Just when you thought it was safe to boycott the corrupt RIAA offerings a new impediment has arrived, legislation acting as a "poison pill" for used CD's.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070507-record-shops-used-cds-ihre-papieren-bitte.htmlNew "pawn shop" laws are springing up across the United States that will make selling your used CDs at the local record shop something akin to getting arrested. No, you won't spend any time in jail, but you'll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes copies of all of your identifying information and even collects your fingerprints. Such is the state of affairs in Florida, which now has the dubious distinction of being so anal about the sale of used music CDs that record shops there are starting to get out of the business of dealing with used content because they don't want to pay a $10,000 bond for the "right" to treat their customers like criminals.
The Federal Trade Commission has scrutinized the music industry for putting unfair pressures on retailers who sell used CDs, following a long battle between the music industry and retailers in the mid 90s. The music industry dislikes used CD sales because they don't get a cut of subsequent sales after the first. Now, via the specter of piracy, new legislation is cropping up that will make it even less desirable to sell second-hand goods. Can laws targeting used DVDs be far behind?
It seems to me that the music industry is fully behind this legislation, If they had their way you would likely never even own a CD again, merely rent it for a time.
We are seeing the shift from physical media to low bitrate digital downloads that satisfy no one, used CD's are something the music industry fears as its not very likely you,ll purchase any of your favourite old tracks to download at 99c each time if you own it on CD.
We all like the idea of actually owning items rather than having potentially hazardous software additions to our PC's and an ever shifting set of terms and conditions tied into whether or not you can hear the low quality audio track you paid for.
Support your local shop if you can and ask annoying questions of your representive to see just who it is that is behind this backdoor attack on selling your own goods because the RIAA cant make profit from it.
