>>>"sounds like a great idea I would love to try it, but I don't think I could stop watching movies. And old 50s, 60s and 70s sci-fi shows"
We think alike. Most of the television I watch is not new stuff, but reruns. I watch the reruns of past shows like NYPD Blue, X-files, Angel, and Law & Order: SVU. Plus TCM ad History Channel.
There's only 2-3 hours per week where I watch new shows.
True. But. Advertisers are NBC's customer, but if NBC doesn't have viewers, the customer stops buying NBC airtime. That's what almost drove WB and UPN into bankruptcy... not enough viewers == losing advertisers == 1 billion in debt when they folded-up.
Picky-picky.;-) Replace Oprah with "Passions" or whatever other NBC soap is poular during the day. I bet there are also lots of people who tape the "Today" show (so they view it when they come home from work).
And now, with the flag set, they can't.
Brilliant NBC. Lose one-third of your daytime audience just because you refuse to let fulltime workers do time-shifting. Bloody brilliant.
>>>"...it won't work on the TV if it doesn't get a proper responce from the recording device, right? Yes, they are aware of the Analog issue."
I think you just made-up some BS. If they did design TVs like that, how would people playback their old SVHS-C, Hi8, or miniDV home movies from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s? Nobody would buy such a TV that refused to show their old wedding and baby videos. It would die a quick death.
>>>"The border agent is likely to start this whole process with a 'please type in your password.' Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day."
Sounds like a small price to pay in order to protect my right to liberty. Just because the government demands access does not mean I have to comply.
Other people have paid a far higher price for liberty ("the full measure of devotion" aka death).
- You lose a case. - You file an appeal at the local level. - You file an appeal to the State Supreme Court. - You file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (which as you stated, rarely takes cases).
There's a limit to how much taxpayer money you can waste in court. You only get so many times before a judge, and then you're done. The verdict is rendered.
One way artists could fight back is by *giving away their own songs* as shareware. If you genuinely believe free music leads to more fans, than stand-up for what you believe.
Of course the record companies would scream bloody murder, and probably sue the Byrds (or whomever) for copyright infringement, but sometimes the only way to fight tyranny is via illegal acts. (Reference: "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau, an excellent read.) Take back the power.
"From time to time the Tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson
Well let's see.... I stated that paying the BBC tax equates to about 30 hours of work. A typical American program has 9-18 minutes per hour of ads. I rarely watch the ads (prefering to fast-forward or go visit the bathroom), so for me the total should be "0 minutes", but for the sake of this debate, I'll figure I watch 5 minutes per hour of commercials.
My favorite shows are approximately 20 hours per year, and include Heroes, Medium, 24, Smallville, and CSI. I sometimes watch other crap like reruns of Timecop, but that's negligible. So approximately 100 hours total. 100 hours * 5 minutes == 8.3 hours wasted watching advertisements each year (on free tv).
Conclusion:
I'm better off with FREE U.S. television than having to work to pay a $300 BBC tax. Free television has a lower opportunity cost (less time wasted) than BBC's annual tax. (American free television also has better programming; I can only think of one program on the BBC worth watching, and thus I'd really be getting screwed to have to pay $300 for just one show.)
Well let's see.... I stated that paying the BBC tax equates to about 30 hours of week. A typical American program has 9-18 minutes per hour of ads. I rarely watch the ads (prefering to fast-forward or go visit the bathroom), so for me the total should be "0 minutes", but for the sake of this debate, I'll figure I watch 5 minutes per hour of commercials.
My favorite shows are approximately 20 hours per year, and include Heroes, Medium, 24, Smallville, and CSI. 100 hours total. 100 hours * 5 minutes == 8.3 hours wasted watching advertisements.
Conclusion:
I'm better off with FREE television that having to work to pay a $300 BBC tax. Free television has a lower opportunity cost (less time spent on it).
Hey cut me some slack. My boss was looking over my shoulder when I was writing that, so I didn't have time to double-check my work. It was a quick post-and-go operation.
Besides "educated" is not synonymous with "never makes mistakes". Everybody makes mistakes; even you (shocking).
Maybe they're trying to lose even more viewers by not letting these viewers tape their programs. How brilliant. Attract more customers by treating them like crap. Reminds me of RIAA.
That's because Fred Rogers did his job for a *higher* cause: To speak to the children & families. He'd still have done the exact same job, even if they only paid him minimum wage, because it wasn't about greed for him. It was about the message.
