In an attempt to further erode your rights and encroach on the realm of fair use, the music industry is sinking more money into preventing you from using your own music that you’ve bought and paid for the way you’d like to use it instead of sinking more money into finding oh, I don’t know, actual talent or new music that will invigorate their industry. A textbook example of an industry that has absolutely no problems with beating the dead horse that is their customer base (namely because that customer base simply won’t stand up for themselves and make a statement back at the music industry) has made another move indicating that they’ll either sue you, infringe on your rights, take your money, or perhaps all three, is now introducing new technology on music CDs that is designed to limit the number of copies of the CD you can make, and will get in the way of you putting your freshly bought tunes on your favorite mp3 player.
Yes, you heard me right-you bought the music, it’s yours-or is it? Not if the music industry has anything to say about it. They’re fighting tooth and nail to retain as much control over how you use the music as possible, what you do with it, how you listen to it, where you listen to it, and how, if at all, you share it with other listeners. Sony BMG and EMI are the first to introduce this technology (which isn’t specifically surprising in itself) and Sony’s technology specifically targets the iPod in order to limit your ability to rip your Sony-owned artist’s tunes to the ever-popular iPod, without specifically requesting a workaround from them. The usual arguments are already stirring; what is fair use, what rights do you have, how do you get around this technology (and it really is only a matter of time before its cracked), and more, but in reality this leads to a larger question-how far can the entertainment industry go on walking into your living room and telling you how to enjoy the product they sold you, and how much do you own it?
[ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121949,pg,1,00.asp ]