Norway Outlaws iTunes 930
haddieman notes that while many people are getting more and more annoyed at DRM, Norway actually did something about it. The PC World article explains: "Good intentions, questionable execution. European legislators have been giving DRM considerable attention for a while, but Norway has actually gone so far as to declare that Apple's iTunes store is illegal under Norwegian law.
The crux of the issue is that the Fairplay DRM that is at the heart of the iTunes/iPod universe doesn't work with anything else, meaning that if you want access to the cast iTunes library, you have to buy an iPod."
Good! (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, when are they going to outlaw all the other DRM-infested music stores? If "Fairplay" is unfair, then so is "PlaysForSure!"
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good! (Score:5, Interesting)
Zune and Sony Atrak and WMA? (Score:3, Insightful)
Well what about software that only runs on one operating system? After Ipods can run other operating system sso it's not the ipod that is doing the lock-in it's the operating system on the ipod.
By that reasoning all windows software is windows only and must be banned.
Incorrect (Score:5, Funny)
Zune--probably, but the 3 people who own one haven't made much of a fuss yet.
Re:Incorrect (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Incorrect (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry, he's running a Linux file server on it.
Itunes/fairplay plays on lots of devices. (Score:5, Insightful)
So I don't get it. You can play itunes/fairplay on tonnes of devices not made by apple. and you don't have to buy itunes software.
Moreover here's a hypothetical. Suppose the itunes software had two buttons on it. One button was marked "load my ipod with some music I bought at the itunes store" and the other button was marked "load my non-apple music player with some music I bought at the itunes music store".
Would that satisfy the norweigans? well itunes already has those features, just the buttons are marked differently. The second button is marked "convert my itunes music to something my non-apple player can play".
Re:Itunes/fairplay plays on lots of devices. (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless you mean "burn to CD, and rip the CD"?
Or "Use a 3rd party application to strip the DRM"?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Zune and Sony Atrak and WMA? (Score:5, Informative)
AAC has nothing to do with FairPlay, Apple, or anything else, for that matter. AAC is a completely open format that was meant to replace the MP3 (and should, but old habits die hard), Apple didn't want to use Vorbis because it requires a lot more battery power to encode... and people already bitch about battery life. FairPlay could theoretically be inserted into any number of file formats, it's just that Apple only uses AACs for music transfer.
So, again, neither of the As in AAC stands for Apple, it's an MP4 compression container file, that Apple bought in to... and most of the other companies are too busy with WMA and MP3 that they haven't bought into it yet. It's like saying that HD-DVD is a Microsoft format... no, it's a Toshiba format, in which Microsoft now uses.
Re:Zune and Sony Atrak and WMA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Zune hasn't been released outside of the US, but it seems pretty definite that it'd be affected by the same rule. ATRAC is an encoding format, not a DRM system; the difference being that it's not designed to stop other people reading it, it's just not used by other people. Also, ATRAC is implemented by other manufacturers; Sony did not say "no, you may not licence or use this because we want to be the only ones to use it".
It's not the iPod which is in trouble, it's the store, and its policy of only being compatible with iPods (and the converse; iPods only playing music from one DRMed store). This is an artificial constraint, the only reason other companies can't run iTMS music on their players or provide DRMed music that plays on an iPod is that Apple won't let them. By contrast, operating systems only run one type of executable because executables are complicated and can be implemented in a variety of ways. It's not like there's anything stopping people writing software which allows someone to run programs from another operating system [wikipedia.org], or licencing things which cause compatibility problems [wikipedia.org] from their makers. By contrast, Apple have repeatedly sued those who have created systems allowing interoperability with iPods and iTMS.
I'm afraid not.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The reality is this. This is a statement by an Ombudsmen who can refer the case to court. Apple will not cave on this I believe and they will go to court and I suspect they will will.
Norwegian Prosecuter: This is bad - the consummer is harmed
Apple lawyer shill: J
Re:Zune and Sony Atrak and WMA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Judge: Where in the contract does it say you cannot licence your DRM technology to competing music stores?
