Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 12083
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2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/8     

2004/2/3-4 [Finance/Banking, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:12083 Activity:nil
2/2     Can you guys see a problem with this?  An online company sells CDs, and
        they offer to give you a download of the CDs you bought in say 65kbit
        mp3, 128kbit mp3, 256kbit mp3 and FLAC.  That way you are saved the
        trouble of ripping the CD and getting the right ID3 tags, you also get
        to listen to the music immediately.  As a further extension, you could
        have them hold onto your physical CD for a while and only ship you discs
        every few months to save on shipping.  The 2 caveats I see are they have
        to only let the person who ordered download, and they can't sell CDs
        they don't physically have.  Would this avoid the RIAA/MP3.com fiasco?
        \_ Looks like you've been reading Robert X. Cringely's column. -williamc
           \_ If you're referring to that "collective ownership" idea, that's
              not what I had in mind.  I'm looking for a way to have a normal
              pay-to-download music scheme with multiple encodings/qualities and
              no DRM.
              \_ Any scheme that doesn't have DRM will instantly turn into
                 song-swapping.
                 \_ Bzzt.  Not everyone sucks.  Check http://magnatune.com.
                    \_ Thanks. neat site. -!op
                       \_ How does http://magnatune.com stop song-swapping?
                          \_ It doesn't.  It accepts it into its business
                             model.  If the riaa companies had done this back
                             when cassettes were their big issue, they wouldn't
                             be so far behind.
                 \_ All downloads would happen from a central server, and only
                    at the time of purchase, so there should be little risk of
                    password sharing or the like.
                    \_ that still doesn't stop me from sharing it on say, kazaa,
                       or whatever favorite p2p scheme i might have.
                       \_ There's nothing stopping you from doing it with CDs
                          you already own.  It's also legal for a company to
                          rip and encode CDs you own.  This combines the two.
                          \_ the law is a tricky thing. is it legal for them
                             to store copies of mp3s they rip and send them to
                             you? it would seem there could be a catch if they
                             didn't rip it from the cd you own. but it wouldn't
                             be a practical business if they had to hire someone
                             to open your cd and rip all the tracks off your cd.
                             then, there's the cost of warehousing a huge backlog
                             of unsent cd's.
        \_ The company would have to retain, store, and be able to prove that
           each person's physical CD collection existed in a warehouse some
           place.  Forever.  That alone is going to cost way too much to make
           it worth the effort.  I recall reading about someone with a similar
           idea a few years ago but I guess nothing came of it.  Is your
           startup prepared to be RIAA audited once a month?  Probably not.
           \_ If it kept immaculate records, then after the 3rd audit or so it
              could either sue or get a harassment reatraining order, or else
              refuse the audit, get sued, win because everything is well
              documented, then file a SLAPP suit or invoke the Sherman
              antitrust act.  I do agree it will be harassed and must keep
              excellent documentation.
              \_ Assuming the RIAA just didn't get a law passed against this,
                 you still have *huge* storage and IT costs.  Music just isn't
                 that expensive.  You have a one time sale but repeat costs on
                 each one time sale.  It is guaranteed to lose money in the
                 long term.  If your plan is to get a million users, own 10%
                 of your $6b space, IPO and walk away then oh wait, we don't
                 do that anymore, this isn't 1998.  Forget about it.  Come up
                 with a service people would be willing to pay for that you
                 could actually make a profit running.
                 \_ Here's a business model that might work: write good,
                    music, play it in a public concert hall and charge people
                    money to listen.
                    \_ that business model works for Dave Matthews, but not
                       for the vast majority of good bands.  -tom
                    \_ Little guys can't make money that way.  How does a big
                       guy get to be a big guy without a music publishing and
                       distribution system?  No one is going to put me in a
                       20,000 person stadium because I rock at the kazoo with
                       out at least 20,000 rabid *local* kazoo fans around.
                       \_ Your army awaits you, Captain Kazoo.
2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/8     

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MP3.com
Turning your records into CDs is a great idea, and it's completely legal under the Fair Use provision of the American Home Recording Act. Hear it through the musicvine Musicvine is a new way to explore and find music by seeing the web of relationships between artists across the musical spectrum.
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magnatune.com
If you like what you hear, buy our music online for as little as $5 an album or license our music for commercial use. And unlike most record labels, our artists keep the rights to their music.