Thanks for the details on 'public domain' Jonathan I was a bit off with that one.

On the bright side my Martini - Art of card splitting DVD arrived. Fantastic! And the quality is far superior to the clip I previewed. I've just made a princess card trick set.

I hope people will take the time to read the post, especially as it's been reinstated (thank you mods).

As for the morals and ethics comments, I am comfortable with my experiment of getting a clip/preview from the Internet. It made me want to get the whole production, but I waited for my DVD to arrive. I don't honestly know if I'll get another P2P preview any other DVD's that I want to get, but I am sure I'll ask the producer/distributor for an authorised preview. I hope everyone else does too.

Windows Vista going to carry download software now? What about all the P2P "illegal" companies? Now they need to go after Gates?

What a circle. Google downloads and watch all the hits. It's amazing these companies survive, they even charge fees for downloading.


I was thinking about this today. All the new MP3 players out are made to hold hundreds of songs on one chip. I bet they tell us this is to put all our 45s on instead of downloading music.

Huh? A "clip/preview/chunk" ? Oh ok, you stop the download before it's complete, riiight.

More to the point, anyone who steals _must_ have a justification. How about "if I use it for profit, I'll pay for it. Otherwise it doesn't count"?

Jason

I resent your implications Jason. If you have properly read the thread my intentions and actions should be clear and justified.

And yes, with the program I chose you can stop the download and preview what you have so far. I'm not giving names away, but it was recommended by many people where I work

And yes I have purchased the full boxed DVD from a reputable supplier and am very happy with it, I have passed my compliments to Martini by PM and he has been very helpful with some additional questions that I had.

Just one question for you: How can you try for the moral high ground when you advocate anarchy?

Are we still on about copyright issues or have we gone on to ask about the virtious uses of p2p file sharing?

Honestly Jonathan it feels as though I'm just defending my self to various posters.

This was about P2P and lawful copyright issues and if P2P could be legitimised with good intentions and the fair use rules. A discussion point to promote intellectual discussion and not, as Monty Python might say, the automatic put down of P2P.

That said I am sure that there are many good uses for P2P, without having to infringe anyone's copyright. But that is another discussion.

One thing I wonder. is it ok to us P2P programs to download just videos of magicians performing? I have a lot of old vhs tapes of the david Copperfield tv specials that wont last much longer. and since there is no way to buy dvds of them at this time, would it be legal to look for a copy online? I know google video used to have several of his tv specials on it

Darth, those TV specials are also copyrighted property. Check the credits at the end of the shows for the (c) notice.

With respect to secrets as intellectual property, while most aren't protected, a good many should be protectable, via the patent system; however, I can imagine very few cases in which it would be cost effective, as a practical matter.

I guess being a canadian I have abit of a different view about downloading all blank media (tapes,cd,dvd harddrives for example) have a tax on them that goes to music and movie indestries. to help off set the losses in because of coping material, The movie and music wants to make it illegal in canada but they do not want to give up the tax money, the canadain government has basically told them one or the other not both. Ive often wondered if the magic producers have the same access to the tax money.

know I'm not going to get into the ethics of the action because personally I belive that its a personal choice, here in canada anyway.

I buy my magic material because I try to support my fellow magicians as much as posable, But I have to amit I have photocopyied the odd trick or borrowed a book or tape from my father who has an extensive collection, who is a semi-retired magician.

Scott

Man I wish DC would just put out his tv specials on DVD already! I'd buy every darn one of them today if I could

I don't believe it is right to download from P2P for evaluation purposes. You have to rely on the author to make demo material available or give out enough information for evaluation. You can also look at peer reviews of the material.

I believe it is OK for people who have bought the material to make available their own demonstrations which may include discussion of the method or their own performance additions. This is another way to judge if you want to buy the original material.

I can tell you, from bitter experience, that if you really want to perform the effect and devote weeks of practice to it, it is usually best to buy the original material.

Darth, as you own a copy of the recording you should be able to get a backup copy from anywhere (tough I'm not in the US so your law may be different) but you should also be able to make a copy of the tape to DVD yourself, if you have the kit. I've done this by simply playing the VHS into my DVD Hard disk recorder, the burn the recording ot DVD later. It is easy and not too expensive even if you need to buy a DVD HDD recorder. This may even be cheaper than re-buying the tapes on DVD.

Good discussion - and I tip my hat towards acmp for openly discussing this. P2P sharing happens big time - we should be glad that magic is not mainstream - the movie and music industry has much bigger problems to face.