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Netflix Reduces Physical-Disc Processing, Keeps Prices the Same
Nom du Keyboard writes: After seeing a drop in my DVD service from Netflix I got a customer service representative tonight to confirm that Netflix has ceased processing DVD returns on Saturdays nationwide. And that they did this without notifying their customers, or reducing prices to compensate for the reduced service. Given that the DVD selection still far outstrips their streaming selection, this may be news to others like myself who don't find streaming an adequate replacement for plastic discs. My experience up until recently, unlike Netflix's promise of a 1-3 day turnaround at their end which gives them lots of wiggle room to degrade service even further, had been of mailing in a DVD on day one, having them receive it and mail out my next selection on day two, and receiving it on day three. Now with them only working 5 days and many U.S. Post Office holidays, they're still getting the same money for significantly less.
The Netflix shipping FAQ confirms the change, and a spokesperson said, "Saturdays have been low volume ship days for us."
Time will tell, if customers really care.
Alternately, you could claim that they cut Saturday processing instead of raising prices. I'm hardly outraged about this.
So slashdot has officially just become a general complaint department then?
While I'd also probably be pissed at this, I'd also have to check the agreement and there I'd more than likely find NO GUARANTEE of the turnaround times this fellow is complaining about.
Most of the Netflix subscribers I know (including myself) are paying that monthly fee mainly for the privilege of having that red mailer sit on the shelf next to the TV and gather dust.
In any case, I doubt the typical Netflix subscriber will think this change impacts them in any significant way.
#DeleteChrome
The streaming service from Netflix has at terrible list of movies. Ok for TV and their series.
There aren't enough movies worth watching anyway I suppose...
Red box
*narf!*
Related: http://popcrush.com/weird-al-y...
Why would anybody want to wait for a day or two for a piece of plastic when they can access the data instantly online?
Nobody would, except perhaps for those with inadequate Internet bandwidth.
However, for a large number of movies you can't currently "access the data instantly online" (at least, not via Netflix). Netflix's primary focus should be on getting their streaming catalog to match their DVD catalog.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
netflix listened to customer feedback when they tried to spin off their disc rentals to another company. so call them and give them feedback. they are easy to reach by phone. if you dont complain to them please dont whine on slashdot
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Problem is you can't get all of their stuff streamed. Some of their titles are DVD only. Stupid, I know.
You do understand that the number of titles currently available via (legal) streaming is far, far less than the number of titles available via shipped plastic?
Summary doesn't make sense to me.
Is the submitter saying that even though they stopped processing disks on Saturday they are still within their defined window of 1-3 days processing?
If so, then what are you complaining about? They promised something and they are still delivering. Maybe they started with Saturday processing just to keep the service level and now the number of disks is not so overwhelming anymore that they are able to cut that day while still meeting their promise.
Netflix is probably trying to save money by cutting costs. It kinds of sort of sucks but life goes on. Compared to some of the other antics large companies are up to, I have a hard time getting worked up about this.
Of course the reason you can't get some of the stuff on streaming is the idiotic licensing practices of the copyright holders. They say "no streaming" so Netflix has to do those ancient plastic discs.
Quite the pet lover I see. Perhaps some fish filet is in order after the stir fry.
So a business found a way to cut costs and thereby increase profits? For shame!
So slashdot has officially just become a general complaint department then?
You must be new here...
1st world problems.
I used to have Netflix and their 3-dvd with streaming subscription until they almost doubled the cost a couple years ago. I called customer service and they didn't care if I left. Dropped my service the next day and signed up for Hulu Plus. Netflix's DVD service was a better option than going to Family Video and allowed me to still give to the movie industry without illegally streaming it. Netflix's excuse/reason was that the movie industry was charging them more and postage went up (2 cents or something like that). I'm not surprised they are scaling back their dvd service delivery. Like someone else said, it was probably that or raise prices again.
Yes, I know having Hulu Plus still gives to the movie industry (despite the lack to current movies on Hulu) but I felt I needed to stick it more to Netflix.
I wouldn't live in a place with inadequate bandwidth for a simple video stream.
Easier said than done.
Linux is for people who don't mind RTFM.
"Now with them only working 5 days and many U.S. Post Office holidays, they're still getting the same money for significantly less."
Depends on your definition of the term "significantly less". If peoples' lives were hanging in the balance based on the arrival time of your DVDs, then yes, service is significantly less. If your income relied on Netflix DVD arrival times, then yes, "significantly less". But if the only value coming from the DVDs arriving per the previous expected schedule is that you can get through the entire Gossip Girls collection in 6 fewer days, then no, service is not "significantly less."
