the problem is the music industry continually fails to cite any context for their lost sales, other than the idiotic claim that the pirates took all their music.
when was the last time you bought a CD?
when was the last time you bought a DVD?
consumers will typically not buy both. if you're buying a movie, you'll use your "entertainment budget" on that, and skip on the CD for next time.
CD sales have dropped consistently since the late 90s. guess what happened in 1998? DVDs hit the market.
let's compare and contrast with CD player sales. see how they correlate with CD sales? now let's pop DVD and DVD player sales on the same graph. i wonder whether as CDs dip, DVDs increase?
i'm not saying piracy doesn't exist, but i think there's a much bigger culprit for lost CD sales in the mix here.
my bank details don't get played on the radio, or broadcast on TV in ads and popular crime dramas!
but i'm sure if i were to sing my details to a funky beat and promote the everloving crap out of it, it may get to number 1 on the charts, and then they'd be equivalent. the proceeds would go to my other account. with these proceeds i'd buy drugs. i would share the drugs with my monkey.
you seem to think that copying reduces quality. mp3s are not screen prints, and pirates are not Andy Warhol. for years, the pirated mp3s were much better quality than their iTunes equivalents. in fact, you could get flac or ape and cuesheets and make a perfect copy of the original CD if you wanted. itunes offer lossless now, so they're catching up, but the quality edge has always been with the pirates. indeed one could argue that LAME and x264 (the best implementations of their respective codecs available, commercial or not) came about because of piracy. the demand for good mp3s pre-dates the demand for mp3 players and online music stores.
i'm not making a personal moral judgment on these issues - just saying that you are wrong.
The Movie Network, Netflix et. al. are USA only. there's a whole world out there.
of course things are changing - digital piracy has been around over 10 years, so it makes sense that distributors are getting on top of it. they just haven't moved at the speed of Moore's Law (though if they focused their operations outside the court system they'd have had plenty of time).
however, for the majority of people, viable alternatives to piracy are not available. just because you pay for a service doesn't mean the point is moot. i pay for all my stuff too. that does not negate that the illegal solutions have many advantages over legal ones.
i'm not arguing this because i want to steal movies and i want traditional distribution to die. my livelihood would vanish if that happened!
but it's a real problem that needs solving. the only solution (IMHO) is to make it easier to pay than to steal. simple. remove the reasons to torrent stuff (and there's lots).
i'm saying that while the means exist to get free, high quality movies, and while the legal route is less convenient than the illegal route, then people will pirate movies.
it's that simple. morals aside, if something's free and easier than the paid route, and often better quality (and more transparent - you can tell what you're getting straight away), then people will use it. not everyone is a crusader, most people just go for convenience.
this has nothing to do with bank details (though when bank details get leaked online, people will download them for sure, and there's a flourishing industry of iTunes account theft in China). you've misunderstood.
my point is that technology has allowed the easy and free dissemination of a world of intellectual property. moaning about it will not "uninvent" the internet - the **AA's and associated groups must stop whining and accept that the world has changed. distribution is becoming digital, and their business models can not survive. they need to adapt. they can't blame the consumer for finding something more convenient, legal or not - it's there, it's easy, and it's not going away. the ball's in the distributor's court and rapidly heading for the baseline.
capitalism: if it can be done cheaper, it will be.
piracy: if it can be done free, it will be.
what's the major difference, really. "piracy" is just a consequence of having a worldwide near instant distribution network and the ability to make infinite perfect copies of a product.
technology has allowed this, and there's no way in hell it can be stopped. distributors need to come up with something that is just as if not more convenient than getting the product for free. until they drop their prices and up their quality, that's not going to happen.
this is true. laws were never passed to give back jobs to all those people who were obsoleted by machines. i wonder why when the same thing happens to companies that laws are passed to protect obsolescence.
the future of distribution is in value-adds. not everyone will want a nice glossy boxset, or a laser etched cover image, or a little toy with their DVD/BD, but some people will.
