Real Networks CEO Discusses Apple iPods And Piracy

[shamino]

ok im confused with the whole legal stuff! is it legal for me to borrow my friends CD which he bought and copy it to my computer, as long as i don't give him/her any money for it?
is there a Yes/No answer for this?

I would think the answer would be obvious, after the above discussion.

No, there is no clear yes/no answer.

You can freely borrow lend your CDs.

If you copy discs with a consumer audio CD recorder (that supports SCMS copy protection), then you are explicitly granted permission to do what you want with the result.

If you copy discs with other devices (that don't implement SCMS), it is unclear. BRLawyer and I have different interpretations of the law.

But use some common sense here. If your friend buys a disc, and you make a copy (instead of buying it), the original artist is getting screwed. He sold one copy and two (or more) copies are in use. Even if it might be legal on a technicality, it is morally wrong.

Legal does not necessarily mean "right".

 

[MacQuest]

Have another one, Rob.

Mmm... donuts.

Watch out Krispy Kreme, here comes Glaser Glazed!!!

Maybe "lil' [not so lil'] Rob's" new donut busines venture will be more "fruitful" than his and his crapa$$ Real Networks digital content delivery one. Maybe this one will come to "fruition".

He just added a sour grape jelly filled to his product line and, not surprisingly, has stopped offering fruit filled Apple fritters.

Rob's a fruit.

 

[ReanimationLP]

Dear Rob,

Why is Rhapsody and Realplayer both such total pieces of dogs***?

Let the world know please.

- Jonny

 

[c-Row]

With one billion songs sold over iTMS, would that mean there are 40 million iPods out there?

 

[mkrishnan]

With one billion songs sold over iTMS, would that mean there are 40 million iPods out there?

The number of iPods sold worldwide is actually substantially higher than that. But that's probably not an unreasonable estimate of the number sold in the US.... Of course, there might be some people who buy off iTunes and own no iPod (e.g. to listen at home or off of burnt CDs). I'd assume that number to be small, but I have no idea.

This article states that 49% of 140 million MP3 players sold to date worldwide are Apple...putting the number at nearly 70M!

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/87156/research-shows-every-other-mp3-player-is-an-ipod.html

 

[shamino]

Of course, there might be some people who buy off iTunes and own no iPod (e.g. to listen at home or off of burnt CDs). I'd assume that number to be small, but I have no idea.

FWIW, I was such a person for nearly two years. I had about 75 iTMS songs (almost all free - either Free Music Tuesday downloads or from Pepsi caps) before I got my first iPod.

And yes, I played them from the Mac and from burned CDs.

This article states that 49% of 140 million MP3 players sold to date worldwide are Apple...putting the number at nearly 70M!

Which is quite amazing, when you remember that that 140M count includes all the dirt-cheap garbage (like $20 128M players) that nobody would seriously consider as an iPod alternative.

 

[iGary]

Is he somehow implying that people who own other 'MP3' players don't pirate music?

No, he was really trying to figure out if a Wet Ones or a wet paper towel is better for removing donut glaze.

 

[mkrishnan]

And yes, I played them from the Mac and from burned CDs.
Which is quite amazing, when you remember that that 140M count includes all the dirt-cheap garbage (like $20 128M players) that nobody would seriously consider as an iPod alternative.

Yeah, definitely! I have met a handful of people who go off on iPods being too expensive and other options being better, but the market has stubbornly refused to buy into the claim that people want $25 junk players.

Now the question is open as to how many of those people will look at their junk MP3 player, and then look at their cheap Windows computer, and think twice, but....

 

[4JNA]

real made me do it

i didn't want to, but real made me. real hurt my ears and told me to listen to sucky broken streams. it threatened me with relentless adverts and pop-ups and promised more if i didn't buy the 'gold' package. it tried to take over my computer, chased my dog away, and ate all the good snacks.

damn you real for making me into a pirate, argh.

oh wait, they are all from my own cd's. ok, nevermind.

 

[octoberdeath]

what a prick! he probably goes home at night and listens to his iPod before he goes to sleep. just give it up.. you suck at selling music and your crappy music players! its funny how apple pretty much has 1 music player for each niche sized market yet there are like 100s that can't come close.