Sure you could make an argument for the raw percentage increase in time between DVDs, but without the context of the value of the product delivered, you really can't argue much about service. In the world of complex economics, we tend to term this issue as "not a big freakin' deal, man".
Sometimes service decreases and the cost to the user stays the same. It's a strategic move in contrast of charging everyone more to keep service levels the same after a market as changed. That's business. Don't like it? Try one of the Netflix wanna-be companies and compare the per-dollar value.
that people still prefer a physical disk!
I pray every night that god will smite the physical disk huggers... so that Netflix can shift their business to all streaming and actually improve the availability of streaming titles. It hasn't happened yet, but I keep praying.
OP is probably still pissed about the loss of his local Blockbuster Video too.
Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
Netflix was good, especially when it was reasonable to have both streaming and discs - but when the price went up dramatically to have both, it became less and less appealing. I finally ended disc service because my queue was loaded up with discs that showed "short wait", then "long wait", then "unavailable" without ever becoming available. Things were disappearing completely from the queue as well. Having only streaming became less and less worth it because when they did their purges in the past, I always had some discs in the queue to keep me reasonably satisfied. But having only streaming made the purges too painful to keep giving them money.
-a.e.mossberg
You mean because of the torrent option? Can't speak for others but personally I don't fall into the hyperactive content consumer category. With a little priming of the queue, it's easy to plan to ahead and just get the disk instead of messing with a seedbox or other vpn option. And if I mess up and don't get a disk for Friday night, there always seems to be something worth watching via streaming for an hour or two.
So for less than $20 a month including the streaming option it's a pretty good deal for access just about every movie or series out there. Especially for cord cutters (raises hand).
Kind of surprised to not see anyone at all here blaming Comcast, Verizon, and the other extortion artists trying to get an extra buck out for Netflix' rising costs and ever decreasing service level. This is the very start of what we all predicted with the decline of Net Neutrality, no?
Restating the obvious since nineteen aught five.
For something that is after all, only data? Why would anybody want to wait for a day or two for a piece of plastic when they can access the data instantly online?
Because some things aren't available online (legally).
Because you don't have enough bandwidth to get it online.
Because you lack the equipment to stream movies to your TV
Because some DVDs have features not available to streaming versions.
Because you may not have an internet connection at point of viewing
Because Netflix's streaming catalog has more holes than shotgunned swiss cheese.
They may not apply to you but there are reasons why someone might prefer a DVD in some cases.
This is clearly a cost reduction move on Netflix's part, but that doesn't mean they can pass along the reduction. This reduction may better serve to counter increases in cost elsewhere in the chain, preventing them from having to raise the subscription fee. Manufacturers and service providers can't increases costs constantly, so they have to off-set occasional spikes with reductions. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
I wouldn't live in a place with inadequate bandwidth for a simple video stream.
I think that is the very definition of a First World Problem.
I agreed with the company split they tried to implement before.
For all the people who never or barely use the mail side, there are also tens of thousands of rural low-bandwidth customers. Virtually everyone I visit around my in-laws (rural South Dakota, only internet access is via cellular or satellite, either way capped at 3-5GB/month) gets red envelopes.
I don't have any issue with this. Netflix did the smart thing and under promised and over delivered. They said it would be between 1 and 3 days and strived to always be 1 day. Now, there will be a limited time when it will be more than 1 day (really, this only affects if they get a disc on Saturday as they would have went out on Monday and now will go out on Tuesday). This is still within the limits they promised. Sure, it's not ideal, but I just don't see any reason to get outraged over a change that will only affect 1 day out of 6 and still keeps them within their promised timelines.
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
I wouldn't live in a place with inadequate bandwidth for a simple video stream.
Wow. You're quite picky.
I live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in my city, with good neighbors, great schools, and near one of the best fine arts districts in the world. My house is a three-story colonial, with a finished basement, which costs me around $900/month.
Now, the house is old enough that the phone company's disconnect is in the middle of that finished basement, so replacing the wiring to support a faster connection isn't really an option, there's no cable service on the little side street, and the state forest next to me interferes with satellite service.
I guess I should just give up my otherwise-perfect home and move, because I can't get that all-important bandwidth.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Instead of raising prices they just water down your beer and step on your drugs.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
For mail-delivered DVDs that would be greencine.com, which has a much larger selection (or did back when I watched a lot of films).
