As many of you know, I got a 5 GB iPod shortly after it came
out. At the time, no one else had one - they were new, expensive,
and not as many people had computers that would support it then as
do now.
Today I see many iPods. While I was in Rhode Island taking
summer classes this summer, at least three people in my class had
one. I saw several other people walking around with them. Out in
California, I saw four iPods in one day. These things have really
become popular. And now you can store 40 GB of music with the
latest version.
But our friends at the RIAA are starting to take action against
those who download music. While technically you aren't supposed to
use downloaded music* on your iPod (or any other MP3 player), I'm
sure many people do. Currently, the RIAA is spotting people with
lots of files shared on Kazaa, finding their IP address, and
forcing their ISPs to reveal the identity of the user.
- * Under the fair use provision of copyright law, it is probably
legal to download MP3s of music that you already own, whether on
tapes, CDs, or LPs. It's the rest of the downloads that violate
copyright. dk
Is this fair? Should the RIAA be acting like the Internet police
and going into your computer to see which files you have, then
forcing ISPs to divulge your information so they can sue you?
Some people say it's not right, such as one
user who is charging that the RIAA's search of the files
she shared on the Internet is unconstitutional. She basically says
that since the RIAA is not a law enforcement agency, it has no
right to act as one.
As I've stated many times before, one of the major factors for
the decline in album sales are CD prices. Who wants to spend $15 at
Amazon.com for a Vines CD from an RIAA
affiliated company when you could buy the Agenda's CD Start the
Panic from KinderCore records for $11 (and, in my opinion, the
Agenda is a much better band).
Don't care about the format your music is in? You can typically
get LPs for as little as $7 (my choice format) - or occasionally
cassettes for around the same price.
The other major factor is that a lot of music on major labels
just plain sucks. I'm sorry to say it, but most of the music being
pushed into the market today is trash, and a lot of the older bands
such as Metallica and AFI have changed their sound (as I see it, so
that they can fit in with the other bands and hopefully sell
records).
Some record companies are starting to reduce their prices; the
"magical" price seems to be around $12.98, and Universal has begun
to sell some CDs (the question is, is it the ones that people want
to buy) at this price. I will be interested to find out whether
this improves sales.
But what does the RIAA going after people sharing music on Kazaa
have to do with the iPod? It really depends on what happens.
However, I'm speculating that if the RIAA is successful at putting
fear into music downloaders' minds, iPod sales may slow down.
Yes, as I said before, you're not supposed to put downloaded
music on your iPod. That doesn't mean people don't do it - and I am
thinking that those afraid of the RIAA tracking them on Kazaa will
decline to buy an iPod if they think they can't download music to
put on it.
Of course, I could be wrong, because you can always copy CDs to
your computer and load them onto your iPod - the method that Apple
had promoted (until they launched the iTunes Music Store, that
is).
Today someone approached me while I was listening to my iPod:
"Which one is that?"
"The first one."
"You like it?"
"Yes."
"Would you recommend it?"
'Definitely."
