--NOTE This is an old post from my old blog site.--

>>01.13.04

>>>Now for a rant that will probably not make any sense to anyone, but I have to get this off my chest. I was reading some tech news on the web today when I read something that really irritated me. Maybe, you ought to read it first so that it will make more sense to you. Here is the link.

>>>I can't imagine anything more dense than the stance taken by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA). Give me a break! The NMPA is completely missing the point. By demanding to be paid twice for the same song that is recorded to one disc, they are blocking a technology that combats the very thing that is losing them money by the bucket load!

>>>I own a Dell DJ. It is incredibly handy to be able to take my entire music collection with me wherever I go. It is imperative to me to be able to put music that I have purchased on my Dell DJ and take it with me. I have no problem artists and publishers being paid for their work. That is only fair. But, I am vehemently opposed to technology that prevents me from using the music that I have paid for in the legal way I see fit.

>>>Macrovision, a content protection company, has come up with a way to press CDs that disallows the creation of MP3s to protect against piracy. This also impedes non-pirates from being able to put the music on their MP3 Players which is a fair and legal use. Macrovision answers that issue by recording a second version on the disc that is downloadable to the owners MP3 Player. (Ipod had better allow WMAs or their users will be out in the cold with these new discs.)

>>>Though I haven't had a chance to try out one of these CD's, it seems like a fair compromise. But, the NPMA wants to be paid twice. Unwittingly, they are making themselves a legal road block to the technology that in the long run will make them money. This shows a tremendous lack of vision and foresight on their part. The clamor and fight for short-term profits seems to be standing in the way of long-term solutions that protect the revenue streams of the content producers, and more importantly allow me, to listen to the music I've purchased on my MP3 player.

>>>NPMA = Morons.