Apple: Nowhere, but you see we need to make mon...
Judge: Did it not occur to you that other music stores might have exactly the same restrictions placed upon them as regards providing content with DRM?
Apple: But..
Judge: So your position is that you, Apple, are being victimised by the music industry but no other online store is, so you alone need to be able to put DRM on the device?
Apple: Oh. I suppose it is.
Judge: Open your DRM tech so other companies can sell DRMed music for the device, or stop trading in our country. This is a ridiculous double-standard.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So what? It's still DRM, so it's still just as restrictive!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
While I wonder the same thing, the Zune store is currently only available in the US.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Informative)
The iPod is not banned here in Norway, it is available like any other player on the market. iTunes is also prefectly legal. However, the consumer-alliance has after negotiations with Apple, required that "the locks" will be open by the end of september. Apple have untill the first of march to come with their answer. If they refuse, Norway are "prepared to remove iTunes from the market".
-kosmonaut
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
Since when?! DRMed CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, BluRays... they play on a multitude of different devices, from different companies. Windows doesn't limit what hardware you can run it on, and all the other 3rd party software that only runs on Windows? Well that's the people who write the software's decision.
Norway has outlawed iTunes because you don't have the choice of what hardware from what company to listen to it on. It's Apples' players only.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at it this way: 3rd party software that only runs on Windows is exactly like DRMed music that only runs on iPods - it is the content manufacturer's decision to limit the platform. 3rd party developers could choose to use cross-platform tools; the RIAA could choose to sell music without DRM, that would work on any mp3 player (and actually the latter is much simpler).
DRM is the RIAA's fault, not Apple's (even if Apple do benefit from it). To see why this is true, consider the case of Norway from TFA: if they require iTunes to 'interoperate' with all mp3 players, or Apple must not do business in Norway, then the simplest way to comply would be to... sell music without DRM. The reason Apple can't do that is the RIAA.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You might be onto something. What you'd be more likely to succeed with, though, is demanding that console manufacturers allow running of third-party software (since vendor lock-in is, by definition, anti-competitive). If, say, you want to write software to run on Wii machines that people own, well, that's absolutely none of Nintendo's business
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? Since when? Does 'Monopoly Suit' mean 'pass' in your world?
Hell, most of the developing world is
Meanwhile, Apple's 80% market share of iPod/iTunes zombies notwithstanding, it's the only DRM maker that doesn't license out its format. It's not the former that's got Norway up in arms, it's the latter.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
In the United States it does.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
Impossible. Firstly - do you know how many combinations that is? Just with VBR files, you have each different value for the lower bitrate AND upper bitrate bounds, multiply by each of the quality bias values, multiply by stereo (joint vs seperate) options, multiply by frequency options (44100, 48000)... THEN you could just drop or raise the volume of the whole track by 1%, and get completely different codes for each of those combo's... then 2%... or increase the bass by 1%... in the end, you're probably talking about so many different values, that you'd get hash colisions with a file that isn't that copyrighted material, which would prove the whole system flawed.
Secondly - you'd have to publish (in some form or another) all of those codes to show you created them.
So no, it's not funny at all that they haven't tried it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
monopoly suit that was dropped after a new administration took over sure does!
MS hasn't been banned from selling thier stuff anywhere, hasn't payed thier fines imposed by the eu (iirc), was allowed to sell "reduced media edition" at the same price skirting arround the underlying issue and so on.
I'd call that a pass.
Sure they've had to pay some lawyers and make some minor concessions but thats a drop in the bucket compared to the real issue that MS has set thems
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So DRM is all about protecting a single company's virtual monopoly on hardware? I see - thanks for that insight. Obviously the last 1,000 articles I've read about it have all been wrong. Someone should tell the RIAA too, as they're clearly barking up the wrong tree.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Funny)
You can use the Nano, the Shuffle, the Mini, the Photo, the Video, etc. And not just Apple iPod's, but Hp iPod's too. Not to mention bot PC's and Mac's, which Plays4Sure can't. What is specific about that?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Or hitting closer to home on your exampe, the ECU in my Ford only works in a Ford Exporer. So it should be illegal for Ford to sell that ECU? That doesn't make sense.
