The "buy and rip" option is not a viable once since Big Content has sought to make that illegal.
They even went so far as to sue a company that sold overpriced DVD jukeboxes to billionaires. Even THAT product was declared illegal. If a billionaire with a 200 foot yacht has no hope, what does that mean for the rest of us.
Beyond Apple fanboys gleefully declaring you a criminal, there is also the fact that the ease of use of ripping solutions suffer due to all of that stuff being pushed underground.
During the 4th season, Bab5 was nearly canceled. This caused the story arc to be accelerated and also caused the last part of the season to be scrambled. It got put on at random obscure times.
That nonsense is what originally motivated me to get a PVR.
Sometimes you need a computer to keep up with the nonsense they do to the scheduling of some shows.
I would also like to point out that JMS never got his royalties for the Bab5 DVDs. So he should not be so quick to defend the status quo.
If you catch up on his stuff on DVD, there's no difference for him if you do it "legit" or via TPB. He really should know better.
That's it in a nutshell. We are in a golden age of consumer media. We are awash in a sea of stuff. Even if you don't pirate it, it is still dirt cheap. There are $5 DVDs. There are even $5 BDs. You can get an entire old show on disc for cheaper than you can see the cheesey new remake at the cinema.
Piracy is not the real problem. The back catalog is. A glut of content has led to brutal price competition and vicious price cutting.
It can be Hulu, or Netflix, or it can even by Frys.
At least the old school adverts were congruent with how the show was written. The flow of the plot actually accomodated the expectation that the show would be interrupted.
Hulu commercials are even more annoying than the original kind because they pop up in random places with no regad for where you are in the show.
After 10+ of using PVR technology, an unskippable commercial is like an unforgivable curse.
> If its on Netflix, why would I even bother to download the torrent?
Better quality. More of the original intact (like subtitles). Better player features (like navigation). Better availability both in terms of supported devices and "cloud networks".
If frustration with the Netflix player can drive me to BUY something then clearly it can drive 100 others to pirate it.
It's like that magical button that allows Google to stop piracy. Except this magical button allows you to destroy all of the copies owned by the copyright holder.
It's a lot like what the BBC did with old copies of DrWho but a bit more timey-whimey.
Xian hypocrisy with regards to Jewish law always bothered me. This is a big part of why I think Xians that are bibilical literalists are so funny, and sad, and stupid.
I can understand the arguments of geologists and linguists and weigh them against claims by people abusing a particular ancient book that isn't even really theirs.
Nope, just geology and the work of people like Champilion that approached this problem with an open mind despite the fact that he was quite a religious guy. He didn't let biblical claims get in the way of acknowledging inconvenient facts.
Once again the Lemmings engage in the usual fear mongering and anti-intellectual rhetoric. The bar really isn't that high here. Anyone with a little gumption can manage to put a LiveCD into their system and boot it.
This pointless bit of security theater just adds a little more scaremongering on top of your usual level of scaremongering.
Even dumb terminals were surprisingly expensive. It seems that dedicated thin clients have always been far more expensive than their hardware warranted. This inevitably leads to the obvious cost discussions. You can even see it now on Ars with the new Samsung Chrome box.
The up front costs of dedicated terminal hardware always makes a "real PC" seem like a better option.
> I am sure the Doctor treating that heart problem thinks they are so dumb.
I had to teach one of these about "right clicking" once.
When it comes to computing they are in fact dumb as rocks and totally helpless. All of their intelligence doesn't come into play because the general attitude of anti-intellectualism that YOU embody discourages it.
Self inflicted and completely avoidable but still real nonetheless.
Yes. This is the sort of thing where it helps to get out and see things and not just "linger in your mothers basement". Seeing the relics of the Gilded Age are very illuminating.
The end state of socialism is supposed to be a sort of state-less anarchy. When communist nations spoke of "building socialism", that is what they were talking about. They were talking about the anarchy at the end of history.
Anything that has the potential to stop the perpetrator and make them think twice before victimizing someone else again is far better than ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Slashdot Mirror
EXACTLY.
The "buy and rip" option is not a viable once since Big Content has sought to make that illegal.
They even went so far as to sue a company that sold overpriced DVD jukeboxes to billionaires. Even THAT product was declared illegal. If a billionaire with a 200 foot yacht has no hope, what does that mean for the rest of us.
Beyond Apple fanboys gleefully declaring you a criminal, there is also the fact that the ease of use of ripping solutions suffer due to all of that stuff being pushed underground.
During the 4th season, Bab5 was nearly canceled. This caused the story arc to be accelerated and also caused the last part of the season to be scrambled. It got put on at random obscure times.
That nonsense is what originally motivated me to get a PVR.
Sometimes you need a computer to keep up with the nonsense they do to the scheduling of some shows.
I would also like to point out that JMS never got his royalties for the Bab5 DVDs. So he should not be so quick to defend the status quo.
