60 Minutes coverage of movie piracy

[benliong]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
i still have doubts, those marginal movies that certain people only sorta want to see can never be priced low enough. people would expect it for almost nothing, as its competing against free. you see people complaining about 99cents downloads from itunes already.

and i just don't get people complaining about the industry only putting out bad movies. the industry is in it to make money. if you don't support good movies and instead pirate then, they aren't going to make as many of those. esp considering those are the movies that benifit most from dvds. you don't see films like requiem like a dream breaking box office records, people just don't go. they go for films like the run down. its not the industrys fault they don't want to lose money.

all that being said, it doesn't matter how much you disagree with the industry, your entitled to their product.

I think it has to do with personal preference. I wouldn't mind watching a disney cartoon on a big screen, but there are a lot of people who don't care for them. They just wouldn't see if in the theatre. In that case it just doesn't matter whether these people pirate movies, it would not cut into Disney's potential profit.

I'm not saying pirating is right. I myself haven't downloaded movies for 3 years. But the way it was explained in 60 minutes was not entirely right either, and the industry does have their share of responsibility to produce better films as one of the ways to battle piracy.

 

[0roo0roo]

i just use netflix.com full quality dvds with special features mailed to me for a monthly fee. i cant see paying for a lower quality streamed product with no bonus features.

 

[Luagsch]

you see people complaining about 99cents downloads from itunes already.

that is 99cents per song, isn't it? (sitting in europe without a clue)

 

[0roo0roo]

yes, per song

 

[Luagsch]

ok, i hereby complain too:

<rant> 99c a song? WTF? that's 15 dollars an album!!!! that's what i pay for a cd!!!! without all the candy of a cd! what are those guys thinking?!?!?! iTunes my a$$!!!! </rant>

that was it. now back to business...

 

[Wozster]

Originally posted by: Luagsch
ok, i hereby complain too:

<rant> 99c a song? WTF? that's 15 dollars an album!!!! that's what i pay for a cd!!!! without all the candy of a cd! what are those guys thinking?!?!?! iTunes my a$$!!!! </rant>

that was it. now back to business...

Agreed.
Why on earth would I pay 99 cents per song when I can buy the album for 11.99 or less?

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: Wozster

Originally posted by: Luagsch
ok, i hereby complain too:

<rant> 99c a song? WTF? that's 15 dollars an album!!!! that's what i pay for a cd!!!! without all the candy of a cd! what are those guys thinking?!?!?! iTunes my a$$!!!! </rant>

that was it. now back to business...

Agreed.
Why on earth would I pay 99 cents per song when I can buy the album for 11.99 or less?

I have seen countless posts from people who say they pirate CDs because it's not worth paying $12 when there's only one song that's any good. They claim they would pay a buck for the one song they want instead of paying $12 for the whole CD.

 

[PoPPeR]

Originally posted by: LethalWolfe

Originally posted by: PoPPeR just watched it... LOL ahahahahahahahahahahhahaha very entertaining. I had a blast having 60 minutes tell ME how new sharing movies were and how it got there in the first place. These people are idiots, they should've hired an internet geek to put that segment together.

Ahhh... I love it when a geek thinks they represent the average joe on the street. Lethal

so in your geek opinion, you think the average joe has JUST figured out how to download movies off kazaa? I am the only internet geek out of all my friends, yet they and everyone they know have known about movies on kazaa for at least a year and a half. That's not *new*

 

[Tom]

"I think his argument is that for most of the less than average movies, people won't end up paying to see it in theater if there were no download available. I for one won't be paying for legally blond 2 in theatre, but if it's convenient to download I'll spare the time to see if it's anything good. "

The problem with that argument is if people think it's ok to steal something because they don't like it enough to pay for it, we are supposed to believe they won't steal the stuff they would pay for, when it's just as easy to steal it ??

People who either don't believe stealing is wrong, or won't admit they are stealing, aren't going to all of a sudden develop the character to pay for the good stuff. They will just get used to getting stuff for free that isn't meant to be free, which is what makes it stealing.

