4 ms·

If Apple buying Hollywood means I can look forward to more interaction with iTunes, then no thanks. The last thing we need Hollywood to turn into is an even mo

If Apple buying Hollywood means I can look forward to more interaction with iTunes, then no thanks. The last thing we need Hollywood to turn into is an even more walled garden. The best answer for Hollywood is an open approach from end to end, from funding to distribution to better bandwidth. Fund independent movies and television shows. Continuously. Encourage the death of dvd and bluray. Encourage the death of all hard copies of media, even thumb drives. Give NetFlix and Hulu more money. Lobby the FCC to regulate broadband speeds. Everyone should have 10+Mbps by now. These are the right steps towards defeating Hollywood.

tmh88j 15y ago
Internet access isn't available in everywhere and people will always want hard copies. I'm one of them. Who exactly is going to give Netflix money? Are you telling them to take out a loan, offer more stocks? Internet connection speeds aren't slowing down Netflix, it's Hollywood. They're not worried about their videos not streaming quickly enough; they're worried about making more $$$.
mechanical_fish 15y ago
Wait, you deplore walled gardens in one sentence, then call for the death of physical media in the next sentence? You should be careful what you wish for. The first sale doctrine may be your last and best defense against that walled garden. You're legally allowed to trade DVDs; you're even legally allowed to sell them on the used market; try that with your digital media. Many of Apple's most annoying policies re: movies and TV are dictated by the Hollywood corporations with whom one must deal if one wants to sell these things. You will probably find that the same forces apply to Netflix, and exactly how is Hulu not a walled garden?
cbs 15y ago
>Encourage the death of all hard copies of media, even thumb drives This is a pipe dream that doesn't think more than 5 years into the future or understand the realities of distribution. The properties inherent to physical media are some of the most consumer friendly aspects of distribution. Some can be approximated with a software-only approach, provided that the content provider wants to not only take the time to implement, but also wants consumers to continue to have those benefits. There are also properties of physical media that are impossible to duplicate with the internet, and what they do provide relies on them never going offline and never stop serving any each and every piece of content. I have NES cartridges in my closet that are much more versatile than games on steam. I have a netflix streaming account that I _can not_ use when I visit my father because he doesn't have an internet connection and I can't cache netflix movies on my laptop. I have a friend, who because of hardware failure, can only use xbox dlc if he is connected to the internet (I don't really know the DRM specifics, but on the original hardware he didn't need to be connected). I put up with some of these limitations because I hope they are temporary and digital distribution companies will eventually get their act together, but they're still a "last resort" option when I buy media.
- CrazedGeek 15y ago
  OT: Has your friend seen this page? http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live/marketplace-and-purchasing/download-content http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live/marketplace-and-purc...
- slowpoke 15y ago
  >The properties inherent to physical media are some of the most consumer friendly aspects of distribution. I don't think so. What's consumer friendly about plastic garbage that takes up space, is ridden with unskipable ads, DRM to boot, and is a pain to handle? The true "problem" (for those relying on this business model) still remains the reality that you ultimately cannot force people to pay for virtually cost-free distribution of content. You cannot stop free sharing either. All efforts to do so will eventually result in heavy censorship (actually, copyright and free speech are fundamentally at odds). Pretty much all problems with digital media you describe are caused by this failure to accept reality on the side of distributors. It's not a problem with digital media, it's a problem created by trying to make digital media like physical media (-> being able to control distribution), when the former is so much more powerful, versatile and plain better than the latter. Distributions as a business model is dead. The future of digital media is one that doesn't rely on it, and embraces cost-free distribution and free sharing.
  - ctdonath 15y ago
    What's consumer friendly about physical media is simplicity & independence. My 2-year-old can climb onto the bookshelf, dig out whatever disc he wants, open the Bluray player, insert disc, close it, and watch it - THAT is "consumer friendly". Sure there are things to complain about with discs, but those are way into the "first world problems" realm. When you buy a disc, it's yours. No remote server can deny you access to it on a whim. There was an old saw "don't underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon stuffed with magnetic tapes." Until we get consistent >25Mb/s streaming cheap, you're not going to see Bluray-quality video from Netflix et al ... but a 2-year-old can deliver it in seconds.
    - slowpoke 15y ago
ctdonath 15y ago
Your solution to defeating Hollywood is to give Hollywood complete control over access, distribution, and possession of every bit of content?
kiloaper 15y ago
You seem to forget that it's not just Americans who consume Hollywood content. NetFlix is great in theory but it's not available to everyone and even when it is the selection can suck. As for 10+Mbps connections? I wish. I had dial-up 4 years ago. Some countries, even 'modernised' western ones, still have crappy telecomms infrastructure.

