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Popcorn Time in Your Browser

popcorninyourbrowser.net

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Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#171

Post by astalwick »

martypitt wrote: post #161
astalwick wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 w…

Is it a surprise? No. What you've described is downright annoying. It seems nonsensical to me that hollywood makes it so difficult for me to give them money to watch Game of Thrones. But, Piracy isn't a form of protest, any more than stealing a car is -- regardless of how reasonable you consider the price.

Laws aren't all equal. Stealing a car is zero-sum: if I take your car, you no longer have a car, which is a very, very expensive toy.

If I download Game of Thrones, the outcome for every single person in the world except me is exactly the same as it would have been if I had simply gone and read a book instead. HBO gets no money (I'm reading a book), and you still have the ability to watch GoT (I haven't done anything to prevent that).

Sorry, that's not entirely true actually. The outcome is ever so slightly different because I contribute to a metric that content producers do pay attention to: estimated pirated copies of GoT downloaded.

They make decisions based on that (like the launch of HBO go, which is not available in canada), and eventually, my hope is that they'll realize that there is a problem with the way they're selling their content and they'll fix it for everyone.

(Meanwhile, yes, benefit for me: I get to watch GoT).

Btw, you're being unfairly downvoted. Sorry.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#173

Post by astalwick »

morley wrote: post #170
astalwick wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 w…

Not being able to watch a TV show isn't exactly oppression. If I didn't get into a closed beta of a highly-anticipated web service or video game, it wouldn't be "a form of protest" to brute-force someone else's login, or to crack the signup system. It would be wrong.

It's not oppression, you're right. It's way, way smaller than that. My little act of 'defiance' is way smaller than it would be if it were exactly oppression, too.

I'm pirating content. I'm watching something that I want to watch, and at the same time, I'm hoping that my small increment of the 'pirated_copies_of_got' metric causes someone at HBO to go and sort out the way they distribute content outside of the US.

Literally no one else is harmed - because, no, I'm not going to pay the prices they've set. It's just nowhere near worth it. I'll go read a book instead.

Btw, hacking someone else's account is considerably more 'wrong', in my opinion: you're breaching someone's personal info and preventing them from using their account.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#174

Post by ThomPete »

bsaul wrote: post #40
ThomPete wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that is only a problem that the movie industry itself keeps alive because it refuses to move past the idea of creating false scarcity.

Oh no, not that price scarcity theory again.... A van gogh isn't more expensive than my drawing because they're rarer or built with rarer materials. Intrinsic value is much more complicated and subtle than that... Giving money for something is also a mean to encourage people to produce more content, for example. It's also a way to say "thank you, keep going on please". edit : or maybe that's what you meant too, in wh…

What I mean is that Hollywood treat digital assets as if they are physical assets.

The only thing that stand between Hollywood and a Popcorn like service they could monetize is a decision to treat it as a digital asset and take advantage of it as a digital asset.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#175

Post by ThomPete »

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…

But that is a legal technicality not a moral or philosophical argument though.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#176

Post by Vexs »

feross wrote: post #20

Every few months, someone builds a site like this. It lasts for a few days (or weeks) at best before it's shutdown due to legal pressure or sheer cost for the owner. I'm going to ignore the piracy aspect of this site (since I don't support copyright infringement) and just talk about the implementation. This site is connecting to a centralized service to fetch the torrent data. It's not P2P, it's easy to censor, and i…

Instant.io is pretty much, hands down the best way I've found to transfer a file to a friend or coworker. No waiting for uploads to finish, no mucking about with accounts and permissions, just copy a hash and go. Really simple, very effective.

I can't wait for the final version!

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#177

Post by rhino369 »

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.

Why? It's more convenient. I can have the iTunes movie playing in 10 seconds instead of going to the store or waiting for shipping.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#178

Post by wooger »

timrichard wrote: post #57
qubex wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As somebody in the same predicament and locale, I often find myself wondering whether it is any less objectionable to rent a VPN connection through the States.

I've done the same thing. Used a VPN to access Netflix US in Britain, for some newer BBC stuff that I've already contributed to through the license fee...

This 1000x. iPlayer is lauded, and generally works well, but it has incredibly restrictive, short term availability of content entirely paid for by taxpayers.

It is unclear how anyone in the UK can benefit from TV programmes removed from this service, or WHY any content for which the BBC doesn't have permanent distribution rights (via iPlayer) should ever be funded or produced by the BBC.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#179

Post by rhino369 »

jules wrote: post #159
rhino369 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon instant has damn near everything. Hollywood does provide it. They just can't compete with free. PC game piracy proves this. Games on steam get pirated in large numbers even when the pirate copy is harder to download, install and use. And often it has reduced functionality.

Except that almost none of the Amazon instant content is available outside the US.

Presumably someone sells content in your country.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#180

Post by diyorgasms »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #158
diyorgasms wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see anything unreasonable about asking the studios to provide their product in a particular format. What if you wanted to purchase a movie, and the studios only offered it on Betamax? Relying on Flash or Silverlight is similar. I use Linux, and Flash is officially unsupported on Linux. Silverlight has never been officially supported on Linux. If these are the options, then I cannot watch the movie out of the…

>> What if you wanted to purchase a movie, and the studios only offered it on Betamax? >> I use Linux So it's more like a betamax owner complaining that movies are only issued on VHS :)

Hey, man, inconvenience through obscurity is a real problem causing suffering to literally dozens of people.
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