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azuriteYou know, I've never liked RIAA. Or any other person, industry, company, or other organization that bitches about the usage of file sharing programs on the Internet. I used Napster back when it was free and new, and at any given time, there might be a few THOUSAND people on the net, sharing a few hundred GIGS. I've since progressed; there were hours I spent exploiting Audiogalaxy in Journalism class; time and hard drive space wasted with Morpheus and Kazaa. Now I use Kazaa Lite, and no one is going to stop me.
Let's look at my 3.5+GB collection of music, shall we?
The majority of it is Anime songs. Stuff you WILL NOT find on Audiogalaxy (*cough* Excuse me, Rhapsody!) or iTunes. The reason being that songs created in Japan don't follow the same copyright laws as the US, and they get distributed everywhere. While the RIAA seems to think they can save an artist eleven cents if they stop people from downloading MP3s using p2p, no one is going to Taiwan or Hong-Kong and beating down the doors of the Son May burners, or any of the other illegal burners of CDs, DVDs, and other media-- from all around the world!
Looking at the songs that are NOT from Anime, I've got some pretty obscure stuff-- a lot of it singles I read the lyrics from in songfics or filks. You won't see me buying entire CDs for these sort of songs. I'd buy a single if it was available, but most of the time, singles aren't made anymore. They're released only to the radio. Or, some of the songs are from movie soundtracks, MovieTunes, video games, or AMVs. When possible, I *do* buy the CDs to support the artist. Out of my entire collection of CDs, only *ONE* is an utterly illegal rip, and that is Avril Lavigne's "Let Go." And you know what? I regret that, because it'd be cool to have her CD lyric book, or the DVD with the special song you can't get anywhere else.
EVERY OTHER CD I OWN is something I PAID FOR! Or got as a gift, but that's the same difference.
What is the point of trying to stop people from getting MP3s? It's not so much a matter of saving the artist money, because they get such a miniscule amount from each download that it doesn't matter. MOVIES I can understand, but music? Grow up. Mixes, especially, are increasingly hard to find-- some are only released on not-bought CDs that are never released anywhere else. Look at all my Mikaila remixes-- I have those only because I was in journalism, and snagged all her CDs (full, remix, research hook, radio interview) before anyone else could. Those songs aren't on her CD. This applies to a LOT of songs-- you'll hear one version on the radio, but it's not the same one as on the CD. So where do you turn?
Let's say you're looking to make an AMV. Or an Anime Music Video, for the uninformed. How do you go about putting music to your movie, without an MP3?Hundreds of AMVs are made with music from US artists-- and you know what? A lot of people, including myself, find themselves liking the music from the AMVs so much that they look up the artist and BUY THE CD! Some of my AMV music includes Apollo 440's "Stop The Rock" (which I originally heard on the US version of "Unison" the video game), E. Nomine's "Mitternacht," and Peter Schilling's "Major Tom." These are the ONLY songs by these artists that I can genuinely say I know and like-- I have no desire to spend $15, $29, or however much money on a full CD! And even if there WAS a single for each of these, who's to guarantee that it would be easy to find, or would have the exact song I was looking for-- and not some remix?
What pisses me off is ads like "I Download. Legally." Oh whoop de doo! You know what? iTunes is probably one of the only places where you can download "legally" --and isn't that a monopoly? What about those families that got sued? Yeah, so they're featured on a Superbowl commercial, shown to millions of people around the world-- I'd be pretty damn embarassed if I were them. The RIAA and the artists supporting it have their head in the dirt about how the industry works these days; it doesn't help any for the RIAA to damage a song and then put it back on the 'Net. Because you know what? Someone will just delete the file and keep looking. I know I have. I'll find Aerosmith's "Dream On" eventually. Millions of people out there have it. Why not me?
The things They don't keep in mind--
* MP3s are smaller in size than CDA or WMA files-- therefore, we can get MORE of them.
* For people that like to make their own mixes or compilations, MP3s is the only way to go. You can't cut and paste from one CD to another, and then switch CDs because that other CD has a track on it you want. Get all the MP3s, mix, and burn. It's so much easier.
* For hard-to-find CDs (even US released ones), MP3s are much more accessible. Like Dance Remixes --the kinds of things played at Clubs. Dated music, such as Best Hits from 2001, are nigh near impossible to get in everyday CD stores. True, one could check out eBay or Amazon.com for these kind of things, but with a few clicks of your mouse, you could have the MP3, and none of the risk.
