A trade association , also known as an industry trade group , business association , sector association or industry body , is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry . Through collaboration between companies within a sector , a trade association participates in public relations activities such as advertising , education, publishing and, especially, lobbying and political action . Associations may offer other services, such as producing conferences, setting industry standards, holding networking or charitable events, or offering classes or educational materials. Many associations are non-profit organizations governed by bylaws and directed by officers who are also members. (FEC: Solicitable Class of Trade Association). Many associations are non-profit organizations governed by bylaws and directed by officers who are also members. ( Library of Congress ).
80-668: The Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States . Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. RIAA was formed in 1952. Its original mission
160-506: A social market economy , the role of trade associations is often taken by employers' organizations , which also take a role in social dialogue . One of the primary purposes of trade groups, particularly in the United States, is to attempt to influence public policy in a direction favorable to the group's members. It can take the form of contributions to the campaigns of political candidates and parties through political action committees (PACs); contributions to "issue" campaigns not tied to
240-511: A CD to a 292 kbit/s data stream, roughly a 5:1 reduction. ATRAC was also used on nearly all flash memory Walkman devices until the 8 series. The ATRAC codec differs from uncompressed PCM in that it is a psychoacoustic lossy audio data reduction scheme. Like other lossy audio compression formats, it is intended to be acoustically transparent, but some listeners claim to be able to hear audible artifacts. There have been four versions of ATRAC, each claimed by Sony to more accurately reflect
320-470: A bitrate of 132 kbit/s and also uses separate stereo coding. The third mode, LP4, has a bitrate of 66 kbit/s and uses joint stereo coding . The sound quality is noticeably degraded compared to the other two modes, but is sufficient for many uses. Tracks recorded in LP2 or LP4 mode play back as silence on non-MDLP players. Debuting in late 2001, NetMD recorders allow music files to be transferred from
400-583: A candidate or party; and lobbying legislators to support or oppose particular legislation. In addition, trade groups attempt to influence the activities of regulatory bodies . In the United States, direct contributions by PACs to candidates are required to be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission or state and local election overseers; are considered public information; and have registration requirements for lobbyists (FEC: Lobbyist). Even so, it can sometimes be difficult to trace
480-541: A competing system, DCC, on a magnetic tape cassette. This created marketing confusion very similar to the videocassette format war of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sony licensed MD technology to other manufacturers, with JVC , Sharp , Pioneer , Panasonic and others producing their own MD products. However, non-Sony machines were not widely available in North America, and companies such as Technics and Radio Shack tended to promote DCC instead. Despite having
560-453: A computer to a recorder (but not in the other direction) over a USB connection. In LP4 mode, speeds of up to 32× real-time are possible and three Sony NetMD recorders (MZ-N10, MZ-N910, and MZ-N920) are capable of speeds up to 64× real-time. NetMD recorders all support MDLP. When transferring music in SP mode using NetMD with SonicStage, what is transferred is actually padded LP2. That is to say that
640-460: A concession, the last Hi-MD players can upload to PC a digitally recorded file which can be resaved as a WAV ( PCM ) file and thus replicated. The digitally encoded audio signal on a MiniDisc has traditionally been data-compressed using the ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding) format. ATRAC was devised to allow MiniDisc to have the same runtime as a CD. ATRAC reduces the 1.4 Mbit/s of
720-594: A decision, that the U.S. District Judge Harold Baer of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the music industry on all its main arguments: that Usenet.com was guilty of direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement. In addition, and perhaps most importantly for future cases, Baer said that Usenet.com cannot claim protection under the Sony Betamax decision. That ruling states that companies cannot be held liable for contributory infringement if
800-453: A decrease in sales of singles. In 1992, RIAA began counting each disc in a multi-disc set as one unit toward certification. Reflecting additional growth in music sales, the Diamond award was instituted in 1999 for albums or singles selling ten million units. Because of these changes in criteria, the sales level associated with a particular award depends on when the award was made. Since 2000,
