the fix to piracy just hit me!

[Thief13x]

it just hit me. How do people pirate music/movies/games? they download them, and burn them. What if cd rom, dvd rom, and dvd/cd disc manufacturers raised the price of burners and so forth, and dibbied the extra amongst those industries that are suffering from piracy in proportion to how much they are suffering? I know it doesn't really sound like a fix, but cmon if we are being realistic, we could see that people are saving money by not buying entertainment, and spending the extra on ways to steal it! it all makes sense to me! I know that raising the price of cd burnders ten dollars doesn't sound like much, but be sensible, do you know anyone who does not own a cd rom burner, but does own a computer?

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the movie industry isn't suffering quite as bad as the music/game industry. Why is that? maybe because dvd burners are still much more expensive, and therefore, dvd's are more difficult to copy. However, dvd burners are rapidly dropping in price, and soon the movie industry will be in just as hot of water as the music industry. So, what do you guys think?

Timmy

[BiG_D]

In Canada we have a small tax (that many aren't aware of) on blank CD's, VCR tapes, DVD's etc. as part of a law that was passed a few years ago. The law states that we can copy any media we like as long as we own it or the person who owns it allows us to copy it from them (which makes filesharing apps legal.)

I'll see if I can link to the whole article about it, it was pretty interesting.

EDIT: Here it is... (http://techcentralstation.com/081803C.html)

[FixXxeR]

I wrote an essay on this in college.

The electronics company 'Phillips' invented the tape, the little tapes you put in your C64, and that you could put music on and stuff. They also invented the VHS..... the video tape.... 2 major advances in media of that kind. Then.... 'Phillips' invented the CD.... its like... OMG, 3 major advances in that field.

Just think... 'Phillips' get money for every tape... VHS, and CD sold... ever.

The way I see it.... 'Phillips' pwnz all. I think they have something to do with this copy business and access to things online and otherwise. I mean, 'Phillips' make CD and DVD burners.....

mmmm, intresting theory, 13x.

[FistaKufs]

i know who doens't have a cd burner but a computer and it is charles (SW). and my grandma and grandpa, and my friend matt.

[Salvage]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the movie industry isn't suffering quite as bad as the music/game industry. Why is that? maybe because dvd burners are still much more expensive, and therefore, dvd's are more difficult to copy.

DVDs are ridiculously easy to copy. So I guess the only thing stopping people from copying DVDs are the cost of burners($150+ CDN) and media($1-5/disc CDN). DVD burners are still a luxury most people don't have right now, but it didn't take very long for CD-RWs to become commonplace.

[Thief13x]

yeah, just so happens my dad works for Phillips fixxer :ebil: he found me a 22 inch flatscreen free :ebil:

Anyways, my dad also just bought a dvd rw for 100 bucks, thats what i'm talking about when i say the movie industry is gonna be in hot water real soon. I was just thinking about how expensive dvd r's are at 1-5$ per peice, whilst cd rw are a dime a dozen. I duno, it would just make sense to me, and i think canada has it right btw! i didn't know they came out with that law up there 8)

[Buho]

13x, that sounds a LOT like Chris Rock's solution for random shootings and violence: make bullets cost $5,000 apiece! Can't quote the whole routine, but he's pretty funny.

[[E.D.G]Chief]

though I dont have a burner myself I believe the license agreement sold with them says something like "You agree not to use this burner for illegal activities" or some such sentence. So what's the use jacking up the price of a burner when the manfuacturers wipe the blame off themselves when you click to install the drivers/software? 8)

[oRGy]

Art in the age of mechanical reproduction.

Good, I say.

People should feel that they have a moral obligation to give money to those that deserve it (starving artists etc), rather than mega-corporations with their centrally planned economic system churning out tired "high concepts" like sausages out of a meat-blender, no?

Broadband+DVD-RW+iPod type things+credit cards=recipe for revolution, oppression, or both. I favour revolution.

[FixXxeR]

People should feel that they have a moral obligation to give money to those that deserve it (starving artists etc), rather than mega-corporations with their centrally planned economic system churning out tired "high concepts" like sausages out of a meat-blender, no?

This is true... everyone is in the middle of a digital revalution. It doesnt sound like much... but even something as simple as turning a photograph you've taken... into an image on a computer. To you, the image is a physical thing, something you can pick up and look at. A peice of time frozen, thats from your personal viewpoint. To the computer its a binary code. A set of numbers that determine the file size... colour, etc. The computer doesnt know you went out and took this image... its not personal to the computer... it just does what you tell it to do. This goes for music and other multimedia.

It really atonishes me.

[Buho]

Fix, that was rather philosophical. I like it.

To answer 13x directly: No, raising the price of CD media or burners won't stop it. Stuff like that has been done in the past and it doesn't work. All it creates is a black market.

[BiG_D]

Yeah, you raise the price of burners, and suddenly you have a few guys who managed to buy one charging everyone else to burn stuff. All you would accomplish is more money for those who can spend it on expensive hardware...

[Thief13x]

Yeah, you raise the price of burners, and suddenly you have a few guys who managed to buy one charging everyone else to burn stuff. All you would accomplish is more money for those who can spend it on expensive hardware...

I was thinking more down the line of the government, or whoever governs the gaming industry, the FCC for music, to impose a piracy tax, where the money earned from this tax is distributed amongst those artists in proportion to their sales. Kinda like a state tax that has nothing to do with the manufacturers. :)

[BiG_D]

The point still stands, though, the people with money will buy a burner, and continue to make money selling burned copies of stuff...

