One more Music Downloading Dilemma/Question

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BlueRain

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I’ve read some threads here at CA about the downloading issue. It seems we are divided on the issue.

I have a question. Is it wrong to buy used CDs? Where I live there are many stores at malls and other places that sell used CDs and movies and eBay is the same thing also.

When you buy a used CD the artists are not getting paid royalities either, just like when you download a free mp3. Is that cheating the artist?

There’s an album I have wanted for a few years now and I thought the price would have been lowered by now. But it hasn’t gone down. I know I could get a used cd cheaper elsewhere. But if I like a whole albulm, I usually like to buy it and support the artist.
 
Tricky question. Seems to me that buying a used CD is not much different than buying used clothes; so I don’t think that’s wrong. But I’m not sure about downloading songs. I think, though, that it’s likely wrong.
 
Here’s how I see it:

Intellectual property rights are not part of the natural law. They exist only because the government created them (for reasons of encouraging the arts & sciences).

The reason that violating intellectual property rights is immoral is because God gives His authority to the government to make law for the common good.

Whereas the law allows the resale of recorded media and it’s not otherwise against the moral law, this is nothing immoral about it.
 
I have a question. Is it wrong to buy used CDs?
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Not unless you know/believe that they are stolen.
When you buy a used CD the artists are not getting paid royalities either,
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Actually, they are getting royalties from the original purchase.

Correct me if I’m wrong but once you buy a CD/Book/DVD the item itself belongs to you and you can do what you want with it (sell it, lend it to a friend, use it as a doorstop, etc.) However I think the intellectual property contained on/in the CD/Book/DVD still belongs to the artist/company/author/etc. so you cannot copy and sell the intellectual property. To sum it up, I think that when you buy a CD you are buying the CD but not the intellectual property contained on it. You can do what you want with the CD but you cannot do what you want with the intellectual property. That would be the difference between buying a used CD and illegaly downloading the intellctual property (music) contained on it.
 
If I may add my thoughts to this discussion…

I never thought about there being anything morally (or in any other way) wrong with buying used CD’s, or selling used CD’s. After seeing this post, I still can’t see anything wrong with it. I notice now even major record shops have started selling used discs. If you want to buy used CD’s, go for it, and don’t worry about it.

God bless!
 
Just to clarify, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying used cd’s. I was just thinking and comparing them to downloading music. It can all get a bit tricky after awhile with intellectual property. For example, what if you bought an albulm in the 80’s that was in a tape format or a movie on VHS. All of a sudden DVds and CDs become the norm. Should you have to repurchase the same albulm/movie again just because you want it in the new format? Maybe we should just get a free copy if we already own it in the old format.

This happened to us with the movie “Titanic”. My dad bought it in VHS and we all told him he should have waited.

Ofcourse now we have the dvd, but that’s because my uncle gave it to us.
 
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BlueRain:
For example, what if you bought an albulm in the 80’s that was in a tape format or a movie on VHS. All of a sudden DVds and CDs become the norm. Should you have to repurchase the same albulm/movie again just because you want it in the new format? Maybe we should just get a free copy if we already own it in the old format.
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Technology will always be advanced from decade to decade.
And I suppose that is why the electronics industy creaded ways to copy from one format to another, however that’s where the moral aspect comes in.

If re-selling anything became illegal, then our landfills would be crammed with ‘stuff’, we just don’t want anymore OR all our houses would become warehuoses of stuff we’d be stuck with and no longer use.

I see nothing wrong with re-selling something like this.

But it’s a great question to ask on Catholic Answers Live!
 
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Timidity:
Here’s how I see it:

Intellectual property rights are not part of the natural law. They exist only because the government created them (for reasons of encouraging the arts & sciences).

The reason that violating intellectual property rights is immoral is because God gives His authority to the government to make law for the common good.
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Who says intellectual property rights are not part of natural law? People keep saying that in these discussions as if it’s a given.
It is property. True, it needs a system of positive law to figure out exactly how it is to be protected but why does that place it outside natural law?
 
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BlueRain:
I’ve read some threads here at CA about the downloading issue. It seems we are divided on the issue.

I have a question. Is it wrong to buy used CDs? Where I live there are many stores at malls and other places that sell used CDs and movies and eBay is the same thing also.
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Absolutely not. Why would you think there is anything wrong with buying used CDs?
 
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didymus:
Who says intellectual property rights are not part of natural law? People keep saying that in these discussions as if it’s a given.
It is property.
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You’re making the contention. Prove it. Especially helpful would be any Levitical law in support, but other sources will be considered.
 
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BlueRain:
When you buy a used CD the artists are not getting paid royalities either, just like when you download a free mp3. Is that cheating the artist?
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When you sell a CD that you own, you are giving up the physical property of the CD as well as the music that is on it. The rights to that one CD, that you originally purchased from the owner of those rights (the retailer…who has a deal with the distributor, who has a deal with the record company, who has a deal with the artist) are then being transfered to someone else in a private transaction. Same idea as selling the house or car that you own outright.

With illegal mp3 filesharing, the uploader of the file is essentially widely distributing the music without permission to distribute, which can only be granted by the owner of those rights–the record company. Downloading is the other half of the transaction, which is also obviously illegal.

A physical comparison to downloaded mp3s would be this: if I took my copy of a CD by XYZ artist, and made 1000 copies of it, and then gave them away or sold them. Under the law, I have no distribution rights to a CD that I buy a copy of in a store, and so my selling of my newly made copies is illegal, and buying those copies is also illegal.

Pete
 
All these posts seem to be addressing filesharing but what about the legit downloading sites such as Apple itunes? You pay 99 cents for a song and then it’s yours. It seems this is no different than when we used to buy 45s which actually ended up being more expensive before they discontinued the format. Once you bought it you could tape it on your own compilations as often as you wanted.

A ruling in this matter was given by the Supreme Court back in 1984 (I know-a rare correct ruling). The owner is allowed to make a backup copy. It only becomes illegal if there is a profit made. This is an area where I believe legality agrees with morality.:cool:
 
I don’t see anything wrong with buying a used CD. The person selling the CD should realize that he/she is giving up not only the CD that the music is recorded on but also the music itself. So if the seller has ripped the songs on the CD to their hard drive or made copies of the CD they must destroy them.
 
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BlueRain:
I’ve read some threads here at CA about the downloading issue. It seems we are divided on the issue.

I have a question. Is it wrong to buy used CDs? Where I live there are many stores at malls and other places that sell used CDs and movies and eBay is the same thing also.

When you buy a used CD the artists are not getting paid royalities either, just like when you download a free mp3. Is that cheating the artist?

There’s an album I have wanted for a few years now and I thought the price would have been lowered by now. But it hasn’t gone down. I know I could get a used cd cheaper elsewhere. But if I like a whole albulm, I usually like to buy it and support the artist.
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Buying used CD’s is NOT against the law. Downloading copyright protected music IS against the law. Good Catholics obey laws unless they violate Natural Law. Laws that protect an artists music certainly do not violate the Natural Law.
 
I don’t know about buying a used CD but downloading free MP3s is illegal 90% of the time and is stealing. However, there are sites out there that you can buy a single song from for only 99 cents to about $2 or $3. If you’re just looking for one or two songs, I’d personally go the Internet route and buy it from somewhere like Napster.com.
 
I heard somewhere that companies like EB Games and other places that sell used CDs, movies, software… have to be licensed to sell the used merchandise and DO pay some royalties back to the originators.

Anyone know for sure?
 
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