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Goodbye Popcorn Time

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Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#271

On the topic of pirated content, I was an early contributor to the Veronica Mars movie Kickstarter, and I received my "digital download" today. It consisted of a link to sign up to two separate websites to download a specific player that would stream the video for me on supported platforms only . Also, the HD version might not be available right away. I checked and the torrent of the HD version had been online for 30…

>torrent of the HD version had been online for 30 minutes already.

Same for the news servers. The TV companies could learn a thing or two from the efficiency of the pirate world.

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#272
post #93

> Piracy is not a people problem. It’s a service problem. I'd say its a pricing problem. Right now 'The Wolf of Wall Street' is available from Amazon Instant Video at $20. On your popular torrent site virtually the same product is available for $0 + (riskOfGettingCaught * $1,000,000 fine) = $0.000001 ? You can either try to increase the riskOfGettingCaught or decrease the legal price. I think the industry should do w…

I live in a central european country, there's not one service available to me (other then an overpriced ISP with IP TV option) where I could legally watch movies and series on demand.

On the other hand I also play PC games occasionally, I just buy them on Steam, GOG, Humble Indie Bundle, ...

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#273
post #93

> Piracy is not a people problem. It’s a service problem. I'd say its a pricing problem. Right now 'The Wolf of Wall Street' is available from Amazon Instant Video at $20. On your popular torrent site virtually the same product is available for $0 + (riskOfGettingCaught * $1,000,000 fine) = $0.000001 ? You can either try to increase the riskOfGettingCaught or decrease the legal price. I think the industry should do w…

Amazon Instant Video is, for one, unavailable in neither my native country (italy) nor the one I leave in currently (hungary, where there isn't amazon at all). Rinse and repeat for lovefilm, netflix, hulu etc.

Also majors have decided to delay releasing movies here because they think we are the main people pirating movies.

Price counts, but service counts more, IMVHO.

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#274
post #196
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it would also mean they couldn't control the compiled binaries. It takes the profit motive out of software development - you just have to be vigilant enough to make sure you can retrace the source of the software you use. I'm one of the people that uses the GPL because copyright exists. Without copyright, companies lose the incentive to close their source, because the binaries aren't restrictable anyway so they c…

On the contrary I think that's an even higher incentive to close source, obfuscate binaries and add DRM etc. And while someone may be able to copy the binary, they can not create derivative work from it. It's still going to be a fight, but it will be fought outside of the court rooms without support of the law. To me that sounds like a step backwards, because even more than today that's a fight where a resource heavy…

> they can not create derivative work from it.

You can easily decompile it, and without copyright nobody can tell you want you are allowed to do with it.

> only to have the work taken by some large corporation that manages to profit from the work due to large marketing budgets, sales channels and existing customers, while the author remains uncompensated

How would you profit from the work if you can't "sell" the work? At best they could seek funding to create derivatives of the work. But this does point out a major reason copyright is broken now - in how many other disciplines do you expect compensation for finite effort for infinite time? It should be that your finite work is compensated for finite money during a fixed time period (in my examples, the development of the work).

I'd like to think you could extend plagiarism in the absence of copyright to cover all ideas - ie, you can freely modify, reproduce, or redistribute a work, as long as you aren't falsely claiming it as your own, and upon inquiry you truthfully say where it came from. That is peripheral to actual interactions with information, it is about how you present yourself in relation to them.

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the industry should do what Hulu has done over the past 5 years. Give the product away virtually for free, collect an enormous user base while you starve/kill the demand for the equivalent torrents, slowly increase the price of the service until you find equilibrium, then profit. Not going to happen. The television/media industry is addicted to the ad rates you get from traditional television, and have to p…

> Not going to happen. The television/media industry is addicted to the ad rates you get from traditional television, and have to put many more ads into online content to receive the same revenue I know there's a reason (traditional ad rates, etc.) - but I don't understand the disparity between online and television advertising rates. If anything online advertising would seem to be significantly more powerful since y…

That's exactly why it's less "valuable" online. The fact that analytics tell you exactly how much value you get from it is the problem. Compare that to TV: you only have bullshit statistics that are honestly crap, but the allure and history is more important.

Compare startups with no revenue getting bought or valued for far more than startups that do. Same concept.

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#276

There's a saying that goes : Don't buy fish in the ocean. Studios and all assume that people are thieves. There are a number of cases to think of: Tim Ferriss teamed with.. BitTorrent to distribute his latest book (4 Hour Chef). He wrote a detailed article on his experience and the correlation between BitTorrent downloads and sales (number driven he is, he tracked that real-time). The model was the second-shareware m…

There is another value that is at play in the consumer decision. Artist integrity. People gladly reward integrity by paying. The consumer feels good doing that, because they know they are encouraging more artists to do good work, not just entertainment as a shallow product exchange.

Radiohead had earned people's respect, that's why they could pull it off.

It wasn't just a consumer decison based on availability and pricing. People make decisions based on emotions and value systems.

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#277
You know what really grinds my gears? You actually give so much credit to Popcorn Time for "inventing" something that the damn europeans have for a thousand years...OK, maybe for americans is Heaven on earth cause they pay for damn everything but it's not like they invented fire! It's the same story as Twitter in Europe. Everyone thought it's just another social network, then it moves to US and BOOM. I should start "porting" some ideas then cause you just proved a point I have for 8 years now.

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#278

On the topic of pirated content, I was an early contributor to the Veronica Mars movie Kickstarter, and I received my "digital download" today. It consisted of a link to sign up to two separate websites to download a specific player that would stream the video for me on supported platforms only . Also, the HD version might not be available right away. I checked and the torrent of the HD version had been online for 30…

It's worth noting that while Veronica Mars was kickstarted, Warner Brothers still owns it. I strongly suspect they're the entity responsible for the distribution decisions.

It's a problem of separation. I wonder if the higher-ups at these media companies use their own products? Do they buy similar products?

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#279

There's a saying that goes : Don't buy fish in the ocean. Studios and all assume that people are thieves. There are a number of cases to think of: Tim Ferriss teamed with.. BitTorrent to distribute his latest book (4 Hour Chef). He wrote a detailed article on his experience and the correlation between BitTorrent downloads and sales (number driven he is, he tracked that real-time). The model was the second-shareware m…

There is another value that is at play in the consumer decision. Artist integrity. People gladly reward integrity by paying. The consumer feels good doing that, because they know they are encouraging more artists to do good work, not just entertainment as a shallow product exchange. Radiohead had earned people's respect, that's why they could pull it off. It wasn't just a consumer decison based on availability and pr…

Totally agree. Value given by artists preceeds reward, not the other way around.

We see this in companies going the extra mile, beyond the call of their duty: For me, it's not business anymore, it's a bond where you become advocate for that company, for life. Where you refer everyone you know. It transcends a purely mercantile relationship.

I pay more because I've had a good experience, I tip when the service is good, when I like the food and the vibe. I increase price when I'm delighted because some people push my right buttons. It may even be a smile that'll make me buy it for a higher price than it is, or not negociate a price.

Re: Goodbye Popcorn Time

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth noting that while Veronica Mars was kickstarted, Warner Brothers still owns it. I strongly suspect they're the entity responsible for the distribution decisions.

It's a problem of separation. I wonder if the higher-ups at these media companies use their own products? Do they buy similar products?

The highest-ups have assistants to take care of drudgery like that. No need for the executives to waste time with a series of media players which do not work seamlessly with high-fidelity playback equipment.
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