the only way for economies of abundance and economies of scarcity to coexist while selling the same product is for the scarcity side to provide something that cannot be downloaded or copied easily. and that is physical objects.
the next big risk for distribution is when star trek style replicators become practical.
it's interesting in that we're hearing anything at all other than what comes through the traditional media, or military press conferences.
most of the leaks are neutral, but that's not the point of them - wikileaks isn't about pwning the american empire as such, but more about providing a way of leaking information more-or-less securely (so long as you don't out yourself by bragging about it).
if there's taliban out there with information to leak, i'm sure wikileaks would not seek to suppress it. it just so happens all the leaks seem to be coming from the americans. i wont attempt to explain why this is.
personally i'd like to see some BP or Monsanto stuff leaked. or maybe some Apple, MS, Oracle, etc. i don't see why it should just be governments.
claim 1: a system and method for retaining large volumes of water claim 2: a system and method for driving a turbine via water pressure claim 3: a system and method for converting mechanical energy (produced via claim 2) into electrical energy.
there's always the "kill switch". (j/k, in case any law enforcement types are watching)
though internet is low on the agenda from a human rights standpoint, it's certainly a litmus test of a government's real attitude to freedom.
it would actually be very good for a system to be in place where a government could be easily sacked by the people. representatives have too much power, and aren't really representin' the people they represent.
Slashdot Mirror
yes, but TFA is about RIAA accusing PCmag of encouraging piracy. in this case it's a clear cut freedom of speech issue.
the problem is the music industry continually fails to cite any context for their lost sales, other than the idiotic claim that the pirates took all their music.
when was the last time you bought a CD?
when was the last time you bought a DVD?
consumers will typically not buy both. if you're buying a movie, you'll use your "entertainment budget" on that, and skip on the CD for next time.
CD sales have dropped consistently since the late 90s. guess what happened in 1998? DVDs hit the market.
let's compare and contrast with CD player sales. see how they correlate with CD sales? now let's pop DVD and DVD player sales on the same graph. i wonder whether as CDs dip, DVDs increase?
i'm not saying piracy doesn't exist, but i think there's a much bigger culprit for lost CD sales in the mix here.
make sense, damn you!
the mp3 = credit card number is a fallacy.
my bank details don't get played on the radio, or broadcast on TV in ads and popular crime dramas!
but i'm sure if i were to sing my details to a funky beat and promote the everloving crap out of it, it may get to number 1 on the charts, and then they'd be equivalent. the proceeds would go to my other account. with these proceeds i'd buy drugs. i would share the drugs with my monkey.
you seem to think that copying reduces quality. mp3s are not screen prints, and pirates are not Andy Warhol. for years, the pirated mp3s were much better quality than their iTunes equivalents. in fact, you could get flac or ape and cuesheets and make a perfect copy of the original CD if you wanted. itunes offer lossless now, so they're catching up, but the quality edge has always been with the pirates. indeed one could argue that LAME and x264 (the best implementations of their respective codecs available, commercial or not) came about because of piracy. the demand for good mp3s pre-dates the demand for mp3 players and online music stores.
i'm not making a personal moral judgment on these issues - just saying that you are wrong.
The Movie Network, Netflix et. al. are USA only. there's a whole world out there.
of course things are changing - digital piracy has been around over 10 years, so it makes sense that distributors are getting on top of it. they just haven't moved at the speed of Moore's Law (though if they focused their operations outside the court system they'd have had plenty of time).
however, for the majority of people, viable alternatives to piracy are not available. just because you pay for a service doesn't mean the point is moot. i pay for all my stuff too. that does not negate that the illegal solutions have many advantages over legal ones.
i'm not arguing this because i want to steal movies and i want traditional distribution to die. my livelihood would vanish if that happened!
but it's a real problem that needs solving. the only solution (IMHO) is to make it easier to pay than to steal. simple. remove the reasons to torrent stuff (and there's lots).
you've completely missed my argument.
i'm saying that while the means exist to get free, high quality movies, and while the legal route is less convenient than the illegal route, then people will pirate movies.
