Personal PHC Library Project

[luminast]

I'm working on assembling a personal library of all of the PHC shows in the archive section of the PHC web site. I am doing this just for my personal use and because of my love of the show. This is a huge project because one can only download them as a streaming audio files, which takes the full two hours per episode, and because there are more than 800 shows in the archive. Plus, it takes even longer because of the frequent drop outs that I experience because of my poor DSL service.

I'm wondering if there is anyone here who would like to collaborate with me on this project with the goal of assembling one copy of the library for each of us. I think this would not violate the copyright protection afforded to the show, but someone can correct me if I am wrong about this.

If you would like to work with me on this project, you have to agree to devote the time to download half of the shows. I will also download half, and we can then find a way to share our files. You would have to agree with me that you will not violate the copyrights of the show, and that you would use the files for you own personal listening pleasure. If you are a little limited with your computer-skills, as I am, I can tell you how to use the best tools that I have found for accomplishing the downloads and saving them as MP3 files.

Please send me a message if you are interested in making this a joint project.

[BoatBabe]

Howdy there, luminast.


So, let's start at the beginning. Who are you? Where ya from?


That's quite an interesting first post. Your English sounds American (instead of Nigerian) and you seem to be able to spell. What's your motive for this fairly large project and how did you come to be inspired to do this?

How did you find this site? And why are you just joining us now?


Have you looked into the copyright protection of the show in regards to this project? Maybe Thomas can lend an opinion here.

I'm just curious. And cautious.

[luminast]

Dear BoatBabe,
Thank you for your interest in me and my motivations. I am happy to try to answer.

I live on a country place in Southern Oregon. I am from Oregon, at least in this lifetime. Our town is quite small, so while our accents might be different than Lake Wobegonians, our newspaper contains much of the same trivia. Perhaps this partially explains why the culture of APHC is high enough to suite me.

I am by no means an expert on copyright law. I know only enough to think that I know something. So, I would welcome any opinions regarding my project. If the consensus here is that what I am proposing is harmful to others, I would prefer to delete my post.

I found this forum as a result of a very specific search for a group of people with an interest in APHC. I just searched for a forum connected to APHC, and here I am.

As to the WHY of this project. Well, I am at a place in my life where I am sooo very tired of the turmoil, noise, dissonance, and superficiality of our culture. I have listened to APHC on a hit-or-miss basis for a couple of decades. And with where I find myself in my search for peace and harmony, APHC is an entertainment program that is of a rare class of entertainment programs that are not a vexation to my spriit. I would like to have the archive of APHC available to catch up on the many episodes that I missed. I also travel a lot on business, and find that listening to APHC is a great way to pass long hours on an airplane.

I do not text, or tweet, or blog, or facebook. Perhaps this only reflects my resistance to change, but I prefer to think that it reflects that I am at a place in life that is different that the place held by most citizens of developed countries. YMMV, so please do not take offense if you find those passtimes entertaining. I do not judge what serves others well, and grant everyone the right to choose for themselves with the only caveat being that one's own choice should not lead to harm to others. (And perhaps it is good if one's own choices serve as a good example for the children.)

I like humor. I like wide variety of music. I like to spend some hours with thoughtful entertainment. As I am sure you would agree, APHC is quite a rare article.

Kind regards to all.

[doctork]

Hi Luminast!

Welcome aboard, we're a pretty friendly group here. But every once in a while we have "problem" poster of the hit-and-run type, so you can imagine our caution.

I have DSL "at home" and can relate to the gaps you experience as I have them too, but where I have "temporarily" lived for the last year or so, there is reliable high speed access. I'd have to think about whether I have time to commit to such a project.

My understanding of copyright law is that you can download a copy of a show for "personal use," but not commercial use. Sounds like your project fits "personal use," but I am not a lawyer. Maybe Thomas will chime in on this.

Meanwhile, stick around post a bit, let's get to know each other while we ponder this project you propose. I certainly agree with your sentiments regarding the APHC shows' entertainment value.

Are you going on the upcoming APHC cruise, or have you been on the preceding ones? They are a wonderful opportunity to experience the show and the entertainers up close and nearly non-stop.

[jspnrvr]

Hey, Luminast. Congratulations on finding us! Me, personally, I'm not too worried about the copyright issue, but then I grew up out in the country and most everyone did the right thing most all the time, and any transgressions were chalked up to eccentricity.

