Ipods and mp3 players

In yesterday’s newspaper, there was an article about Ipods and mp3 players. In the article, it explained how so many people now have Ipods, and with the new Ipod Nano now on the market, just how popular these little electronic mechanisms have become in the past year or two. It’s great, people can listen to thousands of songs at their own leisure. It’s really come a long way from cassette players and personal cd players. But the article also mentioned the fact, that there isn’t a place here in Australia, that legally allows people to buy downloaded music. I believe in the states, you can download and buy music off the internet using apple’s homepage. But there isn’t such a thing here in Australia. So why are Ipods being sold? Why are mp3 players being sold? Why are mobile phones with mp3 players being sold? Why are these items being sold, if ultimately there isn’t a way that we can use them legally?? There was talk about how people were not being sued individually, but the word was YET. How can people possibly think about sueing someone for putting their own music on a gadget that is being sold?

I understand the hype of how in the states 10 year old girls are being sued for downloading nursery rhyme songs. I know that wasn’t what she was downloading, but she was being sued. I mean c’mon, how much rubbish is that? I believe if music companies didn’t sell their cds and tapes for so much money, people wouldn’t want to be downloading them illegally. Artists can make enough money on their own with ticket sales. Downing the price for a cd, I reckon more people who be less apt to be downloading the songs illegally. Is this ever going to be resolved?

But that is beside the point here….if I buy myself an Ipod or an mp3 player, if I download the songs from MY OWN cds, that I PURCHASED, why can’t I listen to them? I asked my partner this, and she mentioned something about how part of the copyright laws is that the music can’t be distributed. She said that if she played her music and the neighbors heard it, that would be against the law. I think that is a bit far fetched. But she said her work has to have permission to play music, and other venues probably do as well. But it makes no sense. If I’ve bought the music, it’s now mine. Just as long as I’m using it for my own pleasure, why does it matter? I think back to when I was working at the drop in center for youth. We let them play their music all the time, were we breaching copyright laws because other people were listening to the music? We were not distributing the music for any form of profit, nor would that happen if I had put my own music on an mp3 player or Ipod.

I have a minidisc player that is a few years old. You can hold up to 70 songs I believe on one minidisc. I have put my own music on there to listen to. I used to listen to it to and from when I went to university. My bus ride was a good 30 minutes long, plus it was about a 10-15 minute walk to and from the bus stop. So was I breaching copyright laws there? It just makes no sense. Why are things like this being sold then, if we can’t find a way to use it? How are people going to know that someone has downloaded music onto their gadget illegally? What if people went to the apple website from the states? Would it still be considered illegal since they are USA laws, and not Australian law? The website would still be taking our money. Are they going to have “snitches” out on the streets and every time they see someone with an Ipod, are they going to ask them where they got their music, if they paid for the music? And because they’re listening to it in public, it’s breaching copyright laws?

It’s all bloody RUBBISH if you ask me.

-current mood-EDGY