4 ms·

It never ceases to amaze and frustrate me that almost every time I buy a legal DVD, I am punished by being required to watch non-skipable content warning me tha

It never ceases to amaze and frustrate me that almost every time I buy a legal DVD, I am punished by being required to watch non-skipable content warning me that pirating is illegal (I can just hear the irony dripping). This can often be followed by adverts and previews that are either difficult to skip or impossible. All this combined with the fact that I probably had to wait longer to be able to purchase the DVD legally in the first place, because of regional restrictions... Any anti-pirating scheme really should encourage, as its first priority, a smooth, hassle-free, user experience - or risk encouraging people to go over to the dark side.

Asooka 9y ago
I buy what I feel is worth buying, then pirate the superior version. I actually own blu-rays even though I have no actual blu-ray player.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  My problem with that approach is that it provides financial support to companies that are using DRM. There's no incentive to change.
- megous 9y ago
  In some countries you'd still probably be sent an invoice to pay a fine for pirating anyway.
userbinator 9y ago
It's amazing how long that experience has been around and most people still put up with it; this image is at least from 2010 if not earlier: http://i.imgur.com/dXiNAhu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/dXiNAhu.jpg
- joering2 9y ago
  Its interesting to read that imgurl is been constantly asked to take this image down. Boy I would pay few bucks to read andyof the letters from RIAA/MPAA/lawyers et al justyfing its removal... must be priceless fun ;)
disconnected 9y ago
It never ceases to amaze and frustrate me that often I can't even BUY the freaking DVD, or stream the damned thing because "they" decided to not release it on my country/region or decided to block my country from accessing their services. Being assholes to their customers is what is killing them, not "piracy".
- graphitezepp 9y ago
  To quote Gabe Newell "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem", when pirating is more convenient than buying legally you are incentivizing it on multiple levels.
  - toxican 9y ago
    This has proven true time and time again for myself. Steam, Spotify, Netflix, and Sling all lead to the elimination of me pirating media. And I'm a lot more inclined to spend money on the occasional game/album/movie/show that those services don't offer than I was before.
    - spacemanmatt 9y ago
      From the artist's perspective, it's not much different. They don't make much off streaming.
      - toxican 9y ago
        Sounds like a problem between the artist and their label. Clearly the labels have no issue with the money paid out to them for the streaming rights.
- kuschku 9y ago
  Exactly! Like, you subscribe to Prime Video and Netflix, and still can’t watch even some Netflix shows, because Netflix licensed them exclusively to a TV channel that has no online offering and costs 60€/month. Or you can’t watch Amazon Prime because "you are using Linux with a multi-screen setup, please connect only one screen to watch this content in HD" No thanks. Nowadays I pay for Amazon Prime, and if I can’t get something there, I just pirate. Simple as that. I don’t try to buy it anymore, I don’t even try to get it in another way. If you want my money, provide your content via Amazon Prime, or maybe Netflix (if they ever stop licensing out their own content exclusively to competitors)
giancarlostoro 9y ago
Not only that but I've seen a similar message involving a video game trying to stop it's users from using Private Servers backfire and now people are aware they don't have to pay for xyz so what happens next is more people don't pay for xyz. So those messages do the opposite, instead of convincing people to stop doing something bad, you now have your entire legal unsuspecting audience knowing they can.
Tyrannosaur 9y ago
I feel that it is super obvious- if you want someone to do a certain thing, make the thing you want them to do be the easier and more convenient option if you want people not to pirate stuff, make legally owning it better and easier than pirating

Asooka 9y ago

I buy what I feel is worth buying, then pirate the superior version. I actually own blu-rays even though I have no actual blu-ray player.

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
My problem with that approach is that it provides financial support to companies that are using DRM. There's no incentive to change.
megous 9y ago
In some countries you'd still probably be sent an invoice to pay a fine for pirating anyway.

userbinator 9y ago

It's amazing how long that experience has been around and most people still put up with it; this image is at least from 2010 if not earlier: http://i.imgur.com/dXiNAhu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/dXiNAhu.jpg

joering2 9y ago
Its interesting to read that imgurl is been constantly asked to take this image down. Boy I would pay few bucks to read andyof the letters from RIAA/MPAA/lawyers et al justyfing its removal... must be priceless fun ;)

disconnected 9y ago

It never ceases to amaze and frustrate me that often I can't even BUY the freaking DVD, or stream the damned thing because "they" decided to not release it on my country/region or decided to block my country from accessing their services. Being assholes to their customers is what is killing them, not "piracy".

graphitezepp 9y ago
To quote Gabe Newell "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem", when pirating is more convenient than buying legally you are incentivizing it on multiple levels.
- toxican 9y ago
  This has proven true time and time again for myself. Steam, Spotify, Netflix, and Sling all lead to the elimination of me pirating media. And I'm a lot more inclined to spend money on the occasional game/album/movie/show that those services don't offer than I was before.
  - spacemanmatt 9y ago
    From the artist's perspective, it's not much different. They don't make much off streaming.
    - toxican 9y ago
      Sounds like a problem between the artist and their label. Clearly the labels have no issue with the money paid out to them for the streaming rights.
kuschku 9y ago
Exactly! Like, you subscribe to Prime Video and Netflix, and still can’t watch even some Netflix shows, because Netflix licensed them exclusively to a TV channel that has no online offering and costs 60€/month. Or you can’t watch Amazon Prime because "you are using Linux with a multi-screen setup, please connect only one screen to watch this content in HD" No thanks. Nowadays I pay for Amazon Prime, and if I can’t get something there, I just pirate. Simple as that. I don’t try to buy it anymore, I don’t even try to get it in another way. If you want my money, provide your content via Amazon Prime, or maybe Netflix (if they ever stop licensing out their own content exclusively to competitors)

giancarlostoro 9y ago

Not only that but I've seen a similar message involving a video game trying to stop it's users from using Private Servers backfire and now people are aware they don't have to pay for xyz so what happens next is more people don't pay for xyz. So those messages do the opposite, instead of convincing people to stop doing something bad, you now have your entire legal unsuspecting audience knowing they can.

Tyrannosaur 9y ago

I feel that it is super obvious- if you want someone to do a certain thing, make the thing you want them to do be the easier and more convenient option if you want people not to pirate stuff, make legally owning it better and easier than pirating