We're a fairly "mature " group here; some retirees and then there are others of us, like myself, who are still chained to the oars on the Good Ship of gainful employment, and will be for quite a while. I'm intrigued by your project but don't really have the time or resources myself.

I can sure agree with you about the dissonance of our society; I think "superficiality" is a charitable term. Superficiality is paired with a coarsening that makes me truly sad. Maybe it's just my turn at being a "senior flatulent" but I don't think so. Like doc and Boatbabe have said, stick around for awhile, explore our old threads, get to know us and join in some new ones. The Dude is a newbie who has fit right in, I'm sure you can as well. We'll see about this archive idea; maybe we can work on it at our summer camp in the Blue Ridge!

[luminast]

Doctork,

Thanks for welcoming me. No, I have never been on ANY cruise, not even APHC cruise.

Perhaps what I would like to do here is some illegal form of "file sharing" . . . thinking of the Napster problem of a few years ago . . . I don't know . . . but my personal ethical test is harm to others . . . I have been know to disregard a few of man's laws if my assessment was that doing so would not harm anyone else . . . and as long as I am willing to be truthful about my actions. This general topic makes for an interesting ethics discussion.

If a compelling case were presented that what I am doing is harming someone else, I would seriously consider suspending even my own personal project. And of course, if this forum is moderated, I would not be shattered to have my post deleted by a moderator.

I can't promise that I will be a big contributor to your forum discussions, but I do very much appreciate any gathering of considerate and polite people. If you have kept your forum mostly clean of offensive posts, you have accomplished a great thing here.

I am reminded that all fools think they know something.

[joew]

Luminast — I'm glad you've found us, and I do hope you'll find some of what we post interesting enough to add your own thoughts from time to time.

I don't claim to be an expert on copyright law either, but it seems to me that your project, for non-commercial personal use, is probably legal. I sometimes do something similar with radio broadcasts of Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts. (I'm so far behind modern technology that I record to audiocassettes.) So I wish you well with your project. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or technological savvy to give you a hand, but I still hope you can make a go of it.

[gailkate]

DrK told me to scroll down to respond to this question (and I always obey ) but I can't really help with this. Joe and I are the Elders here, and we are similarly tech-deficient. I don't know how to download and burn CDs. I don't think there's room in my head for learning how.

I can, however, muddy the waters with some thoughts on copyright. The personal use exception might be less clear-cut when more than one person is involved. Several years ago, when record companies were getting alarmed by the hijacking of their products that personal computers made easy, they prosecuted a lone MN woman who was sending CDs to friends. I don't remember the details, but it was a hugely disproportionate response to an impecunious woman who couldn't possibly pay the damages. They wanted to scare the socks off everyone and succeeded, though they've since had to find other ways to protect their investment in music. I kind of saw their point, as we would get no new music without companies to back the artists, writers, etc., but they looked like greedy bullies and did themselves no good.

But to the point - I have 30-some old PHC tapes from the 80s and 90s. I mentioned them on the original site (from which this one derived, luminast) thinking I'd find some way to share them. I was lamenting the fact that we couldn't find archived shows from the early days, when some wonderful comic material flowed from GK and Tom Keith (e.g.,Timmy the sad-eyed teenager with his dog Buster and the Jungle Girl and Father Whosis).

It turned out that those shows aren't available because of the complexities of getting copyright permissions from all the guests. So the show it self has to adhere to copyright law, even though it makes the recordings available for free. (Obviously the tapes/CDs sold in stores are a separate issue.) I think Julia Schrenkler, our delightful host on that forum, suggested that my sending my tapes around for others to copy would be legally iffy.

So the upshot is that, though I have worked in book publishing and have a healthy respect for copyright (it's in the Constitution, for heaven's sake!), I don't see anything wrong with sharing copies that are not sold. As GK hints more and more directly about retirement, we all have probably started thinking about the Black Day when these treasures might not be available to us.

But I suspect any arrangements to copy and share should be made through PMs and phone calls.

[luminast]

Dear Gailkate,
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I think that your ideas sound pretty credible. Nice to make your acquaintance.

[BoatBabe]

So, where do we go from here?

[luminast]

Not sure.
For now I just keep working on my project.
And thanks again to everyone for allowing me to feel welcome.