5 ms·

I guess ppl in the US still download content? There are so many paid and non-paid streaming options to choose from it makes me wonder why download content?

iforgotpassword 8y ago
So it will be truely mine.
- tyingq 8y ago
  Not just theoretical either. Verizon sold out to Frontier. Guess what happened to many of the movies I "bought"? Poof. Gone. No recourse either, unless I want to file in small claims court.
  - vertexFarm 8y ago
    Gonna take a wild guess how that adventure will unfold.
    - acct1771 8y ago
      Oh he'd definitely win a few hundred bucks.
yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
Streaming is a huge pain compared to playing files on disk. Pick a service, navigate its messy UI, hope it has what you want, use the poor in-browser video player (or terrible, slow, buggy app)... Or search through a folder, double-click, done.
- my_username_is_ 8y ago
  Also streaming requires reliable high-speed internet. This is easy to take for granted when you live in a major metro area, but for more rural users, high speed internet may not be available at all.
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    Also, while this may not be usually a problem with Netflix, in general streaming also requires enough servers on the other end, and uncongested pipe between them and you. I think most of us experienced the cases where, despite being on a reliable high-speed Internet connection, the movie still keeps pausing every minute or three, because it's not streaming fast enough to keep up with wall clock.
code_duck 8y ago
So you can play it without depending on that service? The streaming service might close its doors, lose its license to the content you want, raise prices, start interjecting ads... who knows. Personally, I listen to some obscure (in the West) music from Japan and it’s difficult to locate in any service other than YouTube. YouTube videos can be and are deleted at any time with no warning, and they only let you ‘offline’ them while they are available online.
- Teknoman117 8y ago
  Losing the license is a biggie. Can’t tell you how many of the things I watched got pulled from Netflix, Hulu, etc.
wolco 8y ago
It's faster depending on quality / service provider. 4k over streaming can cause buffer issues.
AngryData 8y ago
Many people have no choice if they want anything over 360p video because their internet is too shit to stream better.
fpgaminer 8y ago
Modern streaming have changed the pirating landscape, no doubt. This is especially true of music, where there is a plethora of good selection. However this isn't as much the case with movies/TV. Streaming in that realm is fractured, expensive, and most of the offerings are poor. With music you subscribe to service X and get access to 90% or more of what you'd want. With movies or TV, you have to subscribe to a handful of services all at once just to get access to maybe half of the content you'd want to watch. $10/mo for music, okay. Netflix+Hulu+HBO+Amazon+etc; adds up fast. Outside of Netflix, every other provider has some combination of terrible app/UI, streaming problems, or ads. Even if you look past all that, how do you play all these subscriptions? The device landscape fragments everything further. And god help you if you want global search on all your subscriptions, or want access to an Apple library. Contrasted with pirating + Plex? Yeah... And the problem is only getting worse as all the big players in market continue to wage war. See, for example, Disney pulling out and forming their own subscription. Don't get me wrong. I think the world is better today than it was when all we had was cable. All of these content companies getting direct access to subscription money is incentivizing productions that could never have existed under the older ad-driven models. But in terms of overcoming piracy? They are leagues away.
- felipelemos 8y ago
  And in the end the lesson is: People are lazy. They will use the easiest process, even if they have to pay it.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    Maybe so. For me, the criterion is whether I can download it, without any DRM. So I can access whenever I like. Without fear of inactivation. And without having usage tracked.
    - canofbars 8y ago
      This is a big one. If bandcamp shuts down my library is safe. if steam shuts down or bans me I have lost everything.
vertexFarm 8y ago
First off, this post isn't intended to encourage any illegal activity. It might have something to do with the fact that despite being free to operate above the table and having large revenue flows, user experience is often better on the dark side. Which is just baffling. With a decent ad/popup blocker and browser setup, some shady server in Vietnam called "watchallseriesonline.interbutt" or whatever is simply more pleasant than hunting down which streaming service has your content, having to buy all of them anyway, dealing with strange and futile DRM plugins, deal with industry drama, deal with hostile "engagement-driving" user interfaces, etc etc. The IP owners are nearly always a convoluted web of big telecom corporations who are battling with each other to ensure that all users are losers by wantonly Balkanizing all our culture's media. Add to that the fact that almost all legit streamers immediately triple-dip on their customers. They charge subscriptions, they shovel ads at their users despite the fact it's a paid service, and they suck up and gargle all their user's personal data and sell it to the highest bidder or fumble it to some hacker. Some torrent site will also try and do all that, but in a way that's a lot easier to sidestep. I mean I guess it sucks for the content owners (often not the actual creators as stated above, but that's another story) but there needs to be at least some good faith from them before they expect an unorganized mass of millions of independent users to return good faith to them. Masses of people respond to incentives and are basically deterministic. Telling them "you should really do this, it's the right thing to do" and expecting a demand-side miracle is just irrational.
- Alan_Dillman 8y ago
  >convoluted web of big telecom corporations who are battling with each other to ensure that all users are losers by wantonly Balkanizing all our culture's media. No doubt, right? I want to watch a Canadian artist sing a song about Canada, at a Canadian event, and get told "Not available in your country."
toyg 8y ago
Not just in the US. For video, even in Europe prices are still too high and the market is too fragmented. You know what I’d really pay for? A good recommendation engine that can point me to anything in any language based on my taste.