As for your example, lets imagine that ford is the only auto manufacturer. Shell starts making gas, but it only works properly in a Ford. NOW is it unfair? Now what will Chrysler do? Would it be smart to make an automobile that you know will not work wi
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
What's stopping a competing company from making aftermarket ECUs? Nothing, I suspect. Ford hasn't done anything to stop third parties from making parts that fit in a Ford, nor have they done anything to stop competing auto companies from making cars that accept Ford parts.
Apple, OTOH, has done exactly that.
One purpose of FairPlay is to appease the record company. The other purpose, which is arguably more important, is to enforce lock-in between iPod and iTunes. This promotes the iPod by (1) tying the most popular, best-known music store to a single line of players, and (2) encouraging iPod users to build up a library of songs that will become practically useless if they switch brands, effectively threatening iPod owners to keep buying Apple (except those who get all their music by ripping CDs rather than from iTMS).
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I suppose HP might play a few tricks to make it difficult for third parties to recycle cartridges, making it impossible to sell third party cartridges without infringing the patent; in that case I believe the patent should be suspended, partly to allow interoperability, but also as a punitive measure for abusing the patent system.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
not true at all. Playsforsure is only compatible with one kind of hardware - playforsure compatible hardware.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So what? That tying-down aspect still exists, nevertheless. I guess the only relevant difference here is that the subtlety caused the Norwegian government to overlook it.
Re:Good! (Score:4, Insightful)
Everyone else here is capable of noticing the difference between "this song plays on any player from any company, as long as it incorporates technology XYZ (which anyone can license)" and "this song only plays on players from one specific company". If you can't make that distinction, you have my pity, and I hope you're still able to become a functioning member of society despite this handicap.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good! (Score:4, Informative)
Apple wont even allow THAT.
Norwegian Consumer Council goes after MS too (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple Inc. created the iTunes Store, put Fairplay on the trax it sells, and then offered exclusive trax. (Example of an exclusive iTunes track: U2/McCartney "Sgt. Pepper" on Live8.)
Now, whether Apple Inc. is squeezing other corps. out of any markets it's in
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
No, they're telling Apple *solely due to being a business* how to conduct business with the competition in Norway, just like the US, South Korea, Australia, etc. tell businesses how to conduct business with the competition in their countries.
"The message is clear: Even if you follow all the rules and obey all the laws, if you get too big, we'll squash you."
The message is actually "Norwegian law app
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And if I buy a song from Sony or Microsoft, it won't work on my Linux computer. That is textbook anti-competitive behavior too, so why aren't "PlaysForSure" and whatever Sony's DRM is called being outlawed as well?
I have a case with *ALL* DRM-pushers (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sure that, although Sony might want all operating systems to be able to play the media, it would only be interested in supporting Sony brand hardware players.
See, here's the real problem: no matter what DRM system you might propose, you're never going to get around the fact that DRM is inherently designed to be excluding and restrictive! If it doesn't prevent anybody from playing the file it isn't really DRM, now is it?
Therefore, I'll repea
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
And then there other quasi-legal methods of finding music or ripping my own CD's that I bought online. Maybe you were thinking of the Zune, which locks up even your legal tracks under DRM?
10 minutes,
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't care whether or not other DRM formats play on my iPod. Show me a DRM store better than iTunes, and then
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
See, they have this nation over there called Norway, bunch of Democratic Socialists, and the people that live there, they have all sorts of gadgets and music distribution networks and formats and whatnot, and they think that it sucks when all these different companies decide to screw the end user and try to make them pay over and over to listen to the same bunch of songs by the same bunch of retired or dead musicians, or force them to buy their hardware upgrade from the same company so they don't lose their music library.
So they made it illegal to do that to people.
