[mythtv-users] A prediction is coming true, faster than I thought

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Tue Jul 17 21:15:02 UTC 2007


David Brodbeck wrote:
> On Jul 17, 2007, at 1:15 PM, Brian Wood wrote:
>> Have you ever heard of someone driving to a record store instead of
>> DLing a song because they were worried about being sued by the RIAA? I
>> haven't.
> 
> It took the RIAA a long time to figure out that a lot of people were  
> pirating music because it was convenient, not because it was cheap.   
> I haven't felt the urge download MP3s off any of the file sharing  
> networks since iTunes came on the scene.  It's not worth the trouble  
> of trying to track down a decent illegal copy when I can buy a  
> legitimate one for $0.99 with a few mouse clicks.

Agreed, and that's precisely what I do.

However, I was trying to convince my teenage niece to "do the right
thing". She told me the problem was that what she wanted was not
available on iTunes.

Hoping to prove her wrong, I sat at my machine to show her how easy it
was, and of course what she wanted was not available.

After purchasing the CD for her at the local store (I think the fuel to
get there cost more than the CD) I discovered the problem: the CD had
some sort of "parental warning" about "explicit lyrics". I'm assuming
that's why it was not on iTunes, they have no way to verify the age of a
user (my niece is 18 BTW).

Thing is, I listened to that CD very carefully (and hated it), but I
never could hear anything I'd consider even mildly offensive in any way.
I hear "worse" stuff on the evening news or prime-time sitcoms.

I guess I can understand Apple's position, but again, the convenience of
an "illegal" download, as opposed to a trip to a store, is hard to beat.
Not everyone lives a block or two from a record store.

But iTunes is certainly a step in the right direction. I read recently
that they are the number 3 music retailer in the USA. I'm sure the
brick-and-mortar stores have taken notice.

BEWW


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