I don't hate Macs or Apples as much as you think. I like their look, their speed, their accessibility. But I don't like the shmucks running the company. I don't like their policies, and I DETEST how they make themselves out to be the martyrs of the music world, saving and revolutionizing everything for everyone. What garbage.
http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/
Let's look at my 3.5+GB collection of music, shall we?
The majority of it is Anime songs. Stuff you WILL NOT find on Audiogalaxy (*cough* Excuse me, Rhapsody!) or iTunes. The reason being that songs created in Japan don't follow the same copyright laws as the US, and they get distributed everywhere. While the RIAA seems to think they can save an artist eleven cents if they stop people from downloading MP3s using p2p, no one is going to Taiwan or Hong-Kong and beating down the doors of the Son May burners, or any of the other illegal burners of CDs, DVDs, and other media-- from all around the world!
Looking at the songs that are NOT from Anime, I've got some pretty obscure stuff-- a lot of it singles I read the lyrics from in songfics or filks. You won't see me buying entire CDs for these sort of songs. I'd buy a single if it was available, but most of the time, singles aren't made anymore. They're released only to the radio. Or, some of the songs are from movie soundtracks, MovieTunes, video games, or AMVs. When possible, I *do* buy the CDs to support the artist. Out of my entire collection of CDs, only *ONE* is an utterly illegal rip, and that is Avril Lavigne's "Let Go." And you know what? I regret that, because it'd be cool to have her CD lyric book, or the DVD with the special song you can't get anywhere else.
EVERY OTHER CD I OWN is something I PAID FOR! Or got as a gift, but that's the same difference.
What is the point of trying to stop people from getting MP3s? It's not so much a matter of saving the artist money, because they get such a miniscule amount from each download that it doesn't matter. MOVIES I can understand, but music? Grow up. Mixes, especially, are increasingly hard to find-- some are only released on not-bought CDs that are never released anywhere else. Look at all my Mikaila remixes-- I have those only because I was in journalism, and snagged all her CDs (full, remix, research hook, radio interview) before anyone else could. Those songs aren't on her CD. This applies to a LOT of songs-- you'll hear one version on the radio, but it's not the same one as on the CD. So where do you turn?
Let's say you're looking to make an AMV. Or an Anime Music Video, for the uninformed. How do you go about putting music to your movie, without an MP3?Hundreds of AMVs are made with music from US artists-- and you know what? A lot of people, including myself, find themselves liking the music from the AMVs so much that they look up the artist and BUY THE CD! Some of my AMV music includes Apollo 440's "Stop The Rock" (which I originally heard on the US version of "Unison" the video game), E. Nomine's "Mitternacht," and Peter Schilling's "Major Tom." These are the ONLY songs by these artists that I can genuinely say I know and like-- I have no desire to spend $15, $29, or however much money on a full CD! And even if there WAS a single for each of these, who's to guarantee that it would be easy to find, or would have the exact song I was looking for-- and not some remix?
What pisses me off is ads like "I Download. Legally." Oh whoop de doo! You know what? iTunes is probably one of the only places where you can download "legally" --and isn't that a monopoly? What about those families that got sued? Yeah, so they're featured on a Superbowl commercial, shown to millions of people around the world-- I'd be pretty damn embarassed if I were them. The RIAA and the artists supporting it have their head in the dirt about how the industry works these days; it doesn't help any for the RIAA to damage a song and then put it back on the 'Net. Because you know what? Someone will just delete the file and keep looking. I know I have. I'll find Aerosmith's "Dream On" eventually. Millions of people out there have it. Why not me?
The things They don't keep in mind--
* MP3s are smaller in size than CDA or WMA files-- therefore, we can get MORE of them.
* For people that like to make their own mixes or compilations, MP3s is the only way to go. You can't cut and paste from one CD to another, and then switch CDs because that other CD has a track on it you want. Get all the MP3s, mix, and burn. It's so much easier.
* For hard-to-find CDs (even US released ones), MP3s are much more accessible. Like Dance Remixes --the kinds of things played at Clubs. Dated music, such as Best Hits from 2001, are nigh near impossible to get in everyday CD stores. True, one could check out eBay or Amazon.com for these kind of things, but with a few clicks of your mouse, you could have the MP3, and none of the risk.
I don't hate Macs or Apples as much as you think. I like their look, their speed, their accessibility. But I don't like the shmucks running the company. I don't like their policies, and I DETEST how they make themselves out to be the martyrs of the music world, saving and revolutionizing everything for everyone. What garbage.
http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/
