Morality and downloading

[Ravenshire]

The media producers may disagree, but they can fuck themselves.

Not picking on you, CD. I happen to understand and agree with the sentiment. But, I think the media producers have a valid argument with someone downloading content using non-standard channels even if they have the right to it. Most of the non-standard channels require some form of sharing. If you're downloading, even if you remove the media from the system immediately upon completion, you've been sharing it as well. I have little sympathy for the MPAA, RIAA or any of the labels or studios involved in propping up a broken business model, but sharing willy-nilly on the internet is not a good solution.

The media producers need to come to grips with the fact that their business model is broken. Provide a better product (or at least one as good) as the pirate sites and most people will gladly pay for the service. The music industry is starting to come around (Pandora, Spotify, etc...) but the TV/movie industry is seriously lagging, dragging their feet and bitching about lost sales as if every single download represents a lost sale (it doesn't).

I think the biggest problem is the way shit is so fragmented. If I want to watch some recent movies, I can hit Netflix. If I want to watch "The Walking Dead" I can hit a variety of different sites, but only the first four seasons. If I want to watch the fifth season, currently I'll have to buy it on DVD/Bluray. If I want to watch "Orphan Black" I can only watch it through the authorized cable/satellite company web-sites, etc...

Give us one place where we can watch whatever the fuck we want and people will pay for that, just like they pay for Pandora and Spotify.

Then you get content that's bound to a particular type of player in a very misguided attempt to force customers to remain with a particular vendor. Nook (Barnes and Noble) and Kindle (amazon) are the two biggest remaining content providers that do this. Fuck 'em both. If I buy a Nook (I did) and I find out it's shit (it is) why the fuck should I be required to buy another to read the books I fucking purchased? And, why the fuck can't I pass along a book I don't like to someone who might. It's not breaking any laws to do so with print media and there are several ways to securely do it with digital media, but because it's digital, it's illegal. Fuck that noise!