Unless the movie you wanted wasn't available on the streaming service, ONLY on a physical disc. Yes, there are movies out there like that ("Tim's Vermeer" being one that I know of). Besides, if I'm not in a huge hurry to watch something, with a disk I can get extras easily, and not worry about
buffering...
Everything you know is wrong, Just forget the words and sing along.
> Netflix's primary focus should be on getting their streaming catalog to match their DVD catalog.
In which case the streaming service would cost at least $50/month.
People expect FAR too much from what is an $8/month streaming service. The DVD service is cheap because you can only get a handful of DVDs at a time, but with streaming, you could watch 24/7... 12 movies a day, 360 movies a month.
The way to look at Netflix streaming is, as if it were a channel, not an archive. With a channel, you look at the channel, and decide if you want to watch what the channel is offering. If you take Netflix streaming to be some kind of archive, you'll end up trying to search for random movies which will leave you a raging mess, as is seen so often when discussing the service.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
Yeah, screw all those farmers and ranchers and small town folks! They only provide all our food and stuff, why do they need movies?
News flash: Internet speeds more than a few miles from urban development usually suck donkey balls.
and asked for their DVD's back.
The sad part being that many non first-world countries still have better internet service than our so-called first-world countries...
...and that GOAL is to MAKE MONEY!
:)
If you as a customer keeps purchasing their products, why should they bother to lower their prices? If they increase their prices - and you STILL keep buying, they WILL INCREASE THE PRICE until customers is starting to fall off the bandwagon.
Here's a fine example from Sweden. Our government dropped the VAT tax on restaurant food/Service to 1/2. This essentially means that the food should be cheaper for the customers, bring more customers AND more importantly - get them to HIRE MORE STAFF.
Can you guess what happened? The prices stayed the same, no one extra was hired.
I asked my local restaurant owner why she didn't lower the prices, she got VERY OFFENDED and the GREED almost radiated from her when she excused everything with food costs going up etc. so she couldn't lower her prices etc, not hire any new staff etc.
But the numbers don't lie - no one got hired - and their net earnings went up, extra money in the owners pockets, thank you SUCKERS!
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Or those that wants to watch a movie that is not on the streaming side. well over 50% of what I want to watch is not on netflix streaming OR hulu plus.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Instead of announcing they will stop processing on saturday to increase profits. they would have announce it as, "here at netflix we love our employees so starting now we will be giving all of them saturdays off. It's because netflix is an honest company that loves it's employees."
We all know it's as far from the truth as possible, but it's all fluffy and feely that makes people smile..
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Did you check Pirate Bay? Their prices are better too.
Statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work isn't "better".
Give... you... money?? Why would they do a silly thing like that when they could just.... keep it?
Romeo loves Juliet ... Who writes this crap anyhow?
Unless the movie you wanted wasn't available on the streaming service, ONLY on a physical disc.
What do you do if the movie you want to watch hasn't been released on DVD either? Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987) and Little Men (1998) are among them.
Besides, if I'm not in a huge hurry to watch something, with a disk I can get extras easily
Studios have been providing bare-bones editions to rental stores, where selecting anything from the extras menu instead shows an error message that the rental disc contains only the main feature, along with an ad for buying the full version.
I wouldn't live in a place with inadequate bandwidth for a simple video stream.
Wow. You're quite picky.
How is that picky at all? Over 70% of homes in the US have broadband access, so he is not picking a rare factor when choosing a home. And for someone who uses the Internet regularly, having broadband speeds is a very important consideration.
I know I would never live in a home without access to non-satellite broadband. I also wouldn't live in an area with bad schools, high crime, excessive road noise, and those with a number of other undesirable factors. That still leaves me with quite a few options.
The scenario you describe is a very rare one, if you are being truthful that is. Very few areas with $900/month three story housing have enough property taxes to fund good schools (those that do are probably funded by large private companies in the area). Such an area is also likely to have neighbors of a low socio-economic status, and will therefore have a hard time supporting many cultural options in the area. There are probably places like the one you describe, but they are far more rare than areas with bad Internet service.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
I wouldn't live in a place with inadequate bandwidth for a simple video stream.
I also wouldn't use a service that does not provide a library at least on par with The Pirate Bay.
That's a pretty ridiculous bar to set.
I really get people that don't like the way movies/movies/entertainment gets the sausage factory treatment, and don't want to to endorse that. But the appropriate reaction is to not to partake of it.