880-720: A disc becomes full, the recorder can simply direct the data into sections where erased tracks reside. This can lead to fragmentation but unless many erasures and replacements are performed, the only likely problem is excessive searching, reducing battery life. The data structure of the MiniDisc, where music is recorded in a single stream of bytes while the TOC contains pointers to track positions, allows for gapless playback of music, something which competing portable players such as most MP3 players, fail to implement properly. Notable exceptions are CD players, as well as all recent iPods . At
SECTION 10
#1732772609043960-572: A lawsuit against RIAA, alleging that the terms of use of the network were violated and that unauthorized client software was used in the investigation to track down the individual file sharers (such as Kazaa Lite). An effort to throw out this suit was denied in January 2004, but that suit was settled in 2006. Sharman Networks agreed to a global settlement of litigation brought against it by the Motion Picture Association of America,
1040-607: A loyal customer base largely of musicians and audio enthusiasts, the MiniDisc met with only limited success in the United States. It was very popular in Japan and parts of Asia, and relatively so in Europe during the 1990s and into the 2000s, but did not enjoy comparable sales success in other markets. Since then, recordable CDs, flash memory and HDD and solid-state-based digital audio players such as iPods have become increasingly popular as playback devices. The slow uptake of MiniDisc
1120-851: A market. In September 2007, the German trade association for Fachverband Verbindungs- und Befestigungstechnik (VBT) and five fastener companies were fined 303 million euros by the European Commission for operating cartels in the markets for fasteners and attaching machines in Europe and worldwide. In one of the cartels, the YKK Group , Coats plc , the Prym group, the Scovill group, A. Raymond, and Berning & Söhne "agreed [...] on coordinated price increases in annual 'price rounds' with respect to 'other fasteners' and their attaching machines, in
1200-500: A specific corporate product, such as a specific brand of cheese or toilet paper, industry trade groups advertisements generally are targeted to promote the views of an entire industry. These ads mention only the industry's products as a whole, painting them in a positive light in order to have the public form positive associations with that industry and its products. For example, in the US the advertising campaign "Beef. It's what's for dinner"
1280-491: A then-recently deceased 83-year-old woman an elderly computer novice, and a family reportedly without any computer at all. In February 2007, RIAA began sending letters accusing Internet users of sharing files and directing them to web site P2PLAWSUITS.COM , where they can make "discount" settlements payable by credit card. The letters go on to say that anyone not settling will have lawsuits brought against them. Typical settlements are between $ 3,000 and $ 12,000. This new strategy
1360-550: Is a further development of the MiniDisc format. Hi-MD media will not play on non-Hi-MD equipment, including NetMD players. The Hi-MD format, introduced in 2004, marked a return to the data storage arena with its 1 GB discs and ability to act as a USB drive . Hi-MD units allow the recording and playback of audio and data on the same disc, and can write both audio and data to standard MiniDisc media – an 80-minute MiniDisc blank could be formatted to store 305 MB of data. Modes marked in green are available for recordings made on
1440-419: Is accused of employing techniques such as peer-to-peer "decoying" and " spoofing " to combat file sharing. In late 2008, they announced they would stop their lawsuits, and instead attempt to work with ISPs to persuade them to use a three-strike system for file sharing involving issuing two warnings and then cutting off Internet service after the third strike. RIAA names defendants based on ISP identification of
1520-431: Is also suing several Internet radio stations. Later, XM was forced to impose an industry fee upon subscribers. The fee still exists and has always been paid, in-full, directly to RIAA. On October 12, 2007, RIAA sued Usenet.com seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the company from "aiding, encouraging, enabling, inducing, causing, materially contributing to, or otherwise facilitating" copyright infringement . This suit,
1600-430: Is fixed in a cartridge (68×72×5 mm) with a sliding door, similar to the casing of a 3.5" floppy disk . This shutter is opened automatically when inserted into a drive. MiniDiscs can either be blank or prerecorded. Recordable MiniDiscs use a magneto-optical system to write data: a laser below the disc heats a spot to its Curie point , making the material in the disc susceptible to a magnetic field. A magnetic head above
1680-519: Is often an important reason why companies join a trade association in the first place. Examples of larger trade associations that publish a comprehensive range of media include European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Industry trade groups sometimes produce advertisements, just as normal corporations do. However, whereas typical advertisements are for
SECTION 20
#17327726090431760-847: Is used by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to promote a positive image of beef in the public consciousness. These are adverts targeted at specific issues. For example, in the US in the early 2000s the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) began running advertisements before films that advocate against movie piracy over the Internet. Trade associations have faced frequent criticism due to allegations that they operate not as profit-making organizations, but rather as fronts for cartels involved in anti-competitive practices . Critics contend that these associations engage in activities such as price-fixing ,
