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How I Became A Music Pirate
consumerist.com — As a 40 year old male with a long-standing passion for "all things music," I've spent a bundle on my collection. In college most of my waking hours were spent wandering around record stores, swap meets and record conventions, much to the dismay of the women I was ostensibly dating...
mattman12345- 2691 diggs
- digg it
- pwill, on 10/12/2007, -15/+197***** the RIAA (and Rhino)
- humanrobot, on 10/12/2007, -72/+7dude... that's a bad word.
- WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -8/+161This is how I became a pirate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AzpByR3MvI - WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -103/+5Oh, and to anyone else baffled by DRM:
1. Burn CD
2. Rip CD into unprotected MP3's
3. Do whatever the hell you want with them
4. ??????
5. Profit
If you really didn't purchase the music or like the guy in the article can't get the licence you have, most sound cards will support a function to forward sound from your speakers to your mic. Make sure no other applications make any sound, and you can record your own mp3, lossless. A pain in the ass, yes, but such is DRM. - Yoshi39, on 10/12/2007, -3/+68LOL, limewire ;)
http://gprime.net/flash.php/youareapirate - WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18Oops, realized the What U Hear function on sound cards doesnt really help if you still cant get it to play at all. My bad :)
- SteveMax, on 10/12/2007, -3/+161"and you can record your own mp3, lossless"
You actually have no idea of what "lossless" means, do you? - shadus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+65The problem is you get a lot noise and loss of range introduced when you burn and re-rip the files. :o/
I'm no audiophile by any stretch of the imagination but I just want the music I download available in at least 5 formats (mp3, aac, ogg, wma, flac), a variety of bitrates from 96-320 and also available as a standard wav file.
DRM is absolute *****, it just hurts the consumer... it doesn't hurt the pirates a bit, they just rip the DRM off and distribute the files without it. - Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+42"I'm no audiophile by any stretch of the imagination but I just want the music I download available in at least 5 formats (mp3, aac, ogg, wma, flac), a variety of bitrates from 96-320 and also available as a standard wav file."
Shameless plug for Magnatune here: http://www.magnatune.com/
They actually give you all those formats, without DRM.
(I have no affiliation with them other than being a customer... just trying to raise awareness of independent music.) - P373Y, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15speaking of pirates
http://cristgaming.com/pirate.swf - capiCrimm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8@warpfox
or you could save some cds by making it into an iso image and mounting it as a fake cd drive. - kcpwnsgman, on 10/12/2007, -8/+6www.emusic.com is really good too, I use them only because they don't have DRM'd crap.
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3@capiCrimm:
You can't make an .iso file of an audio CD. An .iso file is an image of a CD's data track.
There are other file formats that can be used to store copies of audio CDs, but iTunes, WMP, etc. -- the only software that can legally decrypt the DRMed content -- doesn't provide a way to create them. The "burn to CD" step means using your licensed audio software's burn feature, which only lets you burn real CDs, since that's the only legal way to get your DRMed music into a non-DRMed format.
(You could, however, burn to CD-RW and erase the disc afterward.) - ExSlashdotter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19@shadus
You know allofmp3.com is back online, right?
Arrrggghhh! You are a pirate! /cheesy song - PopcornDave, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Maybe I'm missing something here, but if he could play them on his pc, then why couldn't he have ripped them to mp3 using Audacity?
- tamrix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6what happened to the good old days when artists actually made music so people could listen to?
If i was an artist i would be much proud if a few thousand people downloaded my songs illegally and listen to them rather than have a hundred or so buy the CD. - stalefries, on 10/12/2007, -9/+7Another plug for a music store website:
They Might Be Giants operates their own website (artist-operated!) full of awesome DRM-free mp3 and flac files, sometimes even concert recordings too. Not only that, TMBG gives away lots of free mp3s, you can sign up for the mailing list.
Store: http://theymightbegiants.com
Free mp3s: http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Category:Songs_With_Free_Downloads (at This Might Be a Wiki, the fan wiki) - geniusNOTatWORK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16omfg, that pirate song is the best thing ever. Why am I just finding out about this now?!?!
- avihappy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1allofmp3 FTW!
I buy my music at allofmp3 ONLY becuase I can get it lossless or lossy in any format without DRM cheaply. If iTMS did that, I would get it legally. - zongamin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Shadus - Pirates do not 'rip out the DRM and distribute the files that way' - they rip direct from CD's. Transcodes will get you banned!!!111
- swazooe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You know that pirate song is from a children's show called Lazy Town..
- forex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I had a similiar experience a few years ago. My first experience trying to purchase music online.... I felt like I was "doing the right thing."
The result? "INVALID LICENSE" I wasn't able to listen to my downloads even though the license files appeared to be intact.
