USA TODAY: A blossoming trade in Apple iPods and other digital devices pre-loaded with movies, TV shows and thousands of songs is raising alarms and legal questions.
For the past couple of years, people have sold their used iPods and other music players filled with music on eBay and other auction sites with little notice. But lately, a new breed of seller has popped up, touting like-new iPods jammed full of content — for prices hundreds of dollars more than the cost of an untouched new iPod.
An example from eBay on Monday:
• A 60-gigabyte video iPod loaded with 11,800 songs, with a starting bid of $799. The iPod alone would cost about $400. “I don’t see how it’s different than selling a used CD,” seller Steve Brinn, a Cincinnati pediatrician, wrote in an e-mail to USA TODAY. “If the music industry asked me not to do it, I just wouldn’t do it.”
After USA TODAY asked eBay about the listing, eBay removed it. “That is a copyright violation, one that we don’t even need to hear from the rights owner about before removing,” says eBay spokesman Hani Durzy.
