Interesting Tim O'Reilly article.

From: Wayne M. Smith <wmsmith_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Fri Dec 13 22:59:01 2002

> On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, Wayne M. Smith wrote:
>
> > I became dubious as soon as he trotted out the "sample-then-buy" myth.
While
> > this argument might not have been laughable 4-5 years ago before CD burners
were
> > cheap and widespread, it's preposterous today. The rest is largely "blame
the
> > victim" drivel in the form of
> >
"you-haven't-given-us-what-we-want-in-the-form-we-want-it-so-that-justifies-our-
> > stealing-it-from-you-until-you-do" -- or as O'Reilly cutely puts it "Give
the
> > Wookie what he wants."
>
> Hi Wayne.
>
> I don't find it preposterous at all. I burned one CD of Napster-derived
> Jimi Hendrix music that I liked (and passed a couple copies around). I
> bought probably 10-15 CDs based on music I had discovered through
> Napster.
>
> I reward artists that make music I like by buying their albums. I suspect
> I am not alone.
>
You are in the vast majority, but it only takes a small minority engaged in
theft to turn the economics of the business upside down. The LA Times ran an
article last week where they interviewed college students about music buying
habits. Student after student stated that they hadn't bought a CD in a few
years, and offered all the usual justifications -- greedy recording industry,
rich artist, etc. No one mentions all the employees -- who rely on those greedy
artists et al. for jobs -- who have been laid off as sales have turned down.

> Ever since Napster went away I have returned to my normal buying habits of
> 1-2 CDs per 6 months. The drivel being played on the radio does not
> compel me to go to the store.
>
> > If you buy that, then you probably subscribe to that
> > mainstay of the hacker apocrypha that Jon Johansen created DeCSS because he
> > wanted to view DVDs on a Linux machine. Right.
>
> Yes, I buy that. There is nothing wrong with DeCSS, just like there is
> nothing wrong with a radio scanner, a lockpick set, a gun, etc. They are
> all just tools.
>
I agree, in general. But you could say that a nuclear device is a tool as well.
It's all in that "how you use it" thing.
Received on Fri Dec 13 2002 - 22:59:01 GMT