Never again, I "shop" where it's most convenient. - EbilPhish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That "you are a pirate" song is in desperate need of a techno remix =P
- fcekuahd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yep, ***** the RIAA and DRM. I will NEVER buy a DRM track.
- KuntaKinte, on 10/12/2007, -13/+123Come over to the dark side Mr. 40 year old male, soon you will be watching movies before they're out in theaters, and you'll be enjoying your new Vista operating system for free.
- squeevey, on 10/12/2007, -19/+167You lost me on the "enjoying" Vista part.
- Cleanlyness, on 10/12/2007, -58/+3that guy is a loser, spending his time all around just music
- Ryan83, on 10/12/2007, -21/+1edit: n/m
- nfvs, on 08/30/2008, -3/+41@Cleanlyness
He obviously hasn't discovered social-bookmarking websites yet. - bowels, on 10/12/2007, -27/+4What does it even matter for people this old? Old-people-music wouldn't sell anyway, it is all probably out of print.
If some 40 year old geezer can find his old-people-music online, good for him. - geekoid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Vista has all the enjoyment of watching someone mince a baby.
- iceeblue, on 10/12/2007, -4/+155RIAA are you listening is this thing on "tap" "tap"
This poor mans experience echos my thoughts entirely. I like music I have money I just want to be able to buy the flipping track once.Then have it play on my ipod, in my car, on my laptop and my stereo. You know just like I could do when I taped my vinyl LP onto cassette tape for my Walkman, my car and my ghetto blaster. Wake up I used to buy 2-3 CD's a month I have not brought any music in over 3 years because you are suing your customers for not buying what you are selling. My only control over you is with my wallet. Keep suing and I will keep not buying.- surasshu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+41Even more effective and poignant would be to buy from indie labels and other channels independent of RIAA. It's easy to SAY you're willing to spend your money, but to actually do it is another thing entirely. There's loads of amazing music in the indie scene, it's just not as promoted. But at least that way you know the money's going to the artist and label, not the lawyers, AND you're sending the monetary message to the RIAA and major labels that they need to change their game plan.
EDIT: Looks like 7of7 (below) posted pretty much the same thing while I was posting this, so, high five! - darkstorm777, on 10/12/2007, -3/+27I agree, when reading this guys letter, I felt really bad for the guy. I know where hes coming from. Being brought up on music, living for music, and being saved by music time and time again, to be betrayed like that from an Indie label.
Its such a ***** kick in the teeth.
Arrr matys....ima go find me some songs
***** the RIAA
"I am a Pirate, and this is our manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike."
;) - RlAA, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2"RIAA are you listening is this thing on "tap" "tap"
This poor mans experience echos my thoughts entirely. I like music I have money I just want to be able to buy the flipping track once.Then have it play on my ipod, in my car, on my laptop and my stereo. You know just like I could do when I taped my vinyl LP onto cassette tape for my Walkman, my car and my ghetto blaster. Wake up I used to buy 2-3 CD's a month I have not brought any music in over 3 years because you are suing your customers for not buying what you are selling. My only control over you is with my wallet. Keep suing and I will keep not buying.
"
FINE! Pfft, we dont NEED you >:( - littlebylittle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4** The RIAA Just Doesn't Get It **
I started Bucking Hay Bails and moving Irrigation Pipe when I was 12 years old so I could go to the record store and buy what I wanted.
I built up a substantial collection of LPs.
When I started to drive, I bought my favorites all over again on Cassette.
When CDs came out I BOUGHT ALL MY FAVORITES ALL OVER AGAIN ON CD!
I've been one of the RIAA's most loyal customers over the years. Now all they do is ***** all over us.
No one seems to remember all the CD price-fixing settlements the "Big 5," or whatever the hell they are now, quietly shelled out.
Keep suing and I will keep not buying.
- surasshu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+41Even more effective and poignant would be to buy from indie labels and other channels independent of RIAA. It's easy to SAY you're willing to spend your money, but to actually do it is another thing entirely. There's loads of amazing music in the indie scene, it's just not as promoted. But at least that way you know the money's going to the artist and label, not the lawyers, AND you're sending the monetary message to the RIAA and major labels that they need to change their game plan.
- oOLiquidNightOo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+32Rob: I will now sell four copies of "The Three EPs" by The Beta Band.
Dick: Go for it.
["If there's something inside that you want to say, say it out loud it will be ok .."]
Customer: Who is this?
Rob: The Beta Band.
Customer: It's good.
Rob: I know.- surasshu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Dugg for being a quote from my all time favourite movie.
- squeevey, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9This is definitely in my "Top 5" favorite movies.
- bdurkin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Digg for the movie and the band.
- kcpwnsgman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4it was five (not four) wasn't it?
- SwankRock3000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Customer: Do you have "I just called to say I love you?" It's for my daughter's birthday.
Barry: Yeah, we got it,
Customer: Great, Great, can I have it?
Barry: NOOOO, no, you can't.
