Comments on: Pirate Bay Goes to Jail http://jasonosder.com/blog/archives/93 Observations and Criticism by Jason Osder Sun, 04 Apr 2010 21:42:18 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Robbie Carman http://jasonosder.com/blog/archives/93/comment-page-1#comment-362 Robbie Carman Wed, 27 May 2009 02:45:30 +0000 http://jasonosder.com/blog/archives/93#comment-362 The problem doesn't exist with the illegal distribution of the the content itself but with the fact that volume distribution of content allows for add revenue. If you're a site that claims to have access to 50000 ebooks, songs etc you can support higher add revs. No pirating service give two shits about the content, its simply a factor of the more content that is available on their site the more add revenue. The problem doesn’t exist with the illegal distribution of the the content itself but with the fact that volume distribution of content allows for add revenue. If you’re a site that claims to have access to 50000 ebooks, songs etc you can support higher add revs. No pirating service give two shits about the content, its simply a factor of the more content that is available on their site the more add revenue.

]]> By: Evan M http://jasonosder.com/blog/archives/93/comment-page-1#comment-337 Evan M Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:08:41 +0000 http://jasonosder.com/blog/archives/93#comment-337 When I first started to download content illegally, it was because record stores were getting away with charging $18 for a new release, and the RIAA was adamantly against distributing music online. They thought they could solve their problems with series of lawsuits. The music industry consisted of oligopolies and the consumers were being screwed -- and so the world responded with napster. It took YEARS for industry to embrace online distribution. Well, they finally did with poor implementations like music-leasing services (e.g. Rhapsody and other subscription-based services). When iTunes opened up its music store, they released tracks wrapped in DRM and sampled at 128kbs. I continued to pirate music, because I didn't like iTunes on my PC and used Windows Media Player instead. I also preferred to listen to my music encoded at 256kbps or higher. My reasons for pirating were because the few players in the industry dictated how I should listen to music, and what rights I should have. Now with Amazon MP3, I can download those higher quality tracks with no DRM. And it's fast, and easy as hell. I gladly pay 99 cents for a song, or $10 for the CD because they're not screwing me. Heck, I'd even pay up to 35% more because it's so convenient and fair. For as long as we live now, digital content is going to be available through illegal channels. The Pirate Bay is not the only problem, and their failure to abide by takedown notices isn't going to change anything that much. I think the real challenge is to find a way to make the user want to pay for content versus stealing it. Don't blame the intermediary; blame the user. In your case, Jason, I don't think too many people are pirating eBooks. The thought of reading a book in PDF form on a computer screen doesn't appeal to too many people (I would hope). But with the Kindle, and other eBook readers, it will become a growing problem. Moving to a more digitized approach to distribute content, however, the production and distribution costs for books will go way down -- and theoretically so will the price. When a great product hits a great price, through a great medium, I think the problem resolve itself. When I first started to download content illegally, it was because record stores were getting away with charging $18 for a new release, and the RIAA was adamantly against distributing music online. They thought they could solve their problems with series of lawsuits. The music industry consisted of oligopolies and the consumers were being screwed — and so the world responded with napster. It took YEARS for industry to embrace online distribution. Well, they finally did with poor implementations like music-leasing services (e.g. Rhapsody and other subscription-based services). When iTunes opened up its music store, they released tracks wrapped in DRM and sampled at 128kbs. I continued to pirate music, because I didn’t like iTunes on my PC and used Windows Media Player instead. I also preferred to listen to my music encoded at 256kbps or higher. My reasons for pirating were because the few players in the industry dictated how I should listen to music, and what rights I should have.

Now with Amazon MP3, I can download those higher quality tracks with no DRM. And it’s fast, and easy as hell. I gladly pay 99 cents for a song, or $10 for the CD because they’re not screwing me. Heck, I’d even pay up to 35% more because it’s so convenient and fair.

For as long as we live now, digital content is going to be available through illegal channels. The Pirate Bay is not the only problem, and their failure to abide by takedown notices isn’t going to change anything that much. I think the real challenge is to find a way to make the user want to pay for content versus stealing it. Don’t blame the intermediary; blame the user.

In your case, Jason, I don’t think too many people are pirating eBooks. The thought of reading a book in PDF form on a computer screen doesn’t appeal to too many people (I would hope). But with the Kindle, and other eBook readers, it will become a growing problem. Moving to a more digitized approach to distribute content, however, the production and distribution costs for books will go way down — and theoretically so will the price. When a great product hits a great price, through a great medium, I think the problem resolve itself.

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