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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:09 pm Post subject: Does anybody still buy CDs? | |
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With all the recent hubbub about sony, the RIAA etc. I'm wondering if anybody here still buys music on CD and, if so, why?
I gave up on CD's long ago: Most of the music sucks, the prices are absurd, and the industry associations' actions are reprehensible. Until a suitable digital distribution model appears I'm content to listen to my current collection and pirate the odd album. |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:32 am Post subject: Re: Does anybody still buy CDs? | |||
What does Sony's software/spyware fumble have to do with buying pre-recorded music CDs?
Perhaps because that's how the world is supposed to run - production, sale, consumption? If you take sale out of that equation, how exactly are you supposed to sustain production, financially? Personally, aside from the occasional "must have" album once or twice a year, I stopped buying CDs a while ago. Mostly because I prefer to listen to live broadcasts, be it on the car/portable radio, or online. |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
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Location: Greenville, North Carolina
| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:02 pm Post subject: | |
| Yahoo has unlimited music downloads for $5.99 a month. Walmart charges $0.88 per song and there are many other choices such as itunes from apple, etc. Why buy 10 songs on a cd when you only like one song or two? Download & burn. | |
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:35 pm Post subject: | |||||||||
Distributing malicious software which in and of itself infringes on the copyrights of others for the purposes of preventing copyright infringement is hypocrisy at its finest. Yet another reason to stop buying.
Well, if your idea of how things are "supposed to run" includes cartels, price-fixing, lobbying the .gov to remove your fair-use rights, suing children and/or otherwise litigating a decrepit business model back into relevance etc., then maybe. But somehow I doubt that's what you meant.
By adapting to the market or getting out of the way so others can.
Can you recommend some online stations? |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 916
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:08 am Post subject: | |
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kanaka: What does Sony's software/spyware fumble have to do with buying pre-recorded music CDs?
sleK: 1. Distributing malicious software which in and of itself infringes on the copyrights of others for the purposes of preventing copyright infringement is hypocrisy at its finest. 2. Yet another reason to stop buying. 1. I agree, fully. I almost fell out of the chair when I first read that over a week ago. What in the world were they thinking?! 2. So for the unscrupulousness of one (or more) company, you are willing to punish the whole industry? I have similar feelings as yourself where the RIAA and the MPAA are concerned, btw, but the "Yet another reason to stop buying" statement, which is grounded in this Sony snafu, is a bit strong, imho. Sony's screwup was strictly a Sony afair. Microsoft has crossed that same spyware line many, many times, yet I doubt that you're boycotting the whole software industry in the same manner that you are the music industry. Or are you? kanaka: Perhaps because that's how the world is supposed to run - production, sale, consumption? sleK: Well, if your idea of how things are "supposed to run" includes cartels, price-fixing, lobbying the .gov to remove your fair-use rights, suing children and/or otherwise litigating a decrepit business model back into relevance etc., then maybe. But somehow I doubt that's what you meant. I take it then that you don't wear clothes, shoes, cookware, tupperware, buy software, hardware, everything computers are made of, don't own a car, don't buy gasoline for that car, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. To some degree or another, each of your quoted practices are present in the production or delivery process of of one or more of the aforementioned consumables. kanaka: If you take sale out of that equation, how exactly are you supposed to sustain production, financially? sleK: By adapting to the market or getting out of the way so others can. You can adapt to the market all you want, but you still have to sell your product in order to sustain yourself as a financially viable business. My original question remains unanswered - If you take "sale" out of that equation, how exactly are you supposed to sustain production, financially? sleK: Can you recommend some online stations? Do you want to give me a hint, or did you want me to roll the genre dice? 
I'm quite certain that you would be familiar with shoutcast, but I thought I'd mention it anyhooo. I love cruising different countries' radio stations on shoutcast. I just pick a different country every other week, enter it in the search field, go for a spin, try out a few stations during the course of the week and either settle on a couple of favorites to toggle, or move on to another country altogether. Way more exciting than listening to the same shite played in half-hour loops on the local "Top of The Best of The Award Winning Multi Platinum Plated Pops" radio stations. This week we "travel" to Brasil. 
