h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Where would these songs have been found together :

You're so square - Baby I don't care ~ Joni Mitchell
Brown-eyed girl ~ Van Morrison
Say it ain't so ~ The Thrills
Centrefield ~ John Fogerty
Circle Back ~ John Hiatt
My Sharona ~ The Knack

President Obama's iPod?

Well I'll give you 2 points there because that is so very close.
Wrong president.

George W Bush?

mini

W's iPod? "Centerfield" should have been a giveaway that it wasn't Obama.

Indeed all these tunes were on the so called "iPod One."

I'll give Jordan 3 points because he made the iPod and President connection.

but mini got the name up first so I'll have to throw 2 points there too.

Didn't the great and beloved George Bush Jr claim to have tunes by The Beatles on his iPod? This would have been illegal because The Beatles' tunes weren't available from iTunes and he would thus have had to have ripped them from his CD collection. Therefore...

Van (casting doubt on Post 1 but fully prepared for a )

Hilary Clinton said she had Hey Jude on her iPod, and Laura Bush said she favoured Tina Turner and Dolly Parton. (She especially liked Dolly's version of Stairway to Heaven.)

However, my list of what was on iPod One was limited to those revealed by Mark McKinnon in 2005.

>>This would have been illegal because The Beatles' tunes weren't available from iTunes and he would thus have had to have ripped them from his CD collection.<<

It's illegal to put songs from your CD collection onto your mp3 player?? How can that be??

I can't speak for US law but it's always been illegal to copy music in the UK (even in the good old days of taping the Top 40 from the radio and making mix tapes.)

I've picked my "Rubber Soul" cd as an example (but I could have picked other cds.) The smallprint at the bottom of the inside-back cover states: "WARNING Copyright subsists in all recordings under this label. Any unauthorised rental, broadcasting, public performance, *copying* or recording in any manner whatsoever will constitute infringement of such copyright and will render the infringer liable to action at law." [asterisks are mine]

The George Bush incident is especially pertinent because he mentioned the Beatles. The Beatles set up their Apple record label before Apple computers. When Apple computers came along, Apple records took legal action against them to protect the Apple (records) Trademark. A settlement was reached whereby Apple computers could continue trading with its existing name and logo, as long as the company had nothing to do with music. However, many years later, Apple computers launched iTunes and iPod and Apple records took them back to court for breeching the agreement. I believe that Apple records accepted lots of money to let Apple computers carry on at their convenience.

However, iTunes was (and still is) very hot on restricting its purchasers' uses of purchase, ie you can buy a tune from iTunes and stick it on your iPod (the point being that you've paid for the music) but try and copy it to anything else, or share it with a friend, and you'll end up tearing your eyeballs out in frustration at how complicated it can be. In essence, if you buy a song from iTunes you are just supposed to listen to it on your computer or iPod. What's more, you shouldn't have any songs on your iPod that you haven't bought from iTunes. (iTunes is far less stringent these days but I hope you get the picture.)

Unsurprisingly, original recordings by the Beatles have never been available on iTunes; George Bush's claim to have had Beatles tunes on his iPod was either false or an admission to having committed a crime.

Not that there's any need to worry about ripping cds to your computer or putting tunes on your mp3 player because the police don't give a s**t. To gather the evidence and prosecute practically everyone in the country would cost a fortune in money and time. That's why the Government turned a blind-eye to people videotaping tv programmes in the 1980s. And a little known fact is that videotaping sports events carried (and possibly still does) a higher penalty than non-sports tv programmes.

In conclusion (sorry if I've gone on) it *is* illegal to copy music in the UK and, if you're a world leader, it is stupid to say you have non-iTunes tunes on your iPod.

Van

G. W. Bush making false claims...... well I never

I thought that there were laws that overrode the 'not copying things' laws in the UK at least which meant that you were able to back up (i.e. copy for your own use) music that you had previously paid for... So you could buy a CD or a tape and make seven copies of them so long as they were only for your use (i.e. to safeguard against loss of the original etc...)

Incidentally has anyone heard any more about insurance covering digital content bought online (i.e. in a house fire you lose your computer and it has hundred's of £ worth of music bought legit - is it covered now?)