Originally posted by: Goosemaster
This is very interesting argument indeed.
On one hand we have those who seem to justify their actions based on the shortcomings of an industry. On the other hand, we have those who seem to justify their actions based on their supposed morality.
Generally, a lengthy argument ensues, with a variety of catchy retorts and recursive insults, and in the end, everyone agrees to disagree.
Overall, nothing is achieved.
We also have those who don?t justify their actions ? they simply do it because so many others are also doing it that the likelihood of being caught is very low.
Personally, I justify my actions on a moral base since I feel that the records industry is ripping me off.
In the mid-1980s, the RIAA and the heads of recording companies were hauled in front of a congressional hearing on CD prices. Charges of price fixing were being pointed at them over the significant price differences between CDs and cassettes. I recall a lady representing one of the recording companies saying that the price differences were due to the higher cost of bleeding edge equipment ? A/D encoders, digital post-processors, CD presses and larger package size. However, she said that eventually the cost of CDs would fall below those of cassettes (she quoted around $5 per album). It never happened.
Today, the price of creating music is less than it used to be. The cost of high quality microphones and amplifiers has decreased in price. The introduction of digital 4 and 8 track mixers has substantially reduced the cost of post-processing music. The costs of facilities and technical personnel have gone up slightly faster than inflation, but the overall costs are down since new technology allows mixing to be done in less time.
Furthermore, the price of publishing music is also cheaper than it used to be. The cost of high-quality, high-speed CD pressing machinery has significantly dropped. Shipping and distribution channels have also become more efficient and inexpensive due to pressure from big-box stores and large chains. Need I mention Wal-Mart?
So the question is, why does it cost $18 for a new Led Zeppelin CD at Tower Records when next-door at Suncoast, I can purchase a second-run DVD new for $12? Both stores pay the same rent to the facilities owner. Both pay nearly the same wages to their peons.
Yet a DVD is inherently more expensive. Compared to a CD?s low-density single layer physical media with a simple 16-bit uncompressed PCM audio stream, a DVD is a high-density multi-layer physical media with multiple data streams. Those data streams take a lot of work to produce since you must perform a host of pre-processing work to convert film to video, as well as encoding the multi-channel audio streams. Oh, and you have to make at least two versions: NTSC and PAL. So in short, the production costs of a DVD are magnitudes higher than that of a CD.
You could say that movie costs are supplemented by theatre showings. Yet that doesn?t account for the fact that the Led Zeppelin CD was MASTERED nearly twenty years ago (it was published even earlier!) and most likely hasn?t been updated since.
So, I know that I am being robbed. I know it?s not legal because several states have fined the music industry over its practices: monopolistic business practices, price gouging, retail manipulation, and a whole host of other illegal activities. Yet its lobby and sheer power allows it to continue to skirt the law and flaunt its power. How can my single vote counter the RIAA?s law team and political muscle? How can I counter Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) when he believes that the music industry needs to be further protected?
Simple, I can?t. So I can either stop listening to music or I can just come in through the back door. I personally chose something in-between: the grey used CD market. No new money to the RIAA and I get the music I want, usually at 50%-70% less than the cost of it new.
However, it takes a lot of time and energy to find high quality, undamaged used copies of rare albums. It?s even harder to find them at favorable prices. So until I do find them, there?s that method I won?t admit to using...
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Supplemental:
While I feel for
rleemhui and his issues with low-quality 128Kb MPEG audio formats online, my gripe with the RIAA is how they and their members have shunned DVD-Audio. Once you?ve heard your favorite artist recorded on 96KHz/24-bit PCM DVDs, it?s rather difficult to listen to regular 48KHz/16-bit PCM CDs.
Why hasn?t the RIAA sought enthusiasts? money? Simply, they don?t care. Its so much easier to shove the low-quality crap which is Britney Spears down our throats.
They're trying to alter the behavior that stems from some feeling of "deservitude" or entitlement. You're not entitled to something just because you found a way to get it without paying. While I hate the fact that they -are- doing the lawsuit thing, I imagine it has at least worked a bit in the "fight on piracy."
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