Originally posted by: thatsright
In a TOTAL Contradiction of what I said above, those that use Kazaa and WinMX or any other 'free' download site, are STEALING music. Sure everyone will try and cop out and say 'well the record companies have been ripping us off for years'. But this BS statement doesn't absolve any of us from the fact we are stealing music.
And of course, BOTOH, since it doesn't 'feel' like we are walking into a store and physically stealing a CD, or that their is a COP over our shoulders when on Kazaa, it feels like its OK; or something that isn't a big deal. So sure, I'm a hypocrite when I say it's stealing, and yet I do it anyway. But its sooo easy, and quick, and painless it just doesn't feel totally wrong.
And if using Kazaa standard, of course you will get all the Spyware/Adware crap that takes over your PC. Just use Kazaa Lite or K++ and you will avoid all of that, and you will get the RIAA IP Blocking features. Thats what I do when I'm braking the law...........
Okay I'll bite.
Before someone tries to read black and white arguments into our society that is not so black and white people should review a few things.
1. History is full of moments where a band or large group of people "broke" the law to fight something that was not fair. Where would the US be if those long ago had remained loyal to Britain? What about a number of the demonstrations that have occurred over the past 40 years?
2. Laws are made by the people in the US for the most part. It takes politicians that Joe Blow hates to interpret what's best for the people in the big picture but in the end the laws are set as such. It's not always perfect but that's when the people make it known and changes may occur. Sometimes it takes something drastic and sacrifices are made for this to happen. As long as those people doing just that understand the consequences, let them make that decision.
3. There are not much in the way of laws governing how businesses price items to benefit the consumer and yet still allow the business to flourish. In some countries I'd imagine that the current practice of how the music and even the rest of the entertainment industry does things here in the states would be illegal in those countries.
This perceived crime is really a grey area when you're talking about the vast number of people that are committing this so-called crime and many of they're reasoning for it. And frankly this isn't anything really new but the music industry wants you to believe it is as for years people have been copying cd's, tapes, and albums for friends, relatives and co-workers. Prices have for the most part went up or have stayed the same over the last twenty years and that combined with it now being more convenient like you mentioned have given people an angle to truly fight back.
Frankly I think we will likely find in the next 5 years the music industry finally accepting it needs to change it's model and release some control. It'll be a slow change that only a few will notice but it's going to be with the help of Apple and others making purchasing appear both reasonable and convenient for it to happen. I believe the music industry is the worst of them all. Look at how dvd prices have fallen for both dvd's and hardware. How can the music industry explain why music cd's cost close to what a movie dvd costs during these times? The movie industry isn't perfect by any means but they're certainly held with greater respect than the music side of things just by the fact that dvd's typically deliver greater value for the dollar.
In the end certain people will always try to get what they can for free even if it's illegal and there's a good chance of not getting caught. The industries need to take advantage of as much of that as they can by first just making it somewhat difficult to do but not impossible(costs too much $$$ and ticks off legit users), second, add more value to what consumers are paying for(allowing consumers to buy by the song is a great first step if the price is right), and third, try to consider the marketing opportunity out of it. I've known lots of folks who went out and bought cd's after they heard the pirated material. One other thing is they have to maintain accurate surveys of how many are really pirating. Percetages is the only way to do it rather than throwing out numbers that might be in the thousands or millions to make it sound oh so horrible(hmm...who's taking advantage of convenience now?).
Okay so I'll end my rant now and step down off soapbox after this. The world just ain't black and white and I don't condone cheating anyone but the argument can be made that these businesses may very well be cheating consumers. The problem is that no laws are in place to really deal with it. With that in mind we really don't want those laws to happen in the extreme sense either as then it kills business but something needs to happen to force business models to change with people. I'm optimistic that it will but yes some will get in deep deep trouble while some businesses go under. There will be losses on both sides. People and these businesses are going to have to accept that if they really want to right the ship. People want their music and businesses want their money. It'll work out.