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05-22-2012, 03:31 PM
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#151 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
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IMO there needs to be more content available on itīs own merit, not tied to tons of other content people have absolutely no interest in... If i want to watch the german Bundesliga (soccer) i have to pay a package that basically contains 95% content i have no interest in, but have to pay for anyway.
I also think that to a certain degree a couple things could and should be done about certain content being difficult to legally obtain. You wouldnīt believe how often i am ready to buy something only to find out that iīm not allowed to, since they allready sold the right to sell it to someone else who may or may not ever use that right ... I actually think the music industry is doing a halfway decent job with this nowadays and the combination of legal preview streams, give-aways and much lower prices in online shops (when buying whole albums, not the per-song deals) has not only given me access to tons more content than ever before but has also made money off me. If an album or a song is available anywhere on the world, chances are pretty good that i can buy it the second i find out about it. With all the different interests that go with movies but especially Television content, i donīt feel anybody has any real idea of what to do with the whole problem though. There are a few things they try (like offering content that aired in other way, like rewatching on the website or mobile devices) but itīs just a very, very complex business model that depends on so many different factors and has so many different interests in the background. And it doesnīt end in the US, either, but continues on to Europe where there is a whole other group of interests (i donīt have a number, but if i had to guess iīd say that 75-80 % of the content on german TV isnīt produced in germany). A good example is american TV shows for Europeans (Game Of Thrones is actually an ecellent example, there was a big discussion on it recently), especially globally. I would gladly pay the producer/creator money to watch the shows, but since german companies might (eventually and years down the line) pick them up for their own programs, i canīt . And even if they do pick them up, itīs not available in english (let me tell you that comedies are not translating well). For that i have to wait for the DVDs (again, maybe eventually and if so then a while down the line), before that i am not allowed to become a paying customer. I want to pay the producers and the artist, but often i only get to pay the "middleman" in a sense without knowing what iīm actually going to receive (or when iīm going to receive it). I donīt really want to go to the supermarket and buy "food for 40 bucks" and donīt get to choose what food that is  And i get that i am not entitled to entertainment content and that it isnīt nescessary for my well being, i do. But in the global environment we live in nowadays, it does strain my patience a lot if i have to wait months and years for certain content to be available for me. Especially when i see that in different areas i can do that (like music) That wasnīt a problem 10 years ago when every new show on german TV was new to me but today it is. Not an essential problem in the bigger picture, but itīs there Also, i have friends working in big electronic stores and the sales of series DVDs especially has gone up a lot in recent years (and the number of series available as well, meaning it pays well enough to be worth the cost) and it wouldnīt be the case if it werenīt for people being able to see them (and get to know them) beforehand. Game of Thrones for example was the most sold series when it came out, depite the fact that it never aired in Germany and to my knowledge got no exposure outside the internet. Doesnīt it stand to reason that the sales wouldnīt be that high if it werenīt for people downloading it and then either still buying it or getting their friends interested via word of mouth (or word of the internet) ? Another example that irks me personally : Iīd actually expect that if i buy a book that iīd at least get a seizable discount on the e-book version over someone who didnīt buy the physichal copy. I mean, it is merely a secondary product of the same content, no ? I understand paying for the process of digitalizing it and i also get that the price isnīt that much cheaper compared to the print edition because the content is the same. But the reason i have to pay twice is plain and simple that they want to make more money and itīs not a whole ton of different people making money off it but basically the same group of people simply making more money. Heck, even some film studios by now offer a digital copy of their product to go with the physichal one (Warner Bros f.e.)
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The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww! Last edited by whomario : 05-22-2012 at 04:13 PM. |
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05-22-2012, 03:40 PM
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#152 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
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ok, i messed that post around so much that iīm afraid it wonīt make much sense for everybody and would like to apologize for that.
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The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww! |
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05-22-2012, 04:11 PM
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#153 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Cary, NC
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The nice thing about big publishers overpricing their e-books is that I've discovered and supported some decent new sci-fi authors who have priced them very reasonably. You just decide you don't want to pay that much, then look around. At $3 or $4, I can handle the occasional dud in return for saving money and still finding some pretty good reads.