1840-573: The DeCSS controversy. On February 4, 2022, Mitch Glazier swiftly took action against NFT scam site HitPiece . The site had allegedly stole music to mint as NFTs, and host them on their site. Since then, HitPiece has only responded with "We Started The Conversation And We're Listening." However, their site has not been updated since. RIAA is heavily criticized for both policy and for their method of suing individuals for copyright infringement. Particularly strong critic-advocates are Internet-based, such as
1920-605: The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Students for Free Culture . RIAA has sued more than 20,000 people in the United States suspected of distributing copyrighted works. Of these, approximately 2,500 were settled pre-trial. Brad Templeton of the Electronic Frontier Foundation has called these types of lawsuits spamigation and implied they are done merely to intimidate people. Trade association In countries with
2000-664: The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry , and by RIAA. The creators of the popular Kazaa file-sharing network would pay $ 115 million to RIAA, plus unspecified future amounts to MPAA and the software industry; and, they would install filters on its networks to prevent users from sharing copyrighted works on its network. RIAA also filed suit in 2006 to enjoin digital XM Satellite Radio from enabling its subscribers from playing songs they had recorded from its satellite broadcasts. It
2080-703: The Philips Compact Cassette analog audio tape system: the other was the Digital Compact Cassette (DCC), created by Philips and Matsushita (now Panasonic). Sony had originally intended the Digital Audio Tape (DAT) to be the dominant home digital audio recording format, replacing the analog cassette. Because of technical delays, the DAT was not launched until 1989, and by then the U.S. dollar had fallen so far against
2160-400: The yen that the introductory DAT machine Sony had intended to market for about $ 400 in the late 1980s then had to retail for $ 800 or even $ 1,000 to break even, putting it out of reach of most users. Relegating DAT to professional use, Sony set to work to come up with a simpler, more economical digital home format. By the time Sony came up with the MiniDisc in late 1992, Philips had introduced
2240-727: The 1992 Audio Home Recording Act . The Rio PMP300 was significant because it was the second portable consumer MP3 digital audio player released on the market. The three-judge panel ruled in favor of Diamond, paving the way for the development of the portable digital player market. In 2003, RIAA sued college student developers of LAN search engines Phynd and Flatlan, describing them as "a sophisticated network designed to enable widespread music thievery". In September 2003, RIAA filed suit in civil court against several private individuals who had shared large numbers of files with Kazaa . Most of these suits were settled with monetary payments averaging $ 3,000. Kazaa publisher Sharman Networks responded with
2320-481: The RIAA added a branch of certification for what it calls "digital" recordings, essentially referring to "recordings transferred to the recipient over a network" (such as those sold via the iTunes Store ) yet excluding other obviously digital media such as those on CD , DAT , or MiniDisc . In 2006, "digital ringtones" were added to this branch of certification. Starting in 2013, streaming from audio and video streaming services such as Spotify , Napster , YouTube and
2400-532: The RIAA also operates a similar program for Latin music sales, called Los Premios de Oro y De Platino . Currently, a "Disco De Oro" (Gold) is awarded for 30,000 units, and a "Disco De Platino" is awarded for 60,000 units. Further, the "Album Multi-Platino" honor is awarded at 120,000, and "Diamante" requires 10 times as many units as "Platino" (600,000). The RIAA defines "Latin music" as a type of release with 51% or more of its content recorded in Spanish . In 2004,
2480-412: The RIAA choosing the number of works it deems "reasonable". For cases that do not settle at this amount, the RIAA has gone to trial, seeking statutory damages from the jury, written into The Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 as between $ 750 and $ 30,000 per work or $ 750 and $ 150,000 per work if "willful". The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Citizen oppose
Recording Industry Association of America - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-574: The SCMS on the Digital Compact Cassette where analogue recording was marked as "unprotected"). In recorders that could be connected to a PC via USB , it was possible to transfer audio from the PC to the MiniDisc recorder, but for many years it was not possible to transfer audio in the other direction. This restriction existed in both the SonicStage software and in the MiniDisc player itself. SonicStage V3.4
2640-415: The United States grew 11.4% in 2016 to $ 7.7 billion. The RIAA operates an award program for albums that sell a large number of copies. The award was launched in 1958; originally, the requirement for a Gold single was one million units sold and a Gold album represented $ 1 million in sales (at wholesale value, around a third of the list price). In 1975, the additional requirement of 500,000 units sold
