Ars Technica has a nice analysis of the new pro-consumer FAIR USE bill being proposed in the USA. It’s a start, but there’s still a long way to go before true “fair use” recording rights are protected.
Basically, the bill gives hardware companies an exemption, but does nothing for software. To me, it seems like a way to get the content companies and the hardware companies on the same side, and then crush the software companies, where all the true innovation is taking place.
Go read the entire article.
Posts Categorized: Media Business
FAIR USE? Sort of.
PERFORMance Anxiety
Looks like the PERFORM act just won’t die. This is the nonsense legislation – sponsored by the RIAA – that would force satellite, digital, and Internet radio providers (but not over-the-air radio) to implement measures designed to restrict the ability of listeners to record audio from the services.
On the Internet side, given the plethora of radio stations all over the world, this would basically kill American Internet radio.
You can read more from Ars Technica.
Once you’re sufficiently outraged, contact your senators here.
Sling Media’s Clip and Sling
Sling has finally announced their “recording” solution for Sling Box owners – “Clip and Sling”.
I don’t think it placates any of the hundreds of people who come to us looking for a way to record their Sling streams on their PC. But it does have some “gee whiz” appeal.
*sigh*
Avoid Windows Vista at all costs?
This article in Techworld paints a picture of a business disaster waiting to happen, all because of overzealous DRM (copy protection) in Microsoft’s new Vista Operating System.
Clearly Microsoft has gone out of their way to disable recording of premium content in Vista. It will be interesting to see what customers think.
PERFORM act will kill Internet Radio
I just received this email from iPAc (reprinted in full):
Few power plays are as blatant and harmful as the PERFORM Act (S. 2644)
from northern California’s own Dianne Feinstein. Simply put, PEFORM revokes
your right to tape radio shows while imposing draconian DRM on all internet
radio.
The Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) explicitly allows a person to record
radio programs for their own personal use. In exchange, we all pay a
Hollywood Cartel tax on some blank CDs and tapes. It’s a bill that has
served us well for over a decade, but now with advanced satellite radio
receivers that allow paying subscribers to time shift their favorite
programs the Hollywood Cartels are asking for ‘backsies’ on the AHRA.
Always eager to please her real constituents in Hollywood, Dianne Feinstein
stepped up to the plate and introduced PERFORM.
But, if overturning the AHRA wasn’t enough, Feinstein slipped in a
provision that changes the Copyright Act to force Internet radio stations
to impose the most severe and draconian DRM possible. All of the Internet
radio stations that you know and love will be forced to abandon MP3
streams. Innovative companies like Pandora are already heavily burdened and
taxed by the DMCA, forcing them to spends additional money to license DRM
is an undue burden.
Who does Dianne Feinstein represent? Is it Northern California, the
economic engine for the entire state and the nation? Or is it Southern
California, the repressive monopolists that seek to limit expression and
technology?
You can find out how you can stop Senator Feinstein’s PERFORM Act at
http://ipaction.org/action/perform
Thanks very much for your continued support of IPac.
Sincerely,
Jake Fisher
Executive Director
IPac.org
Finetune vs. Pandora
Just got wind of an interesting new Music/Radio site: Finetune. Check it out!
You can build playlists, and then let others listen to them. Plus, it can build custom radio stations based upon a favorite artist and it’s playlist data.
The design is neat, and once you know it’s a radio site, it’s a great way to start listening with no hassles. And if you want to become a DJ, building your own 45 track (or more) playlist/station is easy.
And it works great with Replay Music too.
Check it out!
Unbelieveable
I just learned today YouTube posted it’s first video online in December 2005.
Is that amazing or what???
Look for some amazing YouTube recording tricks from us in the near future.
Fair Use Threatened
I received this email from Jake Fisher of iPac today, and I’m taking the liberty of reprinting it in full. It’s an important topic – the Big Media companies are threatening to take away our Fair Use recording rights.
Here’s the letter in full:
Dear IPac supporter,
In June we brought attention to S1RA (The Section 115 Reform Act), which
has the laudable goal of bringing mechanical licensing into the 21st
Century. However, buried deep within the legislation was a provision that
required all incidental copies of a song to have their own separate
license. In other words, a copyright holder could charge you for every
copy that exists in a caching server, your ISP’s own cache, or even the
buffer on your computer. It’s double dipping, redefining fair use, and now
it’s back and worse than ever. S1RA lives on under the title of the
Copyright Modernization Act of 2006. Sounds ominous enough. It still
includes all the terrible provisions of S1RA by taking aim at Internet
radio and satellite radio by gutting the Audio Home Recording Act, which
explicitly allows devices to time-shift radio.
CMA is trying to elbow itself into law by wrapping itself in a good bill:
the Orphan Works Act of 2006. This bill is an important piece of
legislation that removes significant hurdles that artists have to jump to
create their art. Right now, with our over-reaching copyright regime, if a
documentary film makers wants to include an image, film clip, or song in
their work, but no copyright holder can be found, the film maker is out of
luck. OWA allows the artist to include the work, assuming they employed due
diligence to track down the copyright holder, and would severely limit any
damages stemming from an infringement suit if the owner suddenly
reappeared.
However good the Orphan Works Act is, S1RA is worse and negates the
benefits that come from OWA. We cannot sacrifice our technological future
by imposing an innovation tax on internet and satellite radio.
For a FAQ on CMA and to find out how to stop it please see:
http://ipaction.org/campaigns/cma/
Thanks very much for your continued support of IPac.
Sincerely,
Jake Fisher
Executive Director
IPac
To the Zune, Alice!
This article from the EFF highlights a curious feature of the new Microsoft Zune – namely that it won’t play songs purchased using Microsoft’s own Plays For Sure system. And it apears they may be abandoning the technology altogether.
If you were unlucky enough to purchase songs using Plays For Sure, you can at least re-record them for your own personal use.
I guess now that Microsoft is competing against its former partners with their own Media Players it’s time to throw them all under the bus. While Microsoft does use their hardware/software business model effectively in the PC business, burning your hardware partners can’t bode well for future projects. Microsoft PC anyone?
Personally – I’m a big fan of the iPod, and I also welcome a serious challenger to the media player space. I hope the Zune does well, but if this flops, nobody’s going to break Apple’s stranglehold for a long while.
TimeTrax goes belly-up
TimeTrax – the hardware/software combo that let people record XM and Sirius radio – is no longer. If you recall, these are the guys that made XM discontinue the XM PCR because of worries people were recording and splitting songs off of the radio.
It’s not that surprising – the business model was fundamentally flawed – as people weren’t willing to pay $200 for hardware to do this when programs like Replay Music and Replay A/V do a better job for a lot less.