Ok, I'll start a fast-food restaurannt, and I'll take a piece of bread, slice it in half, and put lettuce, tomato, onions, flame-grilled beef patty and cheese in between the two halves. And then sell it as a Whopping Big Burger.
I don't think they can do anything to stop me.
Without the DMCA Pandora would just be legal. It wouldn't need a special exemption in the law for it.
The DMCA has been known to squelch innovation and competition in favor of the "old businessmodel".
Actually, I like reading on my ebook reader, at least I don't have to lug around a 10kg book with me, and if I put the PDF on my computer, I can search it easily.
Is fighting these exhorbitant copyrights even useful anymore?
It feels as if the fight against these regulations and such don't help, as these regulations will be put into place anyway, despite the many complaints and the fight against them.
Why even bother, I'm almost inclined to say. If they want to fuck our cultural heritage, and then throw it away, let them. It's not as if they are going to listen to reason anyway, they only listen to mister Moneybags, and he is firmly in the RIAA/MPAA/IFPI camp, and not on the side of the artists nor on the side of the public. There is not a shred of common sense in our current political structure to be found, just a bunch of greedy old farts that don't understand the technology, nor understand the underlying meaning of copyright, nor willing to look at the long term effect these laws will have.
Service as a service (SeAAS, as SAAS is already taken)
Publisher X has a service (proofreading and publicity).
Author Y wants proofreading and publicity.
X tells Y: "For a commission of z amount of dollars (or a percentage of your revenue), I will have your book proofread, and I will publicize your book to these markets. They get in contact with you (or your agent) to set up a trading agreement. If you want, for an extra reasonable fixed fee we are prepared to be the middle man for you.
You keep all the rights to your book, and you collect the money from the sales."
Have a sliding scale of services you can offer to the artist/writer/musician/moviemaker, and set prices for it.
for X amount of dollars, you will get A.
For X+Y amount of dollars you will not only get A but also B.
And if you want the complete package, we can arrange a discount.
If you DRM something, you lower the value of the product already, because you limit the customer what he or she can do with the product.
"No, you can't put this on your Kindle, you need this Sony ereader. And no, you can't loan it to a friend, nor resell it."
So that's strike one against increasing the price of the product.
As a content publisher, you also have lower costs for the product. Of course you don't have to adjust the price, but consumers on the whole aren't stupid. They know that a paperbook costs you, as a producer, more to make (paper, ink, transport, storage), than a purely digital copy. (nowadays most books are already delivered in digital format, all you need is to do is convert it to the right format, and sell it in an online store, cutting out printing costs, paper, ink, transport costs, etc.)
So that's strike two against increasing the price of the product.
And then there is supply and demand. On the internet, supply is infinite. You don't have to reprint a book, for instance, just make a copy. And Econ 101 states: price = demand / supply. There is a demand for ebooks, but it's not infinite, whereas supply is limitless. Thus you can a price that's supposed to approach 0. But as that's not always a good businessplan, as people realize that artists do need to eat. So consumers are willing to pay a price. But they are not willing to be fucked over through price-gouging.
And that, my friend, is strike three.
well it's not stealing, it's copyright infringement.
But yes, indeed. "piracy" is already there for ebooks, so if this Sony ebook suit thinks he can compete with free by gouging, by all means, he can price himself out of the market, and let his company shrivel up and die.
I wonder how this Sony suit thinks he can take a moral highground around DRM. I hope we haven't forgotten about the downright criminal tactics that Sony has tried to pull in the past with their DRM schemes? I, for one, haven't, and it's still the basis of why I won't buy Sony.
Indeed, different departments within Sony, but it seems that these people don't learn from mistakes made by others. And want to press on...
Music business: we want control, let's try to restrict our customers in the name of 'anti-piracy'. Oh, help, DRM isn't working, people aren't buying it, but instead are downloading even more. I guesss the stick approach didn't work.
Movie business: Oh, the music business couldn't make DRM stick, but I'm sure that we can. Oh hey, not fair, the download services are sprouting like mushrooms.
publishing business: hm, both the music and the movie industry haven't been able to make DRM work for them. But I'm sure that we can do that. Let's increase the price even!
it's no longer about the game, but about the money. Greed has corrupted this once great sporting event, and I, for one, will not watch any coverage of the games.
