There ’s a hot new style in iPods , and for a alteration it has nothing to do with Apple : iPods for sales agreement , pre - loaded with content . Shuffles , TV and nanos . Classical , Jazz , and Hip - hop . Pick your musician and your melodious poison , and a reseller will transport it directly to your doorstep . No more rive cadmium or DVDs . No more downloading . Just Gigabytes of audio recording and video recording , pre - ladened on the world ’s most popular musician .
While eBayers and others who want to trade a used thespian laden with copyright medicine are most decidedly court trouble with the copyright watchdogs such as theRecording Industry Association of America , a handful of company are search legal avenue to sell dilute iPods . These services are typically market as timesavers and solutions for anyone without a gamy - speed Internet connection or who desire to give an iPod as a gift .
Music on the menu
One such party isJoyci . Company founder Robin Dowling read he makes every endeavor to ensure that Joyci operates in compliance with copyright law . Rather than ripping tracks from CDs , or download them from the cyberspace , all of the preloaded music that ship on Joyci - sold iPods come from the iTunes Music Store .
“ Everything is done legally , ” Dowling said . “ I ’ve worked intemperately to do everything by the book ”
As Dowling describes the process , a client selects an iPod from Joyci and can either make a custom order of individually selected Sung dynasty , or select preset 100 - Sung packet — jazz , rosehip - hops , rock , and more . Dowling then opens a new report with the iTunes Music Store using a every which way generated ID and download the euphony . Next , he loads tracks to a brand Modern iPod , and re-create them on a data CD or DVD . Finally , he erase the tracks from his machine and Delaware - clear it ; the iPod and datum CD are sent to customers , along with the randomly generated log - in and password for the iTunes Music Store .
“ I produce an iTunes account for each customer with a customer ID which they can retain using if they require to , ” Dowling said .
But despite Dowling ’s intentions , he might still not be totally in the clear , says Fred von Lohmann , an lawyer with theElectronic Frontier Foundation , a nonprofit polite liberties protagonism group focus on the digital domain . Von Lohmann describes the territorial dominion occupied by Joyci as a “ gray area . ” Though the practice would be perfectly legal were he dealing in traditional media , says von Lohmann , digital copies are different and the rule that apply to them continue to be settled . Making a copy of buy songs and rifle back and blue-pencil the original does n’t necessarily fix the problem , von Lohmann tellsPlaylist .
“ I do n’t see why the right of first publication owner is suffer by that , but technically if they need to they probably could come in up with a legal possibility to go after [ Joyci ] , ” von Lohmann tell .
The more interesting question , von Lohmann notes , is does this violate Apple’sterms of servicefor the iTunes Music Store ? Those terms submit that customers “ shall be authorized to practice the Cartesian product only for personal , noncommercial use . ”
“ Apple may be able to come after him if they want to , ” tell von Lohmann , adding that there is not much reason for the company to do so as long as Downing is really edit tracks and re - buy them , generating revenue for Apple . But the company still might not like the commercial nature of such a business . “ He ’s basically appointed himself as a reseller of iTunes music storehouse racetrack . ”
Andrew Jackson Downing make money by charging a premium over what a customer would pay if they simply purchase everything from Apple . A2 GB iPod nanowith 100 tracks load up on it costs $ 319 from Joyci , not admit shipping . purchase directly from Apple , the same thing would cost $ 298 . basically , Joyci customers pay extra for DoL and the use of the fellowship ’s broadband connection . Downing says that in addition to the customer you ’d expect who ca n’t get at the iTunes Music Store or are buying iPods as gift , others are willing to pay but for the convenience gene .
“ When I start with it , it was for sr. mass or people without Internet connections , so that was my initial target radical . But I realize later on that a mountain of companies were concerned in it , too , ” he said .
Video to go?
shopper in the mart for avideo iPodhave similar Robert William Service at their disposal . A company calledTVMyPodsells those pre - loaded with picture and television show .