Then on top of developing a thieving mentality, they come on forums like this and try to rationalize their behvior with their fellow thieves, so they don't have to feel bad about ripping off the very artists that make the stuff they enjoy watching or hearing.

Anyway, that's the way I see all of this discussion about the RIAA the MPAA and downloading copyrighted works.

Anyway, for better or worse, we all are making the world the way it is, if it's ok to take away the fruits of someone else's labor without compensating them, I'd like to know what kind of socio-economic system you expect to end up with ?

 

The industry is grasping at straws.

 

[CrazyDe1]

The reason why sales are down is because of higher prices at movie theaters. I bet DVD sales are up...why pay 8 bucks in the theater when 15 bucks gets you the DVD. I pirated movies in college but I wouldn't have bought them anyways. I don't pirate movies now because I can't stand anything below DVD quality and divx simply doesn't sound or look as good on a projector with a sorround system. Hell, I can pirate movies but i'd rather just get the DVD....

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: Dead Parrot Sketch

Originally posted by: konichiwa

Originally posted by: Tabb

Originally posted by: konichiwa
Am I the only one who sees straight through the movie (and record) industry's claims that their sales are down strictly due to piracy?

A large part of it is.

And you know that...how?

How do you know it isn't ?

And there is something that strikes me as illogical that at the same time piracy or movies and music is going on that an argument is made that the product isn't any good. If that was true nobody would pirate it, would they ?

Not necessarily. A friend of mine up on campus downloads gigs of movies, music, all the latest computer and console games, etc. Most of it sucks, and he never does anything with it, he just wants to have it.

 

[StageLeft]

Well I can say from a personal perspective that MP3s have caused me to buy less CDs. I simply can't deny it. In regards to movies, my frequency of going to movies has drastically decreased over the past several years down from perhaps 20+/year to around 5/year in theater. The primary reason is ballooning costs and when I take into consideration that I have a decent home setup, and movies seem to go to DVD very quickly these days, I feel little compulsion to go to the theater.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
because wouldn't you know it, many media outlets are either owned, own, or have a joint venture with some branch of either record or movie companies. That kinda crap pisses me off.

CBS is owned by Viacom who own Paramount Pictures. Hence, the online 60 Minutes story begins with the following "facts"....

(CBS) It's no secret that online piracy has decimated the music industry, as millions of people have stopped buying CDs and started stealing their favorite songs by downloading them from the Internet.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Well I can say from a personal perspective that MP3s have caused me to buy less CDs. I simply can't deny it. In regards to movies, my frequency of going to movies has drastically decreased over the past several years down from perhaps 20+/year to around 5/year in theater. The primary reason is ballooning costs and when I take into consideration that I have a decent home setup, and movies seem to go to DVD very quickly these days, I feel little compulsion to go to the theater.

Yup.

Take a look at big screen TV & home theatre equipment sales over the last 5 years. With the introduction of 50" tv's available @ $1500 or less, you'll see that more and more people are investing in home theatre equipment. That, and look at rental profits. In the last 2-3 years Blockbuster stock has gone through the roof! DVD sales are probably eclipsing even the best years of VHS sales.

People just aren't hitting the theatres as much anymore. Why pay that much for a movie when I can rent it for for a fraction of the price in a couple months, or hell, even buy it for a few bucks more when it's released in a few months?

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Well I can say from a personal perspective that MP3s have caused me to buy less CDs. I simply can't deny it. In regards to movies, my frequency of going to movies has drastically decreased over the past several years down from perhaps 20+/year to around 5/year in theater. The primary reason is ballooning costs and when I take into consideration that I have a decent home setup, and movies seem to go to DVD very quickly these days, I feel little compulsion to go to the theater.

Yup.

Take a look at big screen TV & home theatre equipment sales over the last 5 years. With the introduction of 50" tv's available @ $1500 or less, you'll see that more and more people are investing in home theatre equipment. That, and look at rental profits. In the last 2-3 years Blockbuster stock has gone through the roof! DVD sales are probably eclipsing even the best years of VHS sales.

People just aren't hitting the theatres as much anymore. Why pay that much for a movie when I can rent it for for a fraction of the price in a couple months, or hell, even buy it for a few bucks more when it's released in a few months?

