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Stealing Entertainment, Revisited

by Smithee on July 28, 2009

in Consumer

A week ago I wrote a post called “Is it Ever Okay to Steal Entertainment?”, which produced great comments from our readers, many of whom were clearly incensed that I would ever try to rationalize stealing from content creators. I’ve been thinking about the criticism and understanding that was added to the original article. I wanted to see if I could ever become the person that never even accidentally steals entertainment.

I got the impression from your comments, and correct me if I’m wrong, but a lot of people feel that if I’m enjoying any kind of entertainment, then I should have paid for it first.

The problem, I’ve concluded, is that we all steal. All of us. Not always on purpose, but it happens. Some examples:

The Problem with Having Friends

Your friends want you to enjoy the things they enjoy. I really enjoy the band “Cake”, and I never would’ve been exposed to them if someone hadn’t burned me a copy of “Fashion Nugget” back in 2001. Now, over eight years after that, I still haven’t paid for that album, but I enjoy at least one of those songs at least once a month. I’m willing to admit right here that I “stole” that album. And as a direct result, I paid for three other albums of theirs. So the band “Cake” was down one, then up three. “Cake” profits.

This is true of most of the bands that my friends share with me. Friends know best what you’re likely to enjoy.

The DVR Problem

I don’t think there’s any Cable/Satellite/FiOS TV provider that doesn’t offer a DVR box for their customers. Unless you’re watching a Superbowl-type event, or keeping tabs on a weather event or election, you’re probably skipping commercials. That’s stealing: it breaks the model of “we’ll make shows, you pay us, and we’ll insert ads for your product, and there’s an infinitesimal chance our viewers will buy your product over someone else’s”.

If you have a DVR, and you’re decidedly not skipping commercials out of a noble effort to continue this outdated model, then my hat’s off to you, and also, I don’t believe it.

Not to mention the fact that most of the time, the volume of commercials during the break is set so loud that I feel I’m being screamed at.

The “Album Only” Problem

The list of albums that I can listen to all the way through is about half a page long, double-spaced. Nearly every album contains filler material: stuff that the artists know most people won’t like. For about thirty years, record companies sold single songs, with B-sides, and they did very well. The popularity of the CD somehow brought about a trend for people to buy whole albums.

I bought plenty of albums on CD, and have been disappointed with plenty of songs. That’s not an accident, that’s the record company stealing from me. I’m not saying “two wrongs make a right”. I’m just pointing it out. Apple and the record companies know that people much prefer buying single songs, and not wasting money, so they’re working on a new add-on for people who buy whole albums. We’ll see how that turns out, but at present, I predict it will be a miserable failure.

Entertainment in the 21st Century

I much prefer the Creative Commons approach to releasing entertainment. Since Day One, Jonathan Coulton has made it possible and easy to enjoy his music for free. Just as importantly, he’s made it possible and easy to pay him for the songs you like. His music makes me so happy that I’ve paid for the MP3s, as well as a collector’s set of “Thing a Week” CDs, a DVD, and tickets for three concerts.

I know the system works for him, too, since he recently moved into a bigger house with his wife and children.

A Larger View

I think we’re in between payment models at the moment. I’m seeing a 21st century where people only pay for the things they enjoy. My wife and I are already working on a computer-based system, using content from places like Hulu (which includes ads that you can’t skip, but only a couple minutes’ worth), and I’m looking forward to reporting on it, if I can get the bugs all worked out.

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Is it Ever Okay to Steal Entertainment?

by Smithee on July 21, 2009

in Consumer

As a part-time producer of creative works that I think are worth something (though I’m not currently requiring payment for anything), I struggle with the urge to acquire my entertainment media as conveniently, quickly and cheaply as possible. My viewpoints on this have changed over time, especially as my disposable income grew, and I’d like to share with you my current ideas / rationalizations on when it’s okay to steal.

Music you’ve already paid for

Depending on when you were born, you may have bought some of your favorite albums in upwards of five formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettee, CD, and MP3 (if you lost the CD, or it got too scratchy). I’ve never actually held an 8-track tape, but I’ve owned albums in all the other formats, and I’ve decided I’m not re-buying anything.

When I bought my first CD in 1989, (Faith No More’s “The Real Thing”, which still rocks really hard), the people who produced it had no intention of tracking its sale for more than a couple of years, not to mention that conventional wisdom at the time considered the new Compact Disc format to be practically immortal.

Practical concerns aside, I paid for it once, and music isn’t meant to expire. So, even though the CD itself got lost somewhere along the last twenty years, when I decide I want it back in my music library, I won’t be paying for it. It was already paid for. I’ll just acquire it somewhere.

Shows your location won’t allow you to watch

My wife and I deeply enjoy a few shows that are produced and released by the BBC. We have BBC America, but even the shows that make it over to this country are delayed, usually six months or more, and they’re often edited, censored and shown in standard definition (as opposed to HD).

So I download those shows as soon as they’re available online. This is not the same as downloading, say, “True Blood” without being a subscriber to HBO. I feel a little more justified in yanking “Doctor Who” down to my hard drive because BBC content is produced without regard for sponsors or subscription fees, as we understand them.

Movies and TV from used/rental stores

I’m a little more iffy on this one; sometimes it depends on the quality of the movie, but after a DVD is bought once, the studio got paid as much as they were ever going to. If the DVD then ends up in a used/rental store, I don’t have a moral problem with copying the DVD to my hard drive, and then taking the DVD back to the store.

There’s also the case that I saw the movie when it was new in the theater, and I’ve rented it at least once. In that case, I can’t bring myself to pay for it again, and I’ll just make a digital copy.

