Comments on: Unbelievable… http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/2008/03/27/unbelievable/ education technology Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:41:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: John http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/2008/03/27/unbelievable/#comment-226 John Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:51:29 +0000 http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/2008/03/27/unbelievable/#comment-226 <p>Dave,</p> <p>Used CDs are great, aren't they? I have bought a fair number in my day. For me, a classical (specifically baroque) enthusiast, I don't have local access to stores selling used CDs. And with many titles new from online purveyors in excess now of $22 a piece, an $8/9 download for 256kbit MP3 isn't awful. It's immediate satisfaction. Just as Amazon and Apple have recently upgraded to higher-bit MP3, I hope that lossless is around the corner. I'd be willing to pay $1-2 more for that.</p> Dave,

Used CDs are great, aren’t they? I have bought a fair number in my day. For me, a classical (specifically baroque) enthusiast, I don’t have local access to stores selling used CDs. And with many titles new from online purveyors in excess now of $22 a piece, an $8/9 download for 256kbit MP3 isn’t awful. It’s immediate satisfaction. Just as Amazon and Apple have recently upgraded to higher-bit MP3, I hope that lossless is around the corner. I’d be willing to pay $1-2 more for that.

]]> By: Dave http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/2008/03/27/unbelievable/#comment-225 Dave Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:45:24 +0000 http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/2008/03/27/unbelievable/#comment-225 <p>I used to download a little and read about it a <em>lot</em>. It's a fascinating legal situation:</p> <p>It's almost impossible to prove that a downloader is aware that they're violating a copyright, so they're difficult to take to court. If you upload (which is basically publishing), then you're responsible for being aware of what you upload, so you're easier to take to court. Enter Bittorrent, which is rather brilliant but turns everyone into an uploader, so now its possible to take downloaders to court.</p> <p>There's also a psychological factor affecting sales. Even if someone is like me and doesn't violate copyrights by downloading, they buy less music because they know in the back of their mind that the music is obtainable for free -- any price higher than that seems less justified now.</p> <p>Now, though, I buy used CDs, download indie music from mp3 blogs, and use Pandora and the like. I understand that online music stores are great for some people, but I can't wrap my mind around paying close to the MSRP of a CD to get lower quality DRM files when I can buy the CD used for $7~.</p> I used to download a little and read about it a lot. It’s a fascinating legal situation:

It’s almost impossible to prove that a downloader is aware that they’re violating a copyright, so they’re difficult to take to court. If you upload (which is basically publishing), then you’re responsible for being aware of what you upload, so you’re easier to take to court. Enter Bittorrent, which is rather brilliant but turns everyone into an uploader, so now its possible to take downloaders to court.

There’s also a psychological factor affecting sales. Even if someone is like me and doesn’t violate copyrights by downloading, they buy less music because they know in the back of their mind that the music is obtainable for free — any price higher than that seems less justified now.

Now, though, I buy used CDs, download indie music from mp3 blogs, and use Pandora and the like. I understand that online music stores are great for some people, but I can’t wrap my mind around paying close to the MSRP of a CD to get lower quality DRM files when I can buy the CD used for $7~.

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