You can talk all you want about the value of these business relationships and the investments and monopolies till you're blue in the face, but it's really kind of irrelevant. The Norwegians decided that these sorts of arrangements amount to unfair business practices, so unless Apple wants to play by their rules, it appears Apple is free to go peddle their shit somewhere else.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If they really cared about that, they'd outlaw all DRM, not just Apple's.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Then everyone else should face the same issues. Currently I have an iPod and an iMac. I can't use Napster, playsforsure doesn't work for me. I can't buy anything from the Zune store. Your rebuy your music comment I'm sure really resonates with playsforsure buyers who got a Zune. Apples never yet caused
Re:Good! (Score:5, Informative)
Norway != EU (Score:5, Informative)
In essence, as a Mac and iPod user, I don't like this, but in principle it should apply to everybody, including Microsoft's Zune, which isn't even compatible with Microsoft's own Plays For Sure brand, and that name is terribly ironic.
Still, I don't really care. If I can't listen to music because of DRM, then I'll make my own or go and watch a Bach recital or something (until Microsoft/Sony/RIAA or whatever make playing music in public illegal unless you pay them for it)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I want DRM out of the market entirely.
Their hardball is only helping less successful DRM get a stronger foothold. That is usless to the consumer.
My belief is that fairplay has the labels between a rock and a hard place. They know deep down that the only real way to win is to take DRM out of the game and sell their music directly to their customers as mp3s. But no matter how many billions of dollars they c
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It's the store Norway wants to get rid of, not the iPods themselves.
Apple has a choice (Score:5, Funny)
It sounds like they've decided it's either Norway or the Highway.
Questionable reporting by Slashdot (Score:3, Interesting)
By "many people," you mean Slashdotters and blog writers who think their obsessive DRM concerns have any presence outside their little media bubble. Regular consumers don't give a hoot, and most rip their CDs into MP3s in iTunes.
Why should Apple be forced to provide service to competitors? Should HD-DVDs be forced to play in Blu-ray players? Should Sony be forced to allow its PS2 games to play on the Ninten
Go go gadget emulation (Score:4, Insightful)
Gratuitous incompatibility (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine that every car manufacturer operated a chain of gas stations. All cars could run on the same fuel, but every brand of car had a bizarrely shaped fuel intake that would only accept the corresponding bizarrely shaped nozzle. You could only fill up a Toyota at a Toyota gas station, a Ford and a Ford station, etc.
Further, if you dared to try to create adapter for universal fueling, you'd be thrown in jail and fined tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating the laws the big car companies paid politicians all around the world to pass, to protect there little lock-in schemes.
You could either go along with such BS, and happily sing the tune the car companies want you to sing ("If you don't like it, you can don't have to buy a car! No one's forcing you! Just by a bicycle and shut up already!"), or you could cheer along the efforts to end protected for deliberately imposed incompatibility and improve things for consumers instead.
Re:Gratuitous incompatibility (Score:5, Insightful)
The thing that irritates me the most about DRM is that it's illegal to circumvent. I have no problem with companies choosing to use DRM, and I have no problem with companies pursuing pirates in court. But when the DRM limits legitimate uses of the media and customers are stripping the DRM solely so they can use it on another platform, I have a problem with legal action being taken against them. Granted, if the DMCA didn't protect DRM there would be commercial investments dedicated to fighting DRM and it wouldn't last long at all, but I still don't feel consumers ought to have to worry about using their media the way they want to.
Oblig (Score:3, Funny)
Forget Norway!! (Score:5, Funny)
Steve's response (Score:3, Funny)
Heads exploding (Score:5, Insightful)
Norway == socialists == doubleplus good
DRM == doubleplus ungood
iTunes == Apple == doubleplus good
Norway outlaws iTunes? What is a good gay socialist Mac user going to do? What is the right side to be on?
Ok, trolling is fun and all, but seriously.
I think it's a load. People have the right to be stupid. Without that as Right 0 no other "Right" can be read as anything other than "You have the Right to ____ unless we, the anointed elite, think decide your exercise of it is dumb." It's why the 1st Amendment is safe so long as -both- Noam Chomsky and StormFront were free to rant and rave but didn't survive John McCain & Russ Feingold.
