Mr Greedy's job was to sign music artists, and sell their music to any and all. Initially Mr Greedy supplied his musical goods on Tapes and Records, he was very, very happy with the piles of money he was making each day.
Then one day Mr Greedy was given a new CD Drive, Mr Greedy had a greedy inspiration, if only he thought, if only all music could be supplied on one of these CDs instead of Tapes and Records - I would make loads more money...as CDs are much cheaper to make than Tapes or Records. Mr Greedy was very happy, he pictured all the people he had previously sold music to (in Tape and Record format), going out and buying the exact same music on CD, life thought Mr Greedy, could not get any better. Mr Greedy had another flash of greedy inspiration, why not charge more for these CDs? why not charge twice as much as tapes?, and so it was, Mr Greedy lived happily every after.......
Until years later two big baddies - Mr Computer and Mr CD-R moved into his village, for Mr CD-R was able to make copies of Mr Greedy's CD's, Mr Greedy although a little hot and flustered by all this, still was able to see a rosy future, after all Mr CD-R initially did not come cheap.
That was until a Mr Mp3 visited Mr Computers house for a party, this party had lots and lots of games, one was called 'Pass the Mp3', a certain Mr Internet was very, very good at this game. Mr Greedy peered into one of Mr Computer's windows, he saw 'Pass the Mp3', and decided he could spoil the party if only he could keep Mr Mp3 locked inside Mr Computers house.
At Mr Computers party was a Mr Rio, Mr Rio was very clever, he was able to transport Mr Mp3 out of Mr Computers house, Mr Mp3 is great out in the open, however, Mr Greedy did not like this one bit. Mr Greedy teamed up with his greedy friends, they blockaded Mr Computers house, and would not let poor Mr Rio out, that was until Mr Judge came along with a huge stick, and dispersed Mr Greedy and his greedy friends.
Mr Greedy went home, he was angry, very, very angry, would he still be able to make huge piles of money?, Mr Greedy decided he needed something to put an end to Mr Computers party, he got together with his greedy buddies, the idea was to employ a Mr Copy-Protection to put special marking codes on the music CDs, Mr Copy-Protection had the potential to seriously hamper, and possibly put an end to Mr Computers party. Alas, this was not to be, for Mr Greedy and his buddies would not stop quarrelling amongst themselves, they simply could not agree on exactly how Mr Copy-Protection would be employed.
It has not all been bad news for Mr Greedy, no sir, for Mr Greedy has had a hand in the creation of Stand-Alone-CD-Recorders. These devices plug into your Hi-Fi and enable CD's to be created without the need of Mr Computers help, however all is not as it first seems. Stand-Alone-CD-R's will not record onto normal CD-R disks, they only record onto special Consumer-Audio-CD-R's, and Mr Greedy has placed a special Greedy tax onto these discs, which goes straight into his pocket. What is this greedy tax called? it is 'refund to Mr Greedy of the expected loss from illegal copying', this tax is truly absurd when you discover that Stand-Alone-CD-R's will not copy commercial audio CD's. Mr Greedy truly is a very naughty person.
Just when Mr Greedy thought things could not get any worse, Mr Napster started a new Taxi firm, Mr Napster is able to deliver thousands and thousands of people to Mr Computers party, all these people are able to partake in 'Pass the Mp3', how is he able to do this? Mr Greedy did a little detective work....it turns out that Mr Napster's Taxis are free of charge, well, well Mr Greedy was not going to stand for any of this.
Mr Greedy calls together his greedy buddies, they all get together to come up with a plan...Why not create our own taxi firm?, shouts one of the greedies, we could charge a little for the trip and still make plenty of money, just not as much as before. This plan does not go down very well with the rest of the greedies, who are far too greedy to even consider it, so it is decided the best plan is to try to force Mr Napster out of town......
