Re: [ARSCLIST] Zits cartoon strip

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Brock-Nannestad" <pattac@xxxxxxxx>
> From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
>
> Karl Miller wrote, among which I would like to comment on
> >
> > A friend of mine used to go the library once a week.
> > He would check out a stack of discs, take them home,
> > copy them, make color copies of the covers, catalog his copy and add
> > them to his collection. *When he figured out he could download what he
wanted
> > for next to nothing, or record things via the internet radio for free
and
> > store them digitally, he realized his old way of doing things was not
very
> > productive...the illegality of his old ways didn't seem to bother him
much.
>
> ----- I do not understand the last part (from the * I have inserted). What
he
> could download or record via internet radio is only a poor substitute for
the
> linear signal he could obtain by copying. Obviously, if he copied the fine
> linear signal to MP3, then the argument is valid. In Danish public
libraries
> there is a latency period subsequent to commercial publication of a CD,
> during which it cannot be "checked out" from a library. This is one of the
> necessary compromises, balancing the needs of record companies to have the
> market to themselves and the right to know and to study in-depth of the
> general public. Fair use is the buzz word that is almost forgotten.
>
But...it is often possible to download the actual digital data which makes
up a CD (if one has a very speedy connection or a whole lot of spare time!).
In some cases, the material is uploaded illegally to a peer-to-peer site...
in others it is made available legally, either by the copyright owner or
because the recording is in the public domain (in most countries, but NOT
the USA!). Keep in mind that in most cases if you "record" from the Internet
you are actually copying the sound file itself...or, in the case of an MP3,
a compressed (and thus slightly lower-quality) version of the file...

Steven C. Barr