2720-712: The United States, outlined the potentially anti-competitive nature of some trade association activity in a speech to the American Bar Association in Washington, DC , in March 2005 called "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Trade Associations and Antitrust ". For instance, he said that under the guise of "standard setting", trade associations representing the established players in an industry can set rules that make it harder for new companies to enter
2800-416: The United States. RIAA also participates in the collective rights management of sound recordings, and it is responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in the United States. Mitch Glazier has been the RIAA's chairman and CEO since 2019. Glazier joined the RIAA 20 years ago and has played a role in the music industry's transition to streaming and "anywhere, anytime" access to music. He
2880-455: The United States. The largest and most influential of the members are the "Big Three": Within the major three music groups, it represents high-profile record labels such as Atlantic , Capitol , RCA , Warner , Columbia , and Motown . The RIAA reports that total retail value of recordings sold by their members was $ 10.4 billion at the end of 2007, a decline from $ 14.6 billion in 1999. Estimated retail revenues from recorded music in
2960-472: The ability of RIAA and other companies to "strip Internet users of anonymity without allowing them to challenge the order in court". Importantly, US Courts have declared that an IP address is not a person nor personal identifier. This weakened RIAA's ability to sue individuals. RIAA's methods of identifying individual users had, in some rare cases, led to the issuing of subpoenas to persons dead or otherwise incapable of file-sharing. Two such examples include:
3040-441: The analog Compact Cassette , MiniDisc is a random-access medium, making seek time very fast. MiniDiscs can be edited very quickly even on portable machines. Tracks can be split, combined, moved or deleted with ease either on the player or uploaded to a PC with Sony's SonicStage V4.3 software and edited there. Transferring data from an MD unit to a non-Windows PC can only be done in real time, preferably via optical I/O, by connecting
3120-399: The association began its campaign against peer-to-peer file-sharing have concluded that losses incurred per download range from negligible to moderate. The association has commenced high-profile lawsuits against file-sharing service providers. Likewise, it has sued individuals suspected of file sharing, notably college students, parents of file-sharing children and at least one dead person. It
3200-594: The audio out port of the MD to an available audio in port of the computer. With the release of the Hi-MD format, Sony began to use Mac OS X -compatible software. However, the Mac OS X-compatible software was still not compatible with legacy MD formats (SP, LP2, LP4). This means that an MD recorded on a legacy unit or in a legacy format still requires a Windows PC for faster than real-time transfers. The beginning of
3280-601: The benefit of the RIAA and invited the students and subscribers to visit an RIAA website for the purpose of entering into a "discount settlement" payable by credit card. By March 2007, the focus had shifted from ISPs to colleges and universities. In October 1998, RIAA filed a lawsuit in the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco claiming the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300 player violated
Recording Industry Association of America - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-466: The change when it came to light. The battle over the disputed provision led to the formation of the Recording Artists' Coalition , which successfully lobbied for repeal of the change. On October 23, 2020, the code repository hosting service GitHub (owned by Microsoft ) released a DMCA request from RIAA. This request listed the open-source software project youtube-dl (and forks of
3440-514: The cheapest 80-minute MiniDisc blanks. The biggest competition for MiniDisc came with the emergence of MP3 players . With the Diamond Rio player in 1998 and the Apple iPod in 2001, the mass market began to eschew physical media in favor of more convenient file-based systems. By 2007, because of the waning popularity of the format and the increasing popularity of solid-state MP3 players, Sony
3520-603: The considerably more expensive data blanks. It did see some success in a small number of multi-track recorders such as Sony's MDM-X4, Tascam's 564 (which could also record using standard audio MD discs, albeit only two tracks), and Yamaha's MD8, MD4, & MD4S. In 1997, MD Data2 blanks were introduced with 650 MB. They were only implemented in Sony's short-lived MD-based camcorder, the DCM-M1. In 2000, Sony announced MDLP (MiniDisc Long Play), which added new recording modes based on
3600-477: The creation and maintenance of barriers to entry in the industry, and other subtle self-serving actions that are detrimental to the public interest. These criticisms raise concerns about the true nature and intentions of trade associations, questioning their commitment to fair competition and the welfare of the broader economy. Jon Leibowitz , a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission in
