12/07/2003   English German
  Edition # 47  
San Francisco, 12-07-2003

Copyright Mania
Figure [1]: Copy-controlled products restricts consumer rights.

Michael And here's another comment on the topic: Why Germans give up their rights as consumers and let themselves be led by the nose by the industry. The record industry is currently in quite a predicament worldwide because people prefer to download free pirated copies from the internet instead of buying CDs. What is the response of the German record distributors to this? CDs that can no longer be stored on the computer. This scam is called "copy-controlled." Folks, okay, I know you're not there yet, but try to listen to me anyway: In a few years, no one will be handling silver discs to listen to music. Do you start your cars with a crank, perhaps? Are your cell phones as big as bricks? Playing music CDs will seem just as ridiculous to you in a few years. I've been playing music exclusively through the computer on the stereo system for some time now. And, of course, only music that I have legally purchased beforehand--I have no problem with that. This way, I can choose from tens of thousands of songs at the push of a button, play them randomly, or rate them based on their romantic or intense factor and make my selection according to the situation. On a single computer, you can store more than 5,000 CDs. For your Stone Age method, you'd have to rent an extra room. I can play songs on portable devices that are as small as a matchbox (e.g., the "MP3 Player MuVo" and deliver stereo system quality. Even if you drop them on the floor -- because no rotating silver disc is necessary. Angelika has one of these devices and is very satisfied with it. Or has anyone heard of the iPod? Once you've experienced all of this, you can only laugh at the obvious idiocy of the poor CD players.

Because the music industry is too dumb to find a method that digitally replicates the previously functioning system (copies for private use and friends are okay, but no unlimited piracy), more and more so-called "copy-controlled" CDs are sneaking onto the German market. This method restricts the rights of consumers who pay a lot of money for music and cannot fully use it because the music cannot even be stored on their own computer. Back to the Stone Age, just because there are only blockheads working in the record industry? I don't think so.

People, stand up for yourselves! Don't let the record company guys fool you. Do it like the people in America: simply stop buying these CDs. Value your rights. The result of the copy-control misstep in the USA: American consumers vehemently demanded their rights, and these CDs disappeared from the shelves as quickly as they had arrived due to lack of sales. Not so in Germany: Germans apparently have no problem shelling out the same amount of money for fewer rights. Wake up! Those who buy such CDs not only disregard their own claim to reasonably usable quality but also help to restrict the rights of others. Put an end to it! You still have a lot to learn, my dear friends.

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