I'd never buy from the iTunes store because I think the deal offered is one sided, shortsighted and stupid. But I'll defend Steve's Right to try to sell it and your Right to freely enter into a license agreement with him.
Not so much that you need an iPod to listen (Score:5, Insightful)
If you buy many albums from the iTunes sture you can enjoy them and all is rosy. Then two years later the battery on your iPod has died, so you look at what's available. You think there are some nice offerings from creative or sandisk but, trouble is, you can't listen to any of your existing purchases. Your locked to Apple.
It's well boyond time that other players were allowed to license Fairplay, and that other music providers be allowed to sell Fairplay encoded tracks.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Unless you listen to them on your computer instead. PC or Mac, iTunes supports them both.
Or... here's a concept... burn them to an audio CD and enjoy them on your portable CD player! Wow, who knew!
In fact, with any of a number of wireless-to-stereo devices, you can beam iTunes FairPlay music directly to your stereo, no hard media required.
So there you go--three completely
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As for being "lock in Microsoft-approved vendors", you're also out of luck (ex: "PlaysForSure vs Zune").
Re:Not so much that you need an iPod to listen (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing is they don't. Apple might not be used to being in a controlling or dominant position in a market, but they sure as heck better get used to it.
Microsoft do license plays for sure and may indeed be forced to license their new codec as a result of legislation similar to this.
For those that suggest you can reript to another lossy codec, or burn to CD - if microsoft had 90% of the downloaded music market and suggested you do that, you'd be up in arms. Just because it's apple doesn't mean they can do no wrong.
How long before vista's SUPER DRM is banded? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How long before vista's SUPER DRM is banded? (Score:4, Informative)
(If you widen your view beyond portable players, then iTMS isn't *that* locked in since iTMS songs do play on regular Macs and Windows computers via the iTunes app).
One choice better than no choice? (Score:5, Interesting)
This tends to be the self serving argument monopolists use when justifying their actions. "By enhancing the user experience by bundling a product the user experience is enhanced. Depriving them of our monopolistic business model harms them."
In my view, choice is never bad. Competition is good. Apple won their market share by out-innovating the rest of the pack. But history is full of examples of the stagnation occurs once a market is consolidated. So I think other players should be allowed to work with iTunes.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This is different to the situation with Microsoft, where if computer manufacturers did not ship all their machines with Windows, they would be punished, and Microsoft held the keys to these companies' business
Misleading headline (Score:4, Insightful)
Consumer protection laws can sometimes be a big pill for corporations to swallow, but if Norway is anything like Denmark, which is quite likely, they usually end up having to follow the rules, rather than getting the rules changed to suit them.
Next on the block... (Score:4, Interesting)
Of course, fanboi's will come far and wide to dispute this- but not all of us like their products in "Ivory Tower" white as a majority, in non-ATX forms, or even the architecture they bless. I'll take a clone or a custom built machine, and run whatever, however - economics be damned.
Hopefully at least the iTMS ban holds up and works.
So all those EU built phones will be open? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So all those EU built phones will be open? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Article is utterly incorrect (Score:3, Informative)
What about video game consoles? (Score:4, Insightful)
But what about video game consoles? If one wants to play "Gears of War", one is locked into Microsoft's Xbox 360 hardware. Same for any console wrt games exclusive to that console. Is Norway going to outlaw video game consoles as well?
anyone read this articel (Score:3, Informative)
its a must read for everyone! it explains everything
Freedom vs. "The Good Master" (Score:3, Interesting)
First, there is the freedom crowd. They of course cheer on Norway, as this decision will increase competition between music stores and makers of portable music players, by cutting the tie between the dominating player in both groups.
Second, there is the cool technology crowd. They hate the decision, because Apple is "the good master", providing us with all kind of cool technology. And come up with all kind of objections, that really only make sense to a true believer.
The Good Master meme is well integrated in our culture, think about how many fairy tales are about the good king versus the bad king, rather than about the peasants maybe being able to do without a king in the first place. The Apple worship (and the Microsoft demonising) draw directly on that archetype.
