Physical Media might not be dead, but Physical Media in Retail Stores are accelerating the death (1 Viewer)

[TJPC]

Well, with iTunes, for instance, you can download a copy to your computer or to an external drive - it's not something sitting in the ether that can be taken away.

How many times have we had a virus over the years and lost everything? Where is the computer that can hold the 1000s of movies I have?

 

[jcroy]

Yeah, encrypted media falls into that weird catch-22, but the way the law was written, there's no exemption for breaking the encryption even if the reason for doing so would be a legally protected reason.

Ironically the dvd decryption code and the cracking algorithms are actuallty on the public record, in the legal documents from the decss + 2600 magazine vs mpaa court cases.

I won't include any links, but the legal documents are easy to find via googling.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It’s a weird law that was written in a way that doesn’t keep up with how consumers in 2019 consume content.

I understand that at the time the law was written, encryption was thought of as something that only pirates would want to break, and that they’d only break it for the purpose of making physical media bootleg copies of things. But most people obviously just want the freedom to watch their content in a manner that’s most convenient to them. Unfortunately, the law wasn’t written by or for the industry’s biggest customers.

 

[Mysto]

It’s a weird law that was written in a way that doesn’t keep up with how consumers in 2019 consume content.

I understand that at the time the law was written, encryption was thought of as something that only pirates would want to break, and that they’d only break it for the purpose of making physical media bootleg copies of things. But most people obviously just want the freedom to watch their content in a manner that’s most convenient to them. Unfortunately, the law wasn’t written by or for the industry’s biggest customers.

The laws covering this, like the updated copyright law, are heavily biased toward the major corporations. They have the money, power, lobbyst's, and lawyers. In my world there would be at least some protection for the consumer (if you own the movie then you can legally have a back up copy) and the copyright laws would require that the studios prove desire to protect the assets (make digital - re-master) in order to obtain the new longer times. Failure would result in the film going into public hands where it might get saved. I don't mind the studios making a profit (without it they will not longer be there for us) but I want to preserve my purchased items and I want them to preserve theirs or let us do it. <End of rant>

 

[Worth]

How many times have we had a virus over the years and lost everything? Where is the computer that can hold the 1000s of movies I have?

Nothing's forever. I've had a handful of DVDs and blu-rays that just stopped playing out of the blue.

 

[Sam Posten]

How many times have we had a virus over the years and lost everything? Where is the computer that can hold the 1000s of movies I have?

Honestly this is a ridiculous question in 2019. Note: I'm not saying you are being ridiculous. You are not, you have lived with the rules of the game as they have existed since the 70s when video came home during the rise of tape.

BUT. There is a infinitesimally small percentage of consumers who cares about having content under their control. You who do are a percent of a percent. It makes no sense in any way to have bits under consumer control. It costs more, it doesn't scale, it's bad in every way for content producers of all stripes.

So you can go kicking and screaming into the future or you can go knowing your priorities do not align with any of the other players in the chain.

The computer that can safely store the 1000s of movies you 'own' is in the studio's server racks.

 

[jcroy]

BUT. There is a infinitesimally small percentage of consumers who cares about having content under their control. You who do are a percent of a percent. It makes no sense in any way to have bits under consumer control. It costs more, it doesn't scale ....

This is a very good point. More generally, I find this is also the case for stuff beyond music and movies + tv shows.

I've been coming to the same realization the hard way, in other niches such as books. Nowadays I rather just read books either on a tablet or borrowing the book from the library, especially fiction titles. No point anymore in accumulating old books on the shelf which I'll never read again.

 

[TJPC]

Honestly this is a ridiculous question in 2019. Note: I'm not saying you are being ridiculous. You are not, you have lived with the rules of the game as they have existed since the 70s when video came home during the rise of tape.

BUT. There is a infinitesimally small percentage of consumers who cares about having content under their control. You who do are a percent of a percent. It makes no sense in any way to have bits under consumer control. It costs more, it doesn't scale, it's bad in every way for content producers of all stripes.

So you can go kicking and screaming into the future or you can go knowing your priorities do not align with any of the other players in the chain.

The computer that can safely store the 1000s of movies you 'own' is in the studio's server racks.

Wow! Why not just say “you are a boring old fart and dinosaur out of touch with the modern world and should just die off and be done with it?!”

 

[Sam Posten]

Wow! Why not just say “you are a boring old fart and dinosaur out of touch with the modern world and should just die off and be done with it?!”

Because we have enough of those here. Plenty of us get attached to a world view and aren’t willing to roll with the times. It’s one thing to prefer how things used to be, it’s another to keep advocating to go back to em. You are by no means alone in these wants. I have my own hang ups for sure.

 

[Mysto]

Because we have enough of those here. Plenty of us get attached to a world view and aren’t willing to roll with the times. It’s one thing to prefer how things used to be, it’s another to keep advocating to go back to em. You are by no means alone in these wants. I have my own hang ups for sure.

