Following up on previous posts (one, two) on the blogtroversy surrounding podcast availability of PRI's much-beloved "This American Life" radio program, BB reader Chris Ladd says:
I'm a big fan of BoingBoing, and a big fan of TAL. In fact, I used to
work there. I was their intern.Now, being a BoingBoing reader and generally techy kind of guy, I hate
DRM and extortionist content practices and all the rest of it. And, in
fact, when I moved to Chicago last summer to work for the show, I
spent much of the 20 hour drive listening to TAL episodes I
AudioHijacked off of my real player.That being said, while lame, the way TAL deals with its downloads
isn't greedy, and it's not their fault. Don't forget that they are
primarily a radio show, one that is broadcast nationwide. As an
additional service, they let you stream the show from their website
for absolutely free. Which is nice, right? So why can't you take it
with you?You have to understand that This American Life is produced differently
than just about any other show on the radio. They get big names on
there. They pay well. They score the whole show with great music. All
of these things make it difficult to give away programs for free.
Because all the different people who contribute to each show are
entitled to a part of the CD sales, its in their contracts. As I
understand it, there's some difference between streamed recordings and
downloaded recordings that makes the lawyers go crazy. (Cory?) Also,
there's some royalty thing with all the music used in the show.Could contracts be changed to make this work differently? Maybe. But
it would probably take a lot of time, and there's not a lot of people
over there. Don't be fooled by that polished sound — when I was
there, there were eleven of us, and that includes me, a guy that runs
the books, and a guy who makes CDs. Everybody's pretty busy making
radio shows.In any case, Ira's not trying to cheat you. He is, in fact, a very
nice guy. Like, for instance, if he were going out to get lunch, he'd
ask you if you wanted anything, and then he'd bring it back, and he
wouldn't make you pay for it. And, say, if you were going out to get
lunch, and you asked him if he wanted anything, he'd tell you and give
you money to go get it, and sometimes he'd let you borrow his car.
He's a nice guy.So my advice to BoingBoingers is not to worry about it. Stop
complaining, and hack things the old fashioned way. It's not difficult
to just hijack it, or listen at your desk.p.s. I don't know if people know about TAL's move to TV and New York,
but here's a link to a story I wrote about it for New York Magazine: Link.
Reader comment: BB reader Declan says,
I've been reading the TAL thread and thought this article I wrote last year might be interesting. I exercise fair use and use my Radio Shark to capture radio shows, then transform them into something I can hear on the iPod and is accessible as a podcast. Link.
Reader comment: Christopher says,
In response to a comment made by Tom Collins regarding the ongoing saga of TAL and podcasts, I would like to point out that whether or not it is ethical or moral to do so, the ability to essentially make a hyperlink to existing content without actually reproducing said content is a fundamental freedom associated with the Internet. Even if this hyperlinking is done via an RSS feed rather than a <a > tag in HTML, the concept is exactly the same. Thus, while I agree with most of Mr. Collins' comment, I must take issue with the assertion that we do not have the intrinsic right to make such a podcast. Not being a lawyer in any way, I don't know if he's right or not, but everything I've learnedabout American law leads me to believe he is incorrect on this point.
I do not mean this comment, however, to be an endorsement of behavior antithetical to the wishes of the content's creators. Rather, simply because we have the right to do something doesn't make it right.
