Oh God I Hate Ipod. Oh god I hate iPod.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

Yep. The record company takes most of the money. It amounts to about $1 per $10 CD getting paid to the artist. So if you are in a large band such as Slipknot (9 members) you get a whopping $.11 per CD sale. I'm not sure of the exact numbers for tee shirts, but I have talked to members of bands (even a "popular" band, All That Remains' Mike Martin and Phil Labonte), and across the board they all say that they make more money touring and from sales of tee shirts than from record sales. That's why I never buy CDs new, money is going right to the record comany and the RIAA (who are pure evil by the way). I'd rather support the local CD guy selling the CDs and the dude who originally bought the CD.

[Nameless_ 1]

Wow... I really never thought of that...It's good that you are supporting artists by buying their Tee shirts and not their CDs now though, but if you really want, you can just donate to them. ;)It's too bad I don't really support a particular band or stuff. I usually just download their songs from the internet and listen to them, but I don't go to their concerts of anything.I'm not a fan of anyone, I just appreciate good music.

[rayzoredge 2]

And really? I never knew that artists get more money form selling fan Tee shirts than selling CDs... that's really weird, as their main income should be coming from what they are actually doing (making music and creating new CDs) not the side, optional accessories...

Piracy kills CD sales. However, piracy also promotes ubiquitous enjoyment of said pirated music and that leads to concert attendance, buying accessories and apparel, and even donations.

Now only if they used piracy to their advantage instead of trying to fight it like Metallica did... I think that a lot of people pirated their new album just to prove an ironic point.

[rayzoredge 2]

I would pay more just for the Apple operating system, rather than the whole computer. They are immune to almost all viruses, and have a user friendly interface.

Very bad misconception.

The Apple OS does not have much of a problem with malware because it doesn't reach much of an audience. The only real reasons why anyone would write malware for any Apple OS would be to shut Apple-heads and elitists up and to steal their personal info. The reason why Windows operating systems are crawling with malware potential is because "everyone" has Windows. Companies, big and small, and just about every consumer computer sold off the shelf has a Windows operating system. If you wanted to have a slice of pie, would you go for the sliver, or snag the much larger piece?

Plus, proven again and again, Apple isn't invulnerable to exploits, security issues, viruses, etc. And as mentioned in one of my threads, the Apple operating system is actually LESS secure than others. It makes me wonder if someone would actually create a sort of malware to infect iPods via a fake media file, since most people nowadays steal libraries of songs from each other to get their music.

[k_nitin_r 8]

There's one misconception that I have to address when it comes to the iPod - you really can put on whatever music or video you've already got (as long as iTunes supports the format). If you buy something from the iTunes store, you're probably stuck with the DRM music but for regular MP3s or videos, you can use iTunes to copy the files across. iTunes probably handles the conversion when synchronizing with the iPod.

[Nameless_ 1]

Piracy kills CD sales. However, piracy also promotes ubiquitous enjoyment of said pirated music and that leads to concert attendance, buying accessories and apparel, and even donations.
Now only if they used piracy to their advantage instead of trying to fight it like Metallica did... I think that a lot of people pirated their new album just to prove an ironic point.

Yeah, you're right... and I don't think Piracy can be stopped, or ever will be. Metallica shouldn't have fought it, they should just have let it happened... I agree with you too.

I mean, if they actually DID stop piracy (which is impossible, but let's just speculate), they might get some more sales, or people might just go off them completely. Say, shouldn't people start merchandise piracy? If merchandise gives more money than CDs, then people should copy and make fake merchandise, not sell cheap CDs.

[The Simpleton 2]

The best thing that the Ipod (oh sorry, "iPod" ) did to the world was to show how convenient it is to use such music players. I don't have an iPod and never dream of getting one, because of all the restrictions it has in place, and all the software it requires. I use a Philips GoGear player and it's the best thing I've owned till date. It has drag-n-drop support and doesn't bother me with any software to install, etc. It just plays on and on and that's what I expect from a music player. The iPod is good, yes, but it asks for a lot of things and that really irks people.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

Very bad misconception.
The Apple OS does not have much of a problem with malware because it doesn't reach much of an audience. The only real reasons why anyone would write malware for any Apple OS would be to shut Apple-heads and elitists up and to steal their personal info. The reason why Windows operating systems are crawling with malware potential is because "everyone" has Windows. Companies, big and small, and just about every consumer computer sold off the shelf has a Windows operating system. If you wanted to have a slice of pie, would you go for the sliver, or snag the much larger piece?

