This could all be avoided ...
... if the record companies put in place a fair and usable system which they should have done years ago.
The problem is that they've been overcharging - no way will I pay the same price for a downloaded album as a CD. Afterall - there's no CD production, no artwork, no shipping, no shelf space, no middleman to pay etc. etc. so I simply refuse to be ripped off. I can't remember the exact figure (I'm sure someone round here will have it) which the record company bleated about a few years back that they get back from a CD sale after costs, HMV's pound of flesh etc. I think it was in the region of £1. So that would equate to about 10p a track - which actually is a little generous if its 14 tracks. At 79p a track I expect a free blow job from Paris as well.
My experience a few years back really sums up the music industry's attitude to consumers - and now why I steal all my music rather than give them a penny. I bought an album by a small indie group I like - to support them and the record label. ALL my music is on my PC as that's how I listen to it - so the first thing I did was try to rip it. Due to copy protection my PC cd drive wouldn't even recognise it. So in order to listen to it ... I had to illegally download it. I emailed the label to ask them about this - and got a very terse reply about how I was committing a criminal act by doing this - and copy protection was there to prevent evil people like me from stealing music. When I'd bought the sodding thing ! I returned the CD for a refund and resolved not to bother buying music again.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
