Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage • Hacker News Board

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#71

Post by jronkone » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 10:54 PM UTC

sahillavingia wrote: post #59

jronkone wrote: post #54

I think there's a huge pent-up demand for software that makes it easy for artists to publish their own content on their own websites easily and also makes making and collecting payments as easy as downloading torrents. Probably something like that already exists, but the fact is that most of the content seems to be aggregated in different kinds of services that the artists don't really control themselves.

This is exactly what I'm trying to do with Gumroad: http://gumroad.com (I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback)

The idea seems good, but I think many people would prefer a demo (or more explanation) about how it actually works, preferably without the user needing to supply his/her email.

On the technical side, the scrolling text seems to overlap to the next line on some zoom-settings (I'm using Firefox 8 if it matters).

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#72

Post by jgeralnik » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 10:55 PM UTC

shadowfox wrote: post #69

yangez wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. His simple tone belies the brilliance in his writing here. I seriously doubt he just spent 5 minutes scribbling this out as an afterthought. He gets a few key ideas across: - he doesn't understand torrenting and so is helpless against it - he cares about his viewers more than taking advice about DRM - the video is owned solely by him and not some soulless corporation, and you're directly hurting him by torrentin…

Indeed. But I am curious what would happen if a lot more people did this. Would such an appeal lose effectiveness?

Definitely. The only reason I bought it was to support DRM free content, not because I was actually particularly interested in it. If this was standard practice I would not just be buying for the novelty. That said, I definitely think it is possible to build a scalable system that works, it just needs some innovation.

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#73

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 10:56 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #70

wx77 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For amazon cloudfront at the most expensive tier it buys close to 42 GB but then there would be no profit in sending the file 34 times (someone said it was a 1.2 GB file). It makes sense to me why he is only allowing a few downloads otherwise a few extreme users could take up all his money just by streaming.

> (someone said it was a 1.2 GB file) I confirm that it is a ~1.2GB file (the file is precisely 1,199,666,893 bytes)

[deleted]

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#74

Post by flyt » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 11:01 PM UTC

trafficlight wrote: post #32

leftnode wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His show "Louie" is equal parts drama and comedy. It's really an amazing show and he's easily the top comedian today, hands down.

Louie is a great show. He is the master of uncomfortable situations.

Louis C.K. is great and I agree with you, but nobody tops Larry David on Curb for uncomfortable situations.

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#75

Post by heyitsnick » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 11:01 PM UTC

sahillavingia wrote: post #59

jronkone wrote: post #54

I think there's a huge pent-up demand for software that makes it easy for artists to publish their own content on their own websites easily and also makes making and collecting payments as easy as downloading torrents. Probably something like that already exists, but the fact is that most of the content seems to be aggregated in different kinds of services that the artists don't really control themselves.

This is exactly what I'm trying to do with Gumroad: http://gumroad.com (I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback)

agree with sibling comment - what exactly happens when i sign up? so i get a link to send people, what does the user see? how do they pay? etc. these are the first questions i have and should be answered on the landing page, maybe with a video demo.

Another bit of feedback - imo remove the end bit of this sentence, in your FAQ re. pricing: "Simple. It's 5% + $0.30 for each transaction. We're working hard to get this lower.". You have just put the idea in my head that 5% + 0.3 is too much. now i have doubts. maybe now i should shop around? or roll my own? or wait for prices to go down? no need to sow this seed. 5% + 0.3, and you are covering transaction costs? total bargain

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#76

Post by Natsu » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 11:02 PM UTC

yangez wrote: post #30

turoczy wrote: post #6

His description of why he did it: To those who might wish to "torrent" this video: look, I don't really get the whole "torrent" thing. I don't know enough about it to judge either way. But I'd just like you to consider this: I made this video extremely easy to use against well-informed advice. I was told that it would be easier to torrent the way I made it, but I chose to do it this way anyway, because I want it to b…

Wow. His simple tone belies the brilliance in his writing here. I seriously doubt he just spent 5 minutes scribbling this out as an afterthought. He gets a few key ideas across: - he doesn't understand torrenting and so is helpless against it - he cares about his viewers more than taking advice about DRM - the video is owned solely by him and not some soulless corporation, and you're directly hurting him by torrentin…

Damn, I would've bought it if not for requiring PayPal. I don't have an account or want one.

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#77

Post by sahillavingia » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 11:03 PM UTC

heyitsnick wrote: post #75

sahillavingia wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what I'm trying to do with Gumroad: http://gumroad.com (I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback)

agree with sibling comment - what exactly happens when i sign up? so i get a link to send people, what does the user see? how do they pay? etc. these are the first questions i have and should be answered on the landing page, maybe with a video demo. Another bit of feedback - imo remove the end bit of this sentence, in your FAQ re. pricing: "Simple. It's 5% + $0.30 for each transaction. We're working hard to get this…

Great feedback (from all of you)! I'll add more information and a demo link to the home page this weekend. And I agree with that too, removing now.

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#78

Post by twinwing » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 11:09 PM UTC

Natsu wrote: post #76

yangez wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. His simple tone belies the brilliance in his writing here. I seriously doubt he just spent 5 minutes scribbling this out as an afterthought. He gets a few key ideas across: - he doesn't understand torrenting and so is helpless against it - he cares about his viewers more than taking advice about DRM - the video is owned solely by him and not some soulless corporation, and you're directly hurting him by torrentin…

Damn, I would've bought it if not for requiring PayPal. I don't have an account or want one.

You don't need an account, you can just use PayPal as a CC processor.

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#79

Post by jamesbkel » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 11:15 PM UTC

lgeek wrote: post #25

Chromium crashed during my first attempt to download the show and then I ran out of free disk space the second time (yeah, SSDs are a bit too small). Anyway, my point is that starting a download and then only getting a couple of MBs shouldn't really count as using a download slot. On the other hand, I don't know if it's possible to check how much data has been transferred using existing technology. He seems to be usi…

Based on the tone of Louis CK in his description, I would try sending some feedback on the problem... he appears receptive. It's only been available for one day so far, so I imagine he would appreciate a chance to improve the system.

Re: Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

#80

Post by jamesbkel » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 11:15 PM UTC

lgeek wrote: post #25

Chromium crashed during my first attempt to download the show and then I ran out of free disk space the second time (yeah, SSDs are a bit too small). Anyway, my point is that starting a download and then only getting a couple of MBs shouldn't really count as using a download slot. On the other hand, I don't know if it's possible to check how much data has been transferred using existing technology. He seems to be usi…

Based on the tone of Louis CK in his description, I would try sending some feedback on the problem... he appears receptive. It's only been available for one day so far, so I imagine he would appreciate a chance to improve the system.