Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!bacchus.pa.dec.com!granite.pa.dec.com!mwm From: mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Toaster Message-ID: Date: 14 Sep 90 16:13:04 GMT References: <4374@crash.cts.com> <33869@cup.portal.com> Sender: news@wrl.dec.com (News) Distribution: na Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 46 In-Reply-To: Radagast@cup.portal.com's message of 14 Sep 90 00:35:03 GMT In article <33869@cup.portal.com> Radagast@cup.portal.com (sullivan - segall) writes: > >Come from behind the Iron Curtain much? Been to the USA lately? DAT had >some major copyright problems associated with it, the Toaster doesn't. ...okay, I give. Whose copyright was violated with DAT? Too bad they didn't call it something that didn't have a copyright... DTA maybe? In case you hadn't noticed the issue of copyright is incapable of applying to DAT recorders. DAT recorders are not original works of art. So where have you been living recently. Didn't you realize this *is* the behind of the iron curtain? These days you can't fart without someone claiming it was his idea first... -kls You didn't read his message carefully enough. He didn't say that DATs were a violation of someone's intellectual property; he said they had copyright problems. That's quite accurate. The music industry was scared shitless by the idea of consumers being able to make 10th generation copies that were indistinguishable from the real thing. They managed to have import and sale of DATs restricted for years while looking for a technical solution. They even considered putting a 3KHz tone on _every_ commercial digital recording (including CDs, damn them!) that would cause the DAT to fail to record the incoming signal. CD's were dropped from the plan by making the DAT sampling frequency different from the CDs, so you'd have to have an intermediate box to make the copies, thus making it unlikely that a consumer would have the ability to copy CDs. I quit following it closely at that point, but believe the "solution" for DATs allows for one generation copies, but not two. This is just one example of intellectual property laws working for the good of the public.