Thanks to Capriciously Her for bringing up this topic, something really delicate to *prove the point. *One Base philosophy. Why should we pay for what we buy ? Two Answers.
Emotional : Is that because, nothing is free and it wont stand long if we dont pay for it ?
Logic and Emotion : Is that because, we pay for the thing, so that we dont steal someone's bread (Prabhu Karthik's reflection on Capri's blog).
All righty then, with this let me tell you the Topic we are discussing. MP3 Piracy. When could you be a owner of MP3 and still be legal ? Thats when you have the original CDs or Cassettes of all the MP3s you own. You are legally permitted to convert the songs of your compression mechanisms, Provided you own the originals, and you dont get to distribute what you have compressed or the original (without prior permissions, blah blah blah ...)
With the popularity of MP3s on the net that are available for free downloads, you should get a feeling that MP3s are legal stuff. That varies from country to country. It has so happened in Chennai that Chennai Police have seized control of many MP3 guys (the makers) and a few MP3 holders (the Buyers). So be careful when you have MP3. Its potentially illegal.
But the way I see it (Dhoda !) It is soo much in my blood that even this corruption doesnt seem to be a big crime. I understand that the Music Director is paid. Singers and Lyricists are paid well in advance. Who is in Fix because of MP3 ? It is the Audio Company that releases the Album or the Movie Cassette/CD. Of course, due to un-distribution (what a word ?) of the cassettes the Music Director may have future impacts. Probable.
So, thats right. a few people do get affected because of this music piracy. But then, more people live by it too. Im amazed by the way the MP3s swarm into the Internet. The Ah Aaah was available the very moment it was released. (of course i downloaded it, cmon.. ).. So whats the revenue for these guys, who host MP3 ? Possibly someone is funding them.. otherwise they loose interest (Torrents are a different story). The option is right in front of us. The law cant be wierd to say, "You have something in front of you.. if you pick it up, that shall be a crime."
I dont really know. But the stand is MP3 piracy wont end this soon, as long as the Audio companies try to reduce the useless profit margin they host on every CD ? Why would a cassette cost Rs. 50 and a CD with the same songs cost Rs. 120, when the making cost is not that widely different. To me to download a movie's MP3, it takes 20 MB out of my 1GB limit. Working out the rates effectively paid for one movie MP3 it roughly costs Rs.2 /-.
I guess the Audio companies themselves can think of making the MP3 legal and selling it out themselves for a cheaper rate. [note : MP3 is poorer in quality than the CD Audio ]
7 comments:
thank you...for mentioning me :)
currently, i d/l stuff like nobody's business...so, me saying its right or wrong with be another saathan vedham odhufying :P ...i know it is illegal but i still do it for my own reasons...i will prob do it till they force me to stop...but i wont preach to others wht to do or wht not to do :)
but to be fair, i think there shud be 2 categories this debate can be based on...one for gud songs/movies & another for crap for which i think we are actually doing a favor to everyone concerned by d/ling :P
I don't think buying MP3 cds can be a crime. I've extrapolated the logic used for Porn cds where selling porn is a crime but buying is not.
Legal music downloads or pay-per-song will not be a big success in India cuz people will start sharing passwords with friends.
Downloading mp3 from a website, burning it in a CD and then selling it for a price is crime. But hosting mp3s for free is not. That's because the person who hosts the mp3s doesnot earn anything by putting them up.
pretend you let your friend borrow a cd and the friend burns it onto their computer. Is that a crime?
only selling of mp3s is illeagal. After all in the world where even dvd's can be ripped onto the computer why cant people 'share' these puny mp3 files.
Capriciously you, mhmm.. Good or bad movie/music.. piracy is now crime. But people arent going to Care. So, piracy is here to stay.. as you see it, ethics in entertainment is not required (by the way, Odhufy .. your vocabulary leaves me dumb-struck..)
Jacky, "Kondraal paavam - thindraal pochchu" .. konnuteenga. "Compress panninaal paavam, download panninaa pochchu". But lets see, Vikatan.com pay-read-site is a moderate success. Could work out this one too.
Krithika, are you sure. Im not sure.. people who host MP3 dedicated, have revenues coming in. Their sources need payments or investments. Gotta be money somewhere.
Ashwin, know what. EULA says, you cant even Dump the Windowds CD in your drive as a back up. Right people can very well share MP3. Im for it.
You hit the nail on its head. Unless they reduce the artificially high prices of CD's people are going to resort to pirated music.
When internet was not popular I remember buying English CD's (Yanni, Kenny G etc) for Rs. 500. At the same time I remember buying Tamil CD's for Rs. 350 - 400. That is daylight robbery. The prices have come down now....but they need to come down even further.
When Disney entered China, pirated VCD's were sold @ $1. Disney priced the originals at $2 and the entire public started buying the originals.
Indian music companies should start selling original MP3's soon. They more they delay this, more people are going to resort to illegal downloads.
Kaps, Oh yeah.. you are right. Those days were even arrogant. Wish all this comes to a decent end. I want to go to the shop and buy home videos of 3 month old movies. When is that happening ?
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