Spuzzum wrote:

So was I. Hobo Tom and Hobo Dan. Hobo Tom survives on hobo cheeseburgers, and Hobo Dan has a Hobo Wife and Hobo Kid.

Talk about Plagarism....

Shut up 'fo I pop a cap in yo ass!

Zilal wrote:

"Napstering" music: who does this? I do it. In many cases, it's against my ethics, yet the consequences are hugely distant or nonexistent. Most importantly, my favorite singers are not going to stop putting material out, and nothing is going to happen to ME at all. In the meantime it saves me money. So it's very hard to resist.

I don't have any compunction against downloading music--except in one specific way, which I'll get to in a minute. I'd pay for each song if I could get the full CD quality at a fraction-of-the-CD price. The music industry misses a big market here by not making digital music rights more widely available. However, I would want to be able to download a song to try it out, in case I might not want it after all, before making that payment. I think a lot of people (significant enough to make it worth the industry's while, anyway) would follow the honor system on this. As for those who wouldn't, they're around anyway and the problem at least wouldn't get any worse. They'd just have to be careful about not enforcing this too strictly, though, because they tick people off enough as it is, and ultimately that'd be bad for business; if they did this in a spirit of goodwill, I think customers would reciprocate.

I look at downloading MP3s much like copying a rental videotape; that's fully legal. The music industry's only argument against that is that MP3s are unlike tapes, where once the initial loss in quality is suffered from compression, the compressed file can be copied ad infinitum. However, I don't really see that as being a sufficiently different case to say that this is somehow not Fair Use, but copying a cassette is.

The only way downloading violates my ethics at all is if you're downloading an entire CD, and you actually just keep the files without buying the CD. If you like the CD enough, you should just buy it, so the artist can make a couple pennies off it after the labels suck up as much of the exorbitant profit as they can. (Artists really get screwed by the industry.) I'm perfectly willing to pay up in that case.

I actually did the "try before you buy" thing a few months ago with Michelle Branch. I liked "Everywhere" a lot, and after hearing a few other songs, I bought the CD. (It turns out my favorites on the CD are mostly songs I hadn't downloaded at all.) I don't like to buy CDs based on just hearing one song because so often it's possible that the song I heard on the radio is just a fluke, and I don't happen to like the artist's other songs.

When the author or musician speaks up, that can change things a little. It won't keep everyone from plagiarizing or downloading music, but it will stop many of those who justified their actions with the impression that plagiarism or downloading was no big deal to the creator of the work.

This is usually the case. Metallica made as big a fuss as they did because they have their own label (as I understand it), and therefore actually saw some of the profit from their music.

But I think the industry at large fails to realize--as they failed to realize after the advent of radio and later the advent of cassettes, both of which they freaked out over--that by this new technology, their product is reaching an even wider audience and thus they're actually gaining customers. Case in point: Many of the movies I saw on copied videotapes over the years I now own on prerecorded VHS or DVD; preferably DVD if the movie is available.
Maybe they're not gaining everyone who listens as a customer, but they're gaining some of a new market, and that's better than not getting anything. To whatever extent they may sometimes lose money due to this phenomenon--a hypothetical situation that the numbers don't bear up--it's because CDs are extremely overpriced and they're nudging out people who would otherwise be customers. The RIAA has chosen to stuff their fingers in their ears (a metaphorical irony) and ignore the demands of the market, instead choosing to pursue bonehead lawsuits and intrusive, often unconstitutional legislation.

If CDs would stop selling over $15 ($20 is not uncommon in some places, despite the fact that they're dirt cheap to produce), more people would buy them. If single songs could be legally licensed for $1.50-$2.00, people would license them. If the performers weren't being cheated (as a rule--there are exceptions), people would feel more of an urge to buy the CD out of loyalty to the artists. The music industry isn't losing money off of MP3s, but it has an enormous potential to make more money if they'd just stop panicking. They went hysterical when cassettes came out, but eventually they lost that battle, and it turned out that they were better off for it. When radio stations started playing music (that people could hear for free--gasp!), they proclaimed the sky was falling; but in fact it was their revenue rising above it. Now if these yippy little chihuahuas would just stop shrieking and follow the money, they'd be better off--and so would we.

(End of rant.)

Lummox JR

My views on plagiarism are much like all my morale beliefs.

If I feel it is wrong ill bar anyones way. If its not against the law then get at the person by any means at all.

