Downloading Music - am I really going to be Fined?

[Suzie]

that rapper should be excommunicated from the black race.

[GonzoStyle]

wow the cross colours jacket and a leather derby, add into that him doing the running man = classic.

Something occured to me though. This was about making copies of games and then sharing them. So they are saying one person gets the game and then shares it for free with hunreds maybe thousands and more.

But how is that different from what say where I work does.

Blockbuster buys say 20 copies of a game. They rent each game out hundreds of times. So while they are buying tons of games, the kids renting them ain't buying them. Plus unlike file sharing, BB charges for the rental of the game.

Now I know that the video and game industry makes a large chunk of money off rental chains so they don't care. But the kids renting these games are profiting only BB and not the games company or software designer or whoever else was in that godawful MPEG.

But if you get down to it, it's basically the same thing in my view or correct me if I am wrong.

[Faceman]

So basically instead of playing the race-card you're saying that if we're sued we should play the blockbuster-card. Interesting. You know gonzo, you sometimes remind me of Ed of TV fame. He owns a bowling alley, but he's also a smart guy and a lawyer to boot. :thumbs-up:

[GonzoStyle]

Yes, my pally!!!

how do you like your new status facey?

eggrolls were gettin kinda stale.

[HedCold]

Now I know that the video and game industry makes a large chunk of money off rental chains so they don't care.

you answered your own question
does blockbuster actually buy the games and movies for the same price we would?
i always figured there was probably some central percentage fee that blockbuster has to pay every year or something

[Faceman]

Yes, my pally!!!

how do you like your new status facey?

eggrolls were gettin kinda stale.

I've seen that somewhere, but I just can't place it

[GonzoStyle]

No

They buy the games at wholesale actually so they pay them a cheaper price than the average consumer.

when I said that the game company makes a huge chunk of money from rental outlets, I meant cause of the quantity of games they buy. It's better than making nothing, thousands of stores hundreds of games a year from each store that's a lot of sales.

But it still stands that they buy the game and then rent it out.

The movie companies don't mind cause they make a ton of money from the video stores, movie theaters, and then PPV. Then they sell off the movies to TV stations, so they are mint.

[GonzoStyle]

Yes, my pally!!!

how do you like your new status facey?

eggrolls were gettin kinda stale.

I've seen that somewhere, but I just can't place it

I feel a faceman inane topic of the day comin on...

[Faceman]

Aren't all of my topics inane in one way or another?

[GonzoStyle]

the golden age hath returned!!!

I am havin fun already.

[Jack]

These lawsuits will not hold up in court without the proper Search Warrants.

It would be illegal search and seizure of evidence if said companies presented evidence of any given person actually having files shared on their computers.

[LyricalGomez]

that rapper should be excommunicated from the black race.

Funny, that's what ivy league schools said about you

Now I know that the video and game industry makes a large chunk of money off rental chains so they don't care. But the kids renting these games are profiting only BB and not the games company or software designer or whoever else was in that godawful MPEG.

But if you get down to it, it's basically the same thing in my view or correct me if I am wrong.

Well, it's acctually different, that chunk that the industry gets from BB is paying for that right to rent it out. It's like the thing Apple has going where you can download a song for like a dollar or whatever.

[Sir O]

when I said that the game company makes a huge chunk of money from rental outlets, I meant cause of the quantity of games they buy. It's better than making nothing, thousands of stores hundreds of games a year from each store that's a lot of sales.

But it still stands that they buy the game and then rent it out.

The movie companies don't mind cause they make a ton of money from the video stores, movie theaters, and then PPV. Then they sell off the movies to TV stations, so they are mint.

As long as they rent out the original copy, it's legal. It would only be illegal if they made unauthorized copies of the games, and rented those out to customers. The same logic applies to stores that sell used CD's. After you (or Blockbuster, or whomever) purchases the original, you're free to do whatever you want with the original copy. You're free to make as many copies as you want as well - only when duplicate copies are distributed (for profit or for free, it makes no difference) does it become illegal.

[Keyser Soze]

its not the same thing because blockbuster is doing it with the blessing of the game company or movie studio.

the record industry knows that if someone can get a album for free its only a matter of time before they're completely out of business, the dvd and video rental industry is profitable for them, file sharing is a huge loss.

[HedCold]

Replacing vinyl

According to the RIAA's own figures, over the last two years the US music industry has produced 25% fewer CDs.

The peak of production was in 1999 when 38,900 individual titles were released. But by 2001 this was down to 27,000. Releases grew again in 2002 but were still below the previous high.

Musician George Ziemann says if only 3,000 copies of each of the "missing" CDs were sold, the fall in sales would be wiped out.

For Mark Mulligan, an analyst with Jupiter Research, the music is weathering a hangover after the 80s and 90s boom, when everyone was buying CD versions of their old vinyl records.

"Now the CD replacement cycle has drawn to a close," he says.

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[The Sleeper]

thanks for the breaking news

[HedCold]

:thumbs-up:

[Galt]

and the peak in CD sales couldn't have possibly coincided with the peak in the economy or anything....

[Keyser Soze]

actually people have been sued and have had to pay fines already. not quite as much as threaten but they settled out of court and have paid somewhere between $10-30,000. i'll post the article when i get a chance, i read it in rolling stone this month.

[HedCold]

why did you start that off by saying actually?