Customer: Why not?
Barry: Well, it's sentimental tacky crap. Do we look like the kind of store that sells I Just Called to Say I Love You? Go to the mall.
Customer: Whats your problem?
Barry: DO YOU EVEN KNOW YOUR DAUGHTER?? theres no WAY she likes that son-- oh! Is she in a coma?
Customer: Oh, I didn't realize it was "pick on the old square day", I'll be on my way
Barry: mmmBUH BYE
Customer: ***** You! - zongamin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1We are the Aliens
- littlebylittle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Pardon my ignorance regarding this movie, but what is the movie?
- EdLesMann, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"High Fidelity" is the movie for those who dont get it.
- OMGWTFROFLMAOx2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+88I'm curious, why doesn't the Porn industry complain about people pirating their movies? God knows that is the most pirated thing on the internet, easily surpassing music.
- waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -32/+2They are the Porn Industry, they have the PIAA. Porn Industry Association of America.
^ Not True ^ - CapeKid, on 10/12/2007, -5/+51Well the porn industry isn't afraid of people sticking it to them.
...Thank you, I'll be here all week! - dvddesign, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6'cause they still make money off of it. The profit margins aren't huge, but there's still money to be made there.
As for why they don't sue... Let's say you're a social pariah. You have people in your group who stick their tounge in a man's butthole and call it some cute euphamism for enjoying healthy green vegetables. Now, who do you think you're going to get to represent you in suing your user base? You're already despised by MANY (moral majority?) and no one will publicly stick up for you. Where do you think your case will be heard? Look at the thousands of back charges that people drop on these companies from their credit cards on porn and gambling sites. People don't want to be associated with this morally, so you're in a predicament to where so long as you're generating some income, it's better to ride it out and hope no one tries to shut you down. - kcpwnsgman, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2PIAA?
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association
Physician Insurers Association of America
I don't think so... - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14"I'm curious, why doesn't the Porn industry complain about people pirating their movies"
The porn industry doesn't have a single, monolithic agency with a battalion of lawyers which they can sic on people. A lot of porn is "indie" -- a few guys with a camera. They just don't have the resources to abuse their customers like the RIAA has. - darkamster07, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1have you ever tried to download free porn? 80% of the stuff that shows up is ***** quality cuts that they put out themselves. They release the stuff to get you to come back and buy the full length high quality movie.
- thedreaming1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The porn industry uses piracy as an advertising tool. Once in a while, they go after someone that's sharing a little too much HQ porn, but for the most part, the leave the pirates alone.
- waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -32/+2They are the Porn Industry, they have the PIAA. Porn Industry Association of America.
- 7of7, on 10/12/2007, -12/+14The solution is to not buy music from the RIAA companies. It's not to be a human slimeball and just download the music for free anyway. Same with music, movies, and software.
- mike81890, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14awww *****! too late! well i gotta go check on my torrents
- NtHammer, on 10/12/2007, -12/+1a human slimeball!?
if you can use the muis chowever you want if you buy, then why sohuldnt you download drm-free copies for free?
/pirate - tdogg241, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20I know a certain pirate who's getting a new keyboard for Christmas!
- mike81890, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14awww *****! too late! well i gotta go check on my torrents
- dishonest, on 10/12/2007, -3/+48Your outmoded business model is not my problem.
The mainstream music companes are the lamplighters and carriage makers of the 21st century. - cambrown99, on 10/12/2007, -2/+64Best part of the letter:
"I mean, could you imagine the consumer response if Coke could only be consumed from specific Coke-approved equipment, and then only in the specific ways that the folks at Coke wanted the product to be consumed. "drinking Coke with fast food is no problem, but we must warn you that your license forbids the mixing of Coke with any alcoholic beverages..." - geekee, on 10/12/2007, -26/+5So the problem boils down to the fact that iTune doesn't support plays4sure WMA. It's Apple's fault. There's no reason they can't support it.
- CrazedGeek, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11P4S is still DRM. Less restrictive on portable media devices, maybe, but still DRM.
Oh, and yeah, they can't support it. They don't want to have to pay a competitor any money. - nhildebrant, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2It's not Apple's fault if Rhino is not making some reasonably accessible method for obtaining the license.
- Jahz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Except that by supporting WM format, Apple vastly strengthens and validates a model that takes direct aim at its own core business. You do understand that if Apple added support for alternate DRM formats, they would basically be cannibalizing their own established model and profits for the benefit of their competitors, and at great loss. iPod sales might go down as a result, or they might even go up, but the billions of dollars made in music sales from the iTunes Music Store would dry up very quickly as discount retailers started selling iPod-compatible music for less.
You can bet that if Microsoft had the foresight to recognize how profitable internet-to-portable music sales would be, they would have kept WMA proprietary and released the Zune before it became just another drop in the bucket.
