March 19, 2001

8:57 PM

Rip Mix Burn? The issue here isn't the usual, "Did they sell out?" It's more a case of, Is this stellar groups saying Napster is OK (in a roundabout way), or did they just need the cash?
posted by raysmj (28 comments total)

Excuse me, that's "stellar group."
posted by raysmj at 8:58 PM on March 19, 2001

I hope they needed the case. Man, that was lame.
posted by gleemax at 9:02 PM on March 19, 2001

To quote Abraham Simpson, "A little from column A and a little from column B" While you aren't commiting a crime by burning from your own collection, the question does come up because of the popularity in burning stuff from Napster.
posted by thirdball at 9:12 PM on March 19, 2001

Does "rip. mix. burn." still fall under fair use in the day of the DMCA? Is fair use still around?
posted by droob at 9:13 PM on March 19, 2001

I've been seeing this commercial on a few stations on and off lately, and I liked it. One thing I noticed: at the end, the disclaimer at the bottom says "Don't steal music." On this clip it's replaced by some jive about iTunes. What the?
posted by pnevares at 9:14 PM on March 19, 2001

I think the point that they're going for is that it's perfectly fine to burn discs of copyrighted music if you have already purchased the CDs. Hence the "Rip".

Of course, they know that isn't the case...
posted by MattS at 9:45 PM on March 19, 2001

Groovy commercial. I'd forgotten how much Liz Phair has dolled up since her early skank days.

Ripping is still legal. Burning is still legal. Fair Use still applies here.
posted by Mo Nickels at 11:48 PM on March 19, 2001

Of course, play that same CD you've just burned in that same auditorium, and guess who comes knocking.
posted by dhartung at 12:29 AM on March 20, 2001

You can see the kid flipping through a big stack of CD's when he comes in. And George Clinton clearly states, "It's *your* music. Burn it on a Mac."

Incidentally, here's a longer version of the ad. Liz Phair and Aimee Mann... like I said on my site a few days ago, I could live on that stage.
posted by toddshot at 1:03 AM on March 20, 2001

i couldn't, it's really crowded and there is no where to poop
posted by ding at 5:12 AM on March 20, 2001

That's one of the best commercials I've ever seen. What music fan wouldn't want all their favorite musicians at their beck and call? Makes me want to go out and buy a Mac.
posted by armando at 5:22 AM on March 20, 2001

er, but why would I buy an expensive Mac when I can get a PC to do the same thing for a third of the price? And if burning is all I'm concerned with, the cost is even less.
posted by fleener at 6:52 AM on March 20, 2001

I'm just glad they let Iggy Pop speak in the extended version instead of just wandering the stage like a proper berk in the short version.
posted by turaho at 7:07 AM on March 20, 2001

You're right, fleener. My point was that the commercial works on me. It makes me want the product.

You bring up an interesting question, though. Would the same effect be achieved if it was a commercial for Dell, Gateway or even Microsoft?
posted by armando at 7:10 AM on March 20, 2001

I'd forgotten how much Liz Phair has dolled up since her early skank days.

You mean now that she looks like she wandered dead-eyed into The Gap and let some one dress her instead of portraying herself as strong-willed and badass?

Hmph.
posted by jennyb at 7:21 AM on March 20, 2001

ding say sellout
posted by ding at 7:32 AM on March 20, 2001

Ouch, jennyb and ding.

Liz definitely doesn't look like the gal she was during Exile in Guyville. But then it's about 8 years later and she's doing a commercial.
posted by armando at 8:13 AM on March 20, 2001

"a third of the price ..."

Here we go again. I'll just summarize:

You can get a Mac for under a grand, and it'll beat the pants off of any sub $1000 PC, you get what you pay for, Macs are cheaper in the long run, etc etc etc, blah blah blah.

Apple is not Dell or Microsoft. They're not interested in selling to every single last person on god's green earth. Steve Jobs once said something like "We want to make the best products around, and we're not interested in market share". Their business decisions, good and bad, reflect this.

For most people, this looks like poor business sense. However, to a sizeable minority, this is exactly what we want from a computer/company. Same as it ever was.
posted by jragon at 8:17 AM on March 20, 2001

Oh, armando, I wasn't so much ragging on Liz for her current wardrobe decisions as much as I was ragging on Mars for calling her a skank when she exhibited some personal non-cookie cutter style and less than mainstream pre-powder puff girls non-corporate packaged strength. Now that she's all prettied up and has less attitude she's more attractive?

Again I say: hmph.

And my ragging on Mars was/is intended as good natured ribbing.

So yeah, um, Macs are pretty. I like to make mixes. I'm glad this is legal. I like the extended version of this commercial because it's got Jeff Tweedy looking like a just before rehab Scot Weiland.
posted by jennyb at 8:41 AM on March 20, 2001

jragon, I think the point was if you're buying a box solely to rip mix burn, you can do it on a PC for well under a grand. No, you don't get the same power that you would with a mac, but for this specific use, you can do it cheaper with a PC. I hope no one's actually trying to start a holy war.
posted by cCranium at 8:44 AM on March 20, 2001

Point taken, jennyb. Hmph, indeed.
posted by armando at 9:17 AM on March 20, 2001

Admittedly one line is not much to go on, but based on Liz Phair's performance here, I think she should stick to music. Even in the face of declining album sales...

Barry White, on the other hand, should be an action hero.
posted by davidfg at 9:44 AM on March 20, 2001

Liz Phair did the theme song to the short-lived Stephen Weber Show on NBC, which blew me away. ("Is that Liz Phair? It sounds like her... holy crap!")

In any event, the commercial blew me away just as much. Liz Phair, Aimee Mann, Wilco, Smash Mouth... (er just kidding), and Barry White? Sounds like a rather good CD. It makes me want to create a disc o'my own, and whoever made the ad surely understood the message Apple wanted to get across. Totally effective.
posted by hijinx at 9:54 AM on March 20, 2001

Oh, and maybe I should post something related to the original question. :P

I didn't see this as any endorsement of Napster in any way, rather the aforementioned creation of mix discs seemed to be the theme. I would wonder, though, if people brand new to computers would think that they would need a Napster-like product to get this music into their computers in the first place.. you know? With all of the media attention out there, and such. That's about the only flaw I can think of, but then again, the Mac is all about simplicity (or at least it conveys that image), so getting the music onto the hard drive should be simple.
posted by hijinx at 9:57 AM on March 20, 2001

Mars never said nuthin bout nobody! It was Mo I tell ya!, It was Mo!


For more information about Liz Phair, read this amusing bit of trivia, where Steve Albini cleans Salon writer, Bill Wyman's clock. Maybe not right on target, but fun reading.
posted by thirteen at 10:06 AM on March 20, 2001

Mo! Right. I meant Mo. Both times.

Sheesh. This is a tough thread for me today.
posted by jennyb at 10:08 AM on March 20, 2001

[offtopic]

Liz Phair did the theme song to the short-lived Stephen Weber Show on NBC...

It's still on, as far as I can tell. They've been popping up ads for this week's show all week.
posted by pnevares at 3:16 PM on March 20, 2001

I see I've made so big a dent in metafilter that my influence extends to threads I haven't even read. Whoooo! Now all I need is a plan for world domination and I'll be set.

Anyway, it was a cute commercial. Apple was always good at making an impression. I think they know exactly what they're doing and exactly what the ad is going to suggest, but the ad is clearly structured in such a way as to give the RIAA no ground on which to complain.

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 3:16 PM on March 20, 2001