Non-DRM responsibility

[Protek67]

I have been getting into HiFi in some way for the past 6ish years (10+ if you count my first sennheiser headphones off newegg). This is done over time and while my rampant posts on this forum show my wanabe status, I am learning to sit here and just listen.

Today I had my blind friend over and had him listen to my lola's on a cheap pure tube amp from my first en devour into lossless highish bitrate, and I have to say it was a great moment. This whole headphone journey began due to the need to find him non-off the shelf PC speakers. I am in charge of All of his tech and find myself torn between upgrading while giving handmedowns and just getting him an all in one solution.

My round about point here would be, would you look down on it if I were to give him a copy of the flac library I am about to accumilate, given he is on government assistance? He has a pair of HD598's which came from another friend and I really want to give him pure HiFi as it is his main sensory intake.

I take DRM type situations onto myself as I feel it is my duty to be responsible with it. What would you say about giving him a copy of my music?

 

[Double-A]

I would say who cares?

 

[Protek67]

I would say who cares?

I would say that I care, in the past I had to torrent movie's shows and music because I had no other choice. Now that my life has found "plenty" I feel the need to support financially the thing's I enjoy. I can't in good conscience rob creators of the very thing that keeps them creating. I recently found bandcamp.com and feel compelled to put more than asking price towards albums I find to be "elite". I guess this is a mind set accrued over many years.

However, I find that considering pretty much anything that my friend experiences is more than likely going to come out of my own pocket, I should be able to share my collection with him..... as I would if he were here with me. There is just something about being able to say, Hey Joe when we get to my place you need to sit down for a couple track's and listen to this music I found. It is from Phaeleh (a band we have both come to love) and the second track is a female vocalist. Though I didn't tell him there were female vocal's or what band it was from, that was after the fact. After the suspense and let down/build up of the third track I played him a female vocalist I got off band camp. It was just perfect.

Over the years we have had common ground of listening to music, early on it was my klipsch 2.1 system with a denon and many beers, today it is no beer's and a pair of headphones. I don't think anyone understands the gravity of sharing music bliss with a blind person. And on that note, Bliss is another of our favorite bands.

 

[Double-A]

Now that my life has found "plenty" I feel the need to support financially the thing's I enjoy.

I agree. I stand against obtaining media illegally. However, I think that media sharing within the confines of relationships where resources are shared is acceptable, like with my girlfriend and I who live together, with families, etc. You said that he receives government assistance, which I'm sure just covers the nessecities of life. But from what you're telling me, it doesn't sound like he has a lot of money to buy things for himself. So I don't think it would be an issue if you wanted to share some of your resources (in this case, your music) with your friend who doesn't have much money to purchase these things for himself.

Sorry, my initial response wasn't very helpful. I should've put more effort into it.

 

[Slaphead]

I have been getting into HiFi in some way for the past 6ish years (10+ if you count my first sennheiser headphones off newegg). This is done over time and while my rampant posts on this forum show my wanabe status, I am learning to sit here and just listen.

Today I had my blind friend over and had him listen to my lola's on a cheap pure tube amp from my first en devour into lossless highish bitrate, and I have to say it was a great moment. This whole headphone journey began due to the need to find him non-off the shelf PC speakers. I am in charge of All of his tech and find myself torn between upgrading while giving handmedowns and just getting him an all in one solution.

My round about point here would be, would you look down on it if I were to give him a copy of the flac library I am about to accumilate, given he is on government assistance? He has a pair of HD598's which came from another friend and I really want to give him pure HiFi as it is his main sensory intake.

I take DRM type situations onto myself as I feel it is my duty to be responsible with it. What would you say about giving him a copy of my music?

No, under the circumstances I wouldn't look down on you at all. In fact I'd probably be inclined to look down on you if you didn't pass on your music library in this instance.

Now let me be clear on this - I'm 100% for acquiring media legally, however life has taught me that there are times where the legally correct thing to do can be the exact opposite of the morally correct thing to do, and IMO this is one of those times. I don't think anybody could hold anything against you for doing this for a disadvantaged friend, besides in terms of copyright infringement this would barely register on the scale.

Of course if you want to remain legally in the clear then you could buy two copies of each track, one for you and one for him, but personally I think this would be over doing it.

One way to think about it would be that you're just keeping an offsite backup of your music at his place

 

[raypin]

Mm...long took care of DRM issues and the associated ethical dilemma by subscribing to tidal.com hifi plan. I pay about php 1,000.00 a month and entitles me up to 3 offline listening devices. One slot I gave to a close friend. We both get access to millions of streamable and downloadable tracks in lossless (16 bit) and master (24 bit) formats.

Tidal takes care of paying royalty to the content creators so no sticky situation.

Win-win for everyone.

Personally, sharing flacs between friends for non-commercial use is ethically okay. It is similar to lending your cd or vinyl.

Just put the flacs in your hard drive or usb stick and lend it to your friend. What he or she does with it is his or her problem, not yours.