tmh88j 15y ago

Internet access isn't available in everywhere and people will always want hard copies. I'm one of them. Who exactly is going to give Netflix money? Are you telling them to take out a loan, offer more stocks? Internet connection speeds aren't slowing down Netflix, it's Hollywood. They're not worried about their videos not streaming quickly enough; they're worried about making more $$$.

mechanical_fish 15y ago

Wait, you deplore walled gardens in one sentence, then call for the death of physical media in the next sentence? You should be careful what you wish for. The first sale doctrine may be your last and best defense against that walled garden. You're legally allowed to trade DVDs; you're even legally allowed to sell them on the used market; try that with your digital media. Many of Apple's most annoying policies re: movies and TV are dictated by the Hollywood corporations with whom one must deal if one wants to sell these things. You will probably find that the same forces apply to Netflix, and exactly how is Hulu not a walled garden?

cbs 15y ago

>Encourage the death of all hard copies of media, even thumb drives This is a pipe dream that doesn't think more than 5 years into the future or understand the realities of distribution. The properties inherent to physical media are some of the most consumer friendly aspects of distribution. Some can be approximated with a software-only approach, provided that the content provider wants to not only take the time to implement, but also wants consumers to continue to have those benefits. There are also properties of physical media that are impossible to duplicate with the internet, and what they do provide relies on them never going offline and never stop serving any each and every piece of content. I have NES cartridges in my closet that are much more versatile than games on steam. I have a netflix streaming account that I _can not_ use when I visit my father because he doesn't have an internet connection and I can't cache netflix movies on my laptop. I have a friend, who because of hardware failure, can only use xbox dlc if he is connected to the internet (I don't really know the DRM specifics, but on the original hardware he didn't need to be connected). I put up with some of these limitations because I hope they are temporary and digital distribution companies will eventually get their act together, but they're still a "last resort" option when I buy media.

CrazedGeek 15y ago
OT: Has your friend seen this page? http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live/marketplace-and-purchasing/download-content http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live/marketplace-and-purc...
slowpoke 15y ago
>The properties inherent to physical media are some of the most consumer friendly aspects of distribution. I don't think so. What's consumer friendly about plastic garbage that takes up space, is ridden with unskipable ads, DRM to boot, and is a pain to handle? The true "problem" (for those relying on this business model) still remains the reality that you ultimately cannot force people to pay for virtually cost-free distribution of content. You cannot stop free sharing either. All efforts to do so will eventually result in heavy censorship (actually, copyright and free speech are fundamentally at odds). Pretty much all problems with digital media you describe are caused by this failure to accept reality on the side of distributors. It's not a problem with digital media, it's a problem created by trying to make digital media like physical media (-> being able to control distribution), when the former is so much more powerful, versatile and plain better than the latter. Distributions as a business model is dead. The future of digital media is one that doesn't rely on it, and embraces cost-free distribution and free sharing.
- ctdonath 15y ago
  What's consumer friendly about physical media is simplicity & independence. My 2-year-old can climb onto the bookshelf, dig out whatever disc he wants, open the Bluray player, insert disc, close it, and watch it - THAT is "consumer friendly". Sure there are things to complain about with discs, but those are way into the "first world problems" realm. When you buy a disc, it's yours. No remote server can deny you access to it on a whim. There was an old saw "don't underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon stuffed with magnetic tapes." Until we get consistent >25Mb/s streaming cheap, you're not going to see Bluray-quality video from Netflix et al ... but a 2-year-old can deliver it in seconds.
  - slowpoke 15y ago

ctdonath 15y ago

Your solution to defeating Hollywood is to give Hollywood complete control over access, distribution, and possession of every bit of content?

kiloaper 15y ago

You seem to forget that it's not just Americans who consume Hollywood content. NetFlix is great in theory but it's not available to everyone and even when it is the selection can suck. As for 10+Mbps connections? I wish. I had dial-up 4 years ago. Some countries, even 'modernised' western ones, still have crappy telecomms infrastructure.