This act is an addition to the United States Copyright Law. The addition is chapter 10 which is "Digital Audio Recording Devices and Media." The act is broken up into four subchapters A, B, C and D.

     Subchapter A gives definitions of terms that are used within the act. The terms are clearly defined so that they can be used within the explaination of the act itself with little confusion. For example, A digital audio copied recording is defined as "a reproduction in a digital recording format of a digital musical recording, whether that reproduction is made directly from another digital musical recording or indirectly from a transmission."

     Subchapter B gets into the main point of the act stating what can and cannot be copied. This section states that it is illegal to import, manufacture, or distribute any digital audio recording device that does not comply with the Serial Copy Management System or any other similar system. The device must also meet the standards set by the Secretary of Commerce. Finally, digital music recordings cannot be encoded with inaccurate information.

     Subchapter C deals with royalty payments. It explains who pays them, how much is payed under certain conditions , and who receives these payments. According to this section, the amount of royalty payment for each recording device is two percent of the transfer price. Also only the first person to manufacture or import and distribute a device is required to pay the royalty. A royalty tax of 8 dollars is required for each digital recording machine. The royalty tax is paid by the manufacturers of the digital media devices and then distributed to copyright owners whose music is being copied. Because of this tax, copyright owners cannot claim copyright infringement against the use of audio recording devices in the home.

     Subchapter D explains the arbitration for violations regarding the terms set up in the previous sections.

     This act gave guidance to the music industry but it did not include computers because they are not considered digital audio recording devices. This poses a problem because of the explosion of the internet which occured in subsequent years.

Professor Jan Gehl

Tuesday 11 September 2007

Jan Gehl

For over 40 years internationally renowned Danish architect Jan Gehl's career has focused on improving the quality of urban life, especially for pedestrians.

Jan discusses how his research on public spaces and public life has been applied successfully in cities across Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. He will also share his observations on the ways we can make Sydney a truly great pedestrian city.

about

listeningtowords is a collection of links to free online lectures and courses.

audio + images in a new york times profile of rural homesless in colorado

smithsonian again scores big in the cool and useful offering by a cultural institution category. listen and weep.

selected articles from the new yorker

"This British site offers audio files of "English-language poets reading their own work. Some are historic recordings, some have been made specially for the Archive." Browse by poet or name of poem. Includes videos of interviews with selected poets, lesson plans, access to the "Children's Poetry Archive," and links to poetry sites for students and to other material." (via LII)

"The Forum is a non-partisan student organization of Harvard Law School dedicated to bringing open discussion of a broad range of legal, political and social issues to the Harvard Law School campus." The audio of past programs (some dating back to 1954) is archived here.

"The resource contains transcripts, audio recordings, and edited stories of a series of interviews conducted in the spring of 1998. Members of the Sophomore Class at South Kingstown High School interviewed Rhode Islanders about their recollections of the year 1968. Their stories, which include references to the Vietnam War, the struggle for Civil Rights, the Assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy as well as many more personal memories are a living history of one of the most tumultuous years in United States history."