Re:Re:Re:Re:what do you all think of napster?

[708]Re:Re:Re:Re:what do you all think of napster? (390 reads)	2001-02-26 10:51:57

James Walker

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Ben wrote (excerpt):

*I was unable to find your pieces on Napster, but I did notice you had them at MP3.com for free - how is this different?*

Ben:

I've offered those mp3s from my CD as a promotion, to try and create some interest in the actual disc. The big difference is: this decision was made by me, the person who owns the copyright to the material; I *chose* to offer them at no charge, much the same way that a grocery store might offer free samples of food, or like a car dealer will let you test-drive a car, or like a software developer will offer limited "shareware" versions of their products.

When an mp3 file starts getting circulated around Napster, however, the owner of the copyright no longer has a say in the distribution of his/her own materials. Also, to this point distribution on Napster has included no royalties for the artists, but the folks at Napster are making money through offering their service.

I don't mean to turn this into a "Napster: good or evil?" thread - that debate has been hammered on both sides all over the Internet. I just wanted to explain how I see the difference between *me* offering my materials at no cost, vs. others distributing the discs at no cost without the artists' permission.

I agree with you that generally speaking, CDs are horribly overpriced. FWIW, I'm selling mine at $10.00 apiece, far less than what most CDs list for. And believe me, I can still recall (and relate to) the financial burden of being a student. However, I don't accept it as an excuse for getting recordings free of cost; like someone wrote on the rec.audio.pro newsgroup, "when they come out with 'laundry-ster,' 'grocery-ster,' 'apartment-ster,' 'automobile-ster,' and the like, offering all of these *other* services and products free of charge, then we can talk about "Napster."

You can test drive a car at an automobile dealership, with the dealer's permission. You can't make copies of the car keys and come back at any hour of the day or night, to drive that same car anywhere you want. That's the difference, IMHO.

JW

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