Any MP3 folks out there?

[TillEulenspiegel]

I recently loaded Kazza ( I'm a noob ) and have used it for mainly "archival"( things out of print- yardbirds, old monk stuff) and fair use tracks that I actually have Cd's or vinyl of.

Question I have tried loading certain Jeff Beck tracks of which I have on CD. The tracks download OK , but play only the first 30 seconds of the selection and then repeat the same 3- secs. thru the whole download. Seems to be an anti-piracy device. It's a Sony product ( figgures). Anyone know if this is indeed a copywrite protection schema and if so what do I have to do to defeat it?
I am both a musician and a fan of Jeff's and would never think of defrauding the artist or label.

[0rz]

All you can do is try again, looking for a different title of the same song. A few companies (like Overpeer) were hired to send out dummy files, which some actually were found to exploit a vulnerability in WMA and WMV files (Link (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/31/p2p_adware_threat/)).

If you have the cd, Winamp, Windows Media Player and so on will rip the songs you want.

[Iconoclast]

Originally posted by TillEulenspiegel
I recently loaded Kazza ( I'm a noob ) and have used it for... [downloading] ...fair use tracks that I actually have Cd's or vinyl of.

I am both a musician and a fan of Jeff's and would never think of defrauding the artist or label.
I'm pretty sure that downloading a near CD quality copy of a song you own on LP is not covered under fair use. Though the laws vary from country to country, fair use provisions are generally much more restrictive than most people realize.

Originally posted by TillEulenspiegel
Question I have tried loading certain Jeff Beck tracks of which I have on CD. The tracks download OK , but play only the first 30 seconds of the selection and then repeat the same 3- secs. thru the whole download.
As 0rz pointed out, record companies have been flooding the file sharing networks with dummy files lately, but if you already own the CD why are you bothering to download MP3 versions of them? You can use Media Player to create WMA files from your CDs, and many other apps to create MP3s.

[FFed]

I stopped using Kazaa because of the bad mp3's and I find there are lots of viruses about so make sure you scan any file you download.
What I mainly use is Soulseek, Shareaza, and Direct Connect. Give them a try. I think generally Shareaza has more of the less well known stuff.

[TillEulenspiegel]

Thanx for the heads up FFED.

Iconoclast : as I stated either I download rare out of print tracks or ones which I have the CD of.
I was under the impression that like software one make make archival copies and us them in only one instance at a time. I have the CDs in a carrier and generally leave them in my car .

I know this may sound weird or lazy but I just wanted to go from car to puter and on the puter just point n click rather then changing CDs. Now my interest is peaked.

Anyone know the laws pertaining to this? ( The out of print stuff is , I'm sure a different case , like abandon-ware.)

[Rat]

Abandonware? Would you like to define that in legal terms, as opposed to its just being a term made up by people who want stuff for nothing? It's kind of difficult to 'abandon' a copyright, and takes effort on the part of the owner. Failure to pursue action against theft does not make theft legal.

Cheers,
Rat.

[bigred]

Jaywalking and going over the speed limit isn't legal either. So?

I don't know the technical legality of it and frankly could give a flip. RIAA can rot in hell for all I care.

All hail MP3s, P2Ps, and something for nothing! :alc:

;)

[bigred]

Originally posted by TillEulenspiegel

Question I have tried loading certain Jeff Beck tracks of which I have on CD.
PS: I commend your taste (er assuming you aren't downloading some of the shockingly bad stuff he put out like "Flash" that is) :)

[Rat]

Don't get me wrong; my music collection is certainly not entirely legal, though I continue to buy more than I can afford. I just don't like people pretending it is legal, or inventing legal-sounding terms to cover it up.

And, for the record, many or most speeders should also be prosecuted. It is not always a victimless crime, and it is not always up to the offender to decide when it is and isn't.

Cheers,
Rat.

[FFed]

Abandonware.
Isn't that like the Old Time Radio Theatre stuff like X Minus One and The Shadow? I listen to a lot of OTR and from what I read everyone figures there is no copyright violation since it is so old and was never copyrighted or the copyright expired. Or something to that effect.

As for downloading mp3's, it has been ruled legal in Canada so I am not breaking the law.

[TillEulenspiegel]

Jeeze Rat your a good advocate, but when I mentioned abandon-ware I was speaking about proggies that are either out of print, belong to an entity that no longer exists or outdated stuff that the copyright holders explicitly acknowledge/ignore or even let users have dated software.

I'm not trying to rationalize or justify intellectual property theft just explaining that I BELIEVE I have a right to make archival copies of music ,like I enjoy with software. Further fair-use is restricted to using one instance of the program ( in this case music) of property I have purchased paying all royalties and costs.