Frankly, if it were easier, and a little bit cheaper, to legitimately buy and download (and keep, forever, free of DRM… otherwise it’s leasing, not buying) a movie. I’d probably do that instead of “stealing” it.

The flipside

On the other hand, when a show originates online (e.g. Homestar Runner, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, Ask a Ninja), I’m more than happy to support the creators by buying DVDs and merchandise. Why? Because they don’t bother me with commercials. They can’t keep making the show without me, and that’s a business model I can get behind.

Your ideas

Do you have similar rules for yourself? I’d love to hear them in the comments.

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Movies are New Again with Fan-made Commentaries

by Smithee on May 22, 2009

in Frugality

When DVDs (and before them, Laserdiscs) were new, I really used to enjoy listening to the commentary tracks. Granted, some were better than others, but I couldn’t seem to get enough of the “behind the scenes” talk, and to hear the cast and crew telling funny stories about each other.

Those don’t interest me as much as they used to, and in fact these days I’m more likely to rent a DVD than buy it, but there is a kind of commentary track that I still enjoy: the kind made by people who weren’t at all involved in making the movie.

The gold standard for these is Rifftrax, from three of the people who made Mystery Science Theater 3000. When it comes to making fun of movies, few people have had anywhere near as much practice. It’s a pretty ingenious system that manages to avoid conflicts with copyright law. Here’s how it works:

  • Find a commentary track for a movie that you have a copy of (or want to rent, or buy)
  • Pay $3 or $4
  • Download the .mp3 file (free of DRM, of course)
  • Play the movie and the .mp3 file simultaneously (the commentary will come with instructions for syncing and a guide to help you get back on track if they drift apart)

Here’s an example from the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie:

This is a great way to spend a few dollars and make new again some of the movies you probably already have on your shelf. Some of my favorites from Rifftrax go with movies that honestly, nobody should own (Troll 2 comes immediately to mind), but among those you’re likely to have lying around, these are good, too:

Do you know of any other good “alternate commentary” sources? Tell us in the comments!

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Local Libraries Still Innovating

by Smithee on January 28, 2009

in Frugality

During previous economic downturns, publications have often done stories about saving money by borrowing books, music and movies from the library. This is true not only in recessions, but every time you want to save some money. Libraries aren’t just for research; they have plenty of entertaining material as well.

But of course, they suffered from a problem that many bookstores didn’t: if a book was popular, you’d have a hard time finding a copy. It’s the 21st century now, most things have been digitized, so a perfect copy of anything shouldn’t be hard to find.

Well, with actual books printed on paper, you might still have to wait to get a copy of a popular title, but we recently found that our local library system is partnered with a service that enables it to offer digital downloads to anybody with a library card.

What’s more, it looks like this service, called “Overdrive”, has partnered with many many libraries throughout the world. Search their site to see if your library is offering this sort of thing. And if necessary, pick up a library card. They’re not expensive, I promise.

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Netflix to Support Blu-ray Exclusively

by Flexo on February 11, 2008

in Consumer

Netflix has been offering movies to rent on both high definition media formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray, will now be exclusively supporting just one technology: Blu-ray.

Citing the decision by four of the six major movie studios to publish high-def DVD titles only in the Sony-developed Blu-ray format, Netflix said that as of now it will purchase only Blu-ray discs and will phase out by roughly year’s end the alternative high-def format, HD DVD, developed by Toshiba.

Paramount and Universal are left as the only major film studios supporting HD DVD.

While I think Blu-ray is the superior medium in terms of capacity and encoding, its hardware isn’t priced competitively with HD DVD and the player technology is about a year behind HD DVD’s advancements. The film industry, rather than the consumers, has made the decision to support Blu-ray.

Netflix, Citing a Clear Signal From the Industry, Will Carry High-Def DVDs Only in Blu-ray Format [Netflix Press Release]

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My Favorite Source for Movies? The Library

by Sasha on February 5, 2008

in Frugality

I’ve never been a big movie buyer, and own a whopping 3 DVDs. If I can’t guarantee I’m going to watch it at least 5 times, I don’t want it cluttering my abode.

But I do like movies, and so I opt for rentals. And there are more rental options out there now than ever before. Plenty of ways to add another bill to my monthly deluge.

I hear Netflix is pretty good, as long as you properly estimate how many movies you’ll need at one time. And my mailbox is constantly bombarded by ads for Blockbuster’s similar offering. There’s also the downloading option, from iTunes and the like.

But to me, nothing compares to my local public library.

In the very minimal off-time I’ve had lately, we’ve been chilling out with free movies, everything from foreign films to more recent hits like Babel, I Heart Huckabees, City of God, and The Corpse Bride. They even have HBO’s wonderful Rome series, which retails for $68.99 a season on Amazon. And that’s the discounted price.

They don’t have every movie I’ve wanted to see, but there’s a very nice selection, I can take out as many at a time as I like, and keep them for a whole week without cost. I can renew them, too.

I keep a list of movies I’d like to see on my desktop, then go online every so often and request a couple via interlibrary loan. When they’re in, I get a call and go pick them up.

I’m lazy that way–it’s been months since I searched the shelves for anything. I do the same thing with books, and I feel like I have my own personal concierge service. It’s pretty sweet.

I don’t remember Blockbuster ever having a stack of my choices waiting for me when I got there, even when I phoned first to make sure my selections were in stock.

Plus, while I’m there, I can pick up some books to help grow my career skills. At the local video store, I’m just likely to pick up popcorn.

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