3680-416: The device they create is "capable of significant noninfringing uses". Furthermore, the parties had appealed to a federal court for damage assessments and awards, which could amount to several millions of dollars for the music industry. On October 26, 2010, RIAA members won a case against LimeWire, a P2P file-sharing network, for illegal distribution of copyrighted works. On October 29, in retaliation, riaa.org
3760-488: The disc has a table of contents (TOC, the System File area), which stores the start positions of the various tracks, as well as metadata (title, artist) and free blocks. Unlike a conventional cassette, a recorded song does not need to be stored as one piece on the disc, it can be scattered in fragments, similar to a hard drive. Early MiniDisc equipment had a fragment granularity of 4 seconds of audio. Fragments smaller than
3840-482: The disc then alters the polarity of the heated area, recording the digital data onto the disk. Playback is accomplished with the laser alone: taking advantage of the magneto-optic Kerr effect , the player senses the polarization of the reflected light as a 1 or a 0. Recordable MDs can be rerecorded repeatedly, with Sony claiming up to one million times. By May 2005, there were 60-minute, 74-minute and 80-minute discs available. 60-minute blanks, which were widely available in
3920-480: The early years of the format's introduction, were phased out. MiniDiscs use a mastering process and optical playback system that is very similar to CDs. The recorded signal of the premastered pits and of the recordable MD are also very similar. Eight-to-Fourteen Modulation (EFM) and a modification of CD's CIRC code, called Advanced Cross Interleaved Reed-Solomon Code (ACIRC) are employed. MiniDiscs use rewritable magneto-optical storage to store data. Unlike DCC or
4000-414: The end of recording, after the "Stop" button has been pressed, the MiniDisc may continue to write music data for a few seconds from its memory buffers. During this time, it may display a message ("Data Save", on at least some models) and the case will not open. After the audio data is written out, the final step is to write the TOC track denoting the start and endpoints of the recorded data. Sony points out in
4080-404: The final markup of a "technical corrections" section of copyright legislation, classifying many music recordings as " works made for hire ", thereby stripping artists of their copyright interests and transferring those interests to their record labels. Shortly afterwards, Glazier was hired as Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Legislative Counsel for the RIAA, which vigorously defended
SECTION 50
#17327726090434160-452: The first that RIAA has filed against a Usenet provider, has added another branch to RIAA's rapidly expanding fight to curb the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials . Unlike many of RIAA's previous lawsuits, this suit was filed against the provider of a service. Providers have no direct means of removing infringing content. RIAA's argument relies heavily on the fact the Usenet.com,
4240-580: The format. On 1 February 2013, Sony issued a press release on the Nikkei stock exchange that it would cease shipment of all MD devices, with last of the players to be sold in March 2013. However, it would continue to sell blank discs and offer repair services. Other manufacturers continued to release MiniDisc players long after Sony stopped, with TEAC & TASCAM producing new decks up until 2020 when both its consumer and professional products, TEAC MD-70CD and TASCAM MD-CD1MKIII, were discontinued. The disc
4320-481: The formula for album-equivalent unit . For certification purposes, each unit may be one of: Along with albums, digital albums, and singles, another classification of music release is called "video longform". This release format includes DVD and VHS releases. Further, certain live albums and compilation albums are counted. The certification criteria are slightly different from other styles. RIAA opposes unauthorized sharing of its members' music. Studies conducted since
4400-591: The framework of work circles organised by VBT". MiniDisc MiniDisc ( MD ) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, and later, 80 minutes of digitized audio . Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November of that year for sale in Japan and in December in Europe, North America, and other countries. The music format
4480-452: The funding for issue and non-electoral campaigns. In Slovenia , the government 's approach to consulting business associations has been noted by the European Commission as a good practice example. Almost all trade associations are heavily involved in publishing activities in print and online. The main media published by trade associations are as follows: The opportunity to be promoted in such media (whether by editorial or advertising)
4560-493: The granularity are not monitored, which may lead to the usable capacity of a disc shrinking over time. No means of defragmenting the disc is provided in consumer-grade equipment. All consumer-grade MiniDisc devices have a copy-protection scheme called the Serial Copy Management System . An unprotected disc or song can be copied without limit, but the copies can no longer be digitally copied. However, as
