Popcorn Time in Your Browser • Hacker News Board

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#131

Post by martypitt » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:44 PM UTC

donutz wrote: post #126

martypitt wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is obliged to give me money -- unless they consume the content I created. At that point, they are. Anything else assumes that because content exists, people have the right to consume it -- for free if they can work out how. Let's be clear: I fully agree that Hollywood needs to catch up, and make content accessible in the way that Popcorn time has. But I don't have the right to consume content illegally, just b…

> No one is obliged to give me money -- unless they consume the content I created. At that point, they are. Umm, no. I don't owe buskers one penny, even if I enjoy their street performance.

Sorry, I should've been clear:

> No one is obliged to give me money -- unless they consume the content I created. Then, it's my call, whatever business model I pick.

Buskers are giving their content away for free. You don't have the right to attend their concert, just because you don't like the website they're selling their tickets on.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#132

Post by kalleboo » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:46 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #90

martingordon wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this differ from iTunes? There's a business model that works, and the experience is pretty much exactly like Popcorn Time, except iTunes has those pesky Rent/Buy buttons.

There is something very wrong when buying a movie on iTunes costs more than buying it on Bluray.

And don't forget that despite paying more, you get less, since on iTunes it doesn't come with any of the extras on the Blu-ray.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#133

Post by throwawaykf05 » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:47 PM UTC

Narkov wrote: post #12

DigitalSea wrote: post #7

You know the traditional business model of Hollywood is well and truly broken when an open source application like Popcorn Time comes along and does everything right. What Popcorn Time has done by making accessing content on demand easier than ever before is nothing short of impressive. They're the Netflix of piracy and I think Hollywood can learn a lot from Popcorn Time (but as history has proven, they won't).

Everything right? Except of course monitize it. Giving stuff away is pretty easy to do. Making a business out of it is much harder.

> Except of course monitize it.

And, you know, create it. Giving stuff away is pretty easy to do, especially if it's somebody else's stuff :-)

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#134

Post by themartorana » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:51 PM UTC

Sir_Substance wrote: post #128

martypitt wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is obliged to give me money -- unless they consume the content I created. At that point, they are. Anything else assumes that because content exists, people have the right to consume it -- for free if they can work out how. Let's be clear: I fully agree that Hollywood needs to catch up, and make content accessible in the way that Popcorn time has. But I don't have the right to consume content illegally, just b…

>No one is obliged to give me money -- unless they consume the content I created. At that point, they are. Historically no, they're not. Paying for a concert before you saw it was unheard of 150 years ago, and your ancestors would have considered you a mug for giving over your money before you knew if it was going to be a good show. The norm for human history is that you see the show first and then decide afterwards…

Well, almost. My lease, cable, and phone bills bill ahead.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#135

Post by astalwick » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:51 PM UTC

martypitt wrote: post #121

Sir_Substance wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've fallen into the classic trap: No one is obliged to give you money. Finding a business model that works is your problem, not your customers. Forced lock-in is a model, but it's a violent one that makes people want to leave, and it's entirely predicated on there never being an escape hatch for your trapped customers. There is now an escape hatch for content customers. They're no longer beholden to the choice of…

No one is obliged to give me money -- unless they consume the content I created. At that point, they are. Anything else assumes that because content exists, people have the right to consume it -- for free if they can work out how. Let's be clear: I fully agree that Hollywood needs to catch up, and make content accessible in the way that Popcorn time has. But I don't have the right to consume content illegally, just b…

I consider piracy to be a form of protest.

I'm happy to pay, as long as the terms are reasonable. (I have a Rdio account that's been active for years now - I can't remember the last time I pirated music... I can't remember the last time I pirated software, either).

However, in Canada, the only way to watch (for example) Game of Thrones is to

a) get a massive cable subscription which includes 1000 channels you don't want and HBO (which itself has 100 programs you don't want to watch and GoT),

b) wait for the episode to show up on itunes and pay $4.50 per episode (whaat?) (and oh, season 5 isn't available yet),

c) pirate.

Is it a huge surprise that a lot of people choose option C? And can you blame them? At a certain point, non-Americans specifically just get fed up with being told "sorry, no, that content isn't available in your region."