Usually the crowds are aligned, because Microsoft is usually the dominating player, systematically abusing their desktop monopoly in order to expand into other areas. They have been convicted for that many times. And at the same time their technology, while not a sucky as it used to be, is still very boring.
Re:My Talk With Richard Stallman About This (Score:5, Insightful)
"Not letting them use DRM" would be a Hell of a lot better than what Norway's actually doing, which is giving Microsoft's "PlaysForSure" DRM (which is just as proprietary!) preferential treatment.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:My Talk With Richard Stallman About This (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? Then show me where I can get a software player not made by Microsoft capable of playing PlaysForSure Media! In particular, show me where I can get one that works on operating systems other than Windows!
The only "fair" regulations would be ones that outlaw DRM entirely. To do what they've actually done -- especially when done in the name of "protecting consumers" -- is a farce!
Re:My Talk With Richard Stallman About This (Score:4, Insightful)
My Sansa connects to Winamp because of Playsforsure.
Re:My Talk With Richard Stallman About This (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not a farce. They're pushing to enforce consumer choice. Isn't that what the
Re:My Talk With Richard Stallman About This (Score:4, Insightful)
Go re-read my post, and you'll see you missed the keyword: "software." I'm not complaining about the Zune, I'm complaining that I can't legally write myself an alternative to Windows Media Player that works on Linux and plays "PlaysForSure" media!
The only way to actually do that effectively is to outlaw DRM entirely, because DRM is inherently antithetical to choice.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, Apple doesn't license FairPlay to anyone, so while it is possible for a legal Play
Re:My Talk With Richard Stallman About This (Score:4, Insightful)
- Nullsoft Winamp [winamp.com]
- Amazon Unbox video player [amazon.com]
- Musicmatch Jukebox [musicmatch.com]
I don't think one exists, but I don't know if software companies are prohibited from obtaining PlaysForSure licenses for software players on other operating systems. Nullsoft, MusicMatch, and Amazon could obtain PlaysForeSure licenses for their Windows software. I have seen no evidence that Flip4Mac has been prohibited from obtaining a PlaysForSure license for their Windows Media Components for QuickTime [flip4mac.com].Can I play my purchased music from services such as the new Napster, MusicMatch, MusicNow, or BuyMusic.com through Winamp 5?
Yes. Yes you can.
In contrast, other software companies are prohibited from licensing FairPlay. Some companies want to license FairPlay so that their software can play iTunes Store media, but Apple refuses to license their DRM.
That said, I'm not sure if I agree with Norway's decision to ban FairPlay. This might be excessive regulation.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
All of those applications use Microsoft software (or at least APIs, but probably software) to gain Playsforsure functionality. All of them only run on a Microsoft OS.
Re:And... (Score:5, Informative)
Also, when you are in a dominant position as an online music store, you kind of have advantages over all of the competition, so what they're doing is more related to what Microsoft did with Internet Explorer.
Last but not least, you must remember that newly formed laws on computer software cannot be compared to the laws of items.
Re:There is a standard format razor blade.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Look up Safety Razor in either the single or double edge variety. Then hunt for as many brands of compatible blades as you possibly can. You can choose stainless steel, high carbon steel, hardened and polished or not, extra sharp or extra strong, etc.
Enjoy. There is a standard format if you wish. It's just like they would like MP3 to just go away as an obsolete format that nobody uses anymore. As soon
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The Constitution does not guarantee copyrights. Nor does it require Congress to enact copyright laws. All it does is empower Congress to enact copyright laws, or not, as it chooses. That's why it says that they have a power, not that they shall do something.
Before the current government was established, the states had control over copyright, along with interstate commerce, extradition, and a number of other things. And they made a hash of it. The numerous screw-ups on the part of the states and the very
There's a big difference (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I also think that if you burn and rip to get it in as mp3, you lose the ID3 tags, but I don't feel like verifying that right now.
QT Fair Use and another program I don't recall converted everything to mp3s quite nicely though, as I just switched from an ancient iPod to a Creative Vision
Re:Oh, F'ing please (Score:5, Informative)
Obviously I must be a moron then, because when I tried that this message popped up:
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)