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> Paying is always a worse experience than stealing, until you get caught. Nah. Take netflix for example: you pay your subscription and you get to watch movi

by znpy 6y ago

> Paying is always a worse experience than stealing, until you get caught. Nah. Take netflix for example: you pay your subscription and you get to watch movies. ez pz. Now take the pirating route: you have to find torrents, such torrents have to have seeds, you need disk space, you need a torrenting app, you might have to leave your computer turned on for a long time etc etc. Netflix is sucessful because they managed to make paying better than pirating.

fastball 6y ago
Nope. Popcorn Time exists, and it's just as easy as Netflix. Much better catalogue too. It also downloads while streaming, so if you have to stop in the middle, you can more easily pick back up where you left off because it's already downloaded. Also you can then share this downloaded file with whomever you want because it's DRM free, but you can't send a Netflix movie to someone else, which was the author's main quibble anyway. Much better UX for movies with piracy, even with Netflix, which is a great service.
- znpy 6y ago
  Yes, and I agree. But while it's widely known, it's still less easy to use than netflix.
brendoelfrendo 6y ago
I don't think the writer of this blog post would accept "Netflix for ebooks." Netflix still has DRM, and you definitely don't own any of the content you watch on Netflix. For someone whose whole point is that they won't buy anything but a DRM-free epub to load into Calibre, I doubt that a such an alternative (which already exists, by the way, in the form of Kindle Unlimited, Scribd, or any number of library apps) would be an acceptable solution.
ImprobableTruth 6y ago
That's only because sharing movies isn't as easy (files are quite large) and law enforcement goes after pirates. If piracy sites could flourish without being disturbed, it would be absolutely impossible to compete with them. And this is the exact situation you have with book piracy.

by znpy 6y ago

fastball 6y ago

Nope. Popcorn Time exists, and it's just as easy as Netflix. Much better catalogue too. It also downloads while streaming, so if you have to stop in the middle, you can more easily pick back up where you left off because it's already downloaded. Also you can then share this downloaded file with whomever you want because it's DRM free, but you can't send a Netflix movie to someone else, which was the author's main quibble anyway. Much better UX for movies with piracy, even with Netflix, which is a great service.

znpy 6y ago
Yes, and I agree. But while it's widely known, it's still less easy to use than netflix.

brendoelfrendo 6y ago

I don't think the writer of this blog post would accept "Netflix for ebooks." Netflix still has DRM, and you definitely don't own any of the content you watch on Netflix. For someone whose whole point is that they won't buy anything but a DRM-free epub to load into Calibre, I doubt that a such an alternative (which already exists, by the way, in the form of Kindle Unlimited, Scribd, or any number of library apps) would be an acceptable solution.

ImprobableTruth 6y ago

That's only because sharing movies isn't as easy (files are quite large) and law enforcement goes after pirates. If piracy sites could flourish without being disturbed, it would be absolutely impossible to compete with them. And this is the exact situation you have with book piracy.