What is Hatch's Hit List? Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has introduced the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act (IICA, née INDUCE Act) in the Senate. The bill would make it illegal to "intentionally induce" copyright infringement, but is worded so broadly that it would have all sorts of unintended consequences, one of which is to severely limit, cripple or kill innovation in many different fields. Hatch's Hit List is a daily exploration of some of the technologies and fields that the bill would likely affect. See also, Introducing Hatch's Hit List and the Hatch's Hit List Archives. Send list suggestions to ernest.miller 8T aya.yale.edu.

Today on Hatch's Hit List: XM Radio to MP3

Gizmodo was the first place I saw this device and even they recognize that it will be high on the list of things the RIAA will want to stop (TimeTrax: Convert XM Radio to MP3):

It's sad that so often we have to preface cool and useful software with a sort of 'Get it while you can,' warning, but this looks like just the sort of thing the RIAA is going to come after with crate full of lawyers. TimeTrax is a $20 piece of software that can turn your $50 XM Satellite Radio XM PCR - a PC-based XM radio, if you didn't catch that - into a sort of satellite radio PVR-like-thing-but-no-video. It listens to the radio stream you set (and you can schedule shows in the future), then using XM's song title data converts individual songs into MP3s or WAVs. Now that sounds like Fair Use to me, and fairly useful at that, but we'll see how long it takes before Valenti draws a direct like between TimeTrax and the dissolution of the very fabric of our culture.

Using TimeTrax, you can now record directly from your XM PCR radio onto your PC's hard drive in WAV or MP3 format. Using TimeTrax's 10-event scheduler, you can time shift programming. Is there a concert being broadcast at 2:00 am that you really want to hear? No problem, use TimeTrax to record the concert and listen to it at your convenience! Your favorite talk show on during work hours? No problem, using TimeTrax, you can listen to it when you get home!

Unfortunately, of course, such capabilities also enable infringement. NeroSoft is going to have to sell an awful lot of copies of this software to pay the resulting legal fees. Given how many XM radios have been sold I wouldn't be investing any money in NeroSoft anytime soon.

Want to know more about the INDUCE Act?
Please see LawMeme's well-organized index to everything I've written on the topic, including Hatch's Hit List: The LawMeme Reader's Guide to Ernie Miller's Guide to the INDUCE Act.