Assignment 2: Critique
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In the article, Ў°In Defense of Piracy (Well, Some Piracy)Ў± (
To Ў°ownЎ± a popular single permanently, Ruben indicates that consumers can either pay for a CD containing that single bundled with a list of unpopular hits or simply download a pirated mp3 of the same single. This presents the readers with a false dilemma. He seems to suggest that if consumers do not accept conditions of owning the CDs legally, they should turn to piracy as a solution. However there are still better alternatives. For instance, several music compilations comprising of the Top-40 hits (such as Ў°Now! ThatЎЇs What I Call MusicЎ±) are available in the market. Impulsive consumers driven by hype can get a copy of the CD full of the hits they want off the shelves at their local music store. The tracks in these compilations are often reviewed regularly and new volumes are marketed accordingly. There is also the option of buying legal mp3s from online music stores.
Ruben asserts that there is nothing ethically wrong with archiving pirated mp3 if copyright laws are disregarded. However, this is not necessarily so. The Recording Industry Association (Singapore) states that copying music illegally Ў°is stealing the intellectual input of the creative peopleЎ±. In addition, The Recording Industry Association of America also concluded that Ў°stealing is still illegal, unethical, and all too frequentЎ±. Most societies relegate stealing, in whichever form it is committed, as unethical, and the downloading and archiving of pirated mp3 is often seen as the unauthorised possession of intellectual property. The number of archived pirated mp3 will also accumulate, and Ruben does not provide any explanation of the validity of doing, since these songs will eventually lose their hype.
Ruben makes the assumption that the CDs on sale usually contain only one popular song, and ignores the possibility that some of the Ў°junkЎ± will actually become popular. The truth is that many of the albums do contain more than one popular single; the other singles become Top-40 hits at different time intervals. Ruben also believes that the Top-40 hits are just a small portion of all the songs available in the market, and thus they should be allowed to be pirated. However, he does not specify the exact criteria for songs to fall into his category of Ў°popular Top-40 singlesЎ±, and disregards the existence of music charts, which rank of the latest Top-40 hit singles in as many as 25 countries. Most of these charts are also updated weekly (Top40-Charts.com).
In the attempt to diminish anti-piracy advocatesЎЇ