think CDs will be protected
 in future?

Phillip R. Paradis wrote:

> I agree that they do have a case. I think, however, their problems are
> entirely of their own creation.

Yes.

>>2.) Offer added value. Good artists and managers have known this for a 
>>long time. People will more likely buy a record which also has nice 
>>artwork, exclusive content (maybe printed) or gives access to online 
>>content or such.
> 
> 
> True enough, though such things will get copied also. New Line Cinemas did
> something interesting with it's Lord of the Rings movies; they released an
> extended version of the movie (on 5 DVDs) that also included (among other
> extras) a pair of miniature statues from the movie. This edition is a bit
> expensive, but copying it entirely is rather difficult. (If anyone disputes
> this, would they please email me a 5lb stone statue...)

That's the kind of thing I had in mind. Some artists do and have done it 
well. Others have failed. Also do not forget that most copiers are not 
making a copy for you sepcifically, rather they make some "good enough" 
rips, but won't bother with niceties. That's the stuff you can then d/l 
from P2P networks. Often the rips weren't even proof-listened, since 
they contained cracks and other distortions :-)

>>3.) Offer digital downloads and "on-demand" CD generation. Quite often, 
>>I may want my personal "Best of" which is not the same as theirs. Or I 
>>may want individual tracks. The price should be reasonable, of course.
> 
> 
> The price should be free, if you can show that you have purchased CDs which
> already contain those tracks. US Copyright law provides for fair use; making
> copies of a work for your own use certainly qualifies as fair use. Why then,
> should I be forced to pay an additional fee for a right I am supposedly
> given by law?

Yes. But I had in mind that these opportunities should also exist if I 
do not yet have that music. Eg I see a "Best of" by one of my favourite 
artists, but not all songs that I like are there. Then I should have the 
option of creating a "personal" Best of CD, which then can be delivered 
to me in physical format or made available as a download per track. If 
prices were reasonable for this, sales would go up I think.

> Agreed, for the most part. As I work for a retailer, however, I know that
> what consumers think is irrelevant to the record folks. The retailer I work
> for has an agreement with it's suppliers such that once a customer opens a
> CD (or DVD, VHS tape, software package, etc) they cannot return it, unless
> the media is defective, in which case they get another copy of the same
> product only. So if your newly purchased CD is copy protected and won't play
> in your CD player, you're stuck with it anyway, unless you want to get
> another copy of the same useless disc.

As others have pointed out, this is not so simple. If there is no 
labeling, the goods could be deemed as defective. In fact, they already 
have been in several cases in Europe. Since consumer-protection 
legislation is quite strong here, that would only leave the retailer 
hanging, but not the customer. Of course, if the disc does not claim to 
be an audio CD (no Compact Disc logo) and has clear and understandable 
language on the outside to tell you what's up (I have seen some attempts 
at this already) in the customer's native tongue (not only in English), 
than the "defective" argument does no longer hold probably. I still 
think that copy-protection is bad for business reasons, though, and this 
is why it should be dropped. IMHO it hurts sales. Eg I for sure haven't 
bought a single copy-protected title yet and will continue to do so, 
although this meant that some of my favourites remained on the shelf. 
And since we all know that it doesn't really stop copying either, it is 
fairly pointless, at least imho. (not even digital copying, although 
this was not mentioned here, there are quite a few drives that actually 
have firmware & driver to circumvent and I am yet to see armed police to 
burst into the local Media Markt to confiscate eg all recent Plextor 
CD-RW drives as circumvention tech...)

Enough of me (although I really think about publishing a "Best of FD" CD 
with some cute posts on it and make it a smash hit, without copy 
protection, but *with* nice hardcopy pix of some of the participants. It 
could also include remixes of some posts :-P )

Sz.

Powered by blists - more mailing lists