Oh the sweet, sad, irony.

[x88x]

So true....so very, very true...

[biggoofy]

I'm guessing Pirate Bay, think I understand this lol.

[x88x]

I'm guessing Pirate Bay, think I understand this lol.

Just piracy in general. It's getting less and less so, but I can't count how many times I've run into a show or movie or something (even physical products) that I simply cannot buy. Not that it's too expensive, just that there is no way for me to give the rightful owners money and receive the product in return. Digital distribution (or, rather, the lack thereof) is the worst though. It's amazing how many companies refuse to adapt.

[OvRiDe]

What I found funny is their example of "Game of Thrones". It you _have_ HBO you can almost not get away with out seeing it. Seems like they have re-run it 6 times since Sunday. If you don't have HBO well ... that's the point. Since its an HBO series they kinda want you to subscribe to HBO. It will eventually be released to DVD and probably it will go to Netflix on demand. So really Piracy isn't really the answer, its patience. If you want to see it first you just gotta pay the right people.

[x88x]

So really Piracy isn't really the answer, its patience.

True, true...but it is an ever-present temptation.

If you want to see it first you just gotta pay the right people.

Yeah...it's just unfortunate that so often those "right people" happen to be cable providers.

I can't really complain for my personal viewing habits now though, anymore. All the shows I actively watch are on Hulu or Amazon. Even anime is getting easier. Heck, that's the industry I've seen the most innovation in. The last few years there have even been a good number of series' that have had simultaneous releases here and in Japan (granted eng-subbed here, but I prefer that anyway). Anyone who knows the anime industry knows how huge it is that we're finally getting simultaneous releases. It used to be that if I wanted to watch any new anime I had to download fansubs. Not saying they're bad...heck, a lot of them that I've seen were way better done than the official releases.. But those official releases wouldn't usually get over here for another year or two...if they ever made it over here at all. So there was created this legal grey-zone of either shows that weren't licensed over here, but were still technically illegal to copy/fansub/download/etc since the US honors Japanese copyrights, or shows that were licensed over here, but were so far behind the Japanese releases that you would have to wait a year or more to see those new episodes. The anime industry has also been the most accepting of that grey-zone of any media industries I've seen. I never heard of any C&D orders being sent until the studios started doing simultaneous releases of the shows in question. ...well, ok, there were a couple, but nowhere near the level you see in other entertainment industries these days.

[BuzzKillington]

Now that IP spoofers are the real deal, do whatcha gotta do.

[dr.walrus]

When music started being played on the radio at the start of the 20th century, the music industry said it would be the death of it - who would go and see live music when they could listen at home for free? But what actually happened was artists were able to reach a much, much larger audience, and music superstars were born.

When records became available, about 15 years later, the music industry cried out in a similar way - who would go and see live shows (where all the money was) when they could just listen at home? And ten people could listen to one LP, rather than buy ten concert tickets. In reality, LPs gave artists another, massive revenue stream, and further served to drive fans to their concerts.

When tape recorders came out in the 70s, the music industry said it'd be the death of them - people were recording songs off the radio! How could they make money then? What emerged was a vibrant scene of mix-tapes - the recordings were too low quality to replace other methods.

And now, we have digital music and the internet, Sure, music's easier to copy, but you can also get people to spend money from their living room. It's clear that with each move in technology, marketers gain a massive advantage, and sure, I acknowledge at every stage there has been and will continue to be piracy, but who takes the industry to task for invading our homes with advertising? There is an uneasy deal being struck, and neither side really likes it.

There are strong parallels between what I've said about the music industry and other parts of the performance industries (remember, until this century, film was theatre...). What needs to happen if these people don't want piracy is this: Start making content available online, either through paid content subscriptions, or with advertising like we have on TV anyway.

Record companies/TV channels/Film companies need to realise that it's their protectionism that's driving privacy right now.

[x88x]

I just ran across this article on Ars. It's a great example of the anime industry adapting to technological changes.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...et-failure.ars

They mention that piracy rates on shows that were made available online through their free and subscription services dropped "60-70%", which reinforces what I've been saying all along. The main reason why most people pirate isn't because they can't be bothered to find and use legal alternatives, it's because of convenience and availability. Give them a legal alternative and the majority of people will stop.

[dr.walrus]

I just ran across this article on Ars. It's a great example of the anime industry adapting to technological changes.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...et-failure.ars

They mention that piracy rates on shows that were made available online through their free and subscription services dropped "60-70%", which reinforces what I've been saying all along. The main reason why most people pirate isn't because they can't be bothered to find and use legal alternatives, it's because of convenience and availability. Give them a legal alternative and the majority of people will stop.

I came across a situation the other day where a show I owned on DVD but where the DVD was at a friends house wan't available on a catchup service but was available on a pirate service. I chose not to watch it due to the nature of my connection where I live, but I never buy DVDs if I have a legal online service available that I trust...

At times I feel that the poor availability of this content almost forces people to use non-legal alternatives. I must stress that I own this show on DVD anyway - why should my choice of medium affect my choice? Do media companies really expect me to buy the same same rights twice?

[OvRiDe]

Do media companies really expect me to buy the same same rights twice?

YES!