Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Labels Sue XM Over Music-Storing 'Mothership'
Posted by Damion Chaplin in "NEWS" @ 03:00 PM
"The recording industry on Tuesday sued XM Satellite Radio, alleging that its music-storing Inno device infringes on copyrights and transforms a passive radio experience into the equivalent of a digital download service like iTunes. A representative of the Recording Industry Association of America, comprised of major labels such as Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI Group and Sony BMG, said the suit was filed on Tuesday in New York federal court. The suit accuses XM Satellite of "massive wholesale infringement" and seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM customers using the devices, which went on sale earlier this month. XM, with more than 6.5 million subscribers, said it plays 160,000 different songs every month. "Because XM makes available vast catalogues of music in every genre, XM subscribers will have little need ever again to buy legitimate copies of plaintiffs' sound recordings," the lawsuit says, referring to the handheld "Inno" device."
File this under "Give me a break!" I think the music industry has found a way to make up for lost CD sales - sue everyone they possibly can. This time it's just plain stupid. Sure the Inno can record the music you're listening to, but as XM points out, you can't do anything with that music once you've recorded it except listen to it on your Inno. You can't drag that file off your player. I suppose you could output the music to some digital recording device, like your PC or a standalone CD recorder, but come on, we've been able to do that since they invented cassette tapes. I think it's funny how all these things used to be OK, but now that the sound quality is much higher than it's ever been (for radio), suddenly it's not OK anymore. :roll:
File this under "Give me a break!" I think the music industry has found a way to make up for lost CD sales - sue everyone they possibly can. This time it's just plain stupid. Sure the Inno can record the music you're listening to, but as XM points out, you can't do anything with that music once you've recorded it except listen to it on your Inno. You can't drag that file off your player. I suppose you could output the music to some digital recording device, like your PC or a standalone CD recorder, but come on, we've been able to do that since they invented cassette tapes. I think it's funny how all these things used to be OK, but now that the sound quality is much higher than it's ever been (for radio), suddenly it's not OK anymore. :roll:
