5 ms·

I sympathize. However, it is very hard to completely avoid their products if you love music or movies.

by danieldk 16y ago

eekfuh 16y ago
Well if you love music or movies, you can easily avoid PAYING for their products.
- redthrowaway 16y ago
  Even if you don't support piracy, you can easily avoid paying Sony by just buying used.
  - patrickyeon 16y ago
    Buying used doesn't support anybody else involved in the production. If you're worried about the ethics of piracy, I do not understand how buying used changes things.
    - derobert 16y ago
      The existence of a resale market likely increases the initial purchases of the item. How? Hypothetically, say the utility you'd get out a specific album is $8. The price is $10, so, naturally you won't buy it. However, you normally tire of music in, say, a year. You realize you can sell it them for $4. So instead you go ahead and buy it ("it really only costs me $6, 'cause I can sell it when I'm done with it").
      - patrickyeon 16y ago
        True, but if you want to take that look, buying used doesn't effectively keep your money out of Sony's hands either. You're just laundering it to keep your own conscience clean. Of course, not paying for it at all doesn't help anyone involved.
    - redthrowaway 16y ago
      If I could cut out labels and buy directly from artists, I would. I imagine we'll see something like that in the future, although the labels would fight against it just as hard as everybody's fighting Netflix.
  - GFischer 16y ago
    You're not paying Sony directly, but you're still helping them with the network effect (for example, promoting their music/movies, or their gaming platform).
- danieldk 16y ago
  Not if you want to support the artist. Not every artist offers Flac/H.264 audio/video for purchase on his/her website. The large majority doesn't.
eneveu 16y ago
Hard, but not impossible. I wanted to buy new headphones. I was considering the Sony MDR V6 (or the new model that recently came out, won't name the model, don't want to advertise for Sony...). I was ready to pull the trigger, when I thought about the whole whole Geohot fiasco (and other Sony fiascos before that). This led me to research more headphones, and settle on the Sennheiser HD 25-1 II. It costed me a little more, but I couldn't have been happier. Awesome headphones, avoided Sony.
- chwahoo 16y ago
  I think the parent was referring to what you might listen to on those headphones.
  - eneveu 16y ago
    Woops... You are right. When Daniel said "music and movies", I first thought of Sony's hardware, which is used to consume these medias: Sony flat-screen TVs[1], headphones, Blu-Ray players... But Sony is indeed a major record label / movie producer. I didn't think about it, since I've recently focused on electronic music, mainly listening to free podcasts [2]... The only album I bought in the last few years was Girl Talk's "Feed The Animals", because I really liked the "pay what you like" model (similar to what Radiohead did with "In Rainbows"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_the_Animals#Release http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_the_Animals#Release Anyway, sorry for derailing the thread by talking about hardware. I think it was a good example of a buying decision affected by Sony's unacceptable behavior, but I am aware of the limited alternatives when one wants to buy music or movies produced by Sony. I guess I'd buy anyway if there is an artist I like and I don't have any other option. [1] : which are supposedly high quality, albeit pricy, TVs... well, I'll still look for alternatives, like I did for my headphones [2] : I need to find some time to start discovering new artists again (maybe using YC's like.fm?), and to study the various online DRM-free music stores (their pricing, formats, and availability in France), to start buying music again, instead of listening to such podcasts. I also want to give back to all the artists that made these podcasts possible.

I sympathize. However, it is very hard to completely avoid their products if you love music or movies.

eekfuh 16y ago

Well if you love music or movies, you can easily avoid PAYING for their products.

redthrowaway 16y ago
Even if you don't support piracy, you can easily avoid paying Sony by just buying used.
- patrickyeon 16y ago
  Buying used doesn't support anybody else involved in the production. If you're worried about the ethics of piracy, I do not understand how buying used changes things.
  - derobert 16y ago
    The existence of a resale market likely increases the initial purchases of the item. How? Hypothetically, say the utility you'd get out a specific album is $8. The price is $10, so, naturally you won't buy it. However, you normally tire of music in, say, a year. You realize you can sell it them for $4. So instead you go ahead and buy it ("it really only costs me $6, 'cause I can sell it when I'm done with it").
    - patrickyeon 16y ago
      True, but if you want to take that look, buying used doesn't effectively keep your money out of Sony's hands either. You're just laundering it to keep your own conscience clean. Of course, not paying for it at all doesn't help anyone involved.
  - redthrowaway 16y ago
    If I could cut out labels and buy directly from artists, I would. I imagine we'll see something like that in the future, although the labels would fight against it just as hard as everybody's fighting Netflix.
- GFischer 16y ago
  You're not paying Sony directly, but you're still helping them with the network effect (for example, promoting their music/movies, or their gaming platform).
danieldk 16y ago
Not if you want to support the artist. Not every artist offers Flac/H.264 audio/video for purchase on his/her website. The large majority doesn't.

eneveu 16y ago

Hard, but not impossible. I wanted to buy new headphones. I was considering the Sony MDR V6 (or the new model that recently came out, won't name the model, don't want to advertise for Sony...). I was ready to pull the trigger, when I thought about the whole whole Geohot fiasco (and other Sony fiascos before that). This led me to research more headphones, and settle on the Sennheiser HD 25-1 II. It costed me a little more, but I couldn't have been happier. Awesome headphones, avoided Sony.

chwahoo 16y ago
I think the parent was referring to what you might listen to on those headphones.
- eneveu 16y ago
  Woops... You are right. When Daniel said "music and movies", I first thought of Sony's hardware, which is used to consume these medias: Sony flat-screen TVs[1], headphones, Blu-Ray players... But Sony is indeed a major record label / movie producer. I didn't think about it, since I've recently focused on electronic music, mainly listening to free podcasts [2]... The only album I bought in the last few years was Girl Talk's "Feed The Animals", because I really liked the "pay what you like" model (similar to what Radiohead did with "In Rainbows"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_the_Animals#Release http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_the_Animals#Release Anyway, sorry for derailing the thread by talking about hardware. I think it was a good example of a buying decision affected by Sony's unacceptable behavior, but I am aware of the limited alternatives when one wants to buy music or movies produced by Sony. I guess I'd buy anyway if there is an artist I like and I don't have any other option. [1] : which are supposedly high quality, albeit pricy, TVs... well, I'll still look for alternatives, like I did for my headphones [2] : I need to find some time to start discovering new artists again (maybe using YC's like.fm?), and to study the various online DRM-free music stores (their pricing, formats, and availability in France), to start buying music again, instead of listening to such podcasts. I also want to give back to all the artists that made these podcasts possible.