For (almost) everyone else in television, it's about greed. Hence they hate giving anything away for free (like time-shifting). If someone asked them to "Donate to the children's orphanage" they'd probably ask, "What's in it for me?"
- "Banning guns doesn't stop criminals from owning guns." - Using DRM doesn't stop criminals from owning illegal copies.
Illegal ownerships still continues amongst the criminals who know how to circumvent the law/crack the code, so all you've accomplished is piss-off your legitimate customers.
We can vote with our dollars & stop watching NBC. Get your shows from alternate sources like DVDs. When NBC Broadcasting sees its ratings drop to 1.0% of the nation, then maybe it will wake-up (or go out of business). THE PEOPLE hold the power to kill corporations. They just need to learn to exercise that power.
Good thing I use Super VHS VCRs for my recording. Good old analog technology... it just works & says "bah" to digital no-record flags. (Ditto my analog cassettes ignoring digital radio's no-record flags.) I can record whatever I want off NBC or XM or HD Radio.
It's gotta suck though for digital users. You want to tape a show in the middle of the day (say, Oprah) or night (Letterman), but you can't because of that stupid flag. Therefore that show loses time-shifting viewers. NBC == "Stupido" (to borrow from NBC's cousin Telemundo).
I've been skipping ads ever since I got my first VCR (1985). I was 13 at the time, and even then I didn't want to sit and watch an advertisement unless it was something I cared about (like commercials for the "new" Star Trek spinoff).
Why's today's youth would be any different from how I acted in my teens is something I cannot fathom.
>>>"I don't have adverts on my television channels... [bbc.co.uk];-)"
No, you just spend ~$300 on a television tax. Whereas those of us in America, Canada, and a few other countries get our television for FREE over the air (or nbc.com, fox.com, cw.com, et cetera).
I've always prefered free. $300 is about 30 hours worth of hell, er, work to pay the bill. I'd rather not do that; I'd rather have free entertainment.
This is a "free" country, is it not? I should be able to marry as many women (or men) as I want. It's my "right to pursue happiness" in whatever form that takes (and as long as no one is physically harmed).
In my opinion, anyone who doesn't speak the original tongue (example: Beoqulf) is not speaking true English. I'd even be willing to accept the language of circa 1400 (example: Chaucer), but no one seems to want to cooperate and use the proper grammar. I guess we need a "Department of the Language" similar to how the French Despotic government has, to decide what is acceptable and what is not allowed, and imprison anyone who dares use a non-approved word.
Alas noone listens to me. They just keep evolving the language with new "inkhorn" words.
In a similar vein, 70% of American think the first amendment (right to free speech and worship) should be scrapped.
(shrug)
The Founders always said that "democracy is are worst disease", the masses were not competant enough to run the government, and therefore we should have a Republic run by educated men. i.e. People with enough common sense to realize scrapping the first amendment is a bad idea.
Re:And why did the power company wire to the curb?
on
Dealing With Dialup
·
· Score: 1
>>>"Because they were required to by law."
I don't care. I still don't want to pay for your hook-up just because you chose to live in some remote area. Pay that cost yourself.
BTW I have many neighbors without electricity. They seem to be getting by just fine. People confuse "need" and luxury. Electricity may be argued to be a need (provides heat), but internet is definitely the latter.
Didn't you read what I wrote? There's no need to move, because U.S. citizens have a legally-protected right to erect antennas or dishes on their roofs.
>>>"To most people dial-up is just not acceptable."
Right now as I type this, I'm connected to Netscape ISP at 53k. I agree that given an option, I'd rather be home using my 750 kbit/sec DSL but the dialup is not intolerable either. The compression gives an effective speed much, much faster (~500k) that gives me the perception of being on a DSL line. I wouldn't be upset being in gorgeous Cape Cod with just dialup.
As for youtube.com, yes I do watch videos there. One just needs to wait for the video to fill the buffer, and then click play.
And yes I can listen to internet radio via shoutcast.com and Winamp. There are many stations operating at low speeds; my personal favorite is an AAC+SBR station at just 16 kbps.
Slashdot Mirror
>>>"sounds like a great idea I would love to try it, but I don't think I could stop watching movies. And old 50s, 60s and 70s sci-fi shows"
We think alike. Most of the television I watch is not new stuff, but reruns. I watch the reruns of past shows like NYPD Blue, X-files, Angel, and Law & Order: SVU. Plus TCM ad History Channel.