The boardmembers of the IOC have broken the spirit of the games, where competing was more important than winning.
One other thing to put things into perspective.
The movie business and the music business have actually grown in the past year, despite the recession we're currently in and despite all those claims about lost sales due to this 'piracy' thing.
If you come here, better be prepared to use the proper terms.
Let's get one thing straight:
Copyright infringements, while they are illegal, it's not theft. Never has been, never will be.
No property changed hands, and there is no proof that 'piracy' has a detrimental effect on the bottom line of a business.
As for your point "stop sharing [copyright infringing] materials", I will when the industry offers me the products and services that I actually want.
I don't want region locking, nor do I want DRM, nor do I want obscure formats, or vendor lock-in, nor do I wish to pay DVD-boxset prices for a download.
Offer me a digital copy of a tv show or movie, for a reasonable price, and I can play it on my mobile (or other handheld device), on my tv and on my computer, without treating me as a "potential thief", and you can have my patronage.
And better hurry up, because the longer the media industry waits with this, the lower the price will have to be in order to compete, or win over the general public.
"You make it sound like there would be no communication to those who are charged. You make it sound like there would be no way to correct the offending behavior. That isn't the case."
No where in my story did I say that. But you can have unreasonable neighbours, for whom a cough is enough to complain about the noise.
And what about recourse for the accused? Can I argue for my case? and get that 'strike' removed from my record?
And it's still not a reasonable punishment for the crime.
Because the internet is used for a whole lot more than just "piracy". Banking, etc, would be made impossible under this law. "Sorry, mr. Taxman, I can't pay my taxes, because my bank only has an internet presence, and I am forbidden to use the internet."
The old rule, was analoguous to this:
if you played music in your own home, your neighbours only needed to complain about the noise three times, before your electricity got cut off.
Under the new rule, the neighbours would need 3 police reports, before your electricity gets cut off.
It's marginally more fair, but hardly the right punishment.
I wonder if Cory knows about Podiobooks.com, which does offer DRM free (serialized) books, but in that case, it's donations-driven. You get the books for free, but are encouraged to leave a donation (and 75% of that donation gets sent to the author of the book)
And as Cory releases a lot of his own book in serialized audio form already. It would be a good fit, I'd say.
how would a opening up to new market and revenue stream actually cannibalize the existing market.
I would say that they are actually LOSING money right now, by not hopping on the ebook bandwagon. And actually encouraging piracy by delaying the release of ebooks.
I am still of the belief that the entire content-industry, be they music, movies or books, have gone bat-shit insane, and don't want to make money.
Unlike the brilliant capitalistic system they practice in the US. Where it's every man for himself, if you can't make it on your own, for whatever reason, you're destined to go down in debt.
Except when it comes to big businesses, which are "too large to fail", so they need financial help from the government, to help them pay their exorbitant bonuses on the backs of the hardworking Americans.
You sell something, you lose ownership and control over that something.
If you sell me your rare stamp collection, I could use it to send letters, and you can't do anything about that.
If I buy a games console, it's MY property, and I can then modify it, to suit MY needs.
If I want to gut my Wii and make its housing into a tiny garden... Nintendo has no legal legs to stand on to stop me.
If I want to add a little tiny chip to the Wii so that I can play homebrew games, Nintendo doesn't have a say in that matter as well, as it's MY property. I did not rent the Wii from Nintendo, I bought it at a store.
Same holds true for the DS, in that case, I don't even alter the hardware, but instead use a software cartridge to play homebrew games. I bought the DS, and I bought the cartridge. That cartridge can indeed also be used to play copied/illegally obtained videogames (roms), but that doesn't mean the cartridge itself is illegal.
On the post: Tomorrow Is National Book Burning Day; Thank Your Friendly Entertainment Industry Lobbyists
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I don't think they can do anything to stop me.
On the post: Do Your Rights To Listen To Legally Licensed Music Stop At The Border?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
The DMCA has been known to squelch innovation and competition in favor of the "old businessmodel".