[FixXxeR]

Yes, thats a good point Big_D. What I want to know is though... where does it end? You have to get a CD or DVD burner sure, if you want to make copies of things, but where do YOU get your copies from? The internet....? a contact? a friend? but where do they get thiers from? the chain must go round in circles and get tangled and all sorts.... who is the ring leader? Who knows who leaks things out?

Its difficult for me to put into words... I'm quite articulate, but when it gets complex, I stuggle. I hope you get what I'm saying.

Who runs the show,I'm saying... There must be someone who 'knows' whats going on and where things come from....

[CrouchingDork]

I do. It's not all as complex as you're making is seem.

For games? Notorius hacker groups, similar to gaming clans. FLT (Got Halo and XIII from them :P) comes to mind. Movies? Similar groups usually sneak video cameras into movie theatres, sometimes in private screenings before the movies are even out. Music? Simple. People that feel like ripping their CD and sharing.

[Firetiger]

Although piracy is still an issue, the entertainment buisness is improving. For example, I hear that half-life 2 will be available in a downloadable form for a cheaper price.

[FixXxeR]

I do.

>fixxxer stands before CD<

Swiss Merc, do you take CD to be your lawfully wedded wife? :joking:

Just kidding. Yeah good point, but the people who get the previews... what do they get out of it, apart from the kick that your ripping the 'system' or whatever... they may only gain a few quid selling it to the people he/ she knows.... once its passed that threshold.... anyone can charge anyone, y'know.

Not to mention all the FREE pirate materiel you can easily get hold of now-a-days.

[Swiss Mercenary]

>fixxxer stands before CD<

Swiss Merc, do you take CD to be your lawfully wedded wife?

Like hell.

[CrouchingDork]

:eek:


*quaffs a speed pot and beats it outta here*

[BiG_D]

Its difficult for me to put into words... I'm quite articulate, but when it gets complex, I stuggle. I hope you get what I'm saying.
Heh, I have the same problem, especially trying to put ideas into typed words...

I think I know what you mean, though. You may be trying to be a little too complex.

The person with the burner doesn't need to get the media they're copying illegally, the can just buy the game/CD/DVD that people want, and as long as he charges a reasonable price compared to the legal alternative, the purchase will pay itself off easily.

Aside from movies still in theatre (which obviously can't be obtained legally,) why risk being caught doing something stupid like hacking into a computer to steal a game when you can just buy it for $50 and charge people $20 a copy. If you're the only one around who can copy stuff like this, you'll make loads of cash...

[Grank]

If they wanted to they could make it a real bitch to copy shit off of CDs and DVDs. Look at the PS1 and PS2. It's a bitch to copy a game and get it to work. If you want to do it you have to solder a mod chip to the board. There are easier solutions but the point is the average user isn't going to take the risk of ruining that brand new DVD player just so they can pirate DVDs.

Another scary thing that's coming along is the next version of Windows. It's going to have something that was code named Palladium. It's going to make things harder to pirate.

[CrouchingDork]

How Grank?

[Grank]

They could make the discs colored for example. Just like the PS1 discs. The only way to get around that is with a mod chip soldered to the mainboard of the PS1. Then they could sell CDs and DVDs that aren't colored. It's possible but the problem is that it would make all of our cd and dvd player obsolete.

[BiG_D]

I can't see much consumer support for something that fucks you over the second you buy it.

[Grank]

How would this be any different from what DVDs were supposed to be? They were supposed to stop piracy too and there was no problem with them being adopted. I'll be interested to see what kind of copy protection the next generation of media will have that music and movies are distributed on.

[BiG_D]

I was refering more to the act of releasing something that most people won't be able to use without buying something they already have, than the idea of a new medium. DVD's were different because they held more etc., and the average user didn't need to worry about them. CD's have not been replaced by DVD's. But if Microsoft start releasing stuff in a format that I will need to spend money to use, they can forget it, I'll look elsewhere.

Edit: That being said, I'm not sure that stronger copy protection will help either. The protection will need to be phased in so they make sure they aren't denying people access to their software; but by the time it is in full use, there will no doubt be a surefire way to break the protection...

[Swiss Mercenary]

I can't see much consumer support for something that fucks you over the second you buy it.

Those console purchasers are proving your theory wrong.

[oRGy]

Don't want Microsoft running your computer and telling you what you can do with it?

Well, use Linux (http://www.mandrake.com), then.

And watch out for those new DRM "Trusted Computing" BIOS's, they spell trouble.

[BiG_D]

Those console purchasers are proving your theory wrong.
Care to explain?

Don't want Microsoft running your computer and telling you what you can do with it?

I have no problem with Microsoft. They are running my computer in the sense that Windows is running, but I can do everything I need to. I shouldn't have pointed out Microsoft, if any company tells me I need to buy a new CD-ROM to use their software, they can go to hell.

[CrouchingDork]

Big D, Swiss has a grudge against consoles for some reason.

He doesn't realize that not all games are for PC, and that playing non-online multiplayer is more fun than online.

[Curunir]

Swiss isn't the only one that doesn't like consoles too much. Jahandar and I don't like them very much either. Computers just own them in every way.

[modetwo]

Consoles SUCK! Especially when a game is developed for a X-Box controller, but still sold and made for the PC gamers...

*cough* DX:IW *cough*

[FixXxeR]

I hate it when people say PC's are shit, because you have to upgrade it every 3 years or so....

But when you own a console... the whole damn thing is out of date in a year!!!

[BiG_D]

I agree that PC's are better than consoles in most ways (which is why I don't own any...) but I think they both have their advantages. Sitting on your couch and playing a game of mario party is a completely unique and downright hillarious experience...