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-- Greg -- Author of various FOF utilities |
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05-22-2012, 04:25 PM
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#154 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
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certainly true and do that as well, i have found and read books of so many authors since getting the kindle itīs getting ridiculous (and i have to be really strict with myself to not spent too much) One of the many reasons iīm glad i got interested in english eventually also is that english speaking books are a lot cheaper than the same books translated to german, print as well as now e-books. To give you another example of how screwed up some things are in certain industries : The first 4 books from Song of Ice and fire cost me a total of 15 Euros (5 for each, 15 for all those 4 in a pack on amazon). The german edition splits every book in 2 and you pay 10 euros for each of then 8 books  They allways argue that they split them in 2 because they are too thick as german books are printed on thicker paper and bigger lettering (a 400 page german print is propably 700-800 in english). Fine, you do that. But keep that up for a freaking e-book ? Screw you ... to summarize : english = 15 (20 if bought individually) german = 80 Damn, if only iīd have become a translator, they must make crazy amounts of money 
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The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww! Last edited by whomario : 05-22-2012 at 04:27 PM. |
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05-22-2012, 04:26 PM
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#155 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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I don't really 'pirate' stuff anymore, as for the most part its not worth the effort. I do prefer to pay for things and support creators, distributors, etc.
That said, the movie situation in Canada totally sucks. All of the decent video rental places around me have closed because people are moving to digital methods. But our Netflix content is still terrible, we can't get Hulu, iTunes is a rip off... it sucks. I used to be able to get used DVD's from places like BlockBuster for $10, now if I want to buy my kid a copy of the Bee Movie it's like $30 at Wal-Mart. We rented it once via our cable On Demand for like $7 and he loved it, but I've told him he has to learn not to shit himself before he can watch it again so that we can skip buying diapers and afford a mediocre animated film. I really miss being able to buy used DVD's.
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"Breakfast? Breakfast schmekfast, look at the score for God's sake. It's only the second period and I'm winning 12-2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, the Whale, they only beat Vancouver maybe once or twice in a lifetime." |
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05-22-2012, 04:35 PM
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#156 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Not Delaware - hurray!
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Might be a bad example, but amazon.com has Bee Movie for $6.23 on DVD.
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She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! She loves you, yeah! how do you know? how do you know? |
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05-22-2012, 04:37 PM
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#157 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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I will say that when it comes to viewing things that are unavailable in your country I see things a little differently. On a related note...is Sherlock available on netflix streaming?
As for watching stuff widely available in the states, i just dont really get it. Almost everything on television is available in some legal way at this point, you just may not get to watch it the same day or the day after. The only exception would probably be channels like HBO where you have to have cable to even get HBOgo. You are not entitled to every program on tv at any moment just because it is possible to have it. This particular forum seems to love the show "Community". I honestly wonder if any of the people who are so upset about Dan Harmon being fired were pirating it. Or those who were upset about Veronica Mars being cancelled, or Firefly, or Chuck, or any of the dozens of shows people bitch about being "cancelled before their time". |
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05-22-2012, 04:37 PM
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#158 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
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I also can get almost any DVD series at UK stores for half the price of what iīd have to pay in Germany. Just recently bought the first 4 Big Bang Theory boxes in a pack.
Buy them individually in the cheapest german online store (german online stores donīt do packs...) and you pay about 75 for all 4. In the UK, it cost me about 38 euros and that includes shipping and an aditional Tax.
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The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww! Last edited by whomario : 05-22-2012 at 04:52 PM. |
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05-22-2012, 04:50 PM
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#159 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: The Great Northwest
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05-22-2012, 04:52 PM
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#160 | |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Georgia
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Ack! Full screen is even more evil than theft!
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Top 10 Songs of the Year 1955-Present (1976 Added) Franchise Portfolio Draft Winner Fictional Character Draft Winner Television Family Draft Winner Build Your Own Hollywood Studio Draft Winner |
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05-22-2012, 04:53 PM
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#161 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: The Great Northwest
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I agree. Sorry here is the Widescreen option. Bee Movie DVD, 2008, Widescreen | eBay |
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05-22-2012, 04:57 PM
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#162 | |
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General Manager
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: The Satellite of Love
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I have the first two books (well, the first, "A Game of Thrones") for the series in German (Sadly, my German is not good enough to read them yet. I can read Charlotte's Web though....mostly.). It's no joke, these things are pretty big and the font is very large (of course, paper size and font size are well within their control, unless there's some weird regulation that says they have to be this big). But I don't get how the first book had to be split in two, but the 3rd book, which is much longer than the 1st book, is simply split into 2 as well, instead of 3 or 4. I haven't seen them, because after buying the first two ("A Game of Thrones"), I just bought the eBook versions. Saved me a ton on shipping. But you know what's even worse? The German audiobook for each German book for ASoIaF is again split into two. So to listen to the audiobook for "A Game of Thrones" in German, you have to buy 4 audiobooks. Granted, they're cheaper individually, but all together they are not that much longer than the English version (I think around 5-10 hours longer), and they are ~3x as expensive all together (unless you are using Audible.de, but it's still a bit more expensive, and for 1/4th of the book on Audible (9,95 ), I can buy a complete book for the same price.). |
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05-22-2012, 06:07 PM
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#163 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Jan 2008
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who still downloads shit? you can stream anything. i'm streaming a shaky cam version of battleship! from a latvian theatre right now.
