[DECtalk] notes for some songs
Tony Baechler
tony at baechler.net
Sat Mar 29 05:25:17 EDT 2008
Hi,
Like you, your post bothers me and I also feel that I should respond. I
find your observations interesting. I only saw one reply saying that he
didn't want it online and that was after my post. If you look through
his past posts, you will see that he refuses to follow copyright law and
has said this several times. He apparently thinks, based on his posts
and attitude, that he is above the law. How does this relate to him
selling a CD? Because it is no different than piracy and making money
besides. He is certainly entitled to sell his original creations and
more power to him, but that doesn't give him the right to sell copies of
software that he did _NOT_ write and the notes to songs that are not his
compositions. We're not talking classical, 18th or 19th centuries
here. We're talking about songs from post-1922 that are still under
copyright. There are many references to consult that give clear
explanations of copyright law, some links to which I've also posted in
the past. Therefore, I feel mostly justified in what I said. I am
sorry that he felt offended because I was trying to help and I hope he
makes something for what he alone created, but not at the expense of the
developers and original composers who are getting no money at all from
his selling efforts. Please read both sides of an argument before you
post. I would like to respond to one other point you made below:
Raymond Grote wrote:
> Also
> read that it took him seven months to complete. Do a software project that
> takes half a year and see how you feel when people bombard you with requests
> to make it free and to post its info online. For one thing, Snoopy isn't
> just doing this for a hobby. This is his job, from my understanding. He does
> this kind of Dectalk stuff because he likes it and because he makes money
> off of it. With messages pestering him, or saying that you'll put it online
> so proudly, he's going to get mad. Wouldn't you?
No, I absolutely wouldn't! In fact, I would want to give it away and
would be glad that people showed an interest. If it is truly
commercial, I would market and advertise it just like any other
commercial product. You are obviously unfamiliar with the free software
movement. Look at: http://www.debian.org/ and http://www.freebsd.org/
and http://sourceforge.net/ and http://freshmeat.net/ All of those
sites specialize in nothing but free software. In the case of Debian
and FreeBSD, they have been free and have been put online for giveaway
since at least 1993. That's a heck of a lot more than half a year I
think. Nowadays, the face of software is changing. It is not unusual
to give away software just for the fun of it. Yes, FreeBSD does sell
CDs to make money, but there is no reason at all why people can't
download CD images and make their own. Therefore, I'm afraid your
argument holds little weight with me. Also, I would not buy anything
from a so-called "commercial" software project where the guy can't
bother to use his real name. If I get ripped off or if the CD gets
damaged, I can't very well contact him because I have no idea who he is
or what address to write to. Nope, I'm not going to buy from someone
who can't be bothered to use at least a real sounding name. I'm really
surprised that this doesn't bother more people.
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