[deleted]
[deleted]
I Think Your App Should Be Free
31–40 of 242 posts
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#32This is nothing more than a thinly-disguised allegory about piracy in the music industry. There are several big differences between the music and the software industry which I won't go into, except to say that: even taking this story at face value, for the developers to then start suing everyone downloading the fake copies of the app would still be a huge dick move.
Further, what is the message of the allegory supposed to be? The analogy between music and tech suggests that the two hits-based industries selling digital goods are not so different after all. But why would our morality in one case be so different from the other case? If anything, this allegory seems to suggest to me that the recording industry has committed one of the biggest public relations bungles of our lifetim…
I feel the same way. I don't understand the point of this allegory other than to insight discussion and get ranked highly on HN.
Maybe I'm used to reading "easy" articles that provide a problem and possible solution to it. I haven't read the allegory of the cave since college so I'm not used to thinking this hard... (laziness on my part I guess)
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#33For all the potential parallels with the music industry, I think there are quite a few significant differences. Firstly, what are the current equivalents of a mobile App Store for (pirated) music? There are definitely a bunch of places you can find it if you look, but few of them are as "one-stop-shop" as current app stores. Secondly, does pirated music often outrank the artists/album name/track titles in general int…
>I forgot to mention "They’re doing the best they can, they say. Most of all, they’re complying with the law, they say." - I can't imagine many people who download pirated music do so without realising that it's illegal and/or immoral. Legitimate looking services like streaming sites are harder to judge - they might have a license for the content, or they might not.
The reference there is to the filesharing sites, not to pirates.
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#34OMGWTFBBQ!
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#35What is the moral of this story? "I'm an App Developer, therefore I shouldn't pirate music"? Ultimately, piracy breaks down to "people want your stuff, but you've priced it too highly". In the case of apps, that's all it is. In the case of music, it's a little different. Music is cheap, but it's rare that you can get it in a good format: everything is lossy, and for people with good audio kit and good hearing, that m…
I think audiophiles who can't stand mp3s are a pretty minuscule part of the pirating population and not much to hang your argument on. The vast majority of people who are pirating music and movies just don't want to pay for it.
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#36This is nothing more than a thinly-disguised allegory about piracy in the music industry. There are several big differences between the music and the software industry which I won't go into, except to say that: even taking this story at face value, for the developers to then start suing everyone downloading the fake copies of the app would still be a huge dick move.
It's still theft however you slice it.
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#37I pirated some music today[0]. I went to my usual shops to try to buy it, and for some reason the label had explicitly decided not to offer downloads of any sort. Just vinyl and CD. I wanted it now, and I couldn't really be arsed with those choices, so I stole it.
What would an honest Android-app allegory for this be? Perhaps a consumer is faced with these options:
1. An official shop, which accepts money (yay!), gives only some (boo!) of it to the artist, and offers:
a. The source code to build the app (i.e. a plastic disc that you have to rip yourself)
b. maybe, sometimes, a version of the app compiled for a 320x480 screen (acceptable lossy compressed files)
c. maybe, even fewer times, a version of the app compiled to use any screen size (lossless files, or high-quality lossy or whatever you like)
2. A dodgy (boo!) pirate site, which doesn't accept money (boo!), and offers all of the compiled versions.
Of course this is not even close to reality. No Android apps are compiled by normal end users. All paid Android apps offer 1c. Music piracy does not exist because of religious "information must be free" nuts like this article is talking about -- it exists because people's moral feeling about getting some money to the artist is not strong enough to overcome the inconvenience of 1a (or even 1b). Maybe we should conclude that the analogy has broken down.
Society does not "accept" this sort of piracy like it's a binary switch. The "morals" curve slides down, the "inconvenience" curve slides up, and at some point they pass each other. I see no reason why they can't trade places again -- if we actually try to do something about it instead of spinning clever allegories.
I suspect we need to look elsewhere to understand the motivations of app pirates (yes, I know this was not the point, but if you're going to be facetious...). The real thing is right there, for a few dollars. I've already given Google Checkout my credit card information. I cannot fathom what would make someone deal with sketchy sites (sketchy sites whose entire purpose is to install executable code on your device) to get the same thing they can just pay for. Maybe they are in fact just religious nuts.
[0] Honestly, I can't even be bothered to pirate most things these days. I'm culturally behind because filling in the gaps in what I can actually buy in FLAC would be a part-time job. If a record shop so much as rejects spaces in my credit card number I get bored and go listen to something I've already bought. This is a problem that could use some, as they say, disruptive innovation.
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Further, what is the message of the allegory supposed to be? The analogy between music and tech suggests that the two hits-based industries selling digital goods are not so different after all. But why would our morality in one case be so different from the other case? If anything, this allegory seems to suggest to me that the recording industry has committed one of the biggest public relations bungles of our lifetim…
Also, people can support an musician by buying concert tickets and merchandise. Software doesn't let people "morally offset" piracy in other ways.
The whole idea of moral offsetting is nonsense. That's like saying that I'm going to steal Oreos from the grocery store but make up for it by buying milk.
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#39[deleted]
Re: I Think Your App Should Be Free
#40What is the moral of this story? "I'm an App Developer, therefore I shouldn't pirate music"? Ultimately, piracy breaks down to "people want your stuff, but you've priced it too highly". In the case of apps, that's all it is. In the case of music, it's a little different. Music is cheap, but it's rare that you can get it in a good format: everything is lossy, and for people with good audio kit and good hearing, that m…
> Ultimately, piracy breaks down to "people want your stuff, but you've priced it too highly".
I'd say it's rather:
> Ultimately, piracy breaks down to "people want your stuff, but you've priced it".