TVMyPod did not return phone calls or messages requesting data , but accord to the society ’s Web web site , it engage in a similar manner to Joyci , station master of purchase medium along with the iPod itself . In this case , however , the medium is DVDs .
Potential customers opt media from TVMyPod ’s survival of DVD — it extend telly show , picture , summercater and euphony DVD — and the company will charge them on a picture iPod and mail it out . Consumers can either buy a new picture iPod from the TVMyPod , or mail one in and the company will load media on it and mail it back . To comply with the fair use provision of copyright law , it also sends out the buy videodisc with the iPod .
But that put forward the question of whether the company is violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ( DMCA ) . The DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent encryption , such as the copy protection on DVDs , even for fabric which you own yourself . In parliamentary procedure to rip a DVD directly to your toilsome drive , one must decrypt it , and in doing so , violate the DMCA . So is TVMyPod committing a DMCA violation when it copy a DVD for you ?
“ The resolution completely depends on how they are going about doing that , ” von Lohmann said . “ If using a tool likeHandBrakethat is definitely a course of instruction fraught with DMCA trouble . With that , I think they would have some serious legal photograph . My savvy is that they are not doing that , My understanding is that they are capturing it with an parallel output . ”
analogue captures from DVD telecasting produce a much low quality copy . While you would not be able to pass one off to a replicator to make DVD - quality videos , an parallel gaining control should still front fine on your iPod . Better yet , if you do want to imitate your DVDs to an iPod , it ’s a legal manner to do so , while pull them directly is a DMCA violation . Though you might apply a alike method in both cases , the distinction between analogue and digital copying makes all the divergence , says the EFF ’s von Lohmann .
“ It is sort of ridiculous — because this would apply not just to company but soul as well — that you are squeeze to use a more inconvenient , low - timbre mechanism to transplant medium that you own to your iPod , ” he state . “ And that ’s all thanks to the DMCA . ”
The RIAA would not point out on specific pillow slip , or the action of special companies , but it did observe that in some cases , selling an iPod with mental object loaded on it is perfectly allowable . The key , says RIAA spokesperson Jonathan Lamy , is whether or not the music players are being sold with licensed content .
“ Are there illustration where it would be permissible for iPods to include pre - loaded mental object ? perfectly . The U2 example comes to beware , ” Lamy tell Playlist via e - mail . “ platter label want to continue to develop and license this sort of business mannequin . It has real electric potential but it will only be undercut if iPods are re - sold on eBay chock full of copyright medicine collections . ”
Not for resale
Indeed , used iPod often show up for sale on on eBay , Craigslist , and elsewhere , debase with the late owner ’s music appeal . The EFF says that this is another domain where the legal philosophy is not open , but the RIAA discord with that judgment .
“ It is , in our sagacity , a very clear legal effect , ” Lamy said . An RIAA statement postulate that “ sell an iPod pre - pissed with music is no different than selling a DVD onto which you have burn your entire music solicitation . Either act is a vindicated violation of U.S. right of first publication jurisprudence . ”
Despite the dissension over the clarity of the law , however , von Lohmann aim out that there are more hard-nosed issues to view if you ’re call up of unloading an iPod with your medicine collection still on it — namely exposure to a lawsuit .
“ Why would you want to ravel with the RIAA ? ” von Lohmann ask . “ If the RIAA does sue you over it , it will cost you far more to defend than you could possibly make [ from the sale of a used iPod ] . ”
If all this sounds puzzling , that ’s because it is , even for attorneys who reason these issuing . Much of the case law remains to be conclusively settled , and until it is , you ’ll find attorneys and counselor fence over all sorts of fair habit and other copyright issues . In the meanwhile , it ’s believably best to meet it safe and stay off of the RIAA or MPAA radio detection and ranging screen door . This is easy to do ; do n’t sell or share your copyright digital contentedness . Unless , that is , you have a really secure attorney . Because the mathematical group you ’d lead afoul of for sure do .
