"Used" MP3 resale service soon to be sued into oblivion
Tue Dec 9, 2008 1:17PM EST
See Comments (7)
Ever buy an MP3 and, after a listen, immediately regret it? Alas, you're stuck with the song: You can't resell your digital downloads the same way you can a used CD, DVD, or game.
Or can you!?
That's the hopeful premise behind Bopaboo, a new website now in closed beta which advertises itself as "the place to buy and sell digital music." Emphasis on "sell."
Details are sketchy but the theory behind the operation of the site is pretty clear from touring around the domain: Bopaboo sells/will sell music starting at 25 cents per track -- far cheaper than even the least expensive purveyors of digital music are offering today -- drawn not from the record labels but from the digital archives of its users, who upload tracks to the service and price them individually, eBay-style. All tracks are DRM-free. Sellers receive ratings and feedback after each sale, much like other user-to-user selling services.
Of course, things get tricky from there: There doesn't appear to be any mechanism for Bopaboo to ensure that you've deleted a track from your hard drive once you offer it up for sale (or that they even require you to do so), and it's not entirely clear whether you can resell a track only once or multiple times. Bopaboo bills itself as a way for users to "stop illegally sharing and start legally selling" their music, but the legal standing of the site is far from assured.
When will Bopaboo launch? That's unclear as well. I'm still on the waiting list for the beta (go ahead and sign up here), and the company has a blog which is exclusively devoted to job postings for the company, mentioning nothing about a launch or the background of the service.
Which will come first? Bopaboo going live or a bop from the legal hammer?
Comments on "Used" MP3 resale service soon to be sued into oblivion
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2 Posted by bella77427 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse
If the party who sold a copy of the song does not have the mechanism to prevent the purchaser from reselling...the purchaser can get into trouble. After all there has to be a legal agreement between the distributors and a party before they can just sell music in whatever format. The purchaser is not included in that agreement. There is such a thing called copyright. Its not even as when a friend makes you a copy from his legally purchased CD....which is still wrong but is too difficult to prove. According to those laws duplication of such material is only allowed when it is for the preservation of the original purchasers records, ie. "back up" . Hence can you imagine reselling MP3....and online where sales can be traced.
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3 Posted by racerjacob2004 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:25PM EDT Report Abuse
nerd160- Even if the program could delete the song, you could still easily store it on a thumb drive along with hundreds of other songs couldn't you???
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4 Posted by m_knopp on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:32PM EDT Report Abuse
I for one welcome this. At least if they are sued the question concerning Doctrine of First Sale in the digital domain will be settled. As for ensuring that the original is deleted. Used CD stores do not have to prove that the seller didn't rip the CD or make a copy before selling it. Used bookstores do not have to prove that the seller didn't make photocopies or scans before selling it. The fact that a song is in a digital format should not change any of this. What the seller should have to do is at least prove that they legally purchased said song.
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5 Posted by aa4mw on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:43PM EDT Report Abuse
I think m_knopp is getting to the heart of the matter! One of the biggest "grey areas" in software/on line music sales is whether they are actual sales of something copyrighted or merely "grant" of a license which still belongs to the originator. It is obvious who wants which, but the law is very far from clear on that issue and the political landscape even less clear. What IS clear is that even if you buy software or music legally, if you keep it and use it on a new machine or format then you caould be in legal trouble. That is one reason why so many people feel that they may as well pirate the stuff in the first place! Reality is that any law must have fairly broad support to be enforceable, the prohibition era illustrated that very well.
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6 Posted by promorap on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:20PM EDT Report Abuse
if this goes through, I will copy, download and rip every mp3 I can find. On Craigslist, you can buy a hard drive with over 10,000 songs for only $100. i will make mashups, remixes and label each track as a different one so i can end up with thousands of tracks for sale. I also have used music videos. While iTunes and other require you be the copyright holder, here I don't have to worry about a thing Oh my God! This is great! Getting free music is one thing, but being able to sell it too legally is awsome!!!! I wonder if I could do the same with software? Whoaa!!! Let's see 25 cents x 1000 sold per per month...
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7 Posted by thepharoah90086 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse
It would be nice if there was a Way to incorporate Artist's Royalties , along with a Fee going to the Copyright Holder (in Most Cases , the Record Label) , into This Scheme.
1 Posted by nerd160 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:36PM EDT Report Abuse
Sounds good in practice, however, being able to keep a copy of the song on your hard drive is illegal. If they were able to have a system where you can upload your song and the program would delete the song permanently from your computer, I think they could have a huge hit. If they kept it in an eBay format and made sure it was safe, I see no way anyone could sue this company.