New legalese page?

[Arbodak]

Hello, whoever,
I've been using the CPDL for quite a while, and starting today there's been a difficulty. When I click on the PDF icon for a piece, instead of that piece appearing, there's now a page of legal disclaimers which I have to "agree" to in order to get to the piece.
This isn't much of a problem when I'm just looking at one piece, but if I want to download, for example, a bunch of music by an individual composer, I can no longer just right-click on the icons and download them directly.
Is there some place where I can "agree" to the disclaimer just once and not have to do it each time?
I realize this is probably a long-winded way of asking the question; I hope it makes sense.
Thanks,
Bruce Randall
Massachusetts, USA

[Marghek]

I agree - with the question, that is!

A perhaps more serious problem: In the case of sib files, I used to be able to right click and "Save target as" to get real sib file download I could edit in Sibelius. Now right clicking and "save as" just saves the disclaimer and there's no way (is there?) of downloading the sib file. Normal left click just calls up Scorch after the disclaimer has been accepted.

I haven't tried downloading other file types - similar considerations might apply, e.g. to mus files.

Is the disclaimer a legal requirement imposed from 'outside' CPDL or just a good (???) idea from the admins?

Alan

[choralia]

A perhaps more serious problem: In the case of sib files, I used to be able to right click and "Save target as" to get real sib file download I could edit in Sibelius. Now right clicking and "save as" just saves the disclaimer and there's no way (is there?) of downloading the sib file. Normal left click just calls up Scorch after the disclaimer has been accepted.

The behaviour may be slightly different depending on the web browser you use (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari) and on the specific browser's settings (e.g., whether it is set to recognise certain file types and immediately open them inside the browser's window, or to prompt the user as to whether opening the file or save it to the disk).

Normally, you should be able to download files by right-clicking the "I agree with the disclaimer above, continue my download" link and then selecting "save object as..." or "save target as..." (this may also depend on the browser you use).

Should you still experience this problem, please specificy the system (Mac, PC under Windows, PC under Linux, ...) and the browser you use.

Max

[Marghek]

Max,

Many thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought of right clicking the disclaimer acceptance link. Works OK.
Thanks again.

FYI: Win XP3 IE8. No (relevant) toolbars nor extensions.

[Arbodak]

Well, right-clicking the disclaimer page works for me, but it's a lot more time-consuming to have to click through and then back again each time. It seems that the download is slower, too, although I may be imagining it.
I still think it would be a better idea to have a way to sign-in to the disclaimer once and not have to do it each time.

Bruce Randall

[Antonyx]

I have no quarrel in principle with disclaimers in connection with copyright. But how is one to have even an idea of the rights situation without seeing the score or reading up something about the composer's dates or other information that will inform? It seems here that the very act of downloading the score is possibly breaching copyright.

"CPDL makes no guarantee that the files provided for download on CPDL are public domain in your country and assumes no legal responsibility or liability of any kind for their copyright status. Please obey the copyright laws of your country and consult the copyright statute itself or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain file is in the public domain in your country or if downloading a copy constitutes fair use."

Re the quote above, perhaps I am missing something, but without first going to the page that describes the composer, and/or the score, in most instances it is impossible even to form an opinion of whether there is likely to be a copyright issue. In my case, checking would show that I am a living composer, and therefore my music would be adjudged to be the subject of copyright, whereas I wish the pieces on CPDL to be available and enjoyed.

Notwithstanding, when I tried to look at one of them I was immediately confronted by the disclaimer page. This was not at all my intention when I submitted these works to CPDL. I wanted them to be clearly and immediately available to everyone.

In addition, when I do try to download one of my own pieces I get a security warning from my computer that the file is either corrupted or is a wrong file type, or may contain a virus... It is the same for any file I have tried to open. Not encouraging.

Can a moderator kindly explain what is going on, please. &

David Monks

[vaarky]

Thanks for the feedback.