iforgotpassword 8y ago

So it will be truely mine.

tyingq 8y ago
Not just theoretical either. Verizon sold out to Frontier. Guess what happened to many of the movies I "bought"? Poof. Gone. No recourse either, unless I want to file in small claims court.
- vertexFarm 8y ago
  Gonna take a wild guess how that adventure will unfold.
  - acct1771 8y ago
    Oh he'd definitely win a few hundred bucks.

yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago

Streaming is a huge pain compared to playing files on disk. Pick a service, navigate its messy UI, hope it has what you want, use the poor in-browser video player (or terrible, slow, buggy app)... Or search through a folder, double-click, done.

my_username_is_ 8y ago
Also streaming requires reliable high-speed internet. This is easy to take for granted when you live in a major metro area, but for more rural users, high speed internet may not be available at all.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Also, while this may not be usually a problem with Netflix, in general streaming also requires enough servers on the other end, and uncongested pipe between them and you. I think most of us experienced the cases where, despite being on a reliable high-speed Internet connection, the movie still keeps pausing every minute or three, because it's not streaming fast enough to keep up with wall clock.

code_duck 8y ago

So you can play it without depending on that service? The streaming service might close its doors, lose its license to the content you want, raise prices, start interjecting ads... who knows. Personally, I listen to some obscure (in the West) music from Japan and it’s difficult to locate in any service other than YouTube. YouTube videos can be and are deleted at any time with no warning, and they only let you ‘offline’ them while they are available online.

Teknoman117 8y ago
Losing the license is a biggie. Can’t tell you how many of the things I watched got pulled from Netflix, Hulu, etc.

wolco 8y ago

It's faster depending on quality / service provider. 4k over streaming can cause buffer issues.

AngryData 8y ago

Many people have no choice if they want anything over 360p video because their internet is too shit to stream better.

fpgaminer 8y ago

Modern streaming have changed the pirating landscape, no doubt. This is especially true of music, where there is a plethora of good selection. However this isn't as much the case with movies/TV. Streaming in that realm is fractured, expensive, and most of the offerings are poor. With music you subscribe to service X and get access to 90% or more of what you'd want. With movies or TV, you have to subscribe to a handful of services all at once just to get access to maybe half of the content you'd want to watch. $10/mo for music, okay. Netflix+Hulu+HBO+Amazon+etc; adds up fast. Outside of Netflix, every other provider has some combination of terrible app/UI, streaming problems, or ads. Even if you look past all that, how do you play all these subscriptions? The device landscape fragments everything further. And god help you if you want global search on all your subscriptions, or want access to an Apple library. Contrasted with pirating + Plex? Yeah... And the problem is only getting worse as all the big players in market continue to wage war. See, for example, Disney pulling out and forming their own subscription. Don't get me wrong. I think the world is better today than it was when all we had was cable. All of these content companies getting direct access to subscription money is incentivizing productions that could never have existed under the older ad-driven models. But in terms of overcoming piracy? They are leagues away.

felipelemos 8y ago
And in the end the lesson is: People are lazy. They will use the easiest process, even if they have to pay it.
- mirimir 8y ago
  Maybe so. For me, the criterion is whether I can download it, without any DRM. So I can access whenever I like. Without fear of inactivation. And without having usage tracked.
  - canofbars 8y ago
    This is a big one. If bandcamp shuts down my library is safe. if steam shuts down or bans me I have lost everything.

vertexFarm 8y ago

First off, this post isn't intended to encourage any illegal activity. It might have something to do with the fact that despite being free to operate above the table and having large revenue flows, user experience is often better on the dark side. Which is just baffling. With a decent ad/popup blocker and browser setup, some shady server in Vietnam called "watchallseriesonline.interbutt" or whatever is simply more pleasant than hunting down which streaming service has your content, having to buy all of them anyway, dealing with strange and futile DRM plugins, deal with industry drama, deal with hostile "engagement-driving" user interfaces, etc etc. The IP owners are nearly always a convoluted web of big telecom corporations who are battling with each other to ensure that all users are losers by wantonly Balkanizing all our culture's media. Add to that the fact that almost all legit streamers immediately triple-dip on their customers. They charge subscriptions, they shovel ads at their users despite the fact it's a paid service, and they suck up and gargle all their user's personal data and sell it to the highest bidder or fumble it to some hacker. Some torrent site will also try and do all that, but in a way that's a lot easier to sidestep. I mean I guess it sucks for the content owners (often not the actual creators as stated above, but that's another story) but there needs to be at least some good faith from them before they expect an unorganized mass of millions of independent users to return good faith to them. Masses of people respond to incentives and are basically deterministic. Telling them "you should really do this, it's the right thing to do" and expecting a demand-side miracle is just irrational.

Alan_Dillman 8y ago
>convoluted web of big telecom corporations who are battling with each other to ensure that all users are losers by wantonly Balkanizing all our culture's media. No doubt, right? I want to watch a Canadian artist sing a song about Canada, at a Canadian event, and get told "Not available in your country."

toyg 8y ago

Not just in the US. For video, even in Europe prices are still too high and the market is too fragmented. You know what I’d really pay for? A good recommendation engine that can point me to anything in any language based on my taste.