So Fucking Exhausted, and Banning the iPod

Well, 15 hours of babysitting didn’t take it out of me as much as I thought it would. What took it out of me is waking up at 7am to do it all over again. I don’t know how my mother survives working this many hours in a day.

Anyway, I heard this story on NPR this morning and it kinda pissed me off. The gyst of the whole things is that Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Hatch (R-UT) are sponsoring this thing called the INDUCE Act, that would ban or discourage the manufacture of devices like the iPod which they say induce people to infringe on copyrights.

The problem with this proposed INDUCE Act isn’t just that it threatens to stifle innovation in the technology sector, but that it threatens innovation in the music business as well. The only time I ever infringe copyrights on digital music is when an artist fails to include his or her music in the libraries of the three major online .mp3 sellers. Otherwise, I pay for my music like any conscientious listener. It is my hope that, as others take up this practice as well, it will convince record labels and the artists they work with to add their music to the growing list of music that appears on this latest frontier of retail.

There is a fortune to be made for these music companies, if only they adapt to the internet music trend and have a little vision. Supporting a law like this is moving them backward, not forward, and outlawing or discouraging devices like the iPod is not going to help matters.

If anything, my friendly little iPod mini actually encourages me to download from the Apple store because it just feels so natural. Apple has simply marketed their fully integrated products so well that I have become a willing victim of their brilliant advertising.

The Senators involved in sponsoring this legislation should think twice before stifling that kind of business innovation. It’s good for our economy.