Piracy is a non-issue to Gabe Newell

[Anarchist420]

http://gamingbolt.com/gabe-newell-p...ing-better-services-will-result-in-more-sales

That's good. Publishers who use DRM are shooting themselves in the foot. I would guess that most people who pirate don't do it because they can't afford to pay, but rather because the publishers make poor decisions like adding excessive DRM.

Why do I download most of my music free instead of buy from itunes? Because itunes is lossy not because I don't feel like paying $1.50 for a track. The fact that so few musicians release their albums in lossless downloadable format is probably killing their sales. I'm too lazy to go to the mall everytime I want to listen to a new album or track and itunes sucks, so I just download it for free if I can find it in flac or other lossless format.

 

[Veliko]

The actual demand for music formats other than MP3 is tiny, it has no discernible effect on sales.

 

[Northern Lawn]

How come it took so long for the hackers to release Half Life 2?

Yeah, I downloaded it but I also bought it off Steam. Man, Steam almost has taken me 99% away from Piracy. So convenient.

 

[biostud]

I rent my music.
I buy new games in web shops.
I buy older games on steam sale.

 

[Anarchist420]

The actual demand for music formats other than MP3 is tiny, it has no discernible effect on sales.

Link?

 

[Veliko]

Link?

To what? You had no link for your assertion.

 

[abaez]

To 99% of the people out there "lossless" means absolutely nothing. Hell even on what.cd the most popular downloads are the mp3 vbr v0 versions of rips. Saying you don't buy music cause it's not sold lossless is kind of a cop out in my opinion. So download your lossless and buy the mp3 album to get at least *something* to the artist?

 

[Demo24]

Link?

Lol, that's rich from you considering you make all kinds of wild assertions without ever providing anything resembling the truth to back them up.

However, look at how many billions of dollars itunes generates from sales. The 'lack' of lossless is in no way 'killing' their sales because 90% of people couldn't give a flying hoot about it long as it sounds 'ok'. You don't buy from itunes for the simple fact you have no money other than what your parents have saved up in their savings account.


sigh, I see you've discovered there are other forums, guess it was only a matter of time. :\

 

[zokudu]

To 99% of the people out there "lossless" means absolutely nothing. Hell even on what.cd the most popular downloads are the mp3 vbr v0 versions of rips. Saying you don't buy music cause it's not sold lossless is kind of a cop out in my opinion. So download your lossless and buy the mp3 album to get at least *something* to the artist?

I buy CDs to rip to FLAC for future storage and I buy t-shirts. iTunes is a scourge on the music industry.

 

[zerocool84]

I buy CDs to rip to FLAC for future storage and I buy t-shirts. iTunes is a scourge on the music industry.

I hate Apple as much as the next guy but saying iTunes is a scourge on the music industry makes no sense. It made it even easier for people to buy music and I'm sure has only helped the music industry.

 

[zokudu]

I hate Apple as much as the next guy but saying iTunes is a scourge on the music industry makes no sense. It made it even easier for people to buy music and I'm sure has only helped the music industry.

I just hate the proliferation of lossy music sales. I can't do anything with these files. I prefer to buy where I can get a lossless copy somehow, not because of any discernible audio difference but because it allows for proper transcodes and is the better long term storage method.

 

[Imp]

I buy CDs to rip to FLAC for future storage and I buy t-shirts. iTunes is a scourge on the music industry.

That's mostly what I do too.

I do, however, buy singles/individual songs from iTunes because it's easy to find stuff on, and quality isn't terrible.

 

[Barfo]

That's good. Publishers who use DRM are shooting themselves in the foot. I would guess that most people who pirate don't do it because they can't afford to pay, but rather because the publishers make poor decisions like adding excessive DRM.

Steam is DRM you know? I'm not opposed to it as long as it's not invasive and a huge annoyance to your customers, ala Ubisoft.

 

[Gunslinger08]

All of the arguments for piracy are stupid. People don't pirate because of iTunes bitrates, DRM, bad quality content, etc. They pirate because they want to consume some entertainment without paying for it. Yes, you're stealing a digital copy that isn't removing any physical resources from a store, but that doesn't matter. When you buy a game, CD, or DVD, you aren't paying much for the actual disc and such. You are paying for the time and resources put into producing the content on that medium.

 

[coloumb]

lol - "P.S. He has no idea about Half-Life 3."

 

[paperfist]

That's good. Publishers who use DRM are shooting themselves in the foot. I would guess that most people who pirate don't do it because they can't afford to pay, but rather because the publishers make poor decisions like adding excessive DRM.

Why do I download most of my music free instead of buy from itunes? Because itunes is lossy not because I don't feel like paying $1.50 for a track. The fact that so few musicians release their albums in lossless downloadable format is probably killing their sales. I'm too lazy to go to the mall everytime I want to listen to a new album or track and itunes sucks, so I just download it for free if I can find it in flac or other lossless format.