If USPS delivers mail monday through friday and packages monday through saturday, why would they bother doing dvd processing on Saturday? They can't mail anything out... there's no point...
I feel the same way you do, Nom du Keyboard. My biggest complaint about Netflix streaming is that they don't have what I want to see. Now I admit that my tastes are not typical, so I get that if I want to see some Japanese sword fighting film from the 1970s, I'm probably going to have to get a DVD. But when I actually want to see a Hollywood movie, I am always finding that I can't stream it from Netflix. If they stopped their disc service, I might as well stop being a customer at that point. Other than 2 TV shows from a few years ago that I missed when they were on, I've found Netflix's streaming offers to be very poor. I would like to know what people watch who love the streaming from Netflix because there sure are plenty of them.
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a USPS van full of Blu-ray discs...
Movies on The Pirate Bay don't appeal to me, because of the low quality of the rips. The idiots that put them together don't even know they should strictly stick to picture dimension that are multiples of 16, let alone selecting the best perceptual encoding options, making a good trade-off of efficiency and compatibility, using a proper rescaling alg., or better yet, not rescaling at all.
Streaming services don't really appeal to me, because of the DRM, Netflix's refusal to support Linux systems, despite how commonly such are used as TV-connected DVRs, and the inability to make an offline copy for later viewing, instead having to waste the bandwidth every-time you want to watch it, the ability for them to quietly discontinue carrying a movie, and needing to have your subscription in-force, forever, to be able to re-watch any movie you liked.
I guarantee I get infinitely more utility out of those little plastic discs than anybody gets out of your much more expensive streaming service, and probably more than copyright infringers, too, saving on disc space upgrades, not wasting time hunting for slightly less popular or older titles, and more.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
So, the Evil Corporation decides to not make its employees work Saturdays?
And you're complaining about this?
I gather that this means that it's only evil if a corporation makes YOU work Saturdays, but if they make the people who provide you services work Saturdays, that's just fine?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
That is not netflix's fault. It's the content providers.
I thought slashdot's tag line was "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters". I would not count this as news or anything that really matters.
Sent from my TARDIS
Is there any service with a library on par with TPB, streamed or otherwise?
It looks like greencine.com is pretty much in a neglected state now, unfortunately. From the home page: "GreenCine Hot 15 Hottest Titles Jan-Feb '13". If they haven't updated their home page in a year and a half, I wonder...
Let's scan it for Heartbleed. It's still vulnerable to what is arguably the most publicized vulnerability in the history of the internet over three months since the story broke. Whether they still operate or not, I cannot say, but I'm not going to find out by giving them my credit card. :-(
It's only been the last couple of years that NF has been doing processing on Saturday anyway, and they didn't increase pricing when they started doing it.
I'll miss it a little, but really it's not a big deal.
No, a flat tire is a reasonable issue about which to complain. It becomes a meme-worthy "First World Problem" when you complain that you have to use the keyboard on your smartphone to find a nearby auto shop because Siri doesn't understand what an auto shop is.
Well, then I'm out of competitors! I still rather go to the local video store, which happens to have even more selection than Netflix or Greencine, but they don't deliver.
The US Postal Service has been trying to cut losses by ending Saturday delivery of ALL mail for years. I used to be a Netflix DVD subscriber and am admittedly streaming-only now (DVDs are hard to squeeze through my VPN - I live in Germany now), but I fail to see the big deal. Feel fortunate you still receive Saturday delivery of junk mail and bills.
EXACTLY.
I would much prefer streaming if the same content were available but it isn't. In particular many recent releases are only available in physical disks. If netflix wants to go to an all streaming model it needs to talk to its suppliers, not its customers .
Says the AC with Internet access.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Aren't those the flat black things that were played with a needle or something?
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
The only people affected by this probably eat food out of a bucket. Find a real problem to complain about. Please.
I don't understand the outrage over Netflix changing the terms of the deal. Let's face it, this happens all the time. Sometimes it's good for a given customer, sometimes it's bad. Businesses that stand still don't survive. In this case you get your disk a little slower in some cases. Previously, they added a bunch of original content (Orange Is the New Black anyone?).
