Movies, Music, 'protected' Content Media, Blu-ray.

[Cuban]

If you've stumbled into this thread you probably are aware of torrents and the availability of pretty much anything that you want in terms of movies or music from someone somewhere out there.

I was reading an IT blog a few days ago that included these words on the subject of protection:

Copy protection killed the CD industry and now it looks as if it just might be the death of Blu-ray.

Any relationship counselor will tell you that if you try too hard to protect what’s “yours,” you’ll probably end up losing it. Maybe it’s time for the movie studios and record companies to consider that they are in a relationship – with their customers.

And that when their over-protectiveness is perceived by those customers as abuse, they may keep the content but they’ll lose the thing that matters: the sales.

I stopped buying music long ago, I have an extensive CD collection partly that I have copied to MP3 and now play on players in the car and while on flights. It's the only time I listen to music these days.

For movies that deserve the big screen I will venture out and see in the theater, but they are few these days as the money behind the production company will focus on the DVD sales and seldom edit for big screen. Knowing the production costs and the cynical enforcement of regional coding really makes want to avoid buying anything from these people as their profits seem excessive for the freedom they allow their customers. (Also; I'm tired of knowing that if the villan's car is involved in a wreck it will be hit by a truck carrying brand X bottled water or if in a college sceen there will be a Coke vending machine - even if in real life they are banned as a pro-health measure. Such movies should be free to see as so much of the content is sponsored by product placement. It's common knowledge that the theatre makes money from the popcorn and soda sales alone. The fast-food tie in is now part of the pre-production planning for kids movies.)

And I'm not just talking about freedom to watch a DVD in a different region in the world, if there is a particular movie or television programme I saw many years ago and wish to see again - I can't. There is no legal way that I can access that programme. The copyright holders will wait until there is enough market to cover the production and distribution costs, which will often be never, before considering a release. And when that does happen the retail cost will be such that few will consider it worth buying.

I love the fact that many people have old VHS libraries that are now being capped and released to a willing and grateful population of torrent users. Some of whom pay real money to support the process.

I have a Vista computer with a spare bay, I had considered getting a Blu-ray drive but I'm not the movie fan I was in the past. And with Vista's DRM situation I can't see that I would want to buy Blu-ray anyway. Maybe I'll just get a second DVD burner. I don't see the production houses wanting me to buy their products as the things I am willing to pay for are not sold and are only available from the large support base of people that care more about the content than cheap mass market profit.

As the torrents I seek (mostly factual NG and Discovery type programmes) are available to me with good bandwith from many countries I know I'm not alone with this feeling.