4640-512: The last of the players by March 2013. In 1983, just a year after the introduction of the compact disc , Kees Schouhamer Immink and Joseph Braat presented the first experiments with erasable magneto-optical compact discs during the 73rd AES Convention in Eindhoven . It took almost 10 years, however, before their idea was commercialized. Sony's MiniDisc was one of two rival digital systems introduced in 1992 that were intended to replace
4720-691: The likes also began to be counted towards the certification, using the formula of 100 streams being the equivalent of one download; thus, RIAA certification for singles no longer reflects actual sales. In the same year, the RIAA introduced the Latin Digital Award for digital recordings in Spanish. As of 2016, the certification criteria for these recordings are: Digital awards: The units are defined as: Latin digital awards: In February 2016, RIAA updated its certification criteria for album-level awards to combine streaming and track sales using
4800-592: The manual that the power should not be interrupted or the unit exposed to undue physical shock during this time. All MiniDisc recorders use the SCMS copy protection system which uses two bits in the S/PDIF digital audio stream and on disc to differentiate between "protected" vs. "unprotected" audio, and between "original" vs. "copy": Recording from an analogue source resulted in a disc marked "protected" and "original" allowing one further copy to be made (this contrasts with
4880-476: The new codec ATRAC3. In addition to the standard, high-quality mode, now called SP, MDLP adds LP2 mode, which doubles the recording time – 160 minutes on an 80-minute disc – of good-quality stereo sound, and LP4, which allows four times more recording time – 320 minutes on an 80-minute disc – of medium-quality stereo sound. The bitrate of the standard SP mode is 292 kbit/s , and it uses separate stereo coding with discrete left and right channels. LP2 mode uses
SECTION 60
#17327726090434960-512: The only defendant that had been named, promoted their service with slogans and phrases that strongly suggested that the service could be used to obtain free music. On April 28, 2008, RIAA member labels sued Project Playlist, a web music search site, claiming that most of the sound recordings in the site's index of links are infringing. Project Playlist's website denies that any of the music is hosted on Project Playlist's own servers. On June 30, 2009, RIAA prevailed in its fight against Usenet.com, in
5040-425: The original ATRAC (except for playback only). MiniDisc has a feature that prevents disc skipping under all but the most extreme conditions. Older CD players had been a source of annoyance to users as they were prone to mistracking from vibration and shock. MiniDisc solved this problem by reading the data into a memory buffer at a higher speed than was required before being read out to the digital-to-analog converter at
5120-587: The original audio. Early players are guaranteed to play later version ATRAC audio. Version 1 could only be copied on consumer equipment three or four times before artifacts became objectionable, as the ATRAC on the recorder attempted to compress the already compressed data. By version 4, the potential number of generations of copy had increased to around 15 to 20 depending on audio content. The latest versions of Sony's ATRAC are ATRAC3 and ATRAC3plus. Original ATRAC3 at 132 kbit/s (also known as ATRAC-LP2 mode)
5200-561: The presence of file fragmentation . The data structure and operation of a MiniDisc is similar to that of a computer's hard disk drive. The bulk of the disc contains audio data, and a small section contains the table of contents (TOC), providing the playback device with vital information about the number and location of tracks on the disc. Tracks and discs can be named. Tracks may easily be added, erased, combined and divided, and their preferred order of playback modified. Erased tracks are not physically erased, but are only marked as deleted. When
5280-399: The project) as copyright violations . The request cited the United States law Title 17 U.S.C. §1201 . Critics of this action say that the software library can be used by archivists to download videos of social injustice. According to Parker Higgins, former Director of Copyright Activism at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), this takedown request was a "throwback threat" analogous to
5360-474: The quality of the music is that of LP2 but recorded as SP. NetMD is a proprietary protocol that initially required proprietary software such as SonicStage . A free *nix based implementation, libnetmd, has been developed. The library allows the user to upload SP files in full quality. In 2019, a programmer named Stefano Brilli compiled the linux-minidisc CLI into a web browser-based application, allowing users to transfer music via USB on modern devices. Hi-MD
5440-422: The recordable compact disc ( CD-R ) when it became more affordable to consumers beginning around 1996. Initially, Sony believed that it would take around a decade for CD-R prices to become affordable – the cost of a typical blank CD-R disc was around $ 12 in 1994 – but CD-R prices fell much more rapidly than envisioned, to the point where CD-R blanks sank below $ 1 per disc by the late 1990s, compared to at least $ 2 for
5520-466: The standard rate of the format. The size of the buffer varies by model. If a MiniDisc player is bumped, playback continues unimpeded while the laser repositions itself to continue reading data from the disc. This feature allows the player to stop the spindle motor for significant periods, increasing battery life. A buffer of at least six seconds is required on all MiniDisc players, whether portable or full-sized units. This ensures uninterrupted playback in
