Earlier quoted context omitted.
Family Video is growing pretty well. They are the only video store in my area.
I've always suspected that was due to their porn selection. A few years ago, I knew someone who worked in a video rental store in the heart of Kansas City that had an extensive "back room". It always seemed to me that the back room was the only area to get traffic. Somehow, the internet hasn't killed porn disc rentals, and I think it shows for both that small shop in Kansas City (which is still open) and Family Video…
Popcorn Time in Your Browser
221–230 of 262 posts
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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
#223You 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).
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#224You 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.
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I'm pretty sure if it were possible to create atom for atom identical copies of every van gogh the value of the "original" would plummet. Of course in the real world we have no-cloning theorems, so that isn't possible, information however can be copied at (almost) zero cost and therefore the value of a copy should approach its share of the production cost, which rapidly approaches zero as more copies are made.
Of course, the problem is that we could actually lose the ability to assign sentimental value to any one of them. Immagine 10 identical Mona Lisas, only one of them real with the knowledge which since lost. The collection would be worth a lot, but what would be the price of 1 of them?
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#226Earlier 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…
The law may say they are, but the law is clearly impotent and I personally don't remember having signed the Mickey Mouse act, so no I don't think anybody owes Hollywood anything, especially because Hollywood was built on piracy.
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've fallen into the classic trap: No one is obliged to give you free content in the form of movies, music, books, video games, television shows, etc. Just because you can pirate or steal something doesn't mean it's morally or legally justifiable.
I'm not after free content, I'm after accessible content. This discussion is basically about how content industries, with all their clout, are somehow unable to match the usability of some dudes with a bit of spare time.
Yeah, it's probably easier to make content accessible when you're willing to completely break the law and ignore the rights of the people who have invested in creating the content in the first place.
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>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.
The key point is everything (or close to it) in one service.
Second, structure new programs to include more merch. Disney probably makes more on stuff from frozen than they did on frozen itself. Lossleaders aren't unheard of.
But above all, be bold, be decisive. Don't just run around and act like a bunch of babies.
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#229You 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).
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.
Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
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. Li…
Honor your argument, then, and go read a book.