The new age of entertainment
Khaos
Registered Users Posts: 2,435 Major grins
I've been going off on rants in other threads about DRM and other things. I figure I should just start a thread and discuss it here.
I'll start by saying that file sharing is stealing. I don't care how you try to justify it to me, if you are "sharing" something that someone is not giving away for free, then it is illegal to do so.
I'm no angel. We all bend the law to some extent and most of all the public does it in a way were even though its illegal, it isn't so bad that anyone is losing sleep over it.
We've been file sharing since copy machines and tape recorders have been around. The difference being is we did it within a small circle of friends. All the hand wringing and accusations from the entertainment industry always ended with them making more money from what they fough against than the actuall losses they thought would happen. At one time, the cassette recorder and the vcr where to be the death of the music and movie and tv industries. However, now people fileshare on a global scale with people they don't know. That's a big differnce, and in my book it's wrong.
I taped albums a friend bought and they taped mine, but in the end, I bought most of all mymusic and even landed up buying the taped albums if they were good enough. I was breaking the law in doing that. So were milions of other people. And yet the music industry continued to make increased profits, year after year. Why? Even though a few would never buy music and only copy it, most would buy it even if they could get it free by taping someone elses purchase. If you give the people a product they want at a price the feel is reasonable, they will buy it. This is why itunes sells millions of downloads.
CDs came out and I paid again for the same music I already owned. I paid more for it. I paid more for a format that was cheaper for them to make than the format I originally purchased it in. This is where it really gets me and where I will probably break the law again (in theory only, no confessions here) if they continue to want to charge more for different formats of the same damn content I already own. This is no different then Adobe charging you more for the next version of PhotoShop then what you paid for for the previous one. There's no upgrade price, just a full price and more expensive for basicly the same thing but with some improvements.
The entertainment industry is now trying to get more money on the same moveis they sold us on DVD, and for some on VHS and then again on DVD, with the HD format of either HD-DVD or Bluray. Same damn content, a few extras which hardly anyone utilizes anymore, with a somewhat better picture. Of course it will cost more.
An upgrade system needs to be started. If not, I personally can't condone illegal activity, but I won't be inspired to prevent it, when people get fed up of over paying for the same content multiple times and resort to paying less or nothing for pirated copies. I predict this will be a big court battle one day and the supreme court will be deciding whether we are paying more for the content or the delivery system of that content.
The corporations know about this cost issue and piracy. The reason microsoft began offering windows and office at much cheaper costs to 3rd world countries is that they realized if something is too expensive it will be stolen. It's wrong to steal, but it's done and always will be. Restrictive DRM will not be the answer. Making something that someone wants at a price they are willing to pay is the answer. Like it or not, the world isn't sweet and nice and the guy doesn't always get the girl and people don't live happily ever after. Old yeller gets shot in the end. It sucks, but we have to accept that there is such a thing as acceptable losses. No loss, is not an option.
Whew.
Let's hear some thoughts.
My nutshell: DRM sucks and is the wrong solution and upgrade pricing for new formats of the same content need to be instituted and the entertainment industry needs to listen to what the public wants and give it to them.
I'll start by saying that file sharing is stealing. I don't care how you try to justify it to me, if you are "sharing" something that someone is not giving away for free, then it is illegal to do so.
I'm no angel. We all bend the law to some extent and most of all the public does it in a way were even though its illegal, it isn't so bad that anyone is losing sleep over it.
We've been file sharing since copy machines and tape recorders have been around. The difference being is we did it within a small circle of friends. All the hand wringing and accusations from the entertainment industry always ended with them making more money from what they fough against than the actuall losses they thought would happen. At one time, the cassette recorder and the vcr where to be the death of the music and movie and tv industries. However, now people fileshare on a global scale with people they don't know. That's a big differnce, and in my book it's wrong.
I taped albums a friend bought and they taped mine, but in the end, I bought most of all mymusic and even landed up buying the taped albums if they were good enough. I was breaking the law in doing that. So were milions of other people. And yet the music industry continued to make increased profits, year after year. Why? Even though a few would never buy music and only copy it, most would buy it even if they could get it free by taping someone elses purchase. If you give the people a product they want at a price the feel is reasonable, they will buy it. This is why itunes sells millions of downloads.
CDs came out and I paid again for the same music I already owned. I paid more for it. I paid more for a format that was cheaper for them to make than the format I originally purchased it in. This is where it really gets me and where I will probably break the law again (in theory only, no confessions here) if they continue to want to charge more for different formats of the same damn content I already own. This is no different then Adobe charging you more for the next version of PhotoShop then what you paid for for the previous one. There's no upgrade price, just a full price and more expensive for basicly the same thing but with some improvements.
The entertainment industry is now trying to get more money on the same moveis they sold us on DVD, and for some on VHS and then again on DVD, with the HD format of either HD-DVD or Bluray. Same damn content, a few extras which hardly anyone utilizes anymore, with a somewhat better picture. Of course it will cost more.
An upgrade system needs to be started. If not, I personally can't condone illegal activity, but I won't be inspired to prevent it, when people get fed up of over paying for the same content multiple times and resort to paying less or nothing for pirated copies. I predict this will be a big court battle one day and the supreme court will be deciding whether we are paying more for the content or the delivery system of that content.
The corporations know about this cost issue and piracy. The reason microsoft began offering windows and office at much cheaper costs to 3rd world countries is that they realized if something is too expensive it will be stolen. It's wrong to steal, but it's done and always will be. Restrictive DRM will not be the answer. Making something that someone wants at a price they are willing to pay is the answer. Like it or not, the world isn't sweet and nice and the guy doesn't always get the girl and people don't live happily ever after. Old yeller gets shot in the end. It sucks, but we have to accept that there is such a thing as acceptable losses. No loss, is not an option.
Whew.
Let's hear some thoughts.
My nutshell: DRM sucks and is the wrong solution and upgrade pricing for new formats of the same content need to be instituted and the entertainment industry needs to listen to what the public wants and give it to them.
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