i am being entertained. for free! you'll never see a dime from me hollywood! hahahhahaha i stream everything. well, except porn. i pay full price for porn. people that stream porn are animals and deserve to die. |
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05-22-2012, 07:06 PM
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#164 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PDX
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Just to play devil's advocate, you bring up an interesting point. If my moral responsibility is to the cast and crew making a living off that show, does my responsibility diminish as soon as that show is canceled/finished? As far as my extremely limited understanding goes, in the great majority of cases, the people getting paid in the case or re-runs, syndication, rentals, and purchases are the executives, producers, and studios. I watched Veronica Mars and Firefly on demand, but long after they had been canceled. Who's reaping the rewards, and stealing from the cast and crew at that point? It's certainly arguable that any money going/not going into the studios will effect the quantity/quality of future productions, and therefore watching old series through 'proper channels' serves an indirect purpose, but it's not like the grip from Arrested Development is living off royalty checks tied to his points on the international rentals. What about buying used DVDs/TV series? Morally, there's seemingly an obvious difference between buying a pirated DVD on a corner in Chinatown, and buying a 'real' used DVD from some guy on ebay, but in reality the only difference is which particular individual gets my money. The used DVD peddler isn't paying for any more 'rights' than the guy in Chinatown, and neither prospective sale is going to trickle down to anyone involved in the production, at that point. If I download something, but I make sure to note to myself that I'm using my download to steal a prospective $1 sale from an individual at a pawn shop, rather than $19.95 from the source, have I lessened or raised my moral debt?
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Last edited by thesloppy : Today at 05:35 PM. Last edited by thesloppy : 05-22-2012 at 07:16 PM. |
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05-22-2012, 07:07 PM
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#165 | |||
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Favored Bitch #2
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Here
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This is the single best word I have ever seen. EVER!
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05-22-2012, 07:19 PM
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#166 | |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Wed have to go a bit more down the theoretical path but not all that far. I do believe that the success of shows on DVD directly influences not only whether the creators of those shows will get a new show of their own but also whether or not similar shows will be made. For instance I think that if, for example, Pushing Daisies suddenly became a HUGE dvd seller then you would see a network try to make a similar show even though it was not very successful in its initial run. The only concrete example I can really think of right now is a show like Firefly where DVD sales played a huge part in getting the Serenity movie made which likely helped a lot of its actors get other jobs like Nathan Fillion on Castle. Again this is where things get far more theoretical and youd need to look at things over a longer amount of time to know. I can say that buying a dvd is certainly MORE helpful to the people you care about on the show than pirating one but i cant put a really concrete cause/effect relationship to it. As for Used DVD sales....i doubt they matter much. Like you said, the person selling it to you is the only one getting the money. I dont think youll see TV and Films trying to limit used DVD sales like the games industry does though, i think they just take it as an acceptable loss built into their business plan. |
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05-22-2012, 09:35 PM
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#167 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Awesome but with more than a grain of truth SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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05-22-2012, 09:37 PM
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#168 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Catonsville, MD
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Quote:
Another example is Babylon 5, which made so much money on DVD sales that it allowed for a direct to DVD product to be made.
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Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent |
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05-22-2012, 10:06 PM
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#169 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: NYC
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Didn't Family Guy get rebooted because of strong DVD sales?
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05-22-2012, 10:40 PM
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#170 | |
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General Manager
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: The Satellite of Love
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Yeah, same with Futurama. |
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05-23-2012, 10:42 AM
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#171 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Maryland
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Both of those are animated, which I'd assume is much easier to pull off.
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