Meanwhile, a young upstart named Mr Audiogalaxy also starts a taxi service, but one that allows the people to play 'Pass the MP3' while Mr Greedy and his buddies fall upon Mr Napster like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. Mr Napster's overexposure on "60 Minutes" and the press make his name a household word and draws attention away from Mr Audiogalaxy who quietly starts his own party in the cellar of Mr Computer's house. Mr AG has built an open garage door out the back for all the taxis in his service to come and go as they please. He enjoys his newfound fame and wealth and loyalty among his partygoers.
Back upstairs in the living room of Mr Computer's house, Mr Greedy and his greedy wolfpack suddenly lift their heads from feeding at Mr Napster's hemorraging carcass lying on the floor and lift their noses to sniff the air. Mr Greedy thinks he hears noises in the basement and looks down the steps in Mr AG's general direction.
Mr AG, who has been listening to all the carnage going on upstairs during his basement party hears footsteps upstairs and suddenly gets a case of the heebie jeebie screaming meemies and closes the rear garage door in a fit of delerious panic. Mr AG, in inexplicable fashion turns off all the lights in the basement and sits huddled in a corner sobbing and muttering to himself. Since Mr AG doesn't care to explain to anyone at his party what's going on, all the people begin chattering to themselves and start making up stories and creating all sorts of rumors and superstitions. Mr AG never looks up from his corner other than to get up to stop any of the guests from going in and out through the pet flap on the door, muttering something about "filtering" and "upgrading satellites". The guests are never told what's going on, so they start leaving the party in droves by going back upstairs past Mr Greedy and his pack and out the door unnoticed because they have copied all their MP3s to CD-R and have slipped their disks in their pocket and go outside to meet Mr Gnutella, Mr WinMX, Mr Xolox, Mr Aimster, etc., etc., etc.,
Mr. Audiogalaxy sits alone in the middle of the basement floor wondering where everyone went while Mr Greedy upstairs, hearing nothing more, shrugs his shoulders and returns to ripping apart Mr Napster's skeletonized remains....
Time passes and much has changed..., the village has been over run with taxi firms, all has changed too for Mr Napster. Once the king of the road Mr Napster has been under constant attack from the greedies, as such he only has a few really old cabs that no one wants to use because they now have to work under tight rules, but other firms are doing booming business. Some of these taxi firms operate on a house to house basis, from no central base, Mr Greedy is unable to find them, let alone stop them!
Mr Greedy and his greedy friends have been hard at work, and after much head scratching they have created something fiendish - a CD that will play on normal HiFi's, but when CD calls at Mr Computers house it is unable to play! Fantastic, at last Mr Greedy can sleep safe and sound at night, safe in the knowledge all music falls under his tight control, well not exactly...what Mr Greedy fails to realize is that he is actually making it much worse for himself, for the people who want to take CD around to Mr Computers house are the nice people who have actually given Mr Greedy bags of money for said CD, they might want to transfer CD onto Mr Rio. When they find they cannot, they will I am sure, find Mr Internet and one of the many taxi firms to get a copy of the music they already own. The next time they are in one of Mr Greedies shops they might just stop to think and decide it is better to not bother giving Mr Greedy a bag of money for something that is far worse they can get from Mr Internet. Mr Greedy should be congratulated, for this is such a stupid plan.
Talking about Mr Rio he has lots and lots for Rio-esq friends now, some of these friends are relatives of Mr Greedy, ironic as Mr Greedy tried so hard to stop what his own family now embraces. If there is money to be made, you can count on Mr Greedy to be sniffing around the action.
So what of the future? Mr Greedy want to keep his music under lock and key, even if you were to give Mr Greedy a bag of cash, he want to control exactly how-where-and-when you can listen to his music, this is the complete opposite to what the people of the village want, the majority are fine upstanding citizens who are quite happy to give my greedy cash for his stuff, but they do not want to be told how-where-and-when they can listen to it, imagine buying a car and being told you can only drive it from here to there and nowhere else. Unfortunately it would seem the sheriff of the village is on Mr Greedies side, why you ask? because Mr Greedy is all powerful with his Greedy friends, in this village money = power.
To be continued......
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