Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
from the so-sayeth dept
Our first place winner on the insightful side this week is James Burkhardt who responded to the news of Microsoft's looming ebook shutdown by sharing his approach to dealing with such content:
People have looked at me askew because I download every audible book I buy (>200 titles) and strip the DRM. I started this project 3 years ago, and was concerned Audible wouldn't survive Amazon's inevitable collapse (this was before amazon started reporting a profit). Now I keep it up for any number of future catastrophes.
In second place, we've got TheResidentSkeptic responding to the suggestion that complaints about TV streaming exclusivity are hypocritical when compared to calls for a la carte cable channels:
Not quite the same. This version would be like driving to Burger King for the burger, then to McDonalds for Fries, then to Wendys for a Frosty.
We want a single supplier/account wherein we can choose the channels in a given accurately priced package. I want SyFy, BBC, and whoever has Captain Slow's Worldwide Adventures with the Hamster and the Orangutan. she wants her channels. I'm not putting up with a dozen channels all with the same 10 over the top/under the bottom taxation schemes.
For editor's choice on the insightful side, we start out with one more nod to first place winner James Burkhardt, who also had an insightful take on Nintendo as a company:
The reason Nintendo won't adopt a positive approach to fan works is simple. They retain the culture of a toy company, not a media content company.
Nintendo releases content as though it were a toy company, and the fact that Nintendo consoles always seem to be out of stock is the evidence of this. Meeting demand isn't their goal. Having the must have toy or game that is sold out everywhere is what they want. Its why they never produce enough Amiibo in a run, why there was only one insufficient planned run for the NES Classic. Its why they don't fully leverage their back catalog and make a nexflix for Nintendo games, instead only paying lip service to the concept. Its why they sold out of 3ds consoles every Christmas, without any more stock to ship out. Nintendo wants to be the company with that hype and demand behind their toy, and they will manipulate supply to get it.
Fan works disrupt that exclusive supply aura. Anything that uses a Nintendo IP needs to feed into this self aggrandizing pipeline to build that hype as part of Nintendo's carefully coordinated marketing strategy. Fan works don't do that.
Next, we've got TFG responding to the bizarre idea that you "couldn't ask for a better outcome" than Microsoft deleting ebooks and giving refunds:
Sure you could. You could ask for the problem not to have occurred in the first place. DRM should never have been applied. In fact, it should probably be illegal.
Over on the funny side, our first place winner is an anonymous commenter who is surely seeking additional investors for this exciting new venture:
I’m starting a company, it’s called 5G Blockchain Inc.
I don’t know what we will do yet, but we’ve already got VC funding at a valuation of $1 billion.
In second place, we've got Stephen T. Stone responding to a regular raving critic who labelled it "inhuman" to repeat the "same schtick" for years on end:
Hey now, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not that bad.
For editor's choice on the funny side, we start out with one more from Stephen T. Stone, this time in response to a college targeting its own campus newspaper with a public records request:
Huh. So there is a First Amendment crisis on a college campus!
Finally, we've got That One Guy summing up Lindsay Graham's demands for more magical perfect moderation online, and specifically our question about how he expects people to achieve it:
Oh that's easy: 'Nerd harder.'
That's all for this week, folks!
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
When will they learn?
That DRM isnt good for much..
requiring only 1 program to read/run/... a program or book..
Or
demanding that you be connected to the internet to USE a program of book..
is asking for allot of problems..
Go ask apple about itunes and MP3 players..and all the fun they have had.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I think this one got buried in the deluge.
Bill Bical, 6 Jul 2019 @ 5:47am
The ironing is delicious
Wait, doesn't NOAA usually get the heads up on major rain events?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I think this one got buried in the deluge.
Weekend comments don't usually get noticed - especially holiday weekends. Which is a bit of a shame, I've seen some great troll roasts on those.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Do not buy a book if it needs a internet connection to read it , Go ask apple about the money the made selling devices and movies ,music on itunes .
They were the 1st company to get it,
you need a device where you have an online store , you get a cut off everything you sell ,make it easy to buy music and people will buy it.
They invented the concept of an online app marketplace .
Steam is the no 1 pc game online market place.
steam still has some drm but most people do not notice it,
as its easy to use, and the games are cheap if you wait for a steam sale.
Microsoft never caught up with apple , as regards making a a well designed mobile os that people wanted to use.
Microsoft and sony use drm in their consoles ,
to stop their games being copied ,
i think people do not notice this as you can buy a game in a shop ,
install it on the console and sell the disc game back to the shop.
After you have finished playing the game .
Some console games will not work unless you are signed in on the console using your user account or gamer tag.
Many people now buy console games as a digital download,
theres no way to sell the game after you finish it as its tied to your console and user account.
I don,t think theres anyone trying to copy a ps4 game disc when its 50 gig
plus in size.
DRM will be around for a long time .
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: When will they learn?
I ALWAYS download my kindle books, and remove DRM while converting to epub.
I've never trusted these services to maintain my library of purchases.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The term for drawing attention to obvious Truth while believing
that you're jeering it away to obscurity is... Techdirtism.
Thanks to whoever for pointing up the "inhuman" comment on front page! Will get hypothetical new readers to look at the cause and agree it's inhuman. You're so used to uncritical support in this tiny "community" that can't grasp how nutty "ECA" looks. -- Techdirt / fanboys too. That mistake neatly illustrates how Techdirt has been doing its self-defeating schtick for twenty years!
(But I do now note that today "ECA" is avoiding uppercase!)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Staying on the Internet for twenty years is the opposite of “self-defeating”, you dumbass.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
There once was an out of the blue
Who hated the process of due
Each email he'd made
Was DMCAed
So he gave Shiva Ayyadurai a screw
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Alright, whoever's putting links in these articles every bloody week with "threaded=false" in the URL needs to stop. "threaded=false" needs to stop as a concept anyway.
Who the fuck reads the Techdirt comments section with threaded=false? What is wrong with you? Stop it. And stop even providing the option, guys, it's stupid.
[ link to this | view in thread ]