I think that is a reasonable position. I have stated intent and asked for the law on the matter, not asked for a philosophical debate on intent VS letter of the law or even asked for personal emotionally driven opinions.

[gnome]

Originally posted by Rat
Abandonware? Would you like to define that in legal terms, as opposed to its just being a term made up by people who want stuff for nothing? It's kind of difficult to 'abandon' a copyright, and takes effort on the part of the owner. Failure to pursue action against theft does not make theft legal.

Cheers,
Rat.

on the "Abandonware" issue, it's more of a moral aside rather than a legal one. Strictly speaking, it's still a copyright violation... but... if you argue that downloading music files is bad because it deprives the record company of revenue they would otherwise have from you purchasing it as the law requires, then this argument fails because it is not available for sale.

So the argument becomes one of general principle instead of financial harm... some people don't have as much problem with the former if it's not the latter.

[Rat]

Originally posted by TillEulenspiegel
I think that is a reasonable position. I have stated intent and asked for the law on the matter, not asked for a philosophical debate on intent VS letter of the law or even asked for personal emotionally driven opinions.
I also think it's a reasonable position, and one I agree with. I just kind of felt like an argument.

Cheers,
Rat.

[Wudang]

Originally posted by Rat
I also think it's a reasonable position, and one I agree with. I just kind of felt like an argument.

Would that be a 5-minute argument or the full half hour?

I tried and failed to track down a case I vaguely recall where one of the scumsu (cough) music industry bodies asserted their right to prosecute anyone who copied even stuff that was out of print. I'd assumed I read it on www.register.com but seems not.

[bigred]

Originally posted by Rat
I also think it's a reasonable position, and one I agree with. I just kind of felt like an argument.

Cheers,
Rat. LOL

Honesty. Very impressive. And refreshing.

(PS wu, lol @ the MP reference also)

[TillEulenspiegel]

http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/philo/loy/argument.wav:)

[LW]

Originally posted by Iconoclast
I'm pretty sure that downloading a near CD quality copy of a song you own on LP is not covered under fair use. Though the laws vary from country to country, fair use provisions are generally much more restrictive than most people realize.

That certainly depends on the country. Here downloading mp3s for your own personal use is legal but distributing them in any way is not. However, this happy state of affairs is not likely to last for long.

[ssibal]

To address the original problem, if you come accross files that are messed up purposely when burned to CD just play them on your PC and redirect the output to any sound recording/editing software. Save the new music file, then you will be able to enjoy.

[moopet]

Originally posted by Iconoclast
I'm pretty sure that downloading a near CD quality copy of a song you own on LP is not covered under fair use.

Yes and no. The problem is that the MPAA etc are attempting to reclassify your purchase of an album as a license to play its intellectual property under certain conditions. If this is taken as law then there's no reason you shouldn't have a better quality copy of it, same as there's no reason you shouldn't be able to take your old, worn-out VHS in to the manufacturer for a parts-at-cost upgrade to DVD. Which, of course, will never happen.


Originally posted by Rat
Abandonware? Would you like to define that in legal terms, as opposed to its just being a term made up by people who want stuff for nothing?
Legal terms? I'm not a lawyer :)
But it's taken to mean anything where the original copyright owners either no longer exist or have donated the IP to the public domain. Many 8-bit computer games are available in this way (though many are not, and are labelled as abandonware anyway by people trying to dodge the issue) You could simply say "public domain", but "abandonware" carries overtones of a product's history, and implies that the authors have been nice enough to decide it's time to let it go free.


Originally posted by FFEd
I stopped using Kazaa because of the bad mp3's and I find there are lots of viruses about so make sure you scan any file you download.
If you can get a virus from an mp3 file, it's certainly news to me. While a lot of applications on kazaa are infected, A/V media isn't and for the most part can't be. Beware, however, of downloading files like song.mp3.vbs or song.mp3.exe or .scr, which are really applications and are almost guaranteed to be full of trouble. Just use your noggin and you'll be fine.


Originally posted by TillEulenspiegel
Anyone know if this is indeed a copywrite protection schema and if so what do I have to do to defeat it?
As others have suggested, just try downloading another copy with a slightly different filename, bitrate or size. There are fake files around, especially on kazaa, to discourage people from using the service. Personally, I'd recommend you switch to using soulseek for P2P music downloading.
There's no way to "defeat" the protection on these files, because they're generally not protected, they're just what they sound like - a few seconds of the real song to fool people who just skim them to check their authenticity and then rubbish for the remainder. Sorry.

[gnome]

Is there a site which evaluates the current crop of file-sharing services, and what kinds of content tend to be available on them...? Like, is there a preferred file-sharing program for music, vs. anime, vs. software... etc.

I also seem to recall one that did a regular count of users on each, but can't find it again