4 ms·
I don't know what to think about TV. On one hand, there's a lot of progress happening. Streaming, on-demand and pay-per-view/download are really getting bigger
by netcan 13y ago
I don't know what to think about TV.
On one hand, there's a lot of progress happening. Streaming, on-demand and pay-per-view/download are really getting bigger and more prominent every year. HDboxes, are getting better too and achieving a lot of the same things (watch anything anytime).
The artform itself is improving. Game of Thrones or Breaking bad are better that any show could be in the stand alone episode paradigm of Star Trek. They are using the 10+ hrs hours of sequential viewing to do some serious plot & character development. Walter White wasn't possible before serials.
On the other hand, it's all such a kludge.The whole thing is built around creating and maintaining an artificial scarcity modeled on the slightly less artificial scarcity of a few years ago. We pretend that we're paying Amazon or Netflix's for a cable or pretending that we're paying Apple for a video cassette. Don't get me started on loaning.
I'm not claiming that copyright could go away and still have Game Of Thrones. This isn't that kind of statement. But… it's just such a kludge. Something this brittle and ugly can't be the right way to do anything.
- jonny_eh 13y agoI don't follow. How is paying Netflix a kludge? They're providing a fantastic service in addition to some great new content. If Amazon, Hulu, et al step up their game then we're all the better for it.
- panzagl 13y agoNetflix on its own isn't a kludge, but paying netflix, plus maybe Hulu, and oh, there's stuff from Amazon as a side effect of 2 day shipping, plus buying individual episodes from Amazon, iTunes, or Google, and don't forget the old Ultraviolets, right, right? Add in some ripped media and possibly a wire or antenna hooked to a dvr and that's what's a kludge.
- chaostheory 13y agoWhat's the point you're trying to make? That you can't buy episodes of shows like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones separate from cable, they're too expensive, or that Netflix and its kin aren't good enough?
- netcan 13y agoMy point is that even applying the word "buy" to something like an episode in todays context feels artificial. It's built around rules which state that everyone must pretend that Game of Thrones is being recorded onto video cassettes and you are walking over to the video store to borrow them. I'm not trying to make a normative or ideological point. Overall, the shows themselves and the system of selling and delivering them to us is way better than 10 years ago. I'm not claiming some unalienable right (though ironically there is an inalienable ability, via pirating) to see anything, anytime at a price of my choosing. I'm not making suggestions for an alternative economy where Game of Thrones gets produced. I'm just saying that this system is ugly and feels fragile. It's a kludge.
- chaostheory 13y agoI agree with you. I just would have understood faster if you just wrote: buying a physical copy of media != buying a license to play for legitimate digital media with DRM where they can take that license away for any reason