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[TobiasW]

 

SOPA SOPA SOPA

Don't worry, ACTA seems pretty bad too.

[:^)]

Lamar Smith actually seems like a pretty good guy. I really enjoyed his dedication and gusto during the SOPA hearings. and I do understand where he's coming from...

I just don't think SOPA is going to be as helpful as he thinks it will.
Piracy is bad. Sure. I can agree.

Should I pirate? No. I'm more and more against it the more I think about it.
But I still do on occasion because I love the immediacy of it. I want digital distribution services for films.

iTunes is doing a cool thing with that. But I don't like how proprietary their software/hardware is. I'm just not into Apple. I love their product design but hate their ethical standards.

Netflix is nice but it doesn't have as good a selection. also... I don't own anything. It's purely rental.

There's nothing that really appeals to me as a tech-savvy, steam lovin', shopper.
I want to buy movies TO KEEP that I can import into BOXEE or Ubuntu TV or just open up with VLC.

I want to OWN the things I buy.

Ideally I'd like to find a movie I want on a digital distribution service, purchase for a competitive fee, choose my resolution (720p, which, if I wanted later I could then log onto my account and download 1080p without charging me again.)

I'm mainly talking about movies. I don't know what I would want for Music. iTunes is nice.
I'm a huge fan of Bandcamp though. That stuff is the bomb. Money sent directly to the artist, product sent directly to the customer. Beautiful.

[s0]

 

SOPA SOPA SOPA

been a long time since ive seen someone link to maddox

[Dragonmaw]

As I said elsewhere:

Piracy is not the real issue here. The real issue is the unwillingness of the content industry to flex and change with the progression of technology and societal norms.

Or, in other words: the only way to truly combat piracy is to make things people want to buy.

Saying that piracy is a "major issue" is misleading, if not downright wrong. The only reason why digital piracy is even considered an issue is because large companies make it an issue. Even games which are pirated to hell and back, like MW3 or Skyrim or Crysis 2, end up making obscene amounts of money on PC.

So yeah. Piracy isn't a problem. The problem is the unwillingness to adapt.

[:^)]

yeah

Which... I don't even understand. Everyone in charge must just be a bunch of cowards.
To me, innovation and change would be an exciting thing.
But currently customers are bending to the rules put in place by the Sellers.
...
Does that not seem ridiculous to anyone else? I mean I'm a young dumb kid, but I'd say it makes more sense as a business to try as hard as you can to cater to your customers wants and inklings.

As a business person or CEO that would make me excited for work every day. Trying to be better for people than everyone else and make my customers happier than anyone else is willing to.

Of course I don't mean whoring yourself and your product, you should have ethical guidelines for yourself and maintain integrity. But not guidelines that are there purely because you are afraid of losing money.

The internet is a great medium for distribution. I mean, they at least know to advertise online for films. And they do that a lottttttt... Why don't they try other things?

But honestly, I don't know of that many people that see a problem with the system as it is. Honestly I don't know if there is a huge problem. I'm a bit of an idealist and can pick on any kind of system so long as it has even the smallest flaw.

[deathtotheweird]

Or, in other words: the only way to truly combat piracy is to make things people want to buy.

I agree with peanutwhatever. Piracy is a service problem, not a content problem, for the majority of people.

iTunes/Rhapsody/Hulu/Netflix are all shitty services, why go through the bother of installing bloated software and paying monthly fees and suffering through ads when in two clicks of my favorite torrent site I can get DRM-free HD or Flac quality files and use/stream them on any device I want without restriction.

[SirNiko]

How should the Media industry adapt? You didn't present a plan of action for them to follow, except to just ignore piracy. Is that the solution?

I do agree that SOPA overreaches and should not pass. Presenting SOPA as nothing more than a media power grab ignores the real problem that there exist websites dedicated to stealing the IP of others and profiting off the exchange.

There is no excuse for piracy. Theft is not a form of boycott. If somebody is offering a completely optional thing at terms you don't like, you vote by not buying it. There are plenty of other music, movies and games to buy that don't have draconian DRM.

It's childish to insist that you deserve to watch the latest episode of some new drama at the terms you want and you'll steal it if you don't get your way.

[:^)]

@Allen:

Totally. Gimme control of the content I just paid for.

