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Dr3ams In Germany, back in the early 2000s , circumventing DRM was legal, as long as it was for your own personal use…like backing up your collection. You could find various copying software utilities on CDs inside computer magazines. In addtion, many of the magazines had articles on how to use those utilities to get around the DRM. Of course companies like Sony eventually pushed for laws to ban that practice. I have a mix of digital music and music on CDs. I prefer to buy CDs, but if the price is too high for what I want then I'll buy lossless versions on Qobuz or Bandcamp. I don't do streaming. I want to own what I'm listening to. Same goes for movies. Reply
TerryLaze Dr3ams said: In Germany, back in the early 2000s , circumventing DRM was legal, as long as it was for your own personal use…like backing up your collection. No it wasn't, what was legal and what we did was to create perfect copies for backup INCLUDING whatever DRM, that's not circumventing since it's still there. Things like x-copy and later alcohol 120% were legal because they just made a perfect copy of the original "for backup purposes" wink wink nudge nudge. Also no, sony got it's ass kicked when they distributed their music cds with a rootkit, they never managed to get copying cds to be illegal, it's only in the digital age where the giants were able to dictate a strict drm on websites. https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/sony-suspends-rootkit-from-cd-production Reply
King_V Dr3ams said: In Germany, back in the early 2000s , circumventing DRM was legal, as long as it was for your own personal use…like backing up your collection. You could find various copying software utilities on CDs inside computer magazines. In addtion, many of the magazines had articles on how to use those utilities to get around the DRM. Of course companies like Sony eventually pushed for laws to ban that practice. I have a mix of digital music and music on CDs. I prefer to buy CDs, but if the price is too high for what I want then I'll buy lossless versions on Qobuz or Bandcamp. I don't do streaming. I want to own what I'm listening to. Same goes for movies. While I don't mind streaming, I have been wary of digital-only, as I likewise want lossless versions. Thanks for the tip on two possible places to get lossless versions of music. Do you have any suggestions for similar with regard to movies? I'm in the US, wasn't sure if you were referring to Germany-only sites. Reply
derekullo An artist can upload their song or even an entire album onto Youtube for anyone to hear for free. D2ts2GWOSv8 View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2ts2GWOSv8 You can download the mp3 of that and burn it to a cd if you wanted to. The issue here isn't that he made copies … it's that he sold them … I'm assuming for euros. Reply
Dr3ams TerryLaze said: No it wasn't, what was legal and what we did was to create perfect copies for backup INCLUDING whatever DRM, that's not circumventing since it's still there. This: Before 2003, German law generally permitted citizens to make copies of CDs and DVDs so long as they were strictly for private, non-commercial use and did not distribute them. However, the legal landscape shifted dramatically with the passing of the Urheberrechtsnovelle (Copyright Revision Act) on September 13, 2003, which integrated the EU Copyright Directive into German law. The reform introduced two major changes: – The Prohibition of Circumvention: It became illegal to bypass or crack any "effective technological protection measure" (such as CSS on DVDs or various copy controls on CDs) to make a copy. – The "Obviously Illegal" Source Clause: The private copy exception was restricted so that it only applied if the source material being copied was obtained legally (not from pirated or clearly illegal sources). Circumvention Technology & "Fair Use" Despite the 2003 ban on circumvention, consumer behavior heavily pushed back. In the early 2000s, commercial music labels—particularly in the German market—experimented with aggressive copy-protection formats (like Cactus Data Shield or Key2Audio) that made CDs unplayable on computers and car stereos. This sparked outrage, with major pushback from consumers who found they couldn't even play the CDs they legally bought. To circumvent these protections and create backups, users relied on specific software, which I won't mention here. Circumvention and/or deleting DRM while backing up your property was allowed in Germany before 2003. I know, because I was doing this here until it was made illegal. The software to do both was available on just about every CD sold with a PC magazine (PC Welt, CHIP, and PC Magazin). Reply
Dr3ams King_V said: While I don't mind streaming, I have been wary of digital-only, as I likewise want lossless versions. Thanks for the tip on two possible places to get lossless versions of music. Do you have any suggestions for similar with regard to movies? I'm in the US, wasn't sure if you were referring to Germany-only sites. Regarding music, the two sites I mentioned are international. For movies, If I can't find a physical copy of a movie I want in English, then I'll purchase it on Amazon Prime. But, you can only download them within the Prime Video app for offline viewing. You cannot download them as standalone files (like an MP4) to transfer to other devices or burn to a DVD due to Digital Rights Management. Reply
King_V Dr3ams said: Regarding music, the two sites I mentioned are international. For movies, If I can't find a physical copy of a movie I want in English, then I'll purchase it on Amazon Prime. But, you can only download them within the Prime Video app for offline viewing. You cannot download them as standalone files (like an MP4) to transfer to other devices or burn to a DVD due to Digital Rights Management. Ah, understood. Bummer about the movies, though. Guess I'm just gonna keep buying discs for those and ripping them to my NAS. I've run into disc rot with one or two CDs, so, while I want the physical media, I make sure I create digital lossless copies. Music-wise, not previously knowing where to buy in lossless format kept me from buying digital music. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/retro-pirate-gets-two-year-suspended-jail-sentence-for-being-stuck-in-the-past-burning-and-selling-remix-cds-of-famous-artists-four-year-investigation-into-copyright-infringement-on-40-year-old-medium-began-in-2018#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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- Retro pirate gets two-year suspended jail sentence for being stuck in the past, burning and selling remix CDs of famous artists — four-year investigation into c
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