Plus, proven again and again, Apple isn't invulnerable to exploits, security issues, viruses, etc. And as mentioned in one of my threads, the Apple operating system is actually LESS secure than others. It makes me wonder if someone would actually create a sort of malware to infect iPods via a fake media file, since most people nowadays steal libraries of songs from each other to get their music.

Well I know that it isn't immune to all viruses, but it is nearly impossible to run a keylogger or the such on a Mac to begin with. Unless somebody is really good, viruses for Macs would be detected if they were to go into the System Preferences, or in the command prompt.
And in fact, most of the updates are security fixes, not so much of bug fixes. Same thing for the iPod touch. The updates were to provent hacking (by downloading a jailbreak file in Safari, I belies this was fixed in 1.1.4) and running cracked apps on unjailbroken iPods (not so much security though).
And I know Linux is the most secure, I just like the Mac interface and compatibility better.

There's one misconception that I have to address when it comes to the iPod - you really can put on whatever music or video you've already got (as long as iTunes supports the format). If you buy something from the iTunes store, you're probably stuck with the DRM music but for regular MP3s or videos, you can use iTunes to copy the files across. iTunes probably handles the conversion when synchronizing with the iPod.

iTunes doesn't do that, and I know that for a fact. I had an mpg video, and rather than converting it, iTunes told me that it wouldn't put it on my iPod. Not sure if .avi or any of the other formats do that, but the only thing that I have ever seen iTunes convert were .wmv (or maybe it was .wma) files.

Yeah, you're right... and I don't think Piracy can be stopped, or ever will be. Metallica shouldn't have fought it, they should just have let it happened... I agree with you too.
I mean, if they actually DID stop piracy (which is impossible, but let's just speculate), they might get some more sales, or people might just go off them completely. Say, shouldn't people start merchandise piracy? If merchandise gives more money than CDs, then people should copy and make fake merchandise, not sell cheap CDs.

Metallica lost my respect when they did that. And as said above, many people pirated Death Pathetic because of that. Even if a new Metallica CD was $0.01 I wouldn't buy it, because their views on piracy, and the fact that I refuse to support the RIAA. I don't mind bands opposing piracy, but testifying to Congress crosses the line. Metallica has sold millions of records, what's 100,000 people illegally downloading it? (In fact I saw an interview where Lars said he downloaded Death Pathetic a week before it came out, off The Pirate Bay)

As for merchandise piracy, it happens. There were people caught at the Music as a Weapon tour selling fake tee shirts, it even made blabbermouth.net. The reason why people pirate CDs is because it is much easier to do. Getting tee shirts made an selling them for $20 will net you about $10 or so depending on where you get the shirts made, an how many you make. CDs can make less money, but there is a wider market for them (after all, with tee shirts you have to get many sizes) and it is easy to just burn some CDs.

[Nameless_ 1]

The best thing that the Ipod (oh sorry, "iPod" ) did to the world was to show how convenient it is to use such music players. I don't have an iPod and never dream of getting one, because of all the restrictions it has in place, and all the software it requires. I use a Philips GoGear player and it's the best thing I've owned till date. It has drag-n-drop support and doesn't bother me with any software to install, etc. It just plays on and on and that's what I expect from a music player. The iPod is good, yes, but it asks for a lot of things and that really irks people.

You never dreamt of getting one? Haha, that's like me, but I have one though.

My dad bought one for me because he thought I was doing a great job at school and since everyone has school basically has one (it was the craze of the time) he bought one for me, thinking I would love it so much, and you know what I said

I was like: Oh... I didn't even want one... I only want things that I ask.
(And that's like, notebooks... for some reasons I like notebooks a lot. I have a whole collection that I don't even use because I'm scared that I'll wreck them if I do - which I usually do)

And my dad was SO disappointed.

It would've been so much better if he bought me a book or something like that instead. Stationary always works well.