weckart said:
What "friend"? Skaler bought the iPod in a pawn shop and was replying to katie who clearly did not read the original post. Neither, it seems, did you.
I cannot see any reason why skaler should not assume that the songs belong to him since they can only be played on that particular iPod. If the previous owner has kept burnt copies of the songs - he or she should either have discarded them or wiped the songs off the iPod before pawning it. Skaler should have no reason not assume ownership as he paid fair price for it as set by the pawnshop, who is probably responsible for checking that the previous owner was handing over ownership.
When he bought the iPod, he didn't buy the right to own copies of the song; he bought the physical player, not the songs on it. The pawn shop does not have the authority to transfer the license to him.
skaler said:
Katie kachoo-I don't see that playing songs that came with the ipod is stealing any more that you using OS X or windows XP that came with your computer. The cost of the songs figured into the purchase price, though admittedly not a lot since 99% of them are junk to me.
It is not my friend's ipod, it's mine. All I want to do is free up some space so that I can install some of my tunes. You never bought a second hand CD?
When you bought the computer, you also bought a license to legally use the OS that came on it.
And when buying a second-hand CD, it's different. The CD is the only copy of the music the owner has. When he sells it, he is selling the only copy, not keeping one for himself. iPod is different: There's a copy of the music still in the iTunes library that the iPod is synced to.
and again, the Pawn Shop does not have the legal right to transfer the ownership of the song to the new buyer. They are not apple computer. They do not own iTunes and all the legal matters regarding song ownership.
Let's take the matter of my iBook that I got from a Pawn Shop. Since I got the computer and the install CDs, I bought the only copy of the OS the guy who sold it to the pawn shop had. the ONE copy of the OS went with the computer. when I bought the computer, the license was transferred to me. One OS, one computer.
iTunes is different: the song resides on his computer. You're making it sound like the iPod bought the song.
The song can be played on any iPod, it's just tied to the library of the man who sold the iPod.
I can't imagine someone willingly selling their iPod with all the data intact. Are there still contacts on it? Pictures? Calendar entries? you may have a stolen iPod on your hands... Pawn shops are notorious for that: a burglar steals something, wants quick cash, sells the iPod to a pawn shop, then the pawn shop sells it to someone else.
I know that this probably won't stop you from finding an iPod ripping program. In a few hours, you may just be sitting around merrily updating your iPod, after you ripped the songs illegally. Just remember:
they aren't your songs.
It's the same as stealing. You didn't pay the 99¢ to buy it. It's the same as going into a record store and stealing a few discs. The artists isn't getting paid. Although it's only a few cents, as it becomes more widespread, the artists won't have enough money, and music-making will only go to the richest... Paris Hilton has 0 talent, yet she has more money than Jeebus, so she can release an album. OTOH, an incredibly talented band may not have enough money to pay the rent, let alone release an album because they aren't getting paid.. no one's buying their stuff because "oh! I can rip it from my friend!"
Piracy is frowned upon at MacRumors. Asking for help doing piracy (IE ripping songs off an iPod, when you don't own the songs) is against the rules.
You wont' find much sympathy here, too. Many people here live on the money they make from selling art, wether it be music, video, graphic, web design. Piracy affects them directly.