Most people pirate for the same reasons you pirate music, due to their laziness they rather rather download it. Due to in not being in the format they think they have to have (DRM free) they steal it instead.

Amazon BTW sells DRM free music and its typically less then iTunes. No it's not lossless, but I bet no one bitches about the signal they get from their internet streams or radio streams because it's free...

 

[Bateluer]

I just hate the proliferation of lossy music sales. I can't do anything with these files. I prefer to buy where I can get a lossless copy somehow, not because of any discernible audio difference but because it allows for proper transcodes and is the better long term storage method.

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and say there's less you can do with lossless files than you can do with the 256bit MP3s. Most portable music players don't have unlimited storage, so going lossless severely limits the number of songs I can put on my iPod. There's also a big plus to be able to click 'Buy' and 10 seconds later have the album fully downloaded and ready for listening.

 

[zokudu]

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and say there's less you can do with lossless files than you can do with the 256bit MP3s. Most portable music players don't have unlimited storage, so going lossless severely limits the number of songs I can put on my iPod. There's also a big plus to be able to click 'Buy' and 10 seconds later have the album fully downloaded and ready for listening.

But I can transcode a FLAC to a -V0 mp3 as many times as I want. I can also transcode it a Ogg Vorbis -q5 if I wanted to. It's not about hardware compatibility with a portable player its about being able to use my music in any way I want to after I purchase it which AAC and mp3 do not let me do.

 

[Barfo]

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and say there's less you can do with lossless files than you can do with the 256bit MP3s. Most portable music players don't have unlimited storage, so going lossless severely limits the number of songs I can put on my iPod. There's also a big plus to be able to click 'Buy' and 10 seconds later have the album fully downloaded and ready for listening.

Ah but the convenience of lossless is that you can convert it to a lossy format if your device has limited storage or only supports mp3s. But you can't "upconvert" an mp3 to a higher audio quality file if you so desire.

 

[lord_emperor]

Piracy is a non-issue to the largest DRM company in the world? [sarcasm]I'm surprised.[/sarcasm]

 

[shingletingle]

http://gamingbolt.com/gabe-newell-p...ing-better-services-will-result-in-more-sales

That's good. Publishers who use DRM are shooting themselves in the foot. I would guess that most people who pirate don't do it because they can't afford to pay, but rather because the publishers make poor decisions like adding excessive DRM.

Why do I download most of my music free instead of buy from itunes? Because itunes is lossy not because I don't feel like paying $1.50 for a track. The fact that so few musicians release their albums in lossless downloadable format is probably killing their sales. I'm too lazy to go to the mall everytime I want to listen to a new album or track and itunes sucks, so I just download it for free if I can find it in flac or other lossless format.

Typical excuse from a pirate. If you don't want the lossy track and you're too lazy to go buy the CD, then it's obviously not all that important to you and you don't need it. Knock it off.

 

[Barfo]

Piracy is a non-issue to the largest DRM company in the world? [sarcasm]I'm surprised.[/sarcasm]

And why did they become such? yeah because their DRM doesn't punish their customers for paying for software. Rather, it makes it more convenient than pirating it. Way to dumb it down.

 

[paperfist]

Ah but the convenience of lossless is that you can convert it to a lossy format if your device has limited storage or only supports mp3s. But you can't "upconvert" an mp3 to a higher audio quality file if you so desire.

The mainstream purchasers aren't going to bother with that. If they buy 5 lossless albums and find out it won't fit on their iPod then they are going to scream and scream and scream. Plus as a seller having to store all those files is just going to increase costs to the point no one will buy them and revert back to piracy.

 

[Bateluer]

But I can transcode a FLAC to a -V0 mp3 as many times as I want. I can also transcode it a Ogg Vorbis -q5 if I wanted to. It's not about hardware compatibility with a portable player its about being able to use my music in any way I want to after I purchase it which AAC and mp3 do not let me do.

True, but that 'market' is extremely tiny in comparison. The 256bit MP3s sold by Amazon and iTunes work in 99% of PMPs, people know what an MP3 is, and the quality is more than enough for what 99.9% of people will do with their music.

 

[zokudu]

The mainstream purchasers aren't going to bother with that. If they buy 5 lossless albums and find out it won't fit on their iPod then they are going to scream and scream and scream. Plus as a seller having to store all those files is just going to increase costs to the point no one will buy them and revert back to piracy.

Whats stopping Apple from offering the option of purchasing in ALAC which would work on their own idevices? I am willing to pay more for the option of a Lossless download regardless of format and I bet a few other people would too. The simplicity of purchasing with iTunes vs ripping my own CD. I would spend way more money on iTunes if this was the case.