On the post: David Pogue Weighs In On Ebook DRM: Non-DRM'd Ebook Increased His Sales
Re: Gasp!! I'm guilty!
On the post: Canada Also Getting Pushed By EU On Ridiculous Copyright Policies
Is fighting these exhorbitant copyrights even useful anymore?
Why even bother, I'm almost inclined to say. If they want to fuck our cultural heritage, and then throw it away, let them. It's not as if they are going to listen to reason anyway, they only listen to mister Moneybags, and he is firmly in the RIAA/MPAA/IFPI camp, and not on the side of the artists nor on the side of the public. There is not a shred of common sense in our current political structure to be found, just a bunch of greedy old farts that don't understand the technology, nor understand the underlying meaning of copyright, nor willing to look at the long term effect these laws will have.
On the post: Sony Ebook Boss: DRM Needs To Stay And Ebooks Should Cost More Than $10
I propose a new businessmodel
Publisher X has a service (proofreading and publicity).
Author Y wants proofreading and publicity.
X tells Y: "For a commission of z amount of dollars (or a percentage of your revenue), I will have your book proofread, and I will publicize your book to these markets. They get in contact with you (or your agent) to set up a trading agreement. If you want, for an extra reasonable fixed fee we are prepared to be the middle man for you.
You keep all the rights to your book, and you collect the money from the sales."
Have a sliding scale of services you can offer to the artist/writer/musician/moviemaker, and set prices for it.
for X amount of dollars, you will get A.
For X+Y amount of dollars you will not only get A but also B.
And if you want the complete package, we can arrange a discount.
On the post: Sony Ebook Boss: DRM Needs To Stay And Ebooks Should Cost More Than $10
Re:
"No, you can't put this on your Kindle, you need this Sony ereader. And no, you can't loan it to a friend, nor resell it."
So that's strike one against increasing the price of the product.
As a content publisher, you also have lower costs for the product. Of course you don't have to adjust the price, but consumers on the whole aren't stupid. They know that a paperbook costs you, as a producer, more to make (paper, ink, transport, storage), than a purely digital copy. (nowadays most books are already delivered in digital format, all you need is to do is convert it to the right format, and sell it in an online store, cutting out printing costs, paper, ink, transport costs, etc.)
So that's strike two against increasing the price of the product.
And then there is supply and demand. On the internet, supply is infinite. You don't have to reprint a book, for instance, just make a copy. And Econ 101 states: price = demand / supply. There is a demand for ebooks, but it's not infinite, whereas supply is limitless. Thus you can a price that's supposed to approach 0. But as that's not always a good businessplan, as people realize that artists do need to eat. So consumers are willing to pay a price. But they are not willing to be fucked over through price-gouging.
And that, my friend, is strike three.
You're OUT!
On the post: Sony Ebook Boss: DRM Needs To Stay And Ebooks Should Cost More Than $10
Re: Re:
But yes, indeed. "piracy" is already there for ebooks, so if this Sony ebook suit thinks he can compete with free by gouging, by all means, he can price himself out of the market, and let his company shrivel up and die.
I wonder how this Sony suit thinks he can take a moral highground around DRM. I hope we haven't forgotten about the downright criminal tactics that Sony has tried to pull in the past with their DRM schemes? I, for one, haven't, and it's still the basis of why I won't buy Sony.
Indeed, different departments within Sony, but it seems that these people don't learn from mistakes made by others. And want to press on...
Music business: we want control, let's try to restrict our customers in the name of 'anti-piracy'. Oh, help, DRM isn't working, people aren't buying it, but instead are downloading even more. I guesss the stick approach didn't work.
Movie business: Oh, the music business couldn't make DRM stick, but I'm sure that we can. Oh hey, not fair, the download services are sprouting like mushrooms.
publishing business: hm, both the music and the movie industry haven't been able to make DRM work for them. But I'm sure that we can do that. Let's increase the price even!
On the post: New Zealand Brings Back Three Strikes... With Some Oversight
Re: Smoking
On the post: Vancouver Olympics Unhappy With 'Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 and 2011 Edition' Slogan
The Olympics
The boardmembers of the IOC have broken the spirit of the games, where competing was more important than winning.
