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Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

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71–80 of 191 posts

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#71
post #2

Some of these (I'm looking at you, BBC iPlayer) aren't even available in the USA.

iPlayer isn't a commercial service, it's funded by the UK tax payer though the license fee. I agree that this is something the BBC should look at making available more widely as a revenue generator to fund it's operations but it's not a priority for them.

What's the TV license at now? 180 pounds or ~275 US? If it came with access to iPlayer, 4oD & iTVoD I'd probably be willing to pay for a UK TV license.

(I'm in Canada)

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#72
I would also add to this list audible.com which restricts certain books to US only. I am a platinum subscriber to audible, however, I couldn't get my hands on Stephen King's Under The Dome. So I got it from the thepiratebay pretty much on the next day. I did buy other King's books on audible though.

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#73
post #2

Some of these (I'm looking at you, BBC iPlayer) aren't even available in the USA.

iPlayer isn't a commercial service, it's funded by the UK tax payer though the license fee. I agree that this is something the BBC should look at making available more widely as a revenue generator to fund it's operations but it's not a priority for them.

less 'not a priority', more 'politically impossible'. They're constantly under pressure from the Murdoch empire, and other commercial TV, trying to prevent the BBC doing anything popular/profitable. International iplayer would send the lobbyists into an epic tantrum.

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#74
As someone with money who enjoys a lot of American TV, I'm not really interested in excuses why these services are not available worldwide.

Quit making excuses and make it happen. The torrenters don't seem to have any trouble building a global distribution network, and they are hiding from the law while simultaneously kicking your butt.

If you don't want to make it happen, quit whining about losing money. I have money and you have TV shows, so let's make a deal.

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#75

As an English speaker in Germany I was particularly interested in using things like iTunes (which is available here) to access TV. What do you know, it is exclusively German language content. And it is also only released when it airs in Germany rather than when it first airs in the US or the UK. Where is the logic there? If I wanted to get German language TV when it airs on TV, I would just watch TV. The whole system…

The whole system makes eminent sense. Content that has been permitted by the owner is released in your country, when the owner permits. If you are resort to piracy because of this, you are still stealing.

It always amazes me that people who consider it an ethical issue by equating copyright infringement with "stealing", have no ethical problem with the fact that copyright law is being blatantly abused to achieve exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do, i.e. maximizing the distribution of original work.

Copyright laws exist to serve society, not just a handful of corporations.

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#76
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious why they would refuse to make that information easily accessible. Thoughts?

International copyright laws are a bit of a mess.Also, in lots of countries you have to pay a fee if you're "performing" publicly. And according to some agencies, Youtube videos do count as such. If I remember correctly, one such agency, the German GEMA wanted to collect 12 Euro cents each time a major label video was watched on youtube.

True, but I think he was asking why the meta-information isn't provided, where you'd be able to click on something next to a video and get information about which regions it's available in.

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#77
post #62

There is no need to rationalize why you use Bittorrent, there is no argument to win and nothing to defend. It's not stealing, it's not not stealing it's just a fact that people will continue to use bittorrents as long as there is too much friction to get it legally. Bittorrent will be around as long as the content owners insist on localizing copyright and not offering their content to a globally oriented customer bas…

I think that's a bit of an oversimplification. You can use bittorrent to download and watch a film that's been released on DVD. This deprives the content created of a sale/hire/watch on demand, so in theory they lose out on revenue. You can also use bittorrent to download and watch a TV show that was broadcast in another country the night before and that will never be shown on your country's TV network. Think about N…

Wouldn't surprise me either if the ones torrenting end up spending more money on the show that those who catch is casually when it finally does get aired.

I've been to concerts where the artist is touring Australia for the first time and hasn't ever done any Australia specific marketing and they manage to fill out venues. Doubt that would have happened before file sharing.

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#78
post #55

Wait. This is YCombinator right? Why on earth does no-one create a startup to make buying digital copies easier wherever you live? Why is that so hard?

It's actually part of #1 on YCombinator's list of ideas they'd like to fund: http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html

But it's a tricky problem, because of the heavy involvement of intellectual-property laws and tangled webs of existing licensing arrangements (defended by large incumbent players with large legal teams).

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The law was written way before there was possible to make an exact copy of something while leaving the original intact and way before the cost of such act is so close to zero than even those who have no money to buy original still are able to make the copy. One can apply the same laws, but doing so is stretching them too much. Consider the possibility of you making exact copy of a car just by pressing a button on som…

b) they still got all the money for the cars they produced, there is not a single missing It doesn't work like that - in the event of a magical button that can replicate a car, all the cars they'll be able to produce and sell is exactly 1. In such an event the car maker won't be able to recuperate its sunk costs, and the writing would be clearly on the wall, so such a magical car will never be produced, unless there'…

These days 720p torrents are the norm if something is at the point where you can buy the DVD, mainstream stuff anyway. So I doubt your going to really be getting something of lower (drastically at least) quality.

Re: Why I get my entertainment via BitTorrent

#80
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious why they would refuse to make that information easily accessible. Thoughts?

International copyright laws are a bit of a mess.Also, in lots of countries you have to pay a fee if you're "performing" publicly. And according to some agencies, Youtube videos do count as such. If I remember correctly, one such agency, the German GEMA wanted to collect 12 Euro cents each time a major label video was watched on youtube.

> the German GEMA

Another thing that should be against the law...

Even if I only have an internet access at my home, no TV and no radio, I still have to pay a quarterly "licence fee" (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/licencefee/) because certain public stations have a website and could offer certain TV or radio programs on their website.

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