Also, note that the Apple model is based around buy-in. You have to opt into the iTunes-iPod-iTMS scheme, it isn't pushed on the consumer. The only way to enter it without buying-in is to rip your CD collection to AAC, but that process can easily be preformed again when you switch to another music system.... unless you pirated the music :)
The real problem here is that this guy didn't know what he was doing. Apple could do a better job of explaining that all purchased music for the iPod must come from the Store tab in iTunes.
- CrazedGeek, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11P4S is still DRM. Less restrictive on portable media devices, maybe, but still DRM.
- bdurkin, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2Why didn't this guy try to rip the music using another program besides iTunes?
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8He's talking about an album he bought online, not one he ripped from a CD. The mention of ripping CDs was talking about *other* CDs he was ripping at the time he discovered this album.
- nickvd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9The point is that I shouldn't have to go out of my way to play the music I PAYED FOR on the player of my choice. It's like saying you need a special drivers license in order to drive ford trucks, or to drive on certain roads.
Ludicrous... - I_Soar, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5No, actually, it's like saying if you buy a book, you shouldn't expect it to be something you can use to cook stir-fry with on a stove, or to be something you can use as a carburetor, or to be something you can use to power your toaster.
If you don't like the product somebody's trying to sell you -- if the money you'd need to spend wouldn't give you the result you'd like -- then don't buy it. But don't then go steal it either.
This is all so simple.
Don't like DRM? Complain about it. Complain like hell about it. Bitch up a storm. Seriously. Send a f--ing message with your words and your dollars.
But don't go taking something that's not yours. IT'S NOT THE WAY A CIVIL SOCIETY WORKS. Sometimes I look at this stuff and I just wince, because I can't believe we've descended to this point, where the sense of entitlement has become so entrenched that people will blatantly infringe the rights of someone else, just to obtain something they couldn't obtain right this second in the manner they "wanted."
You can call me an "RIAA shill," you can call me a chump, you can call me whatever name you want to be clever about and stick onto your response here. But infringing the copyrights of those who are offering their music elsewhere, in good faith, within the framework of the marketplace where all other transactions occur, is WRONG. Period. And no amount of rationalizing or name-calling will change that. - cwgannon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1@I_Soar:
Good points. Do I get any karmic retribution at all if the artists whose music I've been downloading are dead? - Mesach, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Actually its more like buying a CD at Bestbuy or where ever, taking it home and finding out that it only plays on Onkyo/Alpine/Denon/Kenwood CD players but not your Pioneer CD player
- TheReport, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"But don't go taking something that's not yours. IT'S NOT THE WAY A CIVIL SOCIETY WORKS. Sometimes I look at this stuff and I just wince, because I can't believe we've descended to this point, where the sense of entitlement has become so entrenched that people will blatantly infringe the rights of someone else"
That's like saying we shouldn't be stealing from the rich. Its almost as if it could be discussed in an ethics class, Was Robin Hood right or wrong for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor? Then again we are nothing like the poor peasants of Nottingham, most of us being from middle class status, but it really brings up the question of is it wrong to take whats not yours when the person you are taking from are exploiting your wallet dry to the point where it sends you into the frustrated state that leads you to piracy in the first place? The fact of the matter is you can claim that its wrong to pirate all you want, but it will always be around whether the system shatters and a new business model of a DRM free market is set in place or not. People will always want something for free.
oh and on your comment about this being a civil society, the Internet is not a part of that grandiose experiment. It is the wild wild west of our day, and I personally am loving every moment of it. - jadenguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2see, i always thought robin hood was an allegory for socialism and class warfare's inevitable perpetuation.
- ImTheDarkcyde, on 10/12/2007, -40/+2blah blah blah, more people insisting that its their right to have this ***** instead of a privilege, blah blah
- aoasus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19No, they're insisting that they purchased the rights to 'this *****' and that those rights are being infringed upon.
- meamog, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20i don't think it's a privilege if you have to pay for it, which he clearly states he did.
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Yes, if you purchase an album it's your right to be able to listen to it, and it's reasonable to expect that you shouldn't have to go wandering around Seattle trying to find a way to listen to it.
- crawfishsoul, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Although wandering around Seattle can be a great time.
- P373Y, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1isohunt if you already bought it from rhino, then you have the right to that content, so download a copy of the music you own
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1"isohunt if you already bought it from rhino, then you have the right to that content, so download a copy of the music you own"
Intuitively that makes sense, but contrary to popular belief, it's still copyright infringement in most cases. It's one thing to borrow a CD from a friend and burn a copy of it because you lost your own, but if you download the music from a P2P network, the person you're downloading from has no way of knowing you bought the album so they can't claim to be giving you a fair-use backup copy, and they don't have permission from thoe owner to make that copy, so it's an infringing copy. - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"It's one thing to borrow a CD from a friend and burn a copy of it because you lost your own"
Not really, no. That's also illegal. Although probably not immoral.