On the post: New Zealand Brings Back Three Strikes... With Some Oversight
Re: Re: Analogy time
The movie business and the music business have actually grown in the past year, despite the recession we're currently in and despite all those claims about lost sales due to this 'piracy' thing.
On the post: New Zealand Brings Back Three Strikes... With Some Oversight
Re: Re: Analogy time
Let's get one thing straight:
Copyright infringements, while they are illegal, it's not theft. Never has been, never will be.
No property changed hands, and there is no proof that 'piracy' has a detrimental effect on the bottom line of a business.
As for your point "stop sharing [copyright infringing] materials", I will when the industry offers me the products and services that I actually want.
I don't want region locking, nor do I want DRM, nor do I want obscure formats, or vendor lock-in, nor do I wish to pay DVD-boxset prices for a download.
Offer me a digital copy of a tv show or movie, for a reasonable price, and I can play it on my mobile (or other handheld device), on my tv and on my computer, without treating me as a "potential thief", and you can have my patronage.
And better hurry up, because the longer the media industry waits with this, the lower the price will have to be in order to compete, or win over the general public.
"You make it sound like there would be no communication to those who are charged. You make it sound like there would be no way to correct the offending behavior. That isn't the case."
No where in my story did I say that. But you can have unreasonable neighbours, for whom a cough is enough to complain about the noise.
And what about recourse for the accused? Can I argue for my case? and get that 'strike' removed from my record?
And it's still not a reasonable punishment for the crime.
Because the internet is used for a whole lot more than just "piracy". Banking, etc, would be made impossible under this law. "Sorry, mr. Taxman, I can't pay my taxes, because my bank only has an internet presence, and I am forbidden to use the internet."
On the post: New Zealand Brings Back Three Strikes... With Some Oversight
Re: Analogy time
On the post: Congress Gives $30 Million To Fight 'Piracy'
Re: analogy time
On the post: Congress Gives $30 Million To Fight 'Piracy'
analogy time
if you played music in your own home, your neighbours only needed to complain about the noise three times, before your electricity got cut off.
Under the new rule, the neighbours would need 3 police reports, before your electricity gets cut off.
It's marginally more fair, but hardly the right punishment.
On the post: Apple & Audiobook Firms Insist On DRM
Podiobooks.com ?
And as Cory releases a lot of his own book in serialized audio form already. It would be a good fit, I'd say.
On the post: That Random Coin Toss? Not So Random Afterall...
Did they try it the other way around?
On the post: Apple Launches Nuclear Patent Counterstrike On Nokia
Competing througCreating better products?
kinda regards,
the legal team.
On the post: Book Publishers Starting To Delay eBook Releases -- Taking Bad Ideas From Hollywood
I would say that they are actually LOSING money right now, by not hopping on the ebook bandwagon. And actually encouraging piracy by delaying the release of ebooks.
I am still of the belief that the entire content-industry, be they music, movies or books, have gone bat-shit insane, and don't want to make money.
On the post: France Agrees With Spain In Saying Modding Nintendo DS Is Not Illegal
Re: Re: Re: Re: Logical
Except when it comes to big businesses, which are "too large to fail", so they need financial help from the government, to help them pay their exorbitant bonuses on the backs of the hardworking Americans.
On the post: France Agrees With Spain In Saying Modding Nintendo DS Is Not Illegal
Re: Re: Re: Re: Logical
If you sell me your rare stamp collection, I could use it to send letters, and you can't do anything about that.
If I buy a games console, it's MY property, and I can then modify it, to suit MY needs.
If I want to gut my Wii and make its housing into a tiny garden... Nintendo has no legal legs to stand on to stop me.
If I want to add a little tiny chip to the Wii so that I can play homebrew games, Nintendo doesn't have a say in that matter as well, as it's MY property. I did not rent the Wii from Nintendo, I bought it at a store.
Same holds true for the DS, in that case, I don't even alter the hardware, but instead use a software cartridge to play homebrew games. I bought the DS, and I bought the cartridge. That cartridge can indeed also be used to play copied/illegally obtained videogames (roms), but that doesn't mean the cartridge itself is illegal.
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