Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

The Internet

Rate this topic


ex_banana-eater

Recommended Posts

Here is a news article that came out today:

More than three programs in a computer around the globe are thought to be illegal copies of software. China and Vietnam stats are at all time high with the figure rising to 9 out of 10, according to Financial Times.
...

The research firm also reported that if piracy could be lowered to 10 percent over the next four years, it would create more than 1 million jobs and $400 billion in economic growth.

What are your thoughts?

[Edit] While searching todays news I came across another topic, one that software piraters often bring up in defence of themselves, saying pirating does not lower industry income:

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/...ory/Technology/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While searching todays news I came across another topic, one that software piraters often bring up in defence of themselves, saying pirating does not lower industry income:

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/...ory/Technology/

Will be interesting to watch how/if this changes now that record labels have started to move towards more practical distribution mediums (iTunes music store being a prime example, as well as the relaunched Napster etc). Physical media such as CDs have been obsolete to many people for quite some time - there is simply no need to actually own a disc containing a song when all you need is 'the song itself'. Charging people for downloads seems like a far more feasible way to distribute music, and I suspect that a lot of people who stopped purchasing CDs will start paying for songs on services such as iTunes, especially since they often require a lot less time to locate what you're after than certain popular p2p networks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Yeah, I agree that buying media items in a physical form (Cd's, DVD's, computer games etc) is going to die out. One of the only reasons I buy CD's is just because I enjoy having the physical item, reading the lyrics booklet etc, for the less sentimental consumers however, buying downloads is definitely the way to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I agree that buying media items in a physical form (Cd's, DVD's, computer games etc) is going to die out. One of the only reasons I buy CD's is just because I enjoy having the physical item, reading the lyrics booklet etc, for the less sentimental consumers however, buying downloads is definitely the way to go.

Maybe so, but there will always be sentimental consumers like us. :P

I laugh whenever someone claims that actual books are going to go extinct eventually. Somehow, I really doubt it. It certainly ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe so, but there will always be sentimental consumers like us.  :lol:

I laugh whenever someone claims that actual books are going to go extinct eventually.  Somehow, I really doubt it.  It certainly ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Well books are different - reading a physical book is a lot more comfortable than reading a large amount of text on a computer monitor, and then you have the portability issue as well. I doubt that even portable ebook readers would be as nice to read as an actual paper book, although I haven't used one. Also, theres the locatability factor - its a lot easier to find a physical copy of an obscure(ish) book than an e-book version. Although having said that, perhaps something like electronic ink will replace paper books in the future, for popular stuff anyway.

With music though, the CD is completely redundant (for me anyway). In order to use a CD have to first rip it onto my computer and then download the songs onto my portable mp3 player, after which I can basically throw the CD away (although I'll generally keep it in case I ever reformat). It's quite a hassle, and downloading songs directly is a lot easier. I think a lot of others feel the same, which is why legal downloading services such as iTunes have become so popular.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well books are different - reading a physical book is a lot more comfortable than reading a large amount of text on a computer monitor, and then you have the portability issue as well. I doubt that even portable ebook readers would be as nice to read as an actual paper book, although I haven't used one. Also, theres the locatability factor - its a lot easier to find a physical copy of an obscure(ish) book than an e-book version. Although having said that, perhaps something like electronic ink will replace paper books in the future, for popular stuff anyway.

With music though, the CD is completely redundant (for me anyway). In order to use a CD have to first rip it onto my computer and then download the songs onto my portable mp3 player, after which I can basically throw the CD away (although I'll generally keep it in case I ever reformat). It's quite a hassle, and downloading songs directly is a lot easier. I think a lot of others feel the same, which is why legal downloading services such as iTunes have become so popular.

I agree that books are somewhat different, for the reasons you mentioned. But even for music, as I said before, there will always(?) be sentimental consumers like blank_frackis and myself. I even still buy vinyl records on occasion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...