it's that simple. morals aside, if something's free and easier than the paid route, and often better quality (and more transparent - you can tell what you're getting straight away), then people will use it. not everyone is a crusader, most people just go for convenience.
this has nothing to do with bank details (though when bank details get leaked online, people will download them for sure, and there's a flourishing industry of iTunes account theft in China). you've misunderstood.
my point is that technology has allowed the easy and free dissemination of a world of intellectual property. moaning about it will not "uninvent" the internet - the **AA's and associated groups must stop whining and accept that the world has changed. distribution is becoming digital, and their business models can not survive. they need to adapt. they can't blame the consumer for finding something more convenient, legal or not - it's there, it's easy, and it's not going away. the ball's in the distributor's court and rapidly heading for the baseline.
capitalism: if it can be done cheaper, it will be.
piracy: if it can be done free, it will be.
what's the major difference, really. "piracy" is just a consequence of having a worldwide near instant distribution network and the ability to make infinite perfect copies of a product.
technology has allowed this, and there's no way in hell it can be stopped. distributors need to come up with something that is just as if not more convenient than getting the product for free. until they drop their prices and up their quality, that's not going to happen.
disclaimer: i work for a major film distributor.
"...there is always a legal means: getting very wealthy and changing the copyright laws."
FFY
if i had mod points...
this is true. laws were never passed to give back jobs to all those people who were obsoleted by machines. i wonder why when the same thing happens to companies that laws are passed to protect obsolescence.
the future of distribution is in value-adds. not everyone will want a nice glossy boxset, or a laser etched cover image, or a little toy with their DVD/BD, but some people will.
the only way for economies of abundance and economies of scarcity to coexist while selling the same product is for the scarcity side to provide something that cannot be downloaded or copied easily. and that is physical objects.
the next big risk for distribution is when star trek style replicators become practical.
these are two different slopes. you can't slide from one to the other unless you're M.C. Escher.
1. not american, don't get thanksgiving (turkey at christmas instead)
2. wtf is caner? i hope those poor turkeys are alright!
That's testicles. You can never have enough bollocks!
it's interesting in that we're hearing anything at all other than what comes through the traditional media, or military press conferences.
most of the leaks are neutral, but that's not the point of them - wikileaks isn't about pwning the american empire as such, but more about providing a way of leaking information more-or-less securely (so long as you don't out yourself by bragging about it).
if there's taliban out there with information to leak, i'm sure wikileaks would not seek to suppress it. it just so happens all the leaks seem to be coming from the americans. i wont attempt to explain why this is.
personally i'd like to see some BP or Monsanto stuff leaked. or maybe some Apple, MS, Oracle, etc. i don't see why it should just be governments.
how did this get modded troll, but the parent didn't?
i didn't think IT geeks were particularly partisan when it came to religion. looks like i'm mistaken.
the computer that will outdrive the best human? we've had Michael Schumacher for years. he's a pretty good driving program.
it's a sign-writer's apostrophe.
this looks like a normal apostrophe, but it's purpose is to warn the reader that an "s" is coming.
use metal piping through a compost bin to heat your home brew, heat exchange style.
ITT: complete failure to recognize sarcasm.
well, i was going with the presumption that the first two i's were part of the name.
if the W were taken as two V's, we'd have issues...
mod parent up. as much as apple-ogists annoy me, this is a very good point.
but that's not rockmelt, that's bronzemelt.
claim 1: a system and method for retaining large volumes of water
claim 2: a system and method for driving a turbine via water pressure
claim 3: a system and method for converting mechanical energy (produced via claim 2) into electrical energy.
nintendo should go roman and call it the wiiii
umm... open source?
there's always the "kill switch". (j/k, in case any law enforcement types are watching)
though internet is low on the agenda from a human rights standpoint, it's certainly a litmus test of a government's real attitude to freedom.
it would actually be very good for a system to be in place where a government could be easily sacked by the people. representatives have too much power, and aren't really representin' the people they represent.
my apologies... i must be a tad too urban.