Service lets you copy iTunes downloads

[Dr. Bob]

Service lets you copy iTunes downloads


A start-up co-founded by famed Norwegian hacker "DVD Jon" is introducing a service that enables users to copy and use copy-protected Apple iTunes songs on many popular non-Apple devices.


The San Francisco-based company, doubleTwist, is releasing a service that makes it easy for consumers to share both user-generated and professionally created audio, photos and video clips via computers, certain mobile phones or PSP game players.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/service-lets-you-copy-itunes-downloads/2008/02/20/1203467162065.html
(http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/service-lets-you-copy-itunes-downloads/2008/02/20/1203467162065.html)

[Dubnick]

Is there really a need for this? I mean, didn't Steve Jobs himself basically stopped just short of describing the already widely known means of bypassing the iTunes DRM in an open letter a few months ago? For the record, I hope with all the anti-DRM sentiment out there, that the baby doesn't get thrown out with the bathwater - while offering DRM free files may not hurt established major label acts and, in fact, may help them, I think it will hurt the independent artists who are putting out there own product and hoping to maintain some kind of revenue stream from thier recordings, aside from licensing for tv, film, etc.

[Bob Olhsson]

You'll notice that once again this is a case of investment bankers financing an assault on every artists' property rights.

They'll wag their fingers at the RIAA as their gun is being fired at the artist's head.

[Dubnick]

I agree, and the sad part is, when you talk with young artists, they are either so unaware of the business end of things or so conflicted about treating what they do as a business, that they are likely to let thier rights be trampled on. A real bummer. I actually avoid looking at this forum, which is actually an awesome forum, just cause it bums me out so much. We're at a place in history with such great potential for artists to take back control of thier careers and it's just being squandered. It's like watching a slow motion trainwreck.

[Bob Olhsson]

I think the first step is looking the beast square in the eye.

I know in my heart we can outsmart him.

[Dubnick]

I think the first step is looking the beast square in the eye.

I know in my heart we can outsmart him.True, but I have the feeling that the artists are not likely to do so, or even know that they should, and that's the only thing that's gonna make this new version of the industry work.

[radiationroom]

True, but I have the feeling that the artists are not likely to do so, or even know that they should, and that's the only thing that's gonna make this new version of the industry work.

MUSIC'S NUMBER ONE ENEMY ARE THE LEGIONS OF ASPIRING MUSICIANS WHO ARE WILLING TO DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING TO SEE THEIR FACE ON MTV, THE COVER OF ROLLING STONE, THE CMA AWARDS, AMERICAN IDOL, ETC, ETC, ETC.

Steve Albini has the most colorful metaphorical description of what desperate musicians will do as part of his article, "The Problem With Music", posted online courtesy of the people at Mercenary Audio - http://www.mercenary.com/probwitmusby.html

Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed.

Nobody can see what's printed on the contract. It's too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody's eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there's only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says "Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke. And he does of course.

While the description above is obviously metaphorical, what he is describing is the exact same phenomena that I bitch about all the time, except he sees it from a different viewpoint and points the finger at the industry. I point the finger at the musicians for allowing themselves to be suckered and for their willingness to sign bad contracts. Like the old saying goes, "....there is one born every minute...." and for some reason known only to God it seems like each and every one of them turns into an aspiring musician. UGH! :Mad:

[radiationroom]

I actually avoid looking at this forum,

I love this forum. It is THEE ONLY webboard in the history of the universe where intelligent life migrates in large enough numbers that strategies to truly advance the human cause can be discussed with out little gen-L DiGiRaTi aiming their flamethrower at you.

We're at a place in history with such great potential for artists to take back control of thier careers and it's just being squandered.

With role models like Chuck D, Amii Mann, Joni Mitchell, Roger McGuinn, and others who allowed themselves to be screwed by the system and are now screaming about it like crying babies in soiled diapers, is it any wonder as to why music is in such bad shape? No one forced any of them to sign any contract, so they only have themselves to blame.

What most people seem to miss is that the major labels are publicly traded companies, and the scams that go on inside of them are by no means limited to the music biz. All you need to do is take a good hard look at how Wall Street operates and you will realize just how pale record company shenanigans are in comparison to some of the stunts that major insurance and banking companies pull every day. Except that it is fashionable within the media to bash major music while it is hands off Chase and Citi and Blue Shield.

[ggunn]

What most people seem to miss is that the major labels are publicly traded companies, and the scams that go on inside of them are by no means limited to the music biz. All you need to do is take a good hard look at how Wall Street operates and you will realize just how pale record company shenanigans are in comparison to some of the stunts that major insurance and banking companies pull every day. Except that it is fashionable within the media to bash major music while it is hands off Chase and Citi and Blue Shield.

Amen. Remember the S&L fiasco a few years ago, the bill for which was roughly $1000 for every man, woman, and child in this country? Remember them all saying that it was a shame that all that money was just "gone" (yeah, right), and how they were going to put safeguards in place to keep it from ever happening again?

Now we have the "sub prime lending" debacle which in all likelihood will be even more costly, and which is cleverly named something different so that we'll think it's something different, which it ain't. It's all about bad loans and the folks that make the decisions regarding those loans getting their cut whether or not the loan is ever repayed, so why should they care? It's about financial houses buying up those loans en masse and being paid up front by federally insured institutions for taking on the risk, so why should they care, either? The whole scheme collapses, and the bill cascades to the taxpayers; lots of people get rich and lots of others are thrown into the street.

And it's the same thing that happened last time. Guess who pays for it?

But I'm not bitter... much.