There's only 2-3 hours per week where I watch new shows.
>>>"They're after eye balls watching the ads."
True. But. Advertisers are NBC's customer, but if NBC doesn't have viewers, the customer stops buying NBC airtime. That's what almost drove WB and UPN into bankruptcy... not enough viewers == losing advertisers == 1 billion in debt when they folded-up.
Picky-picky. ;-) Replace Oprah with "Passions" or whatever other NBC soap is poular during the day. I bet there are also lots of people who tape the "Today" show (so they view it when they come home from work).
And now, with the flag set, they can't.
Brilliant NBC. Lose one-third of your daytime audience just because you refuse to let fulltime workers do time-shifting. Bloody brilliant.
>>>"...it won't work on the TV if it doesn't get a proper responce from the recording device, right? Yes, they are aware of the Analog issue."
I think you just made-up some BS. If they did design TVs like that, how would people playback their old SVHS-C, Hi8, or miniDV home movies from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s? Nobody would buy such a TV that refused to show their old wedding and baby videos. It would die a quick death.
>>>"The border agent is likely to start this whole process with a 'please type in your password.' Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day."
Sounds like a small price to pay in order to protect my right to liberty. Just because the government demands access does not mean I have to comply.
Other people have paid a far higher price for liberty ("the full measure of devotion" aka death).
That's true.
- You lose a case.
- You file an appeal at the local level.
- You file an appeal to the State Supreme Court.
- You file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (which as you stated, rarely takes cases).
There's a limit to how much taxpayer money you can waste in court. You only get so many times before a judge, and then you're done. The verdict is rendered.
One way artists could fight back is by *giving away their own songs* as shareware. If you genuinely believe free music leads to more fans, than stand-up for what you believe.
Of course the record companies would scream bloody murder, and probably sue the Byrds (or whomever) for copyright infringement, but sometimes the only way to fight tyranny is via illegal acts. (Reference: "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau, an excellent read.) Take back the power.
"From time to time the Tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson
Good point.
But if I can't tape Medium because of NBC's blocking flag, and I can't buy the DVDs, where do I go to get the show? (Legally.)
Let's try that again, but without all the typos:
Well let's see.... I stated that paying the BBC tax equates to about 30 hours of work. A typical American program has 9-18 minutes per hour of ads. I rarely watch the ads (prefering to fast-forward or go visit the bathroom), so for me the total should be "0 minutes", but for the sake of this debate, I'll figure I watch 5 minutes per hour of commercials.
My favorite shows are approximately 20 hours per year, and include Heroes, Medium, 24, Smallville, and CSI. I sometimes watch other crap like reruns of Timecop, but that's negligible. So approximately 100 hours total. 100 hours * 5 minutes == 8.3 hours wasted watching advertisements each year (on free tv).
Conclusion:
I'm better off with FREE U.S. television than having to work to pay a $300 BBC tax. Free television has a lower opportunity cost (less time wasted) than BBC's annual tax. (American free television also has better programming; I can only think of one program on the BBC worth watching, and thus I'd really be getting screwed to have to pay $300 for just one show.)
(goes off to don the asbestos armor)
Well let's see.... I stated that paying the BBC tax equates to about 30 hours of week. A typical American program has 9-18 minutes per hour of ads. I rarely watch the ads (prefering to fast-forward or go visit the bathroom), so for me the total should be "0 minutes", but for the sake of this debate, I'll figure I watch 5 minutes per hour of commercials.
My favorite shows are approximately 20 hours per year, and include Heroes, Medium, 24, Smallville, and CSI. 100 hours total. 100 hours * 5 minutes == 8.3 hours wasted watching advertisements.
Conclusion:
I'm better off with FREE television that having to work to pay a $300 BBC tax. Free television has a lower opportunity cost (less time spent on it).
Hey cut me some slack. My boss was looking over my shoulder when I was writing that, so I didn't have time to double-check my work. It was a quick post-and-go operation.
Besides "educated" is not synonymous with "never makes mistakes". Everybody makes mistakes; even you (shocking).
>>>"There might be intelligent beings created by God in outer space....."
One such possibility is documented in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia (where Aslan represents God's son on that alien planet).
NBC is already dead last in the ratings (#4)!
Maybe they're trying to lose even more viewers by not letting these viewers tape their programs. How brilliant. Attract more customers by treating them like crap. Reminds me of RIAA.