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1"isohunt if you already bought it from rhino, then you have the right to that content, so download a copy of the music you own"
- johnstar, on 10/12/2007, -29/+5I bought a song of itunes my I got a virus so I flattened my drive
(forgot to back up itunes) I installed itunes again I thought mabey they keep a record of music I paid a license to listen to they did its in purchase history, good I thought I can just download it again WRONG that will cost you one more dollar. so I went on limewire, theirs my song oh look it's 320kbs and no drm....- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27...What?
- sphetr2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Ah - I see your problem. You need to 'flatten' the hard drive as NTFS ("Not too flat, stupid").
- friedcalamari, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21OK let me try…
1 You bought a song on iTunes which cost you $1.00
2. Your computer got a virus so you opted to re-format your HD
3. You reinstalled iTunes and tried to get your $1 song back
4. iTunes gives you the finger and asks for more dollar, which pissed you off.
5. Enraged, you proceed to get your missing song from a P2P network.
6. Now you are happy.
How was that?
- dvdcpu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14How is it that anyone can use you're in place of your? I can understand the other way around, but sheesh. He should proofread. That said, I agree with everything he said.
- dmitriyvoz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0The author has mentioned very much a vital topic today. It seems to me that the problematics of this clause enables to reflect and draw conclusions. You can as to look sites in Russian which mention this theme: http://www.rolid.org http://www.se-ua.com
- Clp727, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I've been buying music since the days of vinyl and 8-track. Then it was cassette,next was CD. Now it's portable media like Ipod. WTF!!? As the format changes we should have the right to be able to adapt our collections. I'll be damned if I pay for my music collection again and again as technology advances. Unfortunately that's what they want. What a scam!!
To hell with them!- MScrip, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0> "As the format changes we should have the right to be able to adapt our collections. I'll be damned if I pay for my music collection again and again as technology advances."
I don't know what you're suggesting. Either let you download for free all of the songs you already have on 8-track, cassette and vinyl... or never change the format of music forever.
You "can" adapt your old collection to new media. I've just transfered a few old 45's to CD. Is it legal? I don't really know. But I did it in my own home. ***** 'em. - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"You "can" adapt your old collection to new media."
Not with DRM, you can't. What happens when they close down iTunes, and they stop selling players that play iTunes content?
You can't move your DRM'd iTunes songs to the new format. That's the problem with DRM. At least with LP/Tape/CD, you *could* copy your old music to the new format. Now you can't. - Clp727, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That's my point. If all of the content is protected with DRM then the average person CAN'T legally adapt their collection as technology progresses. The recording industry wants it that way so that they can sell the content again in a different media format. According to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act it is illegal to circumvent anti-piracy measures built into most commercial software including music and movies. Therefore the consumer is forced to purchase the material again when the format changes.
**!st link is PDF**
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
Overview is here:
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm - MScrip, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0> "You can't move your DRM'd iTunes songs to the new format. That's the problem with DRM. At least with LP/Tape/CD, you *could* copy your old music to the new format. Now you can't.
Burn it to a CD and rip it. It's not sexy, but it works. Then you've got something to work with. Legal? Who cares... have at it. If this bothers you so much, you shouldn't be using iTunes in the first place.
> "What happens when they close down iTunes, and they stop selling players that play iTunes content?"
They have already stopped selling vinyl, 8-tracks and their players... what happened then? We've already had 4 different music mediums... vinyl, 8-track, cassettes and CDs. What happened in between each one?
VHS to DVD? How did that turn out? I couldn't wait to get rid of VHS. And I will move my music to the next format! - yfph, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@mscrip
(at the risk of sounding like a broken record)
How are you going to retrieve the lost audio data from Apple's lossy, craptastic 128kbps AAC encoding when burning it to CD? The magic audio fairy? Furthermore, re-ripping and re-encoding the tune simply removes more audio data, thus introducing more audible artifacts. It boggles the mind that people would pay almost full retail price for lossy encoding. At least one only has to pay at least $0.29, a fair price, for a non-DRMed lossy tune (high quality LAME VBR) at emusic; other services also provide options for downloading non-DRMed lossless encoded tunes. Anyways, listening to 128kbps might be fine while running on the treadmill, but it can be an excruciating experience when trying to listen to your tunes attentively.
- MScrip, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0> "As the format changes we should have the right to be able to adapt our collections. I'll be damned if I pay for my music collection again and again as technology advances."
- Gatesophile, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2"In college most of my waking hours"
I read that as "wanking hours".
Damn I have a perverted mind. : / - Splitt3rxx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2totally agree. I usually pirate my music, I have for years and never had a problem. then i got a napster gift card for Christmas, it was the most disappointing service i have ever used. The sound quality is WORSE than most of my pirated music. and napster crashes whenever BF2142 is in the DvD drive due to a DRM conflict of some kind. DRM doesn't stop piracy, it just inconveniences people who pay for music, it doesn't make a pirates life any more difficult.
