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Rosetta Stone Warning

 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
53 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Quinn
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6324 days ago

134 posts - 186 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 49 of 53
25 June 2011 at 12:51am | IP Logged 
C6Silver wrote:
I don't believe that RS can prohibit the re-sale of their product. This is the same issue facing people who re-sell computer and console games and even though those companies don't like it, it is legal. This is based on the First Sale Doctrine which permits the sale of an original copy of software as a full transfer of ownership. I do not believe that RS, nor any other software company, has legal grounds to prevent your re-sale of the original copy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine


I wouldn't be at all surprised if their legal dept tries to prohibit re-sale, but I agree with you. What I don't understand is why does everyone seem to think software so special? It's a mechanism for delivering content, just like a book, a DVD, a CD, etc. If software companies can block consumers from re-selling their products than publishers and record labels should have the same right, which would mean that no one could ever re-sell anything educational.

Edited by Quinn on 25 June 2011 at 1:08am

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msymons
Newbie
PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4601 days ago

1 posts - 1 votes
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 50 of 53
22 April 2012 at 9:54am | IP Logged 
I tried RS Polish and wasted nearly 3 months of frustrating time with it. It might be fine for just learning vocab at best...but it's downright awful for grammar and pronouns, especially when trying to decipher the distinct cases.

After 3 months I discovered MT Polish Foundation+Advanced audio course and what a difference. I actually enjoyed learning Polish and was motivated again. After completing MT in less than 2 months I then quickly whizzed thru Pimsleur in a month.

I'm now using Anki flashcards while going thru Assimil Polish. Not sure about Assimil so far. Def liked MT the best and would highly recommend...at least for Polish :-)

I cannot recommend RS at all. In fact I think it can do more damage than good regards learning Polish IMHO. The price is ludicrous too. Slick marketing though. It's even on British TV ads during the afternoon when all the quiz shows run.
1 person has voted this message useful



PillowRock
Groupie
United States
Joined 4735 days ago

87 posts - 151 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 51 of 53
24 April 2012 at 8:06pm | IP Logged 
Quinn wrote:
I wouldn't be at all surprised if their legal dept tries to prohibit re-sale, but I agree with you. What I don't understand is why does everyone seem to think software so special? It's a mechanism for delivering content, just like a book, a DVD, a CD, etc. If software companies can block consumers from re-selling their products than publishers and record labels should have the same right, which would mean that no one could ever re-sell anything educational.

The difference is in how the different media are typically used. If the software was used only by putting the physical disk into your computer's CD / DVD drive, then it would be essentially equivalent to how books, CDs, and DVDs are typically used. However, that is not how software is used. With software you copy / install the entire thing onto your hard drive and then use that copy. If the software producers allowed people to install the software and then transfer the installation disks, they would end up with dozens of copies of their software being used simultaneously for each copy that they sold.

In the first place, the software companies couldn't stay in business on that basis. In the second place, that kind of reproduction and redistribution is not legal for any copyrighted material. You're not legally allowed to copy and then re-sell DVDs or CDs (that's the whole "piracy" issue that they've been fighting for years.) You're also not allowed to photocopy entire books and re-sell them. (A couple pages can come under "fair use"; entire books do not.) If you don't think that book publishers would come after you if they discovered you were copying and re-selling their books (and were in a jurisdiction where they could get at you), then you've got another thing coming.

In the specific case of the recent versions of RS, if you intend to install it on your computer and then re-sell it (regardless of whether you stop using RS yourself), then I wish you a lot of luck; that is if you don't want to have an unhappy buyer demanding their money back. Each copy now comes with a card in the box with an individual key code. To install the software (or at least to activate it) you must connect to the internet so that their installer can "talk" to their web site and get you all registered as a user. If the key code has already been used for your original installation, the person who bought it from you will have an expensive set of coasters (about all the disks will be useful for at that point).

On the other hand, I guarantee you that the RS people couldn't care less whether you re-sell the headset that comes in the box with their software.
1 person has voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6598 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 52 of 53
24 April 2012 at 11:26pm | IP Logged 
Why don't they do like in the good old times, when you could only play the game when the CD is in the drive? Even here in Russia you have to buy computer games legally for example...
1 person has voted this message useful



camdo2
Newbie
United States
Joined 4676 days ago

26 posts - 32 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 53 of 53
26 April 2012 at 3:16pm | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
Why don't they do like in the good old times, when you could only play the game when the CD is in the drive? Even here in Russia you have to buy computer games legally for example...


On your first point, there are several ways to circumvent this kind of protection (and this feature is already on all games/software anyways). One is to mount the image file. This is creating a virtual disk drive that is mounting the image. Another way is to have a crack. This will disable the security functionality. Finally, another way is to burn the image file onto a disk. Then, you essentially have a carbon copy of the disk.

On your second point, that's completely false.

Back on topic though:

I tried rosetta stone and I thought it was fine. Not worth the money or the effort it takes to use it. THe time investment/gain ratio is exceptionally low.


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