<Rainbow Heron>

Saturday, April 19, 2003

The MP3 Dilemma

Okay I've both ambiguous, confused, confounded, and frustated both ways on this for quite some time, sometimes it weighs on me and sometimes it's like "whatever", but after seeing a scroll on CNN today I've finally made up my mind: someone's an idiot because something just does not make sense. So is the idiot me or them?

First off, it's illegal to charge people (public, and please define "public" cuz the entertainment industry can get SO picky about that) to hear music being broadcast if it isn't yours. That's why you don't pay for your radio stations to play stuff (just your own radio)...and yet some internet radio and this new XFM things do come with price tags and I don't mean hardware/software. Sometimes it's ads (which means they're making money off of it) and sometimes it's a monthly fee. I know they gotta maintain the equippment and all, but it's still charging people to hear the music. So is that illegal?

Next, we have something called the record button. It's on just about every single radio, vcr, digital cable box, and software known to man. You can record stuff from your radio, your tv, your cable/satellite, and your cds (and other stuff if you have the right cables) into/onto your vhs, dvd, cassettes, and cdrs. You can record everything from the nightly news to your favorite movie to a song to a football game. No one screams and hollers about that so long as no one pays to distribute it. In fact, the vast majority keeps these recordings to themselves. As for those who don't: when it comes to bootlegging, someone pays cash for the copy; when it comes to trading, you send someone some blank media in return. It's not money and oftentimes the blank media you send them is the same tape you get back, just with stuff on it. There's no money involved and if you want that second vcr, it comes out of your own pocket. Many people record songs from their radio too and sometimes they make a tape to give to their friends. Note I said "give". Anything morally ambiguous there? If there were, we'd have to gouge out every single record button on the face of the public earth. So is the record button illegal?

Speaking of songs on the radio, the song single is becoming a dead art- hardly anyone releases singles in the stores anymore so stuff's getting harder to find. Nowadays, you have to buy the whole album even if it's for just one song. If the rest of the album's crap, you can't do anything about it. Now you've paid $20 for *one song*. Stop releasing singles and fewer fans get happy about that. So what're ya gonna do? You can't record your one fav song and then return the album can you? Probably not, cuz someone would get upset. Then you moan and groan about your $20 and they tell you to live with it cuz you did buy it after all and if you don't like it, that's your problem. No matter what they say, someone's gonna feel like they've been ripped off. So is releasing a crappy album illegal? Is hating all but one song on an album illegal? Is it wrong to buy the album, tape the one thing you like, and then return it- is that illegal?

Then you get this MP3 stuff. If it were 100% illegal, then no one would be allowed to make the software in the first place (just like you'd never have that record button on your vcr either). Heck, the .mp3 format probably wouldn't even exist. Now, I've only tried this trading thing sparingly (I never let anyone into my coputer to get stuff for security reasons) and even then I went into with a feeling of impending doom cuz I still wasn't sure what to make of it. All I knew was that one of my Dad's collegues had it. I remember when Napster got into trouble and later Nutella or whatever that name was, which has now been replaced by KaZaA and other stuff. But there are also binary newsgroups as well. You can get mp3's from all of these places. So what's the problem...?

This: not everyone plays nicely with what they've got. Some people sell the stuff (which *is* illegal, no doubt about that), and others trade with ad banners and then claim they make no money off of this stuff. Riiiiight, so why is the banner an *ad* banner then? Those types of people should *definately* get canned.

But some people do play nice: Some people download songs to know whether or not the like the artist enough to buy the album (and many do including me- I've bought at least 3). Some people like to make those 'personal favs' cassettes and cds that they used to be able to make with their radios so they can take it in the car with them when they're not able to cart around 20 different albums. Some people stick 'em into their computer so they can listen while they work, some do it to experiment with sound, and some people just prefer a box of bits to a box of dials. What are they supposed to do? Is everyone to get punished because a minority decided to be greedy by selling stuff? You didn't get any cash from it but they did- why punish both?

I heard somewhere that the recording industry or whatever was gonna put together and online mp3 trading thing but slap a membership with fee on top of it. That sounds like a very sensible way to go about it, but you still can't stop that minority. So if it happens again, will it be shut down too? What about the bands to deliberately let people trade their mp3's because they gain more exposure? I think these bands are smart because they can relate to the fans better, and pissed off fans don't buy tickets or albums. Look what happened to the Dixie Chicks recently.

So what *ARE* you gonna do? Do away with the record button altogether? Do away with the mp3 format altogether? Arrest a few million people because they made a tape for themselves for the car? What oh what do you do? The coda all these years has been "it's not illegal unless you sell it." And if you keep 'em for yourself and no one else, does that make you as guilty as someone who did? What oh what oh what...?


...therein lies the heart of the problem and the point of the whole dilemma. As for me, my own answer is this: I probably shouldn't have started but now that I did, I'm stopping. Goodbye and good riddance. <boots KaZaA out the door> Shall we talk about deep linking next?

posted @ 3:29 PM  |   0 comments  |