[Empeg-general] Re: Backing up MP3's off Empeg

[Tony Fabris]

> Is there anyway to backup the MP3's on the empeg in case of theft or a hard drive crash???

Di, Rob, is this one in the BBS FAQ or the official FAQ?

JAbraham, this is a big point of contention and has been the subject of many long discussions here on this BBS and elsewhere.

In order to comply with copyright laws, the Empeg is a music player only, not a music copier. If it were a music copier, it would have to implement the SCMS scheme (Serial Copy Management System), and Empeg would have to pay a tax to the RIAA for every unit sold. This is based on the law known as the AHRA (At Home Recording Act).

The addition of an Empeg-to-PC backup feature would make it fall under the category of music copier, and therefore make it come under the scrutiny of the RIAA, and we don't want that.

The reason Empeg is taking this stance is because Diamond (makers of the Rio) already won this battle in court against the RIAA. The reason they won is because the Rio can only receive files, not send them back to the PC. (As shipped. Yes, there is third-party software which lets you copy files off of a Rio, and the same thing applies to the Empeg as well.)

Before you start going off on the tangent of "but I'm sure they could win in court against the RIAA if they tried", or the tangent of "but the Empeg is really just a computer", don't bother. That's been beaten to death already, too. Empeg is in business to make money, and to do that, they can't waste money on pointless legal battles. It would crush them and we'd never see another player made. They have to be very careful how they proceed.

So, we're back to the issue of MP3 backup:

Now, let's see. You put the MP3 files into the Empeg yourself, right? They had to come from somewhere. That "somewhere" was probably your PC's hard drive. Seems to me that if you've already got them on your PC's hard drive, then that qualifies as a backup. And if you deleted them from your PC because you were out of space, then how would a copy-files-back-off-of-the-empeg feature help you anyway? The Empeg can't magically make the files any smaller, so they can't solve your storage problems for you. Seems to me that backing up your MP3 files is up to you and your PC.

Now, there is one thing that the Empeg should be able to back up, and that's the playlist database. That's something that's being discussed and might appear in a future revision. But it would only back up the indices and song information, not the actual MP3 files. Backing up the MP3 files is still up to you.

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<A HREF="http://www.jps.net/tfabris" target="_new">Tony Fabris</A>_