[S-99]

The RIAA sucks balls. Apparently every time you purchase burnable storage such as burnable dvd's and cd's, you're paying a tax because these popular mediums could be used for pirating. This is news to me concerning the tax, and i don't really know in which countries this tax is applied, just the simple fact that the RIAA has gotten away with something like this means everybody should be alert.

Since burnable storage sales are falling, the RIAA doesn't know what to do next, except they do. Tax hard drives, flash storage, etc.

This is stupid, it's already flown once with burnable storage, it has a good chance sadly of flying again with another form of storage.

Idk about you, most of the cd's i burn...maybe one out of 30 will have a song on it (i mostly burned linux distros for me and my friends, i'm very greatful for utilities like unetbootin now so i can use a flash card instead). Simply the logic of taxing something because it could or might be used for something illegal is stupid. The RIAA has already considered everybody guilty of a crime without a doubt. Even despite the fact a good deal of burnable storage is used for legal purposes.

Lets tax mice because you could click download links to pirated a song, tax monitors because you could view a movie you pirated, tax the cpu inside your computer because it could be used for decoding pirated audio and video so you can watch it, lets tax your phone because it can play mp3's, etc.

Technically since there is an anti-piracy tax on a form of data storage already, shouldn't that mean that you can download pirated things legally since you did pay for them already when you bought said taxed storage? The answer should be yes, but from what we learn here is that the RIAA likes to play it both ways; tax you for the cd-r you put pirated music on and sue you if caught.

I don't see any end to this. Not that the article was that great, just alarming, the comments sure are great though. As for me, i've been voting with my wallet for about 3 years now, and have stopped downloading music and movies (unless they were absolutely released as free to use and distribute by the creator) for roughly the same amount of time (a lot of movies and music today are **** so i don't care to miss out). But, i guess not voting all the way with my wallet considering my love for dvd-rw's and occasional cd-rw purchase (my unknown bad).

[Sushi]

THe best info I could find googling this for 15 minutes was:

1. In the US, this has basically been around since audio tapes.
2. It only applies to "audio CDs," not "data CDs." They're really the same thing, though, although they may be sold with different labels in the store... and lately, I've only been seeing data ones, since the population has apparently managed to get clued in enough to realize that all CD-Rs are basically the same.
3. The royalty, when actually collected, is indeed split with the artist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act
(There have been some legislative updates since the law discussed above, but I'll let someone else dig those up. I've had enough. )

Seems to me like its a mostly toothless law these days anyway, so I'm having a hard time getting too outraged.

[Nuke]

i havent used cds in years, these days i run ans much software i can through drive virtualization as possible, because i hate the wear on media that flipping discs causes over time. i hate seeing a scratch on an old game that you cant get anymore. so i rip the discs to the image file, ad swap images in software. it is good because i have like 8 different virtual drives where i stick whatever software i use frequently. this works well on older games, where there is little or no drm. you still need media every now and again for the occasional operating system re-install, though most of the time i can install over network or flash drives.

still, privately established taxes like this seem unamerican.

[castor]

Under linux I have the habit of installing games (those few that I play) on flash sticks. The smaller ones are rather cheap nowadays, and come in handy if I want to play the same game on desktop, laptop, whatnot (especially when saved games get stored there too).

[Flipside]

Yup, this has its roots in the 'blank tape tax' of the 80's, where the RIAA got money for every blank cassette sold just in case it was used for copying stuff off the radio (though, in fairness, a vast percentage of blank tapes were used for precisely that purpose). Nowadays, with the need for system back-ups, and the fact that home programming and recording is a lot more common than it was in the 80's, it really needs to be looked at, but the RIAA will hang onto that money like a limpet.

[Ghostavo]

The only use I find for CD/DVD's nowadays is for booting purposes. Which, as far as I'm aware of, has nothing to do with the music industry.

[mxlm]

If you want to hate the RIAA--but mostly the MPAA--you read this

still, privately established taxes like this seem unamerican.

It's, uh, Swedish.

Though it's possible that was the joke, in which I'll don the dunce cap.

[Polpolion]

Who burns stuff they pirate to disc? Why would you even do that? 

EDIT: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10423.pdf

[Nuke]

If you want to hate the RIAA--but mostly the MPAA--you read this

still, privately established taxes like this seem unamerican.

It's, uh, Swedish.

Though it's possible that was the joke, in which I'll don the dunce cap.

it had better not have been made law in the usa, or i may have to get my shotgun and overthrow the tyrannical government.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Wait until they figure out a way to charge you per repeat when a song gets stuck in you head.

[Klaustrophobia]

how the hell does anyone other than the government have the right to levy tax?

RIAA, the CD market is collapsing.  i don't like it either, but suck it up and move on.  wtf ever happened to "nonprofit" anyway?

[Nuke]

how the hell does anyone other than the government have the right to levy tax?

lobbyists

[Klaustrophobia]

lobbying for a tax and COLLECTING one are two WAY different things.

[SpardaSon21]

There are some types of organizations in California that have the legal capability to file lawsuits against private interests as if they were the government.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

There are also taxes that are redistributed to certain industries.  They are called subsidies.  Farming comes to mind and the good old joke  "I used to not grow tomatoes until I found out there was more money in not growing corn". 

[Kosh]

lobbying for a tax and COLLECTING one are two WAY different things.

But lobbyists corrupt our system and can twist it to do things like this.

[Herra Tohtori]

Books are burnable storage, when can we expect this tax to cover notebooks and blank paper?

Hell, with a printer-scanner you could COPY AN ENTIRE BOOK with ease!

[Crazy_Ivan80]

of course taxing memory storage devices and then dividing the spoils with artists as royalties enables the argument that royalties were indeed payed when you burn something pirated to disc.

[sigtau]

of course taxing memory storage devices and then dividing the spoils with artists as royalties enables the argument that royalties were indeed payed when you burn something pirated to disc.

...which makes it even worse that they care so much about teenagers pirating MP3s.

[Polpolion]

of course taxing memory storage devices and then dividing the spoils with artists as royalties enables the argument that royalties were indeed payed when you burn something pirated to disc.

I wish that would hold up in court...