That's because Fred Rogers did his job for a *higher* cause: To speak to the children & families. He'd still have done the exact same job, even if they only paid him minimum wage, because it wasn't about greed for him. It was about the message.
For (almost) everyone else in television, it's about greed.
Hence they hate giving anything away for free (like time-shifting).
If someone asked them to "Donate to the children's orphanage" they'd probably ask, "What's in it for me?"
Sad.
To quote an often stated phrase:
- "Banning guns doesn't stop criminals from owning guns."
- Using DRM doesn't stop criminals from owning illegal copies.
Illegal ownerships still continues amongst the criminals who know how to circumvent the law/crack the code, so all you've accomplished is piss-off your legitimate customers.
That's okay.
We still have a vote.
We can vote with our dollars & stop watching NBC. Get your shows from alternate sources like DVDs. When NBC Broadcasting sees its ratings drop to 1.0% of the nation, then maybe it will wake-up (or go out of business). THE PEOPLE hold the power to kill corporations. They just need to learn to exercise that power.
hey!
Good thing I use Super VHS VCRs for my recording. Good old analog technology... it just works & says "bah" to digital no-record flags. (Ditto my analog cassettes ignoring digital radio's no-record flags.) I can record whatever I want off NBC or XM or HD Radio.
It's gotta suck though for digital users. You want to tape a show in the middle of the day (say, Oprah) or night (Letterman), but you can't because of that stupid flag. Therefore that show loses time-shifting viewers. NBC == "Stupido" (to borrow from NBC's cousin Telemundo).
I've been skipping ads ever since I got my first VCR (1985). I was 13 at the time, and even then I didn't want to sit and watch an advertisement unless it was something I cared about (like commercials for the "new" Star Trek spinoff).
Why's today's youth would be any different from how I acted in my teens is something I cannot fathom.
>>>"I don't have adverts on my television channels... [bbc.co.uk] ;-)"
No, you just spend ~$300 on a television tax. Whereas those of us in America, Canada, and a few other countries get our television for FREE over the air (or nbc.com, fox.com, cw.com, et cetera).
I've always prefered free. $300 is about 30 hours worth of hell, er, work to pay the bill. I'd rather not do that; I'd rather have free entertainment.
What's wrong with polygamy?
This is a "free" country, is it not? I should be able to marry as many women (or men) as I want. It's my "right to pursue happiness" in whatever form that takes (and as long as no one is physically harmed).
In my opinion, anyone who doesn't speak the original tongue (example: Beoqulf) is not speaking true English. I'd even be willing to accept the language of circa 1400 (example: Chaucer), but no one seems to want to cooperate and use the proper grammar. I guess we need a "Department of the Language" similar to how the French Despotic government has, to decide what is acceptable and what is not allowed, and imprison anyone who dares use a non-approved word.
/end sarcasm
Alas noone listens to me. They just keep evolving the language with new "inkhorn" words.
Terrible.
In a similar vein, 70% of American think the first amendment (right to free speech and worship) should be scrapped.
(shrug)
The Founders always said that "democracy is are worst disease", the masses were not competant enough to run the government, and therefore we should have a Republic run by educated men. i.e. People with enough common sense to realize scrapping the first amendment is a bad idea.
>>>"Because they were required to by law."
I don't care. I still don't want to pay for your hook-up just because you chose to live in some remote area. Pay that cost yourself.
BTW I have many neighbors without electricity.
They seem to be getting by just fine.
People confuse "need" and luxury. Electricity may be argued to be a need (provides heat), but internet is definitely the latter.
Didn't you read what I wrote? There's no need to move, because U.S. citizens have a legally-protected right to erect antennas or dishes on their roofs.
>>>"To most people dial-up is just not acceptable."
Right now as I type this, I'm connected to Netscape ISP at 53k. I agree that given an option, I'd rather be home using my 750 kbit/sec DSL but the dialup is not intolerable either. The compression gives an effective speed much, much faster (~500k) that gives me the perception of being on a DSL line. I wouldn't be upset being in gorgeous Cape Cod with just dialup.
As for youtube.com, yes I do watch videos there. One just needs to wait for the video to fill the buffer, and then click play.
And yes I can listen to internet radio via shoutcast.com and Winamp. There are many stations operating at low speeds; my personal favorite is an AAC+SBR station at just 16 kbps.