iTunes. Still at 99 cents for audio content! WHOOPEE! YEE HAW! HIP-HIP-HOORAY!….and so on. You would think it was the second coming or something. I mean big deal, you’re still paying 99 cents for songs at what some consider a crappy format and severely condensed. There are alternatives like allofmp3.com where your cost is based on how much you download (file sizes), not on how many songs you download. It is very cheap and perfectly legal….in Russia. Yes, allofmp3.com is a Russian site. This means you’re handing over your credit card information to a country where a good chunk of online scams and frauds are originating from.
Besides, isn’t the use of copyright material subject to the laws of the host country where the the material is going to be used? I sincerely doubt that Russian copyright laws would be recognized as valid or upholdable for such material if used in countries other than Russia.
Consider some of the court cases that the RIAA has brought against individuals. In almost every case, the computer where (so-called) illegal copyright materials was found, forced the owner of that computer to show a legal copy of the song in question. If no legal copy based on US copyright law could be produced, they were fined. Showing a receipt from allofmp3.com would mean nothing since they are not the US copyright holder for the material and the copyright holder for the material would be justified in saying that it was an illegal copy.
Everything I have in my iTunes library is either legally free content, gotten from legal sources (like iTunes), or I have physical possession of an album or CD. So I don’t worry about it.
Whether you like it or not, you and everything you have on your computer are subject to the copyright laws as written for the country where you use the product. I won’t presume that you live in the US, but unless you can quote a precedent or specific law that allows for copyright material obtained from sources not recognized as legal in the country you live in, they are illegal downloads and possession of them will subject you to fines or whatever legal recourse the copyright holder has at its disposal.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the RIAA and MPAA are doomed as their stances in most cases concerning copyright are ridiculous. The problem is that they just take sooo long to die. They’ll go after some little girl and their mother in Indiana, but won’t step foot in areas that big pirates are located. It’s no secret that the middle east, china, india, ect, have huge facilities whose only job is to pirate music and movies. Why not go after those people instead of some poor schmuck who’s questionable taste for Brittney SimpSpears led them to P2P it.
Getting back to the topic at hand, for those who legally aquire music or video from iTunes, this is good news. Be thankful that someone would stand up to the record companies to keep downloads relatively cheap and simple. The fact that Apple did it not for altruistic reasons (they really don’t make much on downloads, it’s there to sell iPods) but for their own benefit doesn’t really matter as much as the end result.
If you don’t like iTunes or Apple, hey, no sweat off my back. Choose another digital music player and service. But do it legally to keep fascist orgs like the RIAA at bay. Just my opinion
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