stealing music, and the future of copyright

it is like the categorical imperative. we should not do things that if everyone did them, it would cause chaos. we shouldnt steal potatoes because if everyone did, the farmers wouldnt bother growing potatoes and we would starve.

but if everyone stole music, i dont think our society would be any worse off. i think we would be better off.

 

On a related note to music downloading I regularly watch movies in streaming video form. I don't download a copy to my hard drive, mainly because to save copies of every movie I like would mean I would have to buy many terabytes of hsard drives to store them all.

Is this theft?

 

I hope that happens. It will get rid of no talent hacks like Kanye West who cant play an instrument or sing in key. Take music back to real musicians instead of computer programming button pushing frauds.

 

do you think an artist should be compensated per end-user?

i think its a violation of copyright laws. keeps them from being compensated via ticket purchase or dvd.

 

before recorded media, there were still plenty of beethovens and bachs cranking out hitz and plenty of skilled musicians to play their tunes. the lack of a revenue stream for recordings did not mean we had some sort of barren cultural landscape where nobody played music or enjoyed it. if we return to a "perform live for pay" model, i think we would survive just fine.

if i take the money i save on cds and go to live performances, i think the musician and i will both be happier, because the money will not be diverted through a large marketing machine, devoted almost exclusively to the top selling artists.

 

I was thinking of buying one of those Sony electronic book readers where you download books from Amazon. I have load hundreds of books to people and most of the time I never get the book back.

What if I loaned somebody the files for a book I had downloaded and they never returned it?

Anybody know of a file sharing site for books?

 

my local library actually "loans" e-books out that are compatible with most readers. after a while, the books are "returned" and they expire and you cant read them anymore.

a buddy of mine has the sony reader. it is decent. you would think you could save money on the books, because they dont have to be printed or shipped, but they are still almost the same price. i have considered buying a kindle. my ipod touch has a kindle app that is decent and allows you to get books via wifi.

i like the idea of the e-reader, but i dont like that i would definitely leave it on the train. i like paperbacks, because you can finish them and just chuck them in a random direction.

 

Thats true. If I lose a paperback I am only out $5 or $6.

I am not really going to buy a book reader. I don't like reading anything as long as a book on a computer screen. I just posted what I posted to pose another hypothetical scenario on this file sharing thread.