Supermallet

Except with file-sharing, I never bought a copy. Again, I'm not talking about disseminating copies. Just making a copy for myself. And frankly, if that's illegal, then I don't give a shit.

Jay G.

Making a copy for yourself is fine, provided you still own the original. Once you sell the original CD, you have sold off any rights to the content on the CD, and thus any copies you retain are illegal. The copyright stays with the original CD, and can't be duplicated, even if the content can.

Supermallet

I understand the argument. I'm saying I couldn't care less about it.

Jay G.

That's fine. The people who file-share copyrighted material don't care that what they're doing is illegal either.

Supermallet

I don't disagree. Drinks for everyone!

Hokeyboy

If I lose my original CD, or if it's stolen, do I have to delete the backups from my HD since I am no longer in possession of said original CD?

Josh-da-man

Good question. From a completely technical standpoint, the answer would probably be yes, but the whole idea of backing things up is to cover for a possible loss.

I do the opposite -- instead of backing up, if the CD is going to leave my house I burn a copy onto CD-R to protect myself from loss/theft/damage and leave it in my car or wherever. If someone steals the backup from my car, does that mean I've illegally distributed copyrighted material, or would I have to destroy my original to be fully compliant with the law?

Supermallet

Even worse is that I don't pay a licensing fee when I sing songs I enjoy.

Drexl

I think the key would be intent. If someone steals your CDs, that's a case where you didn't intend to distribute unauthorized copies.

Mabuse

I've never pirated anything, but do you really live your life in the manner you describe? Do you really tip toe around with extraordinary caution so that you do not inadvertently break a copyright law? Who's got time for that?

Mikael79

They'll find you...

CRM114

I didn't get the impression that anyone is tiptoeing around. I get the impression that some people clearly understand copyright and some make excuses to make it more complicated than it is. Have I broken copyright law? Yes - I lived through the golden era of Napster. But I acknowledge that I did and do not anymore. It's also important to teach your kids that digital media theft is no different than any other form of theft. The difference is the rationalizations people make to justify it.

auto

Hey! Stop trying to bring the discussion back on topic!

Josh-da-man

No, but my post was a thought-game about the intricacies of copyright law.

I do make copies of my CDs to use in the car so my original CDs don't get lost, stolen, or damaged, though.

wishbone

http://www.necn.com/11/24/10/Beatles...ding_arts.html

No surprise on "Abbey Road" but I figured "Yesterday" would be the best-selling track.

kstublen

In other news, people are idiots for paying $12.99 for a digital album on iTunes when they could've paid $7.99 for the CD and ripped it to iTunes.

ctyankee

Well, each song on the best selling album gets a single-track sale on each album sale, so Abbey Road obviously made the difference as "Here Comes The Sun" is off that album. If someone is going to dabble in The Beatles waters, it makes sense they pick an album with a (comparatively) more 'modern' sound mix.

Personally, I would have thought "Something" would be a bigger seller off that album but so be it.

ctyankee

Yes. And then they could ... [troublestopper]cdyankee has been force-ably stopped from restarting trouble.[/troublestopper]

CRM114

And had the fairly decent packages and books that the CDs come in.

Although, my White Album outside case is flimsy and wrinkled from the shrink wrap. Don't spare any of your billions making a decent case, Paul.

Hokeyboy

For some, it's worth the extra 5 clams to have it NOW (in a compressed, lossy format that ONLY work with Apple products) instead of waiting for Amazon's glacial shipping. Huzzah for the instant gratification society!

cungar

Yeah Paul works in the packaging department.

CRM114

I'm sure Paul and Ringo sign off on the final packaging design. Don't want to spend an extra 7 cents for a sturdier outside slip case. Paul could just raise his ticket prices from $125 to $125.07.

No, scratch that, I was actually insinuating Paul designed and personally picked the materials. And runs the shrink wrap machine.

cungar

I'm pretty sure they don't give a crap at this point. I certainly can't imagine them being involved in the weight of the cardboard that they use in making a cover or how a few fans whine about it.

ctyankee

Well, at worse, you're insinuating that Paul should have funded better packaging out of his own pocket. At best, you've decided to pick on the artists for packaging decisions and have decided somehow to single out Paul.

Tell me, back in the day did you pick on The Beatles for the typos on their album back-covers?

CRM114

That's the point. Paul doesn't give a shit. He's at a point in his career where he should give a shit.

I gave the Beatles kudos for the packaging of the remasters. I just have a problem with The White Album. Sure, they could have just released them bare bones - I'm actually really surprised they didn't. The whole digital download holdout was a greed power play.