Movie theaters definately need to re-invent themselves if they want to do better than they have been doing. I mean, what's the point of going to the theater when I can plop down on my own comfy couch(as opposed to those damn theater seats, 2x as painful because I'm so tall), pause whenever I want, and get whatever snacks I want when I want, all for less money(that is, not counting the equipment I had to buy), and less effort than going to the movies. The MPAA was right you know, watching movies at home did kill the theater, it only took 20 years longer than they thought it would.

 

[brigden]

Bottom line: downloading movies or music is theft. Pure and simple. There is no denying it.

Do I download movies and music? I sure do. Why? Because it's free and I can get away with it. If I hear a song I like, I download it and then I download the entire album. If the album is good I keep all the files, if I only like a few, I delete the tracks I dislike.

I've downloaded a few movies, but honestly, most of the time the quality is so poor it isn't worth it. Anyway, I enjoy going to the theatre and prefer owning the actual DVD. That said, if I could find DVD quality movies online in the same manner as music, I would download to my heart's content!

 

[vi edit]

I think that the advent of dirt cheap DVD burners (less than $100 now) is going to make a huge impact on DVD sales.

Why buy a movie when you can rent it for a couple of bucks and burn it for the cost of media?

 

[Gravity]

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: Phocas
<--- realizes....

What can we do? I need to order some RIAA shirts for xmas....

here

This one is better

 

[Gravity]

Originally posted by: Luagsch
where can i download this episode of 60 minutes?

LMAO!!!

 

[MaxDepth]

Here is the link to the on-line version, text

I can't find an email addy to which to send a rebuttal. They must be afraid of getting bomabarded.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Well I can say from a personal perspective that MP3s have caused me to buy less CDs. I simply can't deny it. In regards to movies, my frequency of going to movies has drastically decreased over the past several years down from perhaps 20+/year to around 5/year in theater. The primary reason is ballooning costs and when I take into consideration that I have a decent home setup, and movies seem to go to DVD very quickly these days, I feel little compulsion to go to the theater.

OMG, an honest ATOTer who admits that he may have downloaded an MP3...

I agree with you completely about going to movies... too expensive, especially considering that if you have a nice home theater setup, you can watch the movie in just a couple of months anyways. (how long was it between the 2nd matrix in theaters and its release on dvd? 2 months?)

 

[tm37]

Originally posted by: Gravity

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: Phocas
<--- realizes....

What can we do? I need to order some RIAA shirts for xmas....

here

This one is better

But your linking skillz aren't

 

[Slammy1]

Well, I will say all segments of the economy seem recessed, so you cannot blame it entirely of d/ls. It would be unreasoable to state that p2p's have not hurt the industry in a serious way, but a more accurate statement would be that the industry needs to change its practices. I think on a standard CD, 4 of 10 "good" songs is a high percentage. So much garbage on CDs, I hold no pity for the industry's dilemma. Consider, a DVD costs about the same as a CD. I remember I finally found Point Blank's American Excess CD, and it cost $50. And there was only one good song on it. I eltpretty good about my deision to not buy it.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: PoPPeR

Originally posted by: LethalWolfe

Originally posted by: PoPPeR just watched it... LOL ahahahahahahahahahahhahaha very entertaining. I had a blast having 60 minutes tell ME how new sharing movies were and how it got there in the first place. These people are idiots, they should've hired an internet geek to put that segment together.

Ahhh... I love it when a geek thinks they represent the average joe on the street. Lethal

so in your geek opinion, you think the average joe has JUST figured out how to download movies off kazaa? I am the only internet geek out of all my friends, yet they and everyone they know have known about movies on kazaa for at least a year and a half. That's not *new*

How old are you, how old are your friends, and how old do you think the typical 60 Minutes viewer is?

It's new in the fact that broadband growth and the falling prices of DVD burners is bringing movie pirating into the mainstream just like CD burners becoming common place and Napster in the head lines brought music pirating into the mainstream a few years ago even though people had be "sharing" music on-line years before Napster became a household word.


Lethal