Re: [dvd-discuss] More Copy Protection

[Noah silva <nsilva(at)atari-source.com>]

On Mon, 1 Oct 2001, steve bryan wrote:

> >On Thursday 27 September 2001 12:23, you wrote:
> >>  I hadn't heard that it is not legal to rent audio CDs. Do you have a
...
> >>  personal property as one sees fit (other than burning it to create toxic
> >>  waste ;-)
> >
> >There's already case law establishing that used CD sales are legal.
> >So all the shop needs to do is sell the CD, and accept returns for
> >somewhat less than they sell for.  Deposit and rental all taken care
> >of at once.
> >
> 
> My apology if my observation that attempts were made to outlaw sales 
> of used CD's were misinterpreted as a claim that such sales are 
...
> especially if you live in a city with a substantial college age 
> population.

such as mine.  I don't usually buy used CDs, as I prefer to get them in
pristine condition, copy them to the computer, to MD, or to a CD-R for
use, and lock the new CDs up so they don't get scratched, etc.  At any
rate, there are a lot of used CD stores here.
 
> What I was 'claiming' is that rental of audio CD's is illegal in the 
> US. I wasn't certain of that so I was asking if anyone knew that 
> claim to be false. 

I think he was assuming that renting them is indeed illegal under US law,
and showing how you could avoid the "renting" part, while still, in
effect, renting, by selling, and accepting returns, minus a re-stocking
fee.

> The question arose because apparently it is legal 
> to rent audio CD's in Japan and they actively encourage consumers to 
> purchase blank MD's which could be used to produce accurate 
> compressed digital copies.

(this is correct, I am the one who brought it up).

> This has always left me with the feeling 
> that the war on MP3's was particularly hypocritical.  The same 
> companies that question your moral fitness if you create MP3's from 
> your own CD collection (and make no mistake, the RIAA claims this is 
> illegal, they are simply refraining from prosecution) sells and 
> profits from equipment used to similarly created MD compressions of 
> the same CD's. Go figure.

which was my point to start.  MD actually usually sounds better than
mp3. (to be correct, newer versions of the ATRAC codec sound better than
mp3 encoded at standard rates).  The industry doesn't mind in this case
because:
a.) They get money from the rentals of the CDs.
b.) They get money from the sales of the MD decks.
c.) They get money from the sales of blanks.

Because it isn't easy to make a perfect digital copy of an MD (you either
need a pro MD deck, or a modified MD-data drive with custom software),
they can be sure that lots of people will rent the CD, instead of renting
it and passing an mp3 around.  Why do you think they go to such lengths to
make sure stuff like the sony Memory Stick walkman won't let you copy
songs back onto the PC?  

 thanks,
     noah silva