HW RE: site for collectors CDr dodgy ness ?

[Paul Mather]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2004 at 12:08:03PM -0000, David Dobbie wrote:

=> But I don't what people will think of this but I think its dodgy or
=> what, off musicstack
=>
=> Hawkwind Warrior On The Edge Of Time £52.21  Other
=> Condition: NM
=> Item Number: Q15568
=> CD-R + Vinyl Combo: UK / 1975 GATEFOLD TSUAG29766
=>
=> Basically I thinks its vinyl with a copy burnt to Cd-r for those
=> analogue challenged out there. I can understand this could be a
=> valuble service for some people, but how many people interested in
=> early Hawkwind won't have a record player If they could afford these
=> prices they can afford a burner. But a charge of £40 for the service
=> phewww over what I paid for LP with Shield sleeve.

Actually, this is an interesting way of circumventing the fact that
_Warrior..._ is unavailable on CD, but there are people who still want
to buy it (legally) in that format.

I think there are *lots* of people who don't have turntables.  I have
one, albeit several thousand miles away, so for practical purposes I
don't right now.

=> Always been dubious of NM, what does it mean surely a record is
=> mint or e mean near mint?

This takes me back to my vinyl collecting days.  NM means "near mint."
With vinyl, you usually get two gradings: one for the sleeve and one
for the vinyl record itself.

=> Why oh why do people pay these silly prices.

Because the items are no longer in print but people still want to
listen to them?

=> Is this even legal, as they are making money by copying material to
=> which they do not own the copy right ?

Yes, this is legal.  Although the big content companies (music and
film) would have us believe differently, it is not a copyright
violation to make a copy of an album you own to listen to in some
other format (or just to make a "safety backup").  This falls under
the "fair use" provisions of the copyright law.  (Provisions that the
big content companies are trying to roll back.)  So, for example, it
is "fair use" to make and possess a tape of a CD to listen to in the
car *so long as you own the original CD.*  If you sell or give away
the CD, you no longer have rights to the material and the cassette
copy you made no longer falls under "fair use" because you gave up
(away) your rights to that material when you sold or gave it away.

What this company appears to be doing is working within the fair use
provisions.  They are selling a vinyl version of the album *along
with* a "fair use" copy derived from that album.  Selling the vinyl
album is legal (unless, perhaps, it's a promo).  If it were not, all
those folks making out like bandits on eBay would be breaking the
law. :-)

Personally, I think this is an interesting solution to the problem of
certain classic Hawkwind albums still being out of print, especially
in the CD format that most people use for playback today.  By doing
this, too, the company avoids the possibility of prosecution.  (It
would not be legal to sell CD-Rs of the album without an original
album.)  It's nice to see them making an *effort* to remain legal. :-)

In theory, to be legal, they should also sell CD-R copies derived from
the actual album with which the CD-R is being paired (making each sale
unique).  It's doubtful they're doing this, but you never know.  It
would technically be illegal to sell a CD-R copy of the original
_Warrior..._ CD release paired with the _Warrior..._ vinyl, because in
legal terms the two are distinct pieces of intellectual property.
Having one does not entitle you to the other in the eyes of the law.

IMHO, the best solution to these kinds of shenanigans and
unavailability workarounds is to release the sought-after Hawkwind
back catalogue in CD et al. format. :-)

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa