Hello Friends, You have not heard from me lately but the boycott is alive and well. Here are some updates. 1. In the past days I have written over 100 music newsgroups with a cut and paste of the boycott. I am not near through them all and have 100's more to write. I can only write about 50 a day and since I carry the majority of the footwork of this alone.I can not write more than 50+ a night. Many of you have been active members of this boycott so when I use the word footwork all I am implying is most of the boycott letters not written to V2 stem from me. I am not devaluing those who have joined me in any way. I can't do this without you, we are a group and all you that have participated in this are due as much credit as me. I just wish I had more hours in the day. We are making serious headway that I will discuss in a second. Thanks to all, you people are great. 2. A webpage is coming along nicely. A member of the group is helping me (actually he is making the page) and has sent me a draft a few days ago. It looks good.He has not given me permission to use his name but when and if he does I will post it. He deserves full credit for this.He is a truly intelligent man who has given me many ideas and the webpage is almost totally his work. Once it is up all the artists of V2 will be listed as keywords so anyone wanting information on the bands will stumble across our webpage. 3. At least three other boycott related projects are in the works. One, If my assumptions are right could be devastating to V2. I can only hope my initial thoughts are right. I can not tip my hand now but watch for future announcements. 4. PERHAPS THE BIGGEST ANNOUNCEMENT IS THAT I HAVE BEEN CONTACTED BY CHOCOLATE GENIUS. He is the artist who is on the CD in question with the total digital block. I have asked him tonight if I may post his e-mails to me. (2 e-mails and one forward). I can't give many details now because of the nature of our conversations but I will say HE IS ONE WITH US. If he gives me permission to post his e-mails or paraphrase them they will be up as early as tomorrow. He is a small artist on the label and can not put forth any serious pressure but has promised to ask why his CD has a digital block. He had no idea it had one. I have no reasonable doubt it is him from the details he has provided me. He is a reasonable articulate man who is in the business for the art, not the money though he would like to have food on the table. Even though I am asking people not to buy his CD he has no ill feelings and understands our cause. Thank you Thomas James for putting me in touch with the man. CHOCOLATE GENIUS IS SUPPORTIVE OF OUR CAUSE and indicates he will do what he can. That is all I can say for now but watch the group in the next few days and you may see a forward of a post sent to me by the man himself. Right now I am looking for home recording enthusiast or issue websites and newsgroups. If you know of any please send them to me personally. For those of you reading this for the first time and those of you who are knowledgeable about the issue concerning us all I am reposting the boycott below. If you have not written V2 music and agree with my beliefs please write all 4 addressees now. For those who have written to them in the past please cut and paste your e-mail to them or cut and paste the form boycott letter below. I want them to know this issue is not dead. WE ARE CLOSER TO WINING THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO DIGITALLY RECORD OUR OWN CD's FOR PERSONAL USE THAN WE EVER HAVE BEEN BEFORE.Before you great people joined the boycott I was ignored by V2, since you have joined me in the good fight we have both received a e-mail from V2 (although not the one we wanted) and now have a artist on V2, the very artist that is on the digitally blocked CD, holding and indorsing our viewpoint. We are not yet finished but the light is at the end of the tunnel thanks to you all. I serious believe with enough vigilance by us all we will change V2's policy. A change that will allow us to record a first generation digital copy of any CD released on their label. Here is the boycott, if you have written them before please take the thirty seconds it will take to cut and paste your or my letter below to them. We need to let them know we are not dead and have not rolled over. With your help we will win and we will all be able to digitally record into our old age. Here is the boycott..... SOON YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RECORD ANY CD. (At Least If V2 Music has it’s way) We serious music fans have grown up recording our music, whether the source was the radio, an LP or a CD. We all have enjoyed making tapes of our favorite bands or mix tapes of various bands. The 8-Trac tape was replaced by reel to reel and reel to reel was replaced by cassette. Technology marches on. The next recording format will be digital. Digital recording allows an exact copy of the original source, your favorite CD. Within a few years a digital format will replace cassette. It already has in Japan and much of Europe. Digital formats already have replaced the LP, satellite TV and is now about to replace current camcorder and VCR technology. With digital recording formats such as minidisc and digital audio tape the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 allows purchaser of CD’s to digitally make a copy of their own legally bought CD’s. In order to prevent piracy the act required a SCMS chip be placed in all current and future consumer digital recorders. This chip allows a person to make as many digital copies of a CD as one desires but does not allow one to make a copy of a copy. In simple terms it works like this. A CD is encoded with a inaudible signal, the signal tells the digital recorder to allow a copy from a CD but the copy (minidisc, digital audio tape or any future format that will replace cassette) contains a altered signal that instructs a digital recorder not to allow a copy of the copy. Quite simply it will turn the digital recording off before it even starts recording. Until now digital recording was a safe bet for the future. All CD’s allowed a copy to be made digitally. V2 music is changing the ground rules and a long understanding between record labels and home tapers. V2 music is the label of such popular bands such as Underworld, Heather Nova, Blessed Union Of Souls, Sterophonics, The Jungle Brothers and Gravediggaz. This label is now placing a digital signal on some of their CD’s to stop a person who purchased the CD from making a single digital copy. That’s right. With V2 music and their policy some of their CD’s can not be copied to a digital format such as minidisc, digital audiotape and whatever format that will soon replace the cassette. QUITE SIMPLY, SOME OF V2 MUSIC’S CDs WILL SHUT OFF A DIGITAL RECORDER AND NOT ALLOW A SINGLE SECOND OF RECORDING TO TAKE PLACE. Imagine you purchase a CD and suddenly find out you can not record it to cassette because the label has placed a block on the CD. V2’s policy will have the same effect soon once digital recorders are the norm. THAT’S RIGHT, IF V2’S POLICY CONTINUES AND EXPANDS IN THE NEAR FUTURE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RECORD ANY CD YOU HAVE LEGALLY PURCHASED. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE A DIGITAL COPY FOR YOUR CAR, YOUR WALKMAN OR ANY OTHER DEVICE YOU WISH TO PLAY THE COPY IN. V2 MUSIC DOES NOT BELIEVE YOU SHOULD MAKE A COPY FOR YOUR OWN USE OF ANY CD THEY SELL. IN FACT V2 WRONGLY CLAIMS THAT HOME RECORDING IS ILLEGAL EVEN THOUGH THE AUDIO HOME RECORDING ACT OF 1992 SPECIFICALLY ALLOWS SUCH RECORDING. IF V2 MUSIC IS SUCCESSFUL YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO DIGITALLY RECORD ANY MUSIC IN THE NEAR FUTURE. We as consumers have a chance to stop this in its tracks. If you like to make home recordings and wish to do so in the future let V2 music know that you strongly believe you have the right to record CD’s you have bought. Otherwise we will lose the ability to record music altogether. If you wish to record music in the future write V2 music at the following e-mail addresses. Please write to them all (cut and paste your e-mail so you don’t have to type four e-mail messages.) Write to…. [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you do not wish to take the time to write your own e-mail just cut and paste the below and send it to the four addresses. -------CUT------- Because of V2’s policy of issuing CD’s which have the SCMS set to not allow a single digital copy I will not purchase a single CD or any other format by the following artists listed below. I also will not purchase any future releases by other artists on the V2 label. I further intend to alert as many people as reasonably possible not to buy any of your products currently or in the future until you stop this policy and adhere to the AHRA ACT of 1992 which grants me the legal right to record digital sources in the digital domain for my own personal use. 12 Rods, Addict, Afu-Ra, Alex Gopher, Alice Temple, Annie Christian, Aphrodite, Billy Crawford, Blessed Union Of Souls, Blumfeld, Chocolate Genius, Corduroy, Cosmo Vitelli, Gautsch, Grandaddy, Gravediggaz, Headrillaz, Heather Nova, High Llamas, Jungle Brothers, Junior Delgado, Kathleen Wilhoite, Kwame, Ky-mani, Mandalay, Mary Coughlan, Mercury Rev, Moby, N’Dea Davenport, Oliva Tremor Control, Olu, One Minute Silence, Passi, Psycore, Rza, Scott 4, Spirit Nation, Sterophonics, The Crocketts, Tin Star, Underworld, Yankee B, Younger Younger 28’s. -------CUT-------- UNLESS YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECORD ANY MUSIC IN THE NEAR FUTURE WRITE TO V2 MUSIC TODAY AND TELL THEM THAT YOU ARE PART OF THE BOYCOTT. Thanks, Sincerely, The Home Recording Rights Committee E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks to you all. This is a great community and one that truly cares about the future of digital recording. Pat yourselves on the back my friends, we are getting close but much hard work lies ahead. This time next year I believe all participants can say "We won and I was part of it". When your grandchildren record onto whatever digital format replaces minidisc tell them that they can do that because you and a few 100 boneheads that changed the world and made it possible. Thanks, Soy Bomb II ----------------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
