[CS-FSLUG] Real Player Rhapsode for Linux

[Timothy Butler]

>
> It's hard to allow DRM Tim, especially in a world where Canadians are
> taxed for music downloads whether they engage in that or not and still
> someone tries their best to word the law so they can have that tax and
> still make file sharing illegal, it's a win-win for the greedy
> government and recording industry.

Well, taxes are a whole different issue. :-)

> Need I remind you of Sony and their
> rootkit,

	No. See the thing is, that is like me reminding you of how people  
steal music. It's the extreme. And, given the lawsuit, I think Sony  
BMG learned their lesson (for the moment). I wouldn't expect any of  
the other big labels to try anything quite that nasty for a while.

> how about Apple and only allowing region codes to change five
> times, or twenty five times max depending on the mood of the nearest
> Apple store staff every time you bring your mac in to have the DVD
> drive reset, often they won't do it.

	Why reference Apple specifically? Last I checked, that's true of all  
PC DVD players (way back to the first one I got in a Dell). It only  
makes sense. If you can change the region code an unlimited number of  
times, exactly what good did it do? I don't fully comprehend the  
rationale for region codes anyway, but if you're going to have them...

	That isn't an Apple thing at all.

> How about the CD's I buy at local
> stores which I cannot convert into mp3s and oggs without getting
> beeping sounds and other audio distortions.

	That's certainly annoying.

> The last time I purchased music was a very long time ago, and I don't
> plan on paying for any music media that includes some form of DRM, I
> won't be treated like a criminal when I know I'm not one. Right now I
> get by on Internet radio, sometimes I rip the streams temporarily so I
> can listen to them on my mp3 player, but I don't keep them that long.
> In the recording industry's ideal world you pay as much money as they
> can get out of you for just one song, as it is you almost have to buy
> the same song several times over for each media you want it on. Is
> that fair use once you've payed for it? Absolutely not! Allowing the

	Well, you're doing the right thing: if you don't like DRM, you don't  
buy the stuff that has it. But, none the less, I don't buy my media  
over and over. I usually buy a CD, and I've been fortunate to avoid  
any of the problems you describe on ripping. If I want one song, I go  
onto iTMS. I listen to my music exclusively through the iPod and  
iTunes, although iTMS stuff can be burned to CD without any trouble  
for no extra charge, so I've made CD's before too.

> recording industry to use DRM and other such measures is like having
> criminals as guards in a prison where only the innocent are locked up.

	I think some DRM is that way, but not all... I'd rather have no DRM,  
but in a digital world where stuff can be copied perfectly and the  
majority of the populous lacks scruples, is that possible? I mean  
look at the other side too. I have a client who goes to my church.  
He's a law-abiding small business owner, and yet he wanted me to  
install a pirated copy of Photoshop for him. He didn't call it  
pirated -- of course -- but he gave me this CD "a friend gave him"  
and thought nothing of it.

	I don't like DRM, but if it has to be, I try to support DRM that is  
transparent to me. FairPlay is quite transparent for my purposes, for  
the most part. Upping the amount of computer that can play the music  
to, say, 15 would be nice -- and still avoid any serious piracy,  
since you have to give out your account password to play the stuff --  
but that isn't a big deal.

	-Tim

---
Timothy R. Butler | "Bad is so bad, that we cannot but think good
Editor, OfB.biz   | an accident;  good is so  good, that  we feel
tbutler at ofb.biz   | certain that evil could be explained."
timothybutler.us  |                           -- G. K. Chesterton