Ideas about file sharing (not pirating)

[teddymines]

From what I've read, the music industry takes exception to people sharing music by making copies available for others. In other words, people are consuming more copies than were sold.

Consider that out of the millions of copies of any particular song, only a handful of them are actively being listened to at any time. The rest of the time they are collecting dust. Conceptually, you could have loaned out that hair metal CD to someone who needed it, and they'd probably return it before you needed it again. In fact, you could probably share it with several people (one at a time) before you needed it.

What if a system existed that was like a pool of files, similar to a library. If you wanted to hear a particular song, you'd look in the pool for an available *purchased* copy, and you could then use it. You would be marked as having borrowed it, and nobody can use your copy until you released it. How could the music industry gripe about this, since it would be similar to loaning it to a friend?

Of course, such a system would be complex and there would have to be rules to prevent pirating. It might not even be technically possible, but as a concept.......what are your thoughts?

 

[BigJohnKC]

Not gonna work. RIAA is too greedy.

 

[Electric Amish]

My idea to fix this.....


Person walks into a music store and is able to by music "Al A Carte" e.g. the music store will burn the CD for you with the songs you request. You pay $1-$2 per song. You get a compilation CD with the songs on it you want. You don't have to pay for a CD filled with crap and only 1-2 good songs.

I think that'd be pretty cool.

amish

 

[xospec1alk]

Like a library?

 

[pulse8]

There's no way to keep the people from keeping the file they download.

So once it's loaned to that person and they have it on their computer, what's to keep them from distributing your purchased copy?

 

[amnesiac]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
My idea to fix this.....


Person walks into a music store and is able to by music "Al A Carte" e.g. the music store will burn the CD for you with the songs you request. You pay $1-$2 per song. You get a compilation CD with the songs on it you want. You don't have to pay for a CD filled with crap and only 1-2 good songs.

I think that'd be pretty cool.

amish

They've tried that.
Wherehouse used to have a system where you could order a custom CD from a catalog of songs. PRice was reasonable.. about a dollar per song.


But you know what?

The RIAA is too greedy. Only a handful of labels and artists were willing to participate for whatever reason. The experiment was a failure.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
My idea to fix this.....


Person walks into a music store and is able to by music "Al A Carte" e.g. the music store will burn the CD for you with the songs you request. You pay $1-$2 per song. You get a compilation CD with the songs on it you want. You don't have to pay for a CD filled with crap and only 1-2 good songs.

I think that'd be pretty cool.

amish

They've tried that.
Wherehouse used to have a system where you could order a custom CD from a catalog of songs. PRice was reasonable.. about a dollar per song.


But you know what?

The RIAA is too greedy. Only a handful of labels and artists were willing to participate for whatever reason. The experiment was a failure.

I'm suggesting doing it instead of producing retail CDs. They'd make more money because there wouldn't be the retail CD overhead.

That's pretty cool that they did kinda try it, though.

amish

 

[Rallispec]

Originally posted by: xospec1alk
Like a library?

that would be cool.

i dont see how the RAII could have a legal oppositition to this.

 

[Turkey]

The music is still digital... that's the fundamental problem with trying to stop pirates.

 

[teddymines]

Originally posted by: Turkey
The music is still digital... that's the fundamental problem with trying to stop pirates.

That's true today. I don't think the technology is there right now to support sharing as I proposed, but from what people have posted, the concept is sound. I do like the a-la-carte concept because you pay for what you want, and greatly reduce retail overhead. You'd think the tree huggers would be all over this idea (no paper, reduce transportation, reduce store footprint).

 

[ScottyB]

Lets go back to vinyl.

 

[Turkey]

I also like the idea of pay as you go.

As long as the music is digital there will never be technology to support a checkout or pooled model that prevents pirating.

 

[bsobel]

> As long as the music is digital there will never be technology to support a checkout or pooled model that prevents pirating.

Actually, this is what Microsofts Palladium effort tries to allow. Digital content that you can't 'steal' (you could grab the analog output, sure, but not the original bits). Time will tell how well that will actually work tho...

Bill