I dont serve the law, I serve myself and the overall well-being of society, before making any specific decisions that would have deep impact on any specific community or THE community as a whole I think of how not doing anything about said topic would take impact, even if its deep rooted or socially accepted.

If I had power, yes id force my will on people. I intend to very soon on a city-wide scale AND have done so in the past.

But when it all boils down to it, i have no personal opinion about it, because i really dont care.. what makes me care is people wasting my time or not listening to me at all.

Things I dont like in any society are as follows, but keep in mind i hold nothing against the people who do these.

Prostitution
Drug Dealing

receiving end or otherwise, they still do it. while im not the type to kill people, I would surely make them want to die.

Now i know there are people out there saying that what I would be called is a vigilante.

In thise city theres a line-up

(btw sorry for the change of topic i had to purge)

that buffy musical one was really good.

did you realize that when angel and buffy's season finale were both together that angel seemed kinda weak? better climax for buffy as always :)

Ditto for me too -- I don't actually consider any CD worthy of the price (which can reach up to $30.00 Canadian). If they licensed individual songs, and actually packed some freakin' content onto CDs (30 minutes of music per CD is a travesty for a 65 minute disc), then I would probably have a larger collection of CDs than the collection I currently have (which stands at zero discs).

Of course, I'm not much of a fan of most of the modern-day music types. I like trance stuff and techno (neither of which are extremely popular in this part of the world), as well as new-age (yes, believe it or not), classical, and instrumental. Those kinds of CDs are really tough to find, even at stores dealing exclusively in audio CDs.

(In almost all cases, I despise songs with lyrics. That instantly cuts out a good 99% of all songs out there from my list.)

I buy a lot of New Age and Celtic/Celticy music... lots of good buys there, on some of those CDs, they really pack things in. I also have some music channels on my digital cable package... including two or three classical stations (they just rearranged a bunch of them) and one atmospheric that I often listen to instead of TV or the radio.

I also like to buy soundtracks for movies that have a good orchestral score (note to everyone under the age of 18: a true soundtrack is not merely a compilation of the most popular songs that happened to be out when the movie was released, whether or not any recognizable parts of them even appeared in the movie before the credits rolled.)

My next CD purchase, the Buffy musical soundtrack, will not only have the 21 individual songs from the episode (note: that's counting the new opening, the overture, Mustard, No Parking, Dawn's Lament, and the operatic Grr Argh), but also the scores from key episodes like Becoming and Hush. So not only does it have good singalong value, but it also will make good background music for my creative sessions.

Hmm... I'd have to agree with Dracon. Even though Zeta was stolen and given out, where are the legalities to running one? Most of it's just personal enjoyment where they don't give a rats @$$ about the designers... and only wanna piss off and take down the originaters. As for music CD's and mp3's... Here's how "I" feel about it (Don't spam me if you disagree with me... it's just my own personal preference, which everyone is entitled too). I pirate SOME music (Not a whole lot), because I don't feel like paying $60 or so just to have it imported (I love Japanese music... Jpop... Jrock... all of it), and any US songs I like (Not a whole lot), I only like one or two songs here and there. I download the songs I like because I don't believe in paying $16 for a whole cd of songs I don't want if theres only one or two on there I like and want. However, if there's more then 4 songs on there I like, then of COURSE I'd buy the CD. It shows the artist that people care. Anyway, this is just MY take on the whole thing.

~Griswald~

P.S. I agree with everyone when they say 60% of byond is plagarizers who don't give a damn that their breaking laws. But then again, who can stop them? It happens 24/7...

This is why I havent even released my games yet. until plaguerism(?) is abolished and is a bannable offense on byond the games i make wont even be coded

Several years ago, I joined BMG (a music club) in hopes of collecting much of the music that I enjoy on CD. In the process, I bought somewhere around 125 CDs within a few years (always in bulk with great discounts). As I soon found out, MOST of the CDs I bought only had 2-4 songs that I really liked plus a bunch of garbage. Wasting money on a CD is pointless when all you want is one song. Also, most of the music I listen to is between 15-25 years old, so much of it is very rare, even for BMG. Since two years ago, when I discovered audiogalaxy, I've accumulated many, many songs that are very hard to find and that I WOULD NOT HAVE OTHERWISE FOUND AT ALL. Have you ever heard a song once or twice, liked it so much that you wanted to buy it, but then never heard it, the name of the song, or the artist again? Describe it all you want, hum the tune for your friends, they won't have a clue either. This is why buying CDs has become ineffective for me. Downloading music solves that problem. I've already paid my share (~125 CDs worth) to the recording industry . . .