When the deal changes in such a way you don't think you are getting your money's worth, don't buy it anymore
Given that there are large araes of the country with only slow DSL or no broadband at all, DVD/Bluray delivery is still important. The fact is, as well, we dont have the internet infrastructure to deliver massive HD streams to everyone over the internet. Even FIOS would be totally overwhelmed by this. From a technical position, its also fairly inefficient use of resources since if you have 20 people in the same block watching the same channel, the channel has to be broadcast 20 seperate times over the local capacity, slowing things down for everyone else. Your also just not going to get the same perfect HD picture quality from some jerky streaming service that you can get from a Bluray disk. The picture and sound from bluray is second to none. Bluray delivery is very efficient because it prevents us from loading video watching on already overtaxed telecommunications lines and it helps keep the postal workers employed.
I wouldn't watch a movie I thought I might enjoy in standard def... I realize you're in a bit of a bind when netflix doesn't have rights to stream a movie you want to watch but I would seek out other sources (apple, vudu). It isn't necessarily "ethical" but perhaps do a search for couchpotato howto. Doesn't justify it but the more content is pirated the more content providers should feel pressured to make their stuff available in a method consumers want.
Over 70% of homes in the US have broadband access
That's the thing... I have "broadband", but it tops out at 3Mbps downstream, and is noisy enough that it often drops under 1Mbps..
I know I would never live in a home without access to non-satellite broadband [faster than 3Mbps]
I once thought so, too, but the rest of the situation is, as noted, practically perfect. That's was the gist of my post: connection speed is just one of many factors to consider in a house. To hold such an absolute hard line on it is silly, in my opinion.
The scenario you describe is a very rare one, if you are being truthful that is.
The only thing I'm not being truthful about is the implication that my housing cost is low for the area. I live in one of the least-inflated metropolitan areas in the United States, in a very old suburb. Since everything about the area is cheap, that includes taxes and the salaries needed to get good teachers. The downside, as noted, is that the buildings are old.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
"Yes, there are movies out there like that"...
You make it sound as if this is the exception...I just checked these films on canistream.it and none of these are on Netflix instant as far as I could see.
American Hustle
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
The Wolf of Wall Street
That's most of the Best Picture nominations from this year (I think I left out two). Maybe canistream.it is wrong or not updated but if it is accurate, I think that is pretty pathetic. Netflix doesn't have most of the Oscar Best Picture Noms...seriously? Can someone with Netflix Instant check that. I've been using the disc service for years and I thought the Instant was catching up. Is it that off?
You have a local video rental store? I haven't seen one of those in my area since Blockbuster closed.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
Netflix is not in business to provide movie streaming or DVD delivery service. They are in business for one thing and one thing only: Separate the punter (you) from his money. And like every other capitalist, they do it by providing the worst, most expensive service they possibly can. Simply put, profit = what you pay - what you get, and the more you get, the less profit they make.
You must be new here.
Most of those movies -- the ones released later in the year, during the unofficial Oscar-flim-season -- aren't even on premium cable yet. Are you really amazed that the $8/month, unlimited, service isn't even as comprehensive as HBO PLUS Showtime PLUS Starz PLUS etc?
I also wouldn't use a service that does not provide a library at least on par with The Pirate Bay.
That's a pretty ridiculous bar to set.
I think it's a very reasonable bar to set. TPB proves that there is no technical reason why we can't provide everyone with near-instant, free access to basically every last bit of media on Earth. It's up to the pro-copyright faction to justify withholding that access to suit their own material interests.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
Unless our laws change to have mandatory licensing, the only way for Netflix to get their streaming catalog to match their DVD catalog is by getting rid of most of their DVD catalog. With DVDs, Netflix has the final option of sending an employee into Walmart to get DVDs to rent. With streaming, if the license holder doesn't want you to stream, there is simply no legal way to do it.
Even if it was on their commute route, it would take time to go to blockbuster -- certainly if it was merely near.
And I'm not so convinced the "vast majority" of people had that. I'm not saying they didn't, but I wouldn't assume so. I know that was never true of my parents, aunts, or uncles.
Content providers and lawmakers.
I also wouldn't use a service that does not provide a library at least on par with The Pirate Bay.
That's a pretty ridiculous bar to set.
I think it's a very reasonable bar to set. TPB proves that there is no technical reason why we can't provide everyone with near-instant, free access to basically every last bit of media on Earth. It's up to the pro-copyright faction to justify withholding that access to suit their own material interests.
Oh man, That's just nucking futs. Seriously why don't you just try justifying why you limit access to your property or person for your own material interests.
Most people no longer have a local video store. My alternative is buying every movie I want to watch once.