Sam - I get it. Streaming is the next progression - it's obvious whether we like it or not. But don't think that servers owned by the big guys are our saviors. The studios have proven time and time again they are not responsible for anything that is not a big commercial success. So many movies have been "saved" by film collectors with 16mm TV copies. And how about the early Dr. Who's. The studio wiped them and only collectors saved them. There are many more stories like those. The truth is that streaming will cause the death of many an obscure title as they are left to rot, be purged, destroyed in fires and floods, or (a new one) erased by hackers. It has happened before and it will happen again. The only sure hope for obscure titles (the stuff I like) is to have copies in the hands of collectors - many that are not will become added to the "lost film" lists.

 

[John*Wells]

[QUOTE="The truth is that streaming will cause the death of many an obscure title as they are left to rot, be purged, destroyed in fires and floods, or (a new one) erased by hackers. It has happened before and it will happen again. The only sure hope for obscure titles (the stuff I like) is to have copies in the hands of collectors - many that are not will become added to the "lost film" lists.[/QUOTE]

This is the exact reason why Physical media MUST be maintained. Streaming is nice and I have rented and Purchased content in Streaming .. but there has to be a system to maintain backups and while Storage may be Cheap now, it will as with all things in technology become obsolete

 

[jcroy]

But don't think that servers owned by the big guys are our saviors. The studios have proven time and time again they are not responsible for anything that is not a big commercial success.

Even more extreme in this aspect are book publishers. Titles which don't sell, end up being "remaindered" and going out of print. If it's a really old title, there might not even be a digital scan available (either legal or illegal).

 

[BobO'Link]

The computer that can safely store the 1000s of movies you 'own' is in the studio's server racks.

Or a home NAS system, built to the size you need and, typically, easily expandable. It's far safer than the single computer solution as it's a storage system that connects to a controlling computer. Sure, parts can fail and if the main controller fails you can have some difficulty getting things back up and running but it's under your control, good or bad. If one drive fails you replace it and the array gets rebuilt with nothing lost.

 

[jcroy]

The truth is that streaming will cause the death of many an obscure title as they are left to rot, be purged, destroyed in fires and floods, or (a new one) erased by hackers. It has happened before and it will happen again.

As a prominent example, the Great Library of Alexandria was burned down and destroyed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

 

[jcroy]

This is the exact reason why Physical media MUST be maintained. Streaming is nice and I have rented and Purchased content in Streaming .. but there has to be a system to maintain backups and while Storage may be Cheap now, it will as with all things in technology become obsolete

This is the most annoying thing about digital data.

I'm pretty much at the point that if some pieces of digital data is important enough to me, I'll print it out on paper (such as documents, photos, etc ....). If something is too large to print out such as books or long research papers, I'll buy the paper book version.

I've found that in practice, most of the data I back up will rarely ever be used again.

Even when my computer dies, I end up just buying a new computer instead of trying to salvage the old computer. (Especially if the old computer is older than 3 or 4 years). Once I buy a new computer, I rarely ever import the old data from backups.

 

[Sam Posten]

You guys have fun tilting at those windmills.

 

[Sam Posten]

Or a home NAS system, built to the size you need and, typically, easily expandable. It's far safer than the single computer solution as it's a storage system that connects to a controlling computer. Sure, parts can fail and if the main controller fails you can have some difficulty getting things back up and running but it's under your control, good or bad. If one drive fails you replace it and the array gets rebuilt with nothing lost.

Literally less than one percent of consumers will ever do this.

 

[Mysto]

You guys have fun tilting at those windmills.

Tilting with windmills is fighting an imaginary enemy. I am very comfortable with my post as it was based on examples (facts - and I could give others) that are very real and not opinion or imaginary. I may not be able to do anything about it ( I admitted that streaming is the way it's going) but I stand by my statements. There are many causes for movies to continue to be lost forever and this will be another.

ADDED: My worry is more about the fact that many of the more obscure titles will never be offered for streaming (not enough demand) and without boutique dvd and BR releases will languish and die.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Tilting with windmills is fighting an imaginary enemy. I am very comfortable with my post as it was based on examples (facts - and I could give others) that are very real and not opinion or imaginary. I may not be able to do anything about it ( I admitted that streaming is the way it's going) but I stand by my statements. There are many causes for movies to continue to be lost forever and this will be another.

Please explain to me how moving away from discs to streaming will cause movies to be lost forever by the studios? Perhaps, I'm misunderstanding your point.

 

[Mysto]

Please explain to me how moving away from discs to streaming will cause movies to be lost forever by the studios? Perhaps, I'm misunderstanding your point.

Go back to post #609. Many movies have been saved by having media in "others" hands.

ADDED: BTW I like all you guys. I've made my statement and shown examples of how movies get lost and saved. I am not going to get suckered into a long drawn out dialog on it. I'm happy with my statement. You guys are welcome to your views - that's the way it works. It's all good. Truly.