- darkamster07, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1yeah, quality is an issue to, must places just let you download crap DRM'ed songs at 128 kb/s, whereas you can easily download free music at much better quality. I usually download music that I can't find anywhere else at 320 kb/s or better.
- ascalonx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Amen, brother. You're speaking to the converted.
- vastrightwing, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Yes, he is correct. Here's a tip on how to get more music than you can listen to and pay only a little:
If you subscribe to Sirius, XM, Dish network, DirecTV, Comcast, Timewarner and even other providers, simply plug your notebook or desktop computer into the satellite box or cable box, tune to one of the many 24 hour commercial free music stations. Download a free audio recorder called Messer and let it record an enormous MP3 for as long as you want. I create 10 hour long MP3 "stations" encoded at 128kbps that nearly fill up a CD-R and I bring these with me in the car and I have an unlimited music collection DRM free! These DRM free mp3s are exactly what I love! I can listen to any station for up to 10 hours straight and when I get bored of one station, I put in a different CD. Enjoy!- PopcornDave, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Interesting idea, but I've noticed that XM allows their songs to fade in to each other which I find annoying. However if you want to basically create a 10 hour mix CD, that's a great way to do it.
- beatniak, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1You can put those files on your mp3 player (ipod/zune/whatever).
- no 10hr limit
- no more burning - zongamin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1What an incredibly lame way to steal music - ever hear of Bit Torrent? Jeez - talk about making life hard for yourself.
- 93ex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Great idea! then when a song comes on you dont like, you have to fast forward instead fo skipping the track! ANd I bet it's real fun when your significant other comes home and has no idea whats going on, changes the channel and you get the last half of a lifetime movie!
- astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://cdexos.sourceforge.net
- astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh and you'll need the 'aspi32.dll' for 2k and XP...
http://www.nero.com/nero6/enu/WNASPI32.DLL.html
- Jammerdelray, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Just waiting for the Riaa to make a huge mistake in calculation and for a investigation to begin in the Riaa's tactics Etc.
- CircaSurvive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14I don't know if anyone has said this. But I really hate it when I purchase a DVD now and they still assume that I am stupid and proceed to have an unskipable anti-piracy message before the movie. The last 3 movies or so that I have bought have had these messages on them.
This makes me want to make copies and give them to my friends simply out of spite.- CaptO, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3In response to CircaSurvive:
I don't know if anyone has said this. But I really hate it when I purchase a DVD now and they still assume that I am stupid and proceed to have an unskipable anti-piracy message before the movie. The last 3 movies or so that I have bought have had these messages on them.
This makes me want to make copies and give them to my friends simply out of spite.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I buy a DVD like that, I rip it, pull all the ***** out and burn it again. The original goes in a box under my bed and the new copy goes in the DVD case.
I don't think that they realise that most piracy is casual piracy - that could be solved or significantly reduced by public education.
On the other hand.....YARR!
- CaptO, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3In response to CircaSurvive:
- tehjarvis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Thing I don't understand and correct me if I'm wrong:
According to everything I've pretty much read, I can rip my Cds and move them on to my ipod and I've done just that.
But recently I've had some of my Cds stolen...so without the actual CDs, I have no license to listen to the music, so it's technically illegal for me to keep them on my mp3 player? Is that right or not? - twistedfish, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2The RIAA gave away billions buy not embracing file sharing and buying Napster in the beginning. Youtube has ~22 million users and sold for almost $2 billion. Napster had ~20 to 40 million users and was destroyed by the recored companies. A missed opportunity??
- sargeslaughter, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0All he had to do is burn the protected wma files to an "audio cd" then rip them back to Itunes. Once the files are recorded as raw audio sectors on the cd, the protection disappears as it has to conform to the redbook audio standard that was invented some 27+ years ago. Looks like there is an application that can emulate this process all in one step called "Noteburner" http://www.noteburner.com/ not sure how good it is or if it works.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6RTFA. He tried. He couldn't even get the files to play, much less burn them to a CD.
- Snoopsor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2All he had to do.. That's the point. It shouldn't have ever gotten to the point where he had to do anything like that at all. Try hard enough and you can get around any sort of digital copy protection..Should he have to work out how to get around it for the music he purchased? Absolutely not.
- beatniak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13That's not the point: A music-lover buys music > He can't play the music
You shouldn't have to be tech-savvy to enjoy your music. You never had to be tech-savvy to listen to music. Now some DRM crap comes along and 90% find out that they have to become techies to listen to their music.
I'm tech-savvy, but i don't like sports. What if RIAA came up with the idea that you have to run 10m/h to listen to your music, and some sportsfanatic says to me:
"dude! what are you complaining? You just have to work on your stamina and your problem is solved!"
