This is getting stupid. Electronics companies are divided over the next generation video format.
Will it be Blu-ray, or HD DVD? Why are they fighting about this? Well, the studios are concerned about rampant piracy, especially in China. So many of them are backing Blu-ray because of tougher copy protection standards.
Why?
There needs to be one standard accepted and used by all companies.
Furthermore, I refuse to buy a device to watch movies that requires an Internet connection, the sole purpose of which is to monitor the status of the device and shut it off if it is tampered with. If anyone tampers with my stuff, I know how to call the cops. If I tamper with a device that I have paid many hundreds of dollars for, that is entirely my business.
Not to mention that people will find a way around any obstacle that is put in front of them. The might of 40 paid engineers and developers is no match for the Comic Book Guy in his mom's basement.
Stop wasting time and money trying to fight human nature!
The record business did just fine without any copy protection on tapes or vinyl. (Yeah, they lobbied for a cut of blank tape sales, but that's a whole different story.) The movie industry did just fine with VHS, which again was easily copied.
"But," the entertainment industry might say, "But - digital media makes it so much easier to copy and distribute music and movies." And they would be right. But the same digital technology that makes it easy to copy stuff, makes it easy to produce more of it in the first place. How many more records were released in 2004 than, say, 1935? Or even 1975? How many more movies?
The point is that of course "piracy" has increased. But it has increased entirely relative to the amount of media being produced. (Not that it's trackable anyway, since "piracy" can mean just about anything the industry wants it to. Their numbers are so cooked, it's not even funny.)
Meanwhile, in the biggest "DUH" of the century, a
recent study has found that this year's decrease in box office sales is directly related to the quality of movies being released. You can't make this stuff up. People don't buy garbage, no matter how well it's packaged. I would never pay money to see a Rob Schneider movie. I would never TAKE money to see such a film. If I had the opportunity, would I watch it for free via digital technology? Probably not. But I would do that way before I considered buying or renting it.
I'd like to wrap things up by saying once again that the entertainment industry should consider a tax - or "subscription service", if you will - on the Internet. Well, it's not a tax directly, but a fee added directly into the cost of Internet service that is basically paying for a license to copy and distribute anything you want on the Internet. It's the way radio and TV stations have always operated - by paying a fee for licensed content. We're not talking much; just 50 cents to a dollar per month extra. It can even be scaled based on the speed of your connection. Multiply that by the number of Internet users in America, and you have a lot of money. Millions of dollars a month. And the beauty of it is, the people that don't use the Internet don't have to suffer stupid copy protection schemes and competing formats. And the people that do use the Internet have free reign to do whatever they want.
Is that enough to get the entertainment industry to shut its mouth and get back to producing quality content? Because if so, sign me up right now.