Sadly I don't see this level of service ever being provided legally.
Everyone's too scared of being torn apart by pirates.

well, save a few cool people. <- Lois CK

I'd really like to see this kind of business model become popular.
I mean I'd REALLY LIKE to see it. A LOT.

@SirNiko:

I agree, Piracy is not cool. I don't think I'll be doing it anymore.
I really like this little chunk of what you said -> "Theft is not a form of boycott." this is true and I really need to remember that when I feel like I can justify piracy simply because they don't offer their media in a form I would like.

I suppose one alternative is just to buy Blu-Rays and rip and encode them myself.
That actually sounds like a good enough alternative to me. I mean sure, I'm breaking another law. But at least I paid for the movie.

[s0]

iTunes/Rhapsody/Hulu/Netflix are all shitty services, why go through the bother of installing bloated software and paying monthly fees and suffering through ads when in two clicks of my favorite torrent site I can get DRM-free HD or Flac quality files and use/stream them on any device I want without restriction.

I haven't used Netflix because it's not available in Europe but I think the monthly fee is actually a decent idea. Makes more sense to me than paying for data that can be copied endlessly at practically no cost as if it were a normal phyiscal good.

I think that's the core psychological issue with "piracy." I don't "pirate" unless what I'm pirating isn't available any other way anymore, but it still feels wrong to pay for files on my computer. It feels like I'm paying for nothing.

[s0]

also re: the media industry: idk about movies and vidgames but the music industry is a braindead coma patient on life support. the sooner its put out of its misery, the better.

[Oddball]

I haven't used Netflix because it's not available in Europe but I think the monthly fee is actually a decent idea. Makes more sense to me than paying for data that can be copied endlessly at practically no cost as if it were a normal phyiscal good.

We have Netflix here in the UK, and I like the service. It's pretty good as long as they have plenty of the stuff you're interested in.

[Dragonmaw]

How should the Media industry adapt? You didn't present a plan of action for them to follow, except to just ignore piracy. Is that the solution?

Yep. Focus on providing quality service and content, and people will pay. GOG and Bandcamp are living proof that if you treat your customers right, they will treat you right.

Really, it's about control. The media industry wants to control everything about their products. While I agree that companies should fully crack down on counterfeit or people selling their products, attempting to kill online piracy is futile at best, suicidal at worst. All it does is take the focus off what content producers should do, which is create content people want to buy and provide it in a format that they want to buy it on and let them experience it in their own way. DRM and countless copyright lawsuits do nothing but piss people off.

Keep in mind I am not advocating for piracy, I'm just saying that stating it is a "serious problem" which is "killing jobs" is a massive overstatement. According to the data, actually, jobs (at least in Hollywood) have been relatively unaffected by the rise in online piracy.

Edit: Also, on the games side, piracy can be alleviated by putting out excellent demos. This seems to be a rarity these days, though.

[Kramlack]

Agreeing with Allen and Dragonmaw and anyone who thinks the end users ease of use plays a part in piracy.

This picture (I'm sure some of us have seen) really hammers it home though;

[[RM8]]

Guys, I want to open a small, personal blog about gaming. Nothing huge or pretentious, so I was considering Blogger or WordPress, since I had worked with those in the past. The thing is, I hate their lack of customization options. Especially with WordPress, you even have to pay for stuff like changing fonts.

Any advice?

[Theophilus]

Blogger is decent enough if you know what you're doing. You could try searching some tutorials? Maybe you could just write the posts on blogger and inject it into an html doc with feedburner.

[Ashkin]

@Rm88~: Tumblr. You can pick from custom themes or just mess with the HTML.

[Dragonmaw]

Tumblr is the new blogging hotness

[TobiasW]

Especially with WordPress, you even have to pay for stuff like changing fonts.

Wait, what? Can't you just choose/make your a theme? Or is it just because I am hosting my (free) WordPress instance myself?

[Theophilus]

Especially with WordPress, you even have to pay for stuff like changing fonts.

Wait, what? Can't you just choose/make your a theme? Or is it just because I am hosting my (free) WordPress instance myself?

I think he is talking about the free blogger-like interface for blogs/webpages hosted on wordpress itself, and are subdomains.

[[RM8]]

Yes. I have never tried Tumblr, let's check it out Thanks guys.