Warner Bros. deals a little blow to Netflix... (1 Viewer)

[Carabimero]

I am an obscure author struggling to sell books. Here's the facts: I learned I could sell more books by making some of my books free for downloading. Think about it: how do most people find their favorite authors or filmmakers? Because someone LOANED them a book or movie (arguably the equivalent to an illegal download), after which they go out and BUY more by that artist. It is a proven strategy, for me, at least. The long tail....

 

[Persianimmortal]

I write for a living too, and one of my projects was to write e-books on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 that have proven to be very popular. I provide free versions for download which have identical content to the paid versions, only differing insofar as they don't have pictures, the ability to copy text, and some minor navigational features (they're available here).


I found that despite readily providing these free versions, and despite encouraging people to support my work by purchasing the paid versions at a low price, the paid versions are being pirated on various torrent sites. The reality is that generally speaking, people pirate simply because they can, not for any profound moral or even financial reasons. As the pirated versions grew in number, my sales dropped. Now I have people emailing me asking when I'll release my e-book for Windows 10, and quite frankly I'm probably not going to bother writing one, in large part because although I've gained wide exposure through providing free material, it rarely translates into sales. I'm not alone. One indie movie producer said this about how free (pirated) downloads translate into sales:

...It’s clear that the [large] number of people illegally downloading is not balancing out with the few that have gone on to donate to them or buy the film outright. So it’s helping them in one way (exposure) and not helping them in another (money).

I suppose to get things back on topic, the point is that this is why streaming is so successful: because it's an effective counter to piracy. It doesn't provide the highest quality or the widest choice, but it's cheap enough, convenient enough, and has enough content at a decent enough quality to lure many people who usually pirate into the fold.

 

[jcroy]

I have an otherwise high-maintenance cousin that, despite having the income to move to Palm Beach, CA, has some sort of goofball pirate "network" cable box that offer streams of bootleg camera recordings of films that have yet to be released through streaming or home video on a home theater system better than mine. Naturally, it they look terrible and I gently let him know it, but he and his friends didn't care. The thing is that he very adamant about saving money on the increasing expense of going to the theater.

In this scenario, I wonder whether this is more of a "bragging rights" thing for your high-maintenance cousin, more than anything else.


(This may be a verboten topic).


Back in the day, I remember the hardcore pirate types I knew in person offline, were typically just collecting pirated software for the sake of collecting it, and bragging about being the first person to get a particular piece of software, amongst other like minded individuals.


They rarely ever used any of the illicit software they obtained. 99.9999 .... % of it just sat on their hard drives or backup tapes.


For the most part, it was largely a one-upmanship contest for them, to see who has the most illicit stuff and who was the first to obtain a new piece of "warez". Basically an extreme nerd/pirate version of "keeping up with the Joneses".

 

[Carabimero]

Yes, people want free stuff. Over the last year I gave away more than 200 copies of my books and in return asked only that readers write me a positive review on Amazon (which is what I really need more than anything). Books given away: 200. Number of positive (or negative) reviews written to date by freebie readers: one.


So much for that experiment.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I asked a young person about this...I hope I can mention this here...and they said they didn't see illegal downloading as wrong because 1) they weren't going to buy it anyway, so the maker lost nothing because 2) they didn't actually take anything that damaged the maker since the maker didn't lose a sale or any physical product.

I've heard pretty much the same from people I've spoken to as well. I'll add a third one to the list - for downloading popular songs or TV shows, they don't think it's wrong because it was available for free in the first place. "If that TV show plays for free on NBC over the air, why is it wrong for me to download it? If that song plays on the radio for free, and it's legal for me to tape it off the radio for free, why is it wrong to download it?" I know and understand the legal answers to those questions, but I can understand how morally that doesn't feel the same as running into a record store and grabbing something off the shelf and shoving it in your pocket and running away.


On the other hand.. if you make the paid thing really simple and easy to use and convenient, people will do that. I went to college, I've had experience with file sharing... and the thing I love about iTunes is how simple it is purchase a song. I'm not going to spend 15 minutes looking for a song I want via illegal means when I can find it in five seconds on iTunes and just pay 99 cents and be done with it. And I'm not going to spend half an hour or more trying to download a movie when I can spend $5 and be watching it in less than five minutes. The easier and more consumer friendly the legal platforms are, the more appealing they'll be.

 

[Carabimero]

Sometimes I wish I was younger so I could live longer to see how this all turns out, but of course that is folly because even three lifetimes wouldn't be enough....having said that, and assuming all things are equal (which they never are), it is a cool time to be alive right now.

 

[jcroy]

Yes, people want free stuff.

In practice, I find that 99% of the "free stuff" I get, largely ends up being thrown into my pile of clutter at home. It ends up being unused/unread, and eventually ends up being thrown out or donated to the nearby goodwill (or salvation army).


Over the past twenty years or so, I can only think of one "free stuff" item that I actually used more than once.

 

[jcroy]

Sometimes I wish I was younger so I could live longer to see how this all turns out, but of course that is folly because even three lifetimes wouldn't be enough....having said that, and assuming all things are equal (which they never are), it is a cool time to be alive right now.

Same here.


Though my reason is more of the "schadenfreude" variety, than fondness.


I guess I like rubbernecking at slow motion trainwrecks.

 

[Carabimero]

A Porsche zipped past us on the freeway the other day, driving like a bat out of hell, and I said if there was justice in the world, a cop would tag him, and a few minutes later, we passed the flashing lights of a cop who got him. As I reveled, my wife said, "What you're doing is a good example of "schadenfreude," to which I disagreed, saying it isn't "schadenfreude" if the person (in this case the speeder) is getting what they deserve.


Your thoughts on this?


(What's this thread about?--I forget...)

 

[jcroy]

A Porsche zipped past us on the freeway the other day, driving like a bat out of hell, and I said if there was justice in the world, a cop would tag him, and a few minutes later, we passed the flashing lights of a cop who got him. As I reveled, my wife said, "What you're doing is a good example of "schadenfreude," to which I disagreed, saying it isn't "schadenfreude" if the person (in this case the speeder) is getting what they deserve.


Your thoughts on this?


(What's this thread about?--I forget...)

I guess it is subjective.


If I was taking the low road, I would lump it into the schadenfreude category.


On the other hand, if I didn't want to lower myself down to the lowest common denominator, I would probably argue it is not schadenfreude.

 

[Carabimero]

I sleep better, and enjoy my discs more than streaming, believing it wasn't "schadenfreude". (See how I brought the thread back?)

 

[RMajidi]

A Porsche zipped past us on the freeway the other day, driving like a bat out of hell, and I said if there was justice in the world, a cop would tag him, and a few minutes later, we passed the flashing lights of a cop who got him. As I reveled, my wife said, "What you're doing is a good example of "schadenfreude," to which I disagreed, saying it isn't "schadenfreude" if the person (in this case the speeder) is getting what they deserve.

Your thoughts on this?

(What's this thread about?--I forget...)

In my view, taking comfort and reassurance - even upliftment - from seeing dangerous/damaging behaviour checked does not equate to taking pleasure at another's misfortune.

In the situation you described, I would have also been pleased to see the hoons pulled up (regardless of the type of car they were driving), before they caused any harm to others or themselves.

I believe it's also important that there be seen to be a level playing field - so that the majority who respect laws (there for everyone's well-being and safety) don't feel that it is a futile effort when they see others openly flout the same with impunity.

...said he, all the while flouting HTF rules re staying on-topic!


[Edit: Now if they'd crashed, hurt themselves and you got a kick out of it, then that might point to schadenfreude]