To provide some context for what drove the implementation originally, the goal was to test this mechanism with the eventual goal of helping on several fronts. Although the language was still under review and we expected to refine it, the overall aims of the project included:

* better informing site visitors who are not familiar with what CPDL is and the terms of use and licensing, which in turn better protects score contributors and users alike;

* using the click mechanism to get a more accurate count of how many times each file was downloaded so we can have data that may help improve site services.

We regret that the change may have been jarring to site users. We've rolled back the new mechanism so we can reevaluate it in light of user feedback, review the test results, etc.

[Antonyx]

Although the Disclaimer page is now gone, I am still getting the security warning from my computer. It would be perhaps too much of a coincidence to assume that this is something that has gone wrong in my computer's settings. So for the moment I am assuming it is a problem on the CPDL end. This it the text I receive, complete with red warning shield bearing the X

"Do you want to save this file?
[file name].... from cpdl.org

The file you are downloading cannot be opened by the default program. It is either corrupted or has an incorrect file type. As a precaution it is recommended that you cancel the download. [link underlined] How can I decide what software to open? [end underlined]"

Clicking the link leads to a screed about saving the file and doing a virus check on it. I cannot imagine anyone taking the trouble to do that on an ongoing basis. I wouldn't. I'd just leave it alone.

However, to be fair, I need to ask if anyone else is receiving the same warning as I am getting? Or is anyone else able to get a file to open directly (i.e. without saving) as used to be the case? If nobody elses is getting the security warning and if files are opening as before, that could point to a problem within my computer...but it would be a really odd coincidence that the change at CDPL and such a problem should occur simultaneously.

I'd be very glad to have some feedback on this. Thanks

David

[choralia]

Another user had probably the same problem. It was due to an add-on installed on Mozilla Firefox, which was ignoring certain http headers. If you have special add-ons to manage downloads, please try to deactivate them.

Max

[Antonyx]

Thanks for your response choralia, but I am not using Mozilla, and the situation is that downloads worked fine until the Disclaimer appeared. In the meanwhile, I have changed nothing on my system.


David.

[choralia]

Hi David,

A change did occur on our side: downloads are now handled through a buffer rather than directly from the Apache web server. This allows us to count the number of times a file is downloaded (an additional service that we would like to offer to our contributors), and also to solve a potential problem with Internet Explorer when downloading large pdf files. It is precisely the same script previously used at IMSLP-EU (I manage IMSLP-EU, too), where nobody reported any problems, so it's a little bit strange that problems occur here at CPDL.

I'm currently on vacation with limited connectivity to internet, so my diagnostic capabilities are quite limited. Anyway, could you please specify what operating system and browser are you using?

Max

[Antonyx]

Ciao Max,

Here's what I think you asked for:

MS XP Pro V. 2002 SP 3

AMD Phenom (tm) 9550 Quad Core

2.21 GHz

3.25 GB RAM

I/Exp 8

Just to be sure I tried to download Adobe Reader 9, but I get the message that it is Already installed.

I'm sorry to intrude on your holidays - I'm just about to go off myself. But I was counting on having some research done (and some downloads too) for my choir which resumes on 29th September... This current setback is not the end of the world, but it puts my carefully laid plans back into the mixer and that is a tad frustrating. And being the world's greatest ignoramus, when it comes to computers, doesn't help either!

Thanks for your help!

David.

[choralia]

I've de-activated the download counter on all websites (www, www1 and www2). Now everything should work as it was before. We haven't counted downloads for more than 10 years, we can wait a couple of weeks more. I'll re-activate the counter when I'm back home from vacation, with a broadband connection available, so that we can sort out any residual problems.

Max

[choralia]

I've re-activated the download counter, with some improvements. Please do not hesitate to report any problems.

Max

[Antonyx]

Very late with this reply.

Yes indeed. Every thing now seems OK.

Sorry for the delay in replying, I was away for 6 weeks and in the interim I rather forgot about the issue.

Please forgive my (seeming) negligence.

Antonyx/David.