If you catch up on his stuff on DVD, there's no difference for him if you do it "legit" or via TPB. He really should know better.
That's it in a nutshell. We are in a golden age of consumer media. We are awash in a sea of stuff. Even if you don't pirate it, it is still dirt cheap. There are $5 DVDs. There are even $5 BDs. You can get an entire old show on disc for cheaper than you can see the cheesey new remake at the cinema.
Piracy is not the real problem. The back catalog is. A glut of content has led to brutal price competition and vicious price cutting.
It can be Hulu, or Netflix, or it can even by Frys.
TBP is simply a red herring.
...plus the randomly placed adverts.
At least the old school adverts were congruent with how the show was written. The flow of the plot actually accomodated the expectation that the show would be interrupted.
Hulu commercials are even more annoying than the original kind because they pop up in random places with no regad for where you are in the show.
After 10+ of using PVR technology, an unskippable commercial is like an unforgivable curse.
> If its on Netflix, why would I even bother to download the torrent?
Better quality. More of the original intact (like subtitles). Better player features (like navigation). Better availability both in terms of supported devices and "cloud networks".
If frustration with the Netflix player can drive me to BUY something then clearly it can drive 100 others to pirate it.
It's like that magical button that allows Google to stop piracy. Except this magical button allows you to destroy all of the copies owned by the copyright holder.
It's a lot like what the BBC did with old copies of DrWho but a bit more timey-whimey.
Xian hypocrisy with regards to Jewish law always bothered me. This is a big part of why I think Xians that are bibilical literalists are so funny, and sad, and stupid.
We have been "human" for about 50K years.
The split with apes occurred at some other time.
We weren't recognizably human 3m years ago.
I can understand the arguments of geologists and linguists and weigh them against claims by people abusing a particular ancient book that isn't even really theirs.
> Got a time machine then?
Nope, just geology and the work of people like Champilion that approached this problem with an open mind despite the fact that he was quite a religious guy. He didn't let biblical claims get in the way of acknowledging inconvenient facts.
Modern Xian versus midieval Xian.
I would expect any venue for any sort of "show" to already be covered by ASCAP licenses and whatnot.
Trying to tax weddings is a really low blow.
Look at all of the poor wounded posers that have come out to screech at me with the obvious cadre of expected responses.
Yours is the most pathetic of all: a spelling nit pick.
Keep on telling yourself the money was worth it. Clearly you need it.
The main culprit there is Flash and a normal clocked single core is more than adequate for that.
Once again the Lemmings engage in the usual fear mongering and anti-intellectual rhetoric. The bar really isn't that high here. Anyone with a little gumption can manage to put a LiveCD into their system and boot it.
This pointless bit of security theater just adds a little more scaremongering on top of your usual level of scaremongering.
> Overwhelmingly, if you wanted to look like you knew why-the-fuck you ought to be on stage, in front of 8,000 people, you went Mac.
Translation: If you want to look like you've got money to burn, then you show off overpriced Apple products.
The "BMW" comparison is very apt really, including the crap quality.
Seeing is decieving...
20 extra pounds of fat from low fat AND balanced meals.
Sure...
Take away the fat and more fat magically appears around your waistline.
> The weight of the people around you is :: drum roll :: none of your business!
When I can no longer afford to insure my family on a 6 figure salary, it becomes my business.
> Who is the government to tell people that they're being irresponsible?
YOU are, when you demand that the government rescues you from the inevitable costs of your self-destructive behavior.
Did you ever see the prices on terminals?
Even dumb terminals were surprisingly expensive. It seems that dedicated thin clients have always been far more expensive than their hardware warranted. This inevitably leads to the obvious cost discussions. You can even see it now on Ars with the new Samsung Chrome box.
The up front costs of dedicated terminal hardware always makes a "real PC" seem like a better option.
It's really quite perverse.
> I am sure the Doctor treating that heart problem thinks they are so dumb.
I had to teach one of these about "right clicking" once.
When it comes to computing they are in fact dumb as rocks and totally helpless. All of their intelligence doesn't come into play because the general attitude of anti-intellectualism that YOU embody discourages it.
Self inflicted and completely avoidable but still real nonetheless.
Except you don't need "the cloud" to achieve any of that.
80s style network computing or 70s style mainframe computing worked the same way.
You really don't need to be dependent on some outside company on the other side of the Internet that doesn't really care about you.
Yes. This is the sort of thing where it helps to get out and see things and not just "linger in your mothers basement". Seeing the relics of the Gilded Age are very illuminating.
The end state of socialism is supposed to be a sort of state-less anarchy. When communist nations spoke of "building socialism", that is what they were talking about. They were talking about the anarchy at the end of history.
That's it. That's the crux of the issue here.
This is all about how you don't personally get a pay day.
Anything that has the potential to stop the perpetrator and make them think twice before victimizing someone else again is far better than ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Be careful what you wish for. You just got it.