DVD burning: how unethical is it?

al j · June-25th-2004, 08:33 PM

Apparently burning DVD's is far more criminal than copying a CD. Or so you would think with the serious lack of software that makes DVD reproduction a reality. I use CloneDVD with AnyDVD running in the background. Am I a total shitbag? The ethics surrounding the music topic have been spun at length here, but what about DVD's? Make me feel better.

mke · June-25th-2004, 08:36 PM

How is the issue any different?

Sergio Zamora · June-25th-2004, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Christmas

Am I a total shitbag?

The burning issue aside?

al j · June-25th-2004, 08:47 PM

Ha and ha.

The lack of software suggests it might be different, no?

Sergio Zamora · June-25th-2004, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Christmas

Ha and ha.

The lack of software suggests it might be different, no?

I'm not sure how. Explain.

fwiw, my stance on burning is
a) it's wrong,
b) it's not the end of the world,
c) people who burn should stop looking for a moral justification, because there is none. If you can live it, then good, but please no rationalizing.

I emphasize the (c) not to moralize - I'm against moralizing too - but because what bothers me is not the act but this obsession people have with doing the act and still wanting to feel just and true. As I said before, that strikes me as a very American trait.

al j · June-25th-2004, 09:44 PM

Pigeonhole me as a shitbag all you want, but never as a moralizer, cuñado.

I like your stance, OZ, which makes perfect rational sense.

RBS · June-25th-2004, 10:08 PM

I think it's unethical. But you have to live with your own feelings about it. In essence, what you're doing is stealing residuals from an artist.

GoodSpeak · June-25th-2004, 10:10 PM

see also;

Hank Mobley/CD burning thread in SpeakOut.

Same old, same old...

Deke · June-26th-2004, 09:24 AM

The lack of software simply means A/ It's a more recent develpment than CD copying, and B/ It's also harder to program. I believe there is also a problem with a copyright microcode or something. Of course, using it would be no problem to people who are already ripping off copyright material, but the coders don't like the idea that they might get caught up in the flak.

tippy · June-26th-2004, 09:31 AM

Here's a question...what about stuff like Lord of the Rings that they keep packaging a bunch of different ways?

Deke · June-26th-2004, 09:35 AM

It's a total rip-off. I know you don't have to buy it, but if the reissue has other stuff that you want...

It's got so's I won't buy anything new any more. I wait for the final cut-price 'This is absolutely everything we've got' package to appear in the bargain bins.

Or on eBay if they've really got up my nose...

tippy · June-26th-2004, 10:13 AM

I don't know. We started copying tapes in the late 70s/early 80s when we were kids. The choice was between being able to listen to it or not. I don't feel bad about any of it. Copied tapes probably comprised 1-2% of my entire collection. I don't see it as a big deal. The copyright laws always said reproductions not for sale. Nobody was selling anything. Whatever videos we copied, far far fewer than tapes, would have put us back $70, who had that kind of money in 1982? What do you think people do with all those blank cassettes/cds? And what about old music that you couldn't track down if you wanted to. I don't see anything wrong with copying music of dead artists.

Jazzooo · June-26th-2004, 12:03 PM

"I don't see anything wrong with copying music of dead artists."

You might if you were the surviving spouse of one of them. WOuldn't you feel entitled to profit from your mate's body of work, as has been the case since copyright laws were formed?

tippy · June-26th-2004, 12:18 PM

Well, not dead artists in toto. Maybe dead copyrights. Just music that you can't find in any other medium that someone has put up on the internet. It's probably such an unusual case that it needn't be included the argument.

June-26th-2004, 12:25 PM

I think there are two reasons why one rarely sees software issued on DVD.

Most software will fit on a CD-ROM disc, which is cheaper.
Not everyone has a DVD drive in their computer system, but most people do have CD-ROM drives.

I may be wrong about this, but that seems logical.

Dennis Gonzalez · June-26th-2004, 02:02 PM

CD to CD-R is wrong. DVD copying is OK. When I become an actor, it'll be wrong to copy DVD's.

Stuckinagroove · June-26th-2004, 02:05 PM

Everybody's doing it

tippy · June-26th-2004, 02:09 PM

That's the spirit, Dennis.

