4 ms·

I hate that quote. I don't think it's a service problem or pricing problem at all. The problem is that humans are incredibly selfish. However Valve has very cle

I hate that quote. I don't think it's a service problem or pricing problem at all. The problem is that humans are incredibly selfish. However Valve has very cleverly come up with a service and pricing solution to that problem.

0x0 13y ago
Have you ever lived outside the US?
sillysaurus3 13y ago
The problem is that humans are incredibly selfish. Given the choice between spending time or spending money, people usually spend money. It's one reason Steam is so profitable. So it can't be true that most people inherently want to steal. It seems like people want convenience. When faced with a choice, people usually choose whichever option is least bothersome. That implies a goal for content creators: be the least bothersome option, and users will pay you. Unfortunately for the movie industry, Popcorn Time is currently the least bothersome service. It's free, decentralized, and tastefully designed. The industry should clone Popcorn Time, because that would put them in a better position than they're currently in.
kbar13 13y ago
really? Have you considered how difficult it is to obtain media legally nowadays? Even Netflix is a pain in the butt, what with ISPs purposely throttling it in addition to an incomplete library due to licensing and incompatibility due to silverlight.
- forrestthewoods 13y ago
  Bull. Fucking. Shit. It has in fact never been easier in the history of time to legally acquire media. It takes approximately 4 mouse clicks in iTunes to purchase and start downloading any movie, TV show, or music. You can start streaming it in after about 30 seconds, or you could let the whole thing download. The quality is also higher than pirated content because they have a fantastic encoding off of source material. If I gave you an iTunes account with free access to to everything on iTunes it would be far faster and easier to use than even Pirate Bay. Toss in a cheap $99 AppleTV and you can get it in your living room hassle free. The only downside, of course, is that it costs money. Of course renting a movie on iTunes is faster, easier, and cheaper than renting a VHS from the store 15 years ago but when you can pirate it for free who gives a shit? <insert snarky comment about not all media being available on iTunes or in all countries>
  - zorpner 13y ago
    >>> <insert snarky comment about not all media being available on iTunes or in all countries> Oooh, I like this new feature where poorly-thought-out comments include their own rebuttal. Can't wait 'til it rolls out to the rest of HN.
    - GotAnyMegadeth 13y ago
      This feature won't be available in your region
  - kbar13 13y ago
    oh yeah? what happens if you want to watch that video on your nexus 7 tablet in bed?
    - adidash 13y ago
      Keep the tablet aside and use your hand :)
      - kbar13 13y ago
        oh cmon :)
  - girvo 13y ago
    Come live in Australia, where we have a lot of money and content from overseas is a pain to get legally. Personally, I just stick to local content instead. Much easier.
  - __david__ 13y ago
    > The only downside, of course, is that it costs money. No, the only downside is that iTunes Movies are DRMed BS. I have to buy an Apple TV to watch it on my TV. I have to use an iPhone and copy the movie to the phone, wasting my precious flash space. With the .mkv files I get from a .torrent, I can stream them to my TiVO with pyTivo [1], or I can host them on a server [2] and use StreamToMe [3] to stream them to my phone, ipad, computer across the cell network or local wifi with no restrictions. I can stream to non Apple devices with Subsonic [4]. It means when I'm visiting friends or family house we have access to all my movies without me having to plan ahead. It means when I accidentally arrive 40 minutes early to a meeting I can kill time in my car by streaming an episode of a TV show. To me that is the reason to pirate. I'm happy to buy stuff. I just want to actually be able to use the stuff that I buy. There is no service out there that does everything I can currently do. [1] https://github.com/armooo/pytivo https://github.com/armooo/pytivo [2] https://github.com/caldwell/stm.js https://github.com/caldwell/stm.js [3] http://zqueue.com/streamtome/index.html http://zqueue.com/streamtome/index.html [4] http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp

0x0 13y ago

Have you ever lived outside the US?

sillysaurus3 13y ago

The problem is that humans are incredibly selfish. Given the choice between spending time or spending money, people usually spend money. It's one reason Steam is so profitable. So it can't be true that most people inherently want to steal. It seems like people want convenience. When faced with a choice, people usually choose whichever option is least bothersome. That implies a goal for content creators: be the least bothersome option, and users will pay you. Unfortunately for the movie industry, Popcorn Time is currently the least bothersome service. It's free, decentralized, and tastefully designed. The industry should clone Popcorn Time, because that would put them in a better position than they're currently in.

kbar13 13y ago

really? Have you considered how difficult it is to obtain media legally nowadays? Even Netflix is a pain in the butt, what with ISPs purposely throttling it in addition to an incomplete library due to licensing and incompatibility due to silverlight.

forrestthewoods 13y ago
Bull. Fucking. Shit. It has in fact never been easier in the history of time to legally acquire media. It takes approximately 4 mouse clicks in iTunes to purchase and start downloading any movie, TV show, or music. You can start streaming it in after about 30 seconds, or you could let the whole thing download. The quality is also higher than pirated content because they have a fantastic encoding off of source material. If I gave you an iTunes account with free access to to everything on iTunes it would be far faster and easier to use than even Pirate Bay. Toss in a cheap $99 AppleTV and you can get it in your living room hassle free. The only downside, of course, is that it costs money. Of course renting a movie on iTunes is faster, easier, and cheaper than renting a VHS from the store 15 years ago but when you can pirate it for free who gives a shit? <insert snarky comment about not all media being available on iTunes or in all countries>
- zorpner 13y ago
  >>> <insert snarky comment about not all media being available on iTunes or in all countries> Oooh, I like this new feature where poorly-thought-out comments include their own rebuttal. Can't wait 'til it rolls out to the rest of HN.
  - GotAnyMegadeth 13y ago
    This feature won't be available in your region
- kbar13 13y ago
  oh yeah? what happens if you want to watch that video on your nexus 7 tablet in bed?
  - adidash 13y ago
    Keep the tablet aside and use your hand :)
    - kbar13 13y ago
      oh cmon :)
- girvo 13y ago
  Come live in Australia, where we have a lot of money and content from overseas is a pain to get legally. Personally, I just stick to local content instead. Much easier.
- __david__ 13y ago
  > The only downside, of course, is that it costs money. No, the only downside is that iTunes Movies are DRMed BS. I have to buy an Apple TV to watch it on my TV. I have to use an iPhone and copy the movie to the phone, wasting my precious flash space. With the .mkv files I get from a .torrent, I can stream them to my TiVO with pyTivo [1], or I can host them on a server [2] and use StreamToMe [3] to stream them to my phone, ipad, computer across the cell network or local wifi with no restrictions. I can stream to non Apple devices with Subsonic [4]. It means when I'm visiting friends or family house we have access to all my movies without me having to plan ahead. It means when I accidentally arrive 40 minutes early to a meeting I can kill time in my car by streaming an episode of a TV show. To me that is the reason to pirate. I'm happy to buy stuff. I just want to actually be able to use the stuff that I buy. There is no service out there that does everything I can currently do. [1] https://github.com/armooo/pytivo https://github.com/armooo/pytivo [2] https://github.com/caldwell/stm.js https://github.com/caldwell/stm.js [3] http://zqueue.com/streamtome/index.html http://zqueue.com/streamtome/index.html [4] http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp