Date: Monday, July 29, 2002 2:51 PM
From: Justin C. Soape ([email protected])
Subject: Music Bill Is Bully on IMs
I am writing in response to the article (Music Bill Is Bully on IMs, July 26, 2002). Gee, I don't even know where to begin. Perhaps Hillary Rosen's amusing quote regarding "copyright owners" as the ones who spend the time and effort to create art. Wow, I had no idea that the record industry was creating its own music now. And to think that I thought the artists were making the music. (Hah.) Although it's difficult to think of "Papa Roach" as a group of artists.
RIAA blames the failure of its own subscription services on other file-trading networks who allow it to be shared for free. Hmm, how about the outrageous prices they charge for downloading? Or how about the proprietary nature of the files they offer, which can't be burned onto an audio CD natively, or even used on portable digital players?
I'm sure that has nothing to do with it. Then we move on to a service such as E-music, whose catalog mainly consists of independent labels and artists and who is coincidentally the most successful subscription service on the Internet. E-music hardly represents the mainstream as far as content is concerned, yet they are successful because of their implementation. A nominal $10 per month fee for unlimited downloads in the ubiquitous mp3 format. Whereas the RIAA's services are charging $10 to download a single album, which you can't use with any other devices. I should probably stop here.