By the way, I have never copied a jazz cd (well actually I've never copied a cd at all mostly because I don't even know how). But I know jazz musicians who copy entire repertoires. What about that? Is it only audience members who shouldn't?

tippy · June-26th-2004, 02:14 PM

And I've also wanted to copy out-of-print stuff from library media before they disappear from circulation. I think if you don't have the money--I mean really don't have the money--but you would derive a benefit for your own edification as a musician that it's okay to burn.

rockefeller center · June-26th-2004, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Apparently burning DVD's is far more criminal than copying a CD. Or so you would think with the serious lack of software that makes DVD reproduction a reality. I use CloneDVD with AnyDVD running in the background.

I don't think there's a serious lack of software.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=58950
WinOnCD, Movie Jack, etc. There's more than enough software (even freeware) out there.

Quote:

I believe there is also a problem with a copyright microcode or something.

Macrovision and Region Protection are no problem.

Deke · June-26th-2004, 07:50 PM

No, I'm thinking of this new trend of copyrighting one vital line of code and then giving the program away. MPEG codecs are free, but since I've been using Linux I've noticed that they don't give all of it away free with the free dstributions, but often do with the paid distributions. There are several other programs like that. You have to go to a special site to download the one vital bit of copyrighted code to make the whole thing work.

The first time I came across this I needed a bit of code to make my modem work. How in the hall are you supposed to download the code if you can't get your modem working to get you onto the net to download it until you've downloaded it?... Erm... sorry, where was I? Oh yes...

DVD is the same. I have a couple of DVD reading programs but they won't work until I go to some site or another and download this bit of code. It's given free, but it is nevertheless owned by the MPEG copyright holders, so if you use it in a way not approved of in the list of things you have to say 'Yes' to, they'll 'ave yer.

RBS · June-26th-2004, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennis Gonzalez

CD to CD-R is wrong. DVD copying is OK. When I become an actor, it'll be wrong to copy DVD's.

I AM an actor, and it's wrong.

mke · June-27th-2004, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RBS

I AM an actor, and it's wrong.

Actors, musicians, we can't do anything on this board. Next thing you know, writers will come in telling us not to scan their books and file-share them.

Douglas · June-27th-2004, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mke

... Next thing you know, writers will come in telling us not to scan their books and file-share them.

Try getting this genie back in the bottle.

Sand · June-27th-2004, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas

Try getting this genie back in the bottle.

No need, as they do not violate any copyright laws in any country.

Douglas · June-27th-2004, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sand

No need, as they do not violate any copyright laws in any country.

Agreed, but the point is that scanning books and electronically distributing them is widespread. And as so many popular works are out of copyright, the pickings are quite rich (the site I linked also has some out of copyright recorded music). The publishing industry has had to get used to it, something that the recording industry will eventually have to do as well.

clinthopson · June-27th-2004, 02:06 PM

I'm guilty of burning dvds of films I've liked and have saved on my pvr. I see no problem since I will only use them for myself or family members.

I did the same thing for years with vhs tapes. I'll probably transfer my all time favorites to dvds in the future.

I burn cds of lps, expecially out of print discs. I have transferred about 200 of my lps to cd and will continue.

I opaid for them and they're my property.

I see nothing sinful about this since I don't intend to sell them.

Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Bill Evans are not around to see the financial rewards of their artistry, only the record companies and maybe their eststes benefit.

That's the way I see it.

Deke · June-27th-2004, 09:10 PM

No one's going to 'get you' for copying stuff that you've already paid for, for preservation, or for listening to on another player. But if you start handing them out to friends, that's another matter.

Copying films off the TV is another matter too. They turn a blind eye to time-shifting, but storing it away to watch again. That's illegal.

mke · June-28th-2004, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deke

storing it away to watch again. That's illegal.

Why are blank VHS tapes sold, then?

rockefeller center · June-28th-2004, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mke

Why are blank VHS tapes sold, then?

To capture America's funniest home video, for example. You could also ask why baseball bats are being sold although one could use them to dash out someone's brain.

I don't know if it's illegal to archive video which was recorded off TV. Would like to see a quote from that law.