That's utter crap. I just want to listen to my music. So does the guy in the article...
- Meowbiusfox, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6
What a strange industry that tries to do everything
in it's power to not pay the artists that these
fat cigar chompin Enron types capitalize off of.
The new royalty rate for online radio would very
doubtfully ever reach the hands of the artist,so eff them.
Support NPR's stand against the RIAA.
Screw Clear Channel too while I'm at it.Hey thanks for
dumbing down terrestrial radio so much that it's unlistenable now.
I'm sending you a fecal sample from the steaming dung heap
that once was a great medium of exposure to music
instead of one annoying commercial after another. - danielsan79, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3It's hard to choose a side on this. I, myself have over 800 CDs and a good collection of vinyl. I really think Digital Audio Players have in a sense, killed and trivialized music. Buying an album or CD is no longer a special experience. Today people just download for free (or 99 cents) a single track they want and they are on there way. The artist isn't making any money, the record companies are mad because they are losing money, and the consumer loses due to ways to prevent this.
I freely admit I download music, but if I enjoy it, I buy the CD to have a hard copy. Most people aren't like this. If it's at reach and it's free, you'll take it. I know if I was a recording artist and made my living off of music, I would search for a new job. - punkbutler88, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0im the same way.... if i hear something i like, i try to download the whole album. If i like it ill buy the cd...I remember the days of downloading cds on irc from #mp3.... now that was a long time ago....
- rmaxrocks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1If i like a song i heard somewhere, i download that one from "Google Napster" >> http://digg.com/tech_deals/Turn_google_into_your_own_free_napster .If i like it more, i Wiki about the artist and finds out which songs are the best. If there's a lot... i'll type artist name+Discography at isohunt, click the buttons and wait for a couple of hours...and voila! I just 'bought' the whole bunch of CDs released by that artist.
- coolmike129, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0If I had a title "how I became a music pirate" I probably could write a novel
Oh yeah btw --***** the RIAA - zmigliozzi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Free is always cheaper than .99
- Technopundit, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I'm a 40+ male who has also spent multiple thousands of dollars on recorded media.
Now, I just don't bother. I do whatever the heck I want.
I don't feel entitled to free music, but who cares? - igdrasa, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Arrrggh!!!
- Sendss, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Ubuntu + Streamtuner radio + record = free love
- Sethwm2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I became a pirate *day dreams* long ago..... *sighs
- sdo1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Here's a true story that JUST happened two days ago.... my mom called me in a panic... she forgot to program the TiVo and missed the last two episodes of "Grease: You're the One that I want".
"No problem", I say... I can get them. And I TRY do do this legit... first stop... iTunes Music Store. Nope. Lots of other NBC shows, but not that one. And even if I could have gotten it, she would have been restricted to watching it on her computer. So off to torrentland I go, download copies, and burn them to DVD for her. I would have GLADLY bought them if I had been be able to do so.
The MPAA and RIAA are shooting themselves in the feet. The vast majority of people do indeed want to just buy this stuff, but they throw so many hurdles in the way, what choice do we have?
Screw 'em. Get an emusic.com account and listen to independent artists. Watch independent films online. There's tons available. The sooner old media companies whither away and die, the better. - Hamsterpotpies, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1The RIAA sucks!
- DigitalJester, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Yes, they do, but we don't need 30 people saying it in every story to do with RIAA, DRM, MP3's or anything remotely related to them.
- marketing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2This is actually a great story. I am sure most people do not understand this type of thing and the fact that CSR's are trained to answer this way is hilarious
- metafore, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2better late than never. welcome aboard, matey.
- peregrine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I'm really starting to like this blog. The consurmerist does a really good job every time :)
- MScrip, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1> "It boggles the mind that people would pay almost full retail price for lossy encoding."
Don't worry... Apples has only sold a BILLION songs on iTunes. This fad will wear off soon. :)
You're right. Apple's AAC songs are heavily compressed and riddled with DRM. I guess the joke is on people for purchasing them. For the purists, keep buying CDs.
I merely offered a solution to get your ITMS songs into an un-DRM format. I know it's not perfect... but, you shouldn't be buying iTunes songs if you really care about sound quality. I still listen to terrestrial radio... and that sounds like *****. The few songs I've purchased from ITMS, I've burned and ripped, and they sounded just fine for me. Fine for not having to go to a store and purchase the entire CD, and to not have to navigate shady P2P services and such.
It's amazing that we went through vinyl, 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs... to finally end up with Apple's iTunes. How did Apple become the largest seller of music? Especially if it's so bad! - ronaldst, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Massive copyright infringement brought DRM into the scene. Blame the freeloaders if you don't like the fact that DRM is now a permanent resident in the industry. Don't blame the content makers. They're only defending their rights.
