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NEWS: Man Arrested for Site That Converted Niconico Videos to MP3s


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Kokoroanime



Joined: 28 Jul 2011
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 2:10 am Reply with quote
I usually convert NicoNico videos into a MP3 to take with me.

As you know, Japanese is starting to be strict with video site converters. I hope it doesn't happen with YouTube.
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mierin



Joined: 03 Jul 2012
Posts: 270
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 2:19 am Reply with quote
I used nicosound sometimes to rip some internet radio shows that people upload on niconico.

Then suddenly I couldn't use it anymore, but I didn't know what happened. Guess now I do Sad
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shiranehito



Joined: 27 Dec 2011
Posts: 793
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 2:29 am Reply with quote
You know, he is arrested but what he did was something really appreciated by internet users. Although, sure, it's not quite right to make money by that. Then again it's about copyright infringement, breaking the law, etc etc. I don't really want to talk about it because it's quite a sensitive topic.

I also noticed that the site has been closed for a while now. In the other hand, Nico made the option to download MP3, But the MP3 is available only if the uploader wants to. So, it's not as good as Nicosound Sad

Anyway, for you guys who wants to get illegal MP3 from nico videos, you can try nicomimi (because I've always used this even before nicosound. I only used nicosound if nicomimi was down)
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Little_Hawk



Joined: 07 Apr 2013
Posts: 357
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 2:34 am Reply with quote
He took one for the team, and made a killing from it. He will be missed.
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KENZICHI



Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 1103
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 3:36 am Reply with quote
Funny coincidence that I JUST found out today that niconico sound was shut down and then this article pops up. I'm sad though because that's where I got all my vocaloid song covers from. It will be missed.
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samuelp
Industry Insider


Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 2231
Location: San Antonio, USA
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 3:45 am Reply with quote
If you code a client side mp3 encoder, you could run a nearly identical website, by basically having the data go straight from nico's servers to the client browser.

As long as the audio data never passes through your servers you're probably okay (at the very least it makes the prosecution have to prove that your service's purpose is _primarily_ copyright infringement, a much higher bar, like they have to do with torrent listing sites).
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Sparvid



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 240
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 4:13 am Reply with quote
There's (at least) one Firefox add-on for downloading Nico videos. Although I don't recall if there's an audio function, or if you'd have to convert a downloaded video into mp3 afterwards.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 7:25 am Reply with quote
His only crime was making money on the adverts? It's really stupid that they would have done him for offering basically free content from the producers who offered it for free elsewhere anyway. They could, and some did block converting their songs, so that wasn't a problem there. Also NicoNico have now set up their own version of NicoSound, by allowing the uploaders to choose to give them away for free, except it's only in M4a, or mp4 format. There is another service allegedly "powered by NicoNico" called Nicomimi that does exactly the same thing as Nicosound did and with ads as well. Wink
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prime_pm



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 2336
Location: Your Mother's Bedroom
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:32 am Reply with quote
Had to check that site I go to for doing the same with Youtube to see if it's still up.

Safe!
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6253
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:22 am Reply with quote
Well here we go again with the man violating Japan's draconian anti-piracy law.

About the JASRAC, the copyright agency has been under fire for violating anti-monopoly law for the last few years after getting Youtube to remove a lot of it's video. I'll quote Wikipedia:


Wikipedia on JASRAC wrote:
In April 2008, FTC (Fair Trade Commission) officials raided the society's Tokyo headquarters on suspicion of violating Japan's Anti-Monopoly Law. In February 2009, the FTC ruled that the system prevents other companies from entering the copyright-fee collection and management business.

In February 2009, a cease-and-desist order was issued by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (FTC) for ellegedly breaking the Anti-monopoly Law, demanding that the society end its blanket-fee system.Under that system, radio and TV stations are allowed unlimited use of JASRAC-managed music copyrights for a flat fee of 1.5% of their annual broadcasting revenue. The order was withdrawn, however, in June 2012.

On 1 November 2013, in response to a petition by rival e-License Inc., the Tokyo High Court declared that JASRAC's fee levying system impeded competition within the industry and made it extremely difficult for other organizations to enter the market.


Also I found other questionable activities that the JASRAC has also done which seem to violate consumer's right and bending freedom of expression:

Elderly restaurant owner (in Japan) arrested for performing Beatles songs at his establishment

JASRAC wants to charge YOU for tweeting song lyrics!

EDIT: added more link with info from Billboard Biz.


Last edited by mdo7 on Fri May 09, 2014 7:24 pm; edited 3 times in total
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider


Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 2206
Location: Tokyo, Japan
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:28 am Reply with quote
I used to use NIco Mimi and Nico Sound before they both closed. It was extremely helpful in getting radio files, song covers, and piano covers, as well as Vocaloid songs. Very sad that he was arrested, but the thing is, Nico Nico is also trying to profit off of mp3 downloads from its site, but users can only make that available for their videos if they pay the premium fee. I wish there would be a new website that would get enough revenue off of ads to stay afloat, but not become a business giant or anything...
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6253
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:09 am Reply with quote
Also I'm going to blame the JASRAC on why J-pop (and majority of anime OSTs) are hard to find on Itunes in North America, an article from Billboard Biz seem to explain why Itunes in US don't have a lot of J-pop and majority of anime OSTs. Well that and the ban on reverse import seem to make it harder to find most of the J-pop and anime OSTs on Itunes.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7580
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:35 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
an article from Billboard Biz seem to explain why Itunes in US don't have a lot of J-pop and majority of anime OSTs.

No it doesn't. That article seems to be about problems with royalty payments on sales of non-Japanese works through iTunes Japan.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6253
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:37 am Reply with quote
Shiroi Hane wrote:
mdo7 wrote:
an article from Billboard Biz seem to explain why Itunes in US don't have a lot of J-pop and majority of anime OSTs.

No it doesn't. That article seems to be about problems with royalty payments on sales of non-Japanese works through iTunes Japan.


Well thanks for pointing that out (it was a bit confusing when I read it at first), but I still suspect the JASRAC could be the reason why J-pop (very popular one) and majority of anime OSTs aren't on US Itunes store.
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SiLVER820



Joined: 13 Apr 2013
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:48 am Reply with quote
I was wondering if the site was down temporarily or something. Now I understand the situation. I can't say that I feel bad for him, though; you shouldn't make money from another person's free content without there permission.
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