Re: Performers' Right in Sound Recordings

>What happens to a signal sent through such a Net radio? My
>understanding is that, "real-time" or not, the recipient ends up with
>a copy of the transmitted data. IMHO, *that* is the difference between
>analog and digital transmission.

But does not the recipient of an analog transmission end up with a copy of the transmission?

Several radio stations implicitly condone (if not encourage) listeners to "have their fingers on the pause button" (to start taping songs from the radio.)

Someone who receives an analog transmission has exactly the same chance to "make a copy" that someone who is receiving a digital transmission has. (And it would be trivial to hook the output of an analog radio signal to the "microphone" input on my workstation; and then I can send the signal directly to the speakers and discard it; or I can save a copy.)

Intermediate copies get made during both broadcast (and reception) using any and all technologies. (They may exist as buffers in the CD player; states of a circuit; electronic waves in the air; etc. The "buffers" are bigger using most digital technologies, but they are still a small fraction of the total work.) Would our digital radio station care to discuss what fraction of a second a "packet" they broadcast is?

The law may choose to make a distinction between "wireless" and "cable" distribution; and between "analog" and "digital", but from a technical point of view, both offer the chance to make a copy, and both can be discarded (or not) as the recipient wishes.

>From a purely technical point of view,

Keith Graham
vapspcx[_at_]cad.gatech.edu Received on Sat Dec 31 1994 - 22:02:03 GMT