DRM Good or Bad?

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

If that's the case how do the companies that make DVD Ripper, Any Video Converter, Clone DVD, iPubsoft and a thousand others you can find on google continue to be in operation?

Because it is legal to make a back-up for personal use only. You just can't give it to anyone else.

[Belle2Be]

What about Roxio which came installed in pcs for year? I bought roxio toast which rips DVDs.

[StephenM]

Originally Posted by gmw

Isn't "pirate because of agency rip-off prices" the equivalent to shoplifting designer labels because they're rip-off prices? Are you suggesting that somehow makes it okay?

The answer to not liking the price of something is to not buy it, not to steal it.

This is a bad example. A better example would be the person who takes a picture of an expensive picture hanging in an art store, because they cannot afford to buy the original. By taking a picture, the original is still available to the owner to be sold to someone who can afford it, and wants to pay the price to own it. Piracy is not theft. If I steal your bicycle, you cannot use it. If I make an exact matter replica of your bicycle, you can still ride yours, and I can ride the copy I made. You are out nothing. This is the basic difference between theft and copyright infringement.

Sorry for the mini-rant. This sort of false equivalency irritates me.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

What about Roxio which came installed in pcs for year? I bought roxio toast which rips DVDs.

Are you sure about that? The specs I've seen mention 'home DVD movies', i.e. ones you've recorded yourself, not commercial ones with DRM.

[Belle2Be]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Are you sure about that? The specs I've seen mention 'home DVD movies', i.e. ones you've recorded yourself, not commercial ones with DRM.

You're right it is not intended for encrypted DVDs.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by StephenM

This is a bad example. A better example would be the person who takes a picture of an expensive picture hanging in an art store, because they cannot afford to buy the original. By taking a picture, the original is still available to the owner to be sold to someone who can afford it, and wants to pay the price to own it. Piracy is not theft. If I steal your bicycle, you cannot use it. If I make an exact matter replica of your bicycle, you can still ride yours, and I can ride the copy I made. You are out nothing. This is the basic difference between theft and copyright infringement.

Sorry for the mini-rant. This sort of false equivalency irritates me.

I disagree.

If you were trying to sell that artwork that I took a picture of, and then gave away copies of that picture (assume copies are as good as the original for this) to people who would have bought your artwork, I have stolen from you. I have taken something from you that you can not replace, the ability to sell and any profits from those sales. If I begrudge your name in the process (say by installing malware in the photo), then I have stolen some of your good reputation.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

You're right it is not intended for encrypted DVDs.

Thanks - nice to know. And you can 'thank' the DMCA for that.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Are you sure about that? The specs I've seen mention 'home DVD movies', i.e. ones you've recorded yourself, not commercial ones with DRM.

I am not into movies or music much so I am asking from a point of little knowledge on DRM in these areas.

I recently bought my sister a Lenovo laptop that has software that will rip an audio CD installed on it. My sister is so far from a pirate that she doesn't use the internet ever.

But she is happily ripping her cds to listen to on her MP3 player. They are commercial CDs.

My question is does CD ripping software have to have DRM removal tools/abilities to be considered a possible piracy tool?

Helen

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Lazer

"When you purchase a paper book, you have the right to sell, resell or lend your copy as you see fit. So why is it not the same for a digital version of the same book?"

My answer: Ebooks are different than print books. They should be priced with this in mind. That's why my books are double-priced between the ebook and print book (btw, my royalty is about the same). The print book may be worth more since you can sell it. And yes, you can loan an Amazon ebook.

I think that the reason that it is not the same for ebooks as for print books probably has more to do with logistical issues than pricing issues. The resale value of print books has plummeted in the last ten years. Selling my once read pbook to a used book store is hardly worth the effort anymore.

The problem with ebook resale seems to me to relate to the inability of anyone to figure out how to transfer the book without the original owner retaining a copy, and how to prevent the used ebook seller from reselling more than one copy of an ebook he has bought for resale.

"When you purchase a paper book, you have the right to sell, resell or lend your copy as you see fit. So why is it not the same for a digital version of the same book?"

My answer: It's no different than buying music from iTunes. Its yours and only yours and it's cheaper than buying the CD and paying the mailing and manufacturing costs. Wanna listen for a while and then sell it? Buy the CD. Same with a paper book these days.

See my answer above. It's even easier to copy an mp3 than it is to strip DRM. The reason you can't resell the mp3 is the same as I said above - there's no way to control the copies.

Personally, I buy CDs for three reasons:

In the case of classical music, the sound quality is better, whether I listen to the CD on my player or rip it at a higher bit rate than generally offered by downloads.

In the case of other music, I buy the CDs to support the artist, & generally buy from the artist's web site.

And I buy them as gifts. In part, it's the sheer physicality. But it's also that a CD is more than just a storage system for single tunes. It's a presentation by the artist, framed in terms of an artistic esthetic which the artist has brought to bear at the album level. That's something you don't get a the single tune download level.

Resale has nothing to do with it.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Heh. Not only do I not use DRM, I have a page in the book that states that the book is DRM-free and also encourages the reader to email me for a replacement copy if they believe the store erroneously applied DRM to the book. And I also have a line in there encouraging sharing, lending, copying, etc. -- right underneath the Creative Commons Copyright notice.

So, no, I don't use DRM and I think it is utterly valueless to me.

Have you ever thought of putting a tip jar on your web site, and including a line in your books pointing to your web site?

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Lazer

I would have absolutely no problem with it. It's your copy. Move it to Calibre and print it if you want. I just don't want to see my copyright violated and somebody trying to distribute it for free, or worse to sell it for their profit. (not that my works are worth much)

I have to say - speaking as a lawyer though not a copyright specialist - that I believe your understanding of what copyright is all about is spot-on.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Sony Readers are far from dead. I know several people in real life who own their readers.

Yep. I have a couple of Sonys, which I prefer to my Kindle. I tend to buy from Amazon because it's dirt simple, but I routinely strip the DRM & convert to epub because I'd rather read on Sony.

These days, I only use my Kindle when I travel. That's because I can make it my one-stop reading device not only for ebooks, but for web articles which I can use my iPhone to Send to Kindle via Instapaper or Readability.

But when I'm at home, I read on my Sony & do the other stuff on my iPad.

Sony's weakness is not the device, but the Adobe/Library ecosystem.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Have you ever thought of putting a tip jar on your web site, and including a line in your books pointing to your web site?

Pretty sure this was tongue in cheek, but it might actually work. A reasonable restaurant server or taxi driver can make well in excess of 50K a year in tips and it is a concept that people are familiar with.

Perhaps someone will become the next internet billionaire with a paypal like site called tipjar.com

Helen

[Belle2Be]

I hate that whole " I dont want it duplicated" argument. So if i have a digital copy and read it then send it to my mom and delete the one on my hard drive, would that make it better? Does it really matter if it sits on my hd wasting away even though I'm not likely to read it again?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

My question is does CD ripping software have to have DRM removal tools/abilities to be considered a possible piracy tool?

CDs don't have any DRM applied to them, so the DRM-circumvention laws don't apply, only the fair use rules.

So US companies can't write/sell DVD-ripping software, but can write/sell CD-ripping software.

Even though, from the user's point of view, there's no difference in the two situations.