I have 100 discs in my Netflix queue that aren't available on streaming. Go through about 6 a week, and have for years (I don't have cable). Only about 10% or what I watch can be streamed. And sadly the count of "very long wait" is up to 20 now, and climbing.
For the most part, it's only recent (but not too recent) content that's streamable. Heck, you can't even stream The Wire, and that's not that old. You can't stream any of the pre-reboot Dr Who episodes, and I could add another 100 discs to my queue just for Dr Who (does the BBC have these streaming yet?)
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I agree that most people won't notice or care.
I only have so much time to watch movies in the first place. An extra day to get one returned isn't going to impact my life in any significant way. If I'm THAT desperate to receive a movie for ASAP viewing, I probably better just go out and buy the thing locally.
no, I think he phoned that in...
I do, and it has more than 120,000 titles for rent. They also rent equipment if you need it to watch some of the formats less popular in the United States or have a region-locked device. Blockbuster closed because their market share was gobbled up by alternatives. There is not yet a viable alternative to Scarecrow but I don't think they are doing as well as they used to.
Seriously why don't you just try justifying why you limit access to your property or person for your own material interests.
That's easy. If someone else is using my property or person, I can't use it myself. Use of scare resources is inherently competitive and zero-sum. The same is not true for non-scarce resources like digital media.
Ahh so there are no scarce resources that go into digital creations ? Nobody puts time, money, consumable resources to make entertainment ?
To condense out, you limit access to your things so you can derive benefit from them, in the case of digital creations you have arbitrarily decided that the creators and their creations shouldn't enjoy the same protections you enjoy with your property.
Really, while I certainly think that the media companies have been shooting themselves in the foot with machineguns by not maximizing the digital presence of their works, (Just who the hell does it benefit when I can't watch all quiet on the western front, or Kubric's paths of glory ?). But that's their right. Just the same way it's your right not to let random strangers take a nap in your home when you aren't there.
It is where all the movies are that the content providers have decided they don't want streamed.
Ahh so there are no scarce resources that go into digital creations ? Nobody puts time, money, consumable resources to make entertainment ?
I didn't say that at all, and you know it. It's the "digital creations" themselves which are not scarce. Producing new ones requires labor and other scarce resources. However, artificial copyright monopolies are hardly the only way to fund the production of new media. In the absence of copyright you still have options like patronage and crowd-funding, not to mention volunteer efforts (which already make up a significant fraction of copyrighted works).
Really, while I certainly think that the media companies have been shooting themselves in the foot with machineguns by not maximizing the digital presence of their works, .... But that's their right.
No, punishing those who distribute copies of digital media without their authorization isn't a right. It's just a privilege invented as part of a scheme to incentivize the creation of new works. And like any legal privilege, it can only exist by infringing on the natural rights of others. There are other, better options.
Aren't you the little godling. What's your stuff is your natural right to control and have the state punish those that abuse that right, but for people that create the things you enjoy it's an artificial privilege. Then you go around saying that a system that is producing most of the worlds entertainment should be discarded just so people can have things they didn't contribute to the creation of ?
Physical media is going away and Netflix is focused on improving streaming business. Expect mailing service to deteriorate and eventually go away. Realistically the future is pirate bay, but I can imagine especially scrupulous individuals setting up a non-profit DVD trading service.
I stick with the DVD plan, because it gives me access to the whole library of movies and TV shows. The tiny fraction of that library available for streaming is a joke. Netflix keeps wanting more people to stream, but this problem is the major inhibitor.
What I would like to see Apple do with its immense cash hoard is to buy Hollywood. Not the whole thing, of course, because we would just be swapping one monopoly for another, but a substantial vertical slice of it. As soon as consumers are able to get current TV shows as well as movies on a low-cost subscription model without all the silly rules and restrictions, the rest of the entertainment industry will see the light and set up a similar system. Netflix streaming could be a major beneficiary of this process.
Where else can you get 8 movie rentals for $8? If I watch everything as soon as I get it, I could cycle through eight flicks a month. But even when I'm slow and lazy I probably get in 4 movies a month, or $2 a rental.
He scrawled it on TP and sent it by carrier pidgeon...
Dear Microlimp: I give you 2 valid product keys for win7 and you reject both of them. Piss off you wankers!!!
It is actually a fairly low bar. TPB rarely has older and/or obscure stuff. Material with enough seeds to actually get a good download is usually newer, and more 'main stream'. And very often in long TV series' there are episodes missing. Quality control / complete'ness checking is non-existent.
In today's world of cheap storage, I would put the bar way way higher.