- Tiggi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Massive copyright infringement brought DRM into the scene. Blame the freeloaders if you don't like the fact that DRM is now a permanent resident in the industry. Don't blame the content makers. They're only defending their rights."
I think content makers have their full right to defend their production. What I wonder is whether their measures are the right ones? To stop technologies and human inventions in the field is a completely impossible mission in my view. All you need is to keep pace with what is going on in your field...
- Tiggi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Massive copyright infringement brought DRM into the scene. Blame the freeloaders if you don't like the fact that DRM is now a permanent resident in the industry. Don't blame the content makers. They're only defending their rights."
- LordSkywalker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"It's not free music that drives some people to piracy, it's the lack of a quality product from legitimate music sources."
That about says it all. - tw0k1ngs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Am I missing somthing here? Did record companies stop producing CD's (and in some cases) vinyls and force all music enthusiests to download music? Did someone stop manufacturing cd players and force all media to be played through computer speakers?
Continuum DRM'd "Mp3's" from iTunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=184335550&s=143441
Continuum CD:
http://www.amazon.com/Continuum-John-Mayer/dp/B000H0MKGK
and shockingly... yes... Continuum VINYL:
http://www.sonymusicstore.com/store/catalog/MerchandiseDetails.jsp?merchId=112753&skuId=112962
So option #1 doesn't work for you? Fine, use options number 2 or 3 to get to the music the SAME WAY YOU HAVE FOR THE PAST YEARS OF YOUR LIFE. Don't become digitally ignorant, IGNORE the other two options you have been using ever since you were given ears, then start stealing music... What kind of ***** is that? - say592, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I buy as much as I download, and if I like it, I buy it! But in reality, how I became a pirate was no where near as much as funny as how my brother did:
Jeff: Hey Josh, I found out something REALLY cool today!
Me: What? Im kinda busy!
Jeff: Oh well sorry, but did you know you could get stuff for free on the internet!
Me: (in a sarcastic tone) REALLY? I would have never guessed!
So, here I was, only 13, and my 17yr old brother is acting like a complete n00b.....what could I do but rub it in.......
Every day for the next week, whenever I would download something, legal or more in teh gray area, I would go "Wow, I just got this for free off of the internet!"
lol, but I agree, most of the time, people dont go to piracy as the first resort.....Im poor, I cant afford alot of things, so if I need something right then, I cant get it till the next check comes, so i download it, get a legit license later..... - ETSlinux, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Since the many singers get 90% cash from concerts anyway. Why don't they just let you download their songs and listen to them? And if you really like their songs you would actually go to their concerts and put those fat dollar bills in their pockets.
- morriscat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The last (used) DVD I bought had, dig this, the "Mission Impossible" theme playing while the FBI warning was up on the screen.
Oh the truthiness... - Julstein, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Did anyone else have a minor freakout that their computer screen was melting or something on the left hand side of their screen? I soiled myself. (scroll down to about midway in the article, i didnt notice the guy on the side above this dripping fluid like image
- origclubsoda, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2This guy bought $20000 worth of plastic. (and only a fraction going to the music industry). If he wants to play it with iTunes, he needs to start ripping.
As for being 40 years old, there is no excuse for him not understanding his Rhino purchase is not compatible with iTunes. Unless he is truly retarded.- MutexDeadlocked, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm just going to reply with this quote:
"Yeah, how dare he be so dumb to get the same brand of mp3 player as 80% of the market.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of people simply don't understand the differences between file formats, license restrictions, burning and re-ripping, etc. Nor should they have to! The level of restriction and incompatibility is infuriating." - origclubsoda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1It's the consumer's responsible to know what they are buying. There was no deception or omission here. He
iPods are Apple-DRM (FairPlay) players, specifically. Its a privilege that it plays mp3s and other non-FairPlay formats.
I am not advocating DRM. But I am not complaining about it either. If I want to move the 200 or so songs I bought from Apple to an unsupported player, I rip an audio CD.
Two things must be true for DRM to be wrong:
1) You literally have no alternatives for sources (There are dozens of suppliers). You are not even limited to DRM-protected files. There unprotected sources too.
2) You literally have no choice in DRM platform (There are 3 major DRM options and several sub-options. Windows users have access to all of them)
- MutexDeadlocked, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm just going to reply with this quote:
- Klever, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3[2006-06-07]- Luna-The_Best_Of_Luna-2006-ESC MP3 -[10:08:24]-[40w 6d 14h 24m 50s ago] ( 20F 121MB)
weeee......I'll give the guy credits for actually trying to buy the music but...
#1) who buys music encoded as .WMA files?
#2) Welcome to 2007, good luck finding music from your favorite band in a non-DRM-infect format.
I'll let him slide because he is 40 and might not be up to date on all of the DRM gheyness going on in the music distro business. - subflames, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i love the iPod ad at the end lol
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