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:44 am Post subject: | |||||||||
"Yet another reason" quite clearly indicates that the sony snafu is "yet another reason", as in "the most recent of many reasons", to stop purchasing CD's. Sony's screw-up is indicative of the entire industry's attitude towards consumers.
Have any relevant examples?
It matters not. A business has no right to "financial viability". Tis the nature of a free market, no? If the market isn't buying, tough luck. Adapt or get out of the way.
Heard of it but never used it. Thanks though! I'm going to spend some time there tomorrow. |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:03 am Post subject: | |||||||
Examples of what? Petroleum industry mafia? Price-fixing in the same, as well as software, clothing, cosmetics? Threatening, fining/suing people (kids/adults/no matter) over the "sharing" of things other than music?
By definition a business is a commercial enterprise or establishment. A commercial establishment, by definition, has profit as its chief aim. Profit is, by definition, an advantageous gain or return. If a business has no right to that profit, then what exactly is the point of business in the first place? That's what I meant by "financial viability" - the capability to grow, develop and sustain itself through profit. Free market does not mean a market where goods are free.
I agree with that point, but the conditions we've placed the "intangibles" industries under are quite unfair, when compared to the rest. I mean, we still have no problem buying the fancy perfumes, the designer wear, the posh sneakers, even though we're ofttimes up in arms about the ridiculous pricing. Yet when it comes to music, movies and wares, we all of a sudden see no problem "sharing". Remember, the playing field used to be more level when there was no "sharing". Well, there was, but not to this extent. We went around cloning tapes, but we had to have that original, store bought recording, because running around with a bunch of home made clones was just way uncool. Nowadays, it's become too aceptable to have a 90% clone content in your audio/video library, moreso music. All I'm saying is that the playing field has become grossly unbalanced and we're taking out all our frustrations on one industry, while blindly ignoring all the rest. Were we to pay the same "attention" to the clothing, auto, cosmetics, petroleum and other industries, I would probably side more with you in your arguements. Picking strictly on the "easy way out" intangibles, i.e. freeloading music and films in the morning and then going out to buy $90 perfumes in the afternoon in a pair of $200 "made in China" sneakers, makes us, in my view, much bigger hypocrites than Sony. Hypocrites and leeches. Go China!
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 3:46 pm Post subject: | |||||||||||
Yes. You suggested earlier that the specific practices I'm protesting exist in a number of industries "to some degree or another" and thereby implied that my support of those industries would be hypocritical in light of my position regarding the recording industry. I'd like to test the implication of hypocrisy.
Business has no right to profit (that's a verb, not a noun). Your original suggestion that without sales, a business cannot sustain production and your question, If you take sale out of that equation, how exactly are you supposed to sustain production, financially?, both imply that business has some inalienable right to sales and therefore financial viability. This is simply not the case in a free market.
Unfair indeed. What law prevents you from sharing your fancy perfumes, or lending your designer clothes to friends? None. What law prevents you from putting your fancy perfumes in a number of different bottles and distributing them to your friends? None. So yes, the conditions we've placed on intangibles are completely out of whack but not for the reasons you suggest. What's so special about intellectual property that it requires increasingly draconian protections?
That's a bold assertion. Lest we forget the uproar over the advent of the VCR, it's implications of piracy, and the astronomical profits it subsequently brought to the movie industry.
The clothing, auto, cosmetics, petroleum and "other" industries are not actively seeking to limit and/or eliminate your rights as a consumer. Nor are they surreptitiously seeking to prevent the lawful use of their products. Again, there is no law to prevent you from modifying your clothes, sharing your car, repackaging your cosmetics, or even huffing gas. |
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Joined: 01 Dec 2005
Posts: 2
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:13 pm Post subject: | |
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I still buy CD's mostly because I want the best sound quality.
If there is a single song I want (only one song off an album) then I will use Limewire to get it and then burn a CD. The record companies/artists are not losing any money by me doing this simply because I woud never buy a CD for one song anyway. |
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