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#136

Post by icebraining » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:51 PM UTC

throwawaykf05 wrote: post #129

Sir_Substance wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've fallen into the classic trap: No one is obliged to give you money. Finding a business model that works is your problem, not your customers. Forced lock-in is a model, but it's a violent one that makes people want to leave, and it's entirely predicated on there never being an escape hatch for your trapped customers. There is now an escape hatch for content customers. They're no longer beholden to the choice of…

> No one is obliged to give you money. Yes they are, if you create something that they derive value from. Whether it is to be given away for free or paid for is your prerogative as the value creator, not theirs.

So, if I play music in front of your home, and you enjoy it, can I demand you pay me money? It's not as clear-cut as you're making it to be.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#137

Post by pki » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:58 PM UTC

ikeboy wrote: post #103

k-mcgrady wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "Why is it that in 2015, I can't go to a site, give them money, and get a high-quality mkv download" Because it's costly and unnecessary for a business to cater to every specific need. How many people even know what an MKV file is? And if they did how many people have the bandwidth to download one? There are so many options available to people now (theatres, DVD, Bluray, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix) that people are re…

Is there a single legal way of buying movies without DRM?

Yes, but it depends on your definition of movie. A lot of indie stuff? Documentaries? Probably.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#138

Post by untog » Tue, May 19, 2015, 1:58 PM UTC

dmarg wrote: post #115

Sir_Substance wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've fallen into the classic trap: No one is obliged to give you money. Finding a business model that works is your problem, not your customers. Forced lock-in is a model, but it's a violent one that makes people want to leave, and it's entirely predicated on there never being an escape hatch for your trapped customers. There is now an escape hatch for content customers. They're no longer beholden to the choice of…

>>No one is obliged to give you money. Finding a business model that works is your problem, not your customers. This struck a chord with me and is exactly the reason why Hollywood and the Music Industry are flailing. They are trying to continue their business model that worked for so long into this new day and age. Adapt or die essentially.

But what is that new model, exactly? If "paying money in return for receiving goods" doesn't work, how will they make these multi-million dollar cultural phenomenons?

I agree that the current system is broken, but saying you'll pirate until the studios work out it feels like an irresponsible point of view, to me.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#139

Post by trimble-alum » Tue, May 19, 2015, 2:00 PM UTC

Sir_Substance wrote: post #108

Narkov wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything right? Except of course monitize it. Giving stuff away is pretty easy to do. Making a business out of it is much harder.

You've fallen into the classic trap: No one is obliged to give you money. Finding a business model that works is your problem, not your customers. Forced lock-in is a model, but it's a violent one that makes people want to leave, and it's entirely predicated on there never being an escape hatch for your trapped customers. There is now an escape hatch for content customers. They're no longer beholden to the choice of…

Exactly. Free is on the competitive battlefield with paid, just as nonmonitized (open source, volunteer and nonprofits) can be competitive to monetized endeavors. It's a continuum along the axis of price, which does not necessarily have to be a positive number.

Content distributors are at liberty to uniquely watermark all content and hunt down every last pirate with massive penalties AND/OR threaten to stop producing content, if they so choose. Content viewers can also make choices, one of which could be to organize collective negotiation.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#140

Post by fweespeech » Tue, May 19, 2015, 2:01 PM UTC

DigitalSea wrote: post #7

You know the traditional business model of Hollywood is well and truly broken when an open source application like Popcorn Time comes along and does everything right. What Popcorn Time has done by making accessing content on demand easier than ever before is nothing short of impressive. They're the Netflix of piracy and I think Hollywood can learn a lot from Popcorn Time (but as history has proven, they won't).

> You know the traditional business model of Hollywood is well and truly broken

It isn't just Hollywood, even HBO Go/HBO Now is so fenced in I can't just pay them to get streaming access but have to go through Apple which won't allow me to sort it out unless I actually have an iDevice

None of these companies make it easy besides Netflix. And for what? It doesn't even help them substantially [even tho they clearly think it does] it just drives me to wonder why I ever talked myself out of pirating things on moral grounds.