5600-473: The subscriber associated with an IP address , and as such do not know any additional information about a person before they sue. After an Internet subscriber's identity is discovered, but before an individual lawsuit is filed, the subscriber is typically offered an opportunity to settle. The standard settlement is a payment to RIAA and an agreement not to engage in file sharing of music. Such suits are also usually on par with statutory damages of $ 750 per work, with
5680-474: Was added for Gold albums. Reflecting growth in record sales, the Platinum award was added in 1976, for albums able to sell one million units, while singles qualify upon selling two million units. The Multi-Platinum award was introduced in 1984, signifying multiple Platinum levels of albums and singles. In 1989, the sales thresholds for singles were reduced to 500,000 for Gold and 1,000,000 for Platinum, reflecting
5760-424: Was attributed to the small number of pre-recorded albums available on MD, because relatively few record labels embraced the format. The initial high cost of equipment and blank media was also a factor. Additionally, home MiniDisc decks were less widely available, with most consumers instead connecting a portable MD device to their hi-fi system in order to record. MiniDisc technology was faced with new competition from
5840-540: Was based on ATRAC audio data compression , Sony's own proprietary compression code. Its successor, Hi-MD , would later introduce the option of linear PCM digital recording to meet audio quality comparable to that of a compact disc . MiniDiscs were very popular in Japan and found moderate success in Europe. Although it was designed to succeed the cassette tape , it did not manage to supplant it globally. By March 2011 Sony had sold 22 million MD players, but halted further development. Sony ceased manufacturing and sold
5920-467: Was formed because the RIAA's legal fees were cutting into the income from settlements. In 2008, RIAA sued 19-year-old Ciara Sauro for allegedly sharing 10 songs online. RIAA also launched an "early settlement program" directed to ISPs and to colleges and universities, urging them to pass along letters to subscribers and students offering early settlements, prior to the disclosure of their identities. The settlement letters urged ISPs to preserve evidence for
6000-1026: Was producing only one model, the Hi-MD MZ-RH1, available as the MZ-M200 in North America packaged with a Sony microphone and limited macOS software support. The MZ-RH1 allowed users to freely move uncompressed digital recordings back and forth from the MiniDisc to a computer without the copyright protection limitations previously imposed upon the NetMD series. This allowed the MiniDisc to better compete with HD recorders and MP3 players. However, most pro users like broadcasters and news reporters had already abandoned MiniDisc in favor of solid-state recorders, because of their extended recording time, open digital content sharing, high-quality digital recording capabilities and reliable, lightweight design. On 7 July 2011, Sony announced that it would no longer ship MiniDisc Walkman products as of September 2011, effectively killing
6080-602: Was taken offline via denial-of-service attacks executed by members of Operation Payback and Anonymous . RIAA filed briefs in Allen v. Cooper , which was decided in 2020. The Supreme Court of the United States abrogated the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act as unconstitutional, while RIAA had argued the opposite view. In 1999, Mitch Glazier, a Congressional staff attorney, inserted, without public notice or comment, substantive language into
6160-438: Was the RIAA's senior executive vice president from 2011 to 2019 and served as executive vice president for public policy and industry relations from 2000 to 2011. The 26-member board of directors is composed of these record executives: The RIAA represents over 1,600 member labels, which are private corporate entities such as record labels and distributors, and collectively create and distribute about 90% of recorded music sold in
6240-414: Was the first version of the software where this restriction was removed, but it still required a MiniDisc recorder/player that also had the restriction removed. The Hi-MD model MZ-RH1 was the only such player available. MD Data, a format for storing computer data, was announced by Sony in 1993. Its media were generally incompatible with standard audio MiniDiscs. MD Data can not write to audio MDs, but only
6320-413: Was the format that was used by Sony's defunct Connect audio download store. ATRAC3plus was not used in order to retain backwards compatibility with earlier NetMD players. In the MiniDisc's final iteration, Hi-MD, uncompressed CD-quality linear PCM audio recording and playback is offered, placing Hi-MD on par with CD-quality audio. Hi-MD also supports both ATRAC3 and ATRAC3plus at various bitrates, but not
6400-508: Was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the stereophonic record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm records. RIAA says its current mission includes: Between 2001 and 2020, RIAA spent between $ 2.4 million and $ 6.5 million annually on lobbying in
#42957