Intellectual Rights Etc.

[TromboneAl]

I've always been good about not copying copyrighted CD's or DVD's, respecting the rights of the artists and the media companies. I probably felt this way because I was a software developer and also a musician.

However, here are the things that have changed my mind:

1. I recently put a DVD movie into the player, and it forced me to watch previews of coming attractions. That is, there was no way to fast-forward through them and get to the main menu. No way that I found, anyway. Some DVD's force me to have the FBI copying warning on the screen for a long period, with no fast-forwarding allowed.

2. When DW's parents send me Swedish DVD's for Christmas presents (no, not porn ), I couldn't watch them because they are designed to only work on European DVD players (media companies put region codes on the DVD's so that they can release the DVD on different dates in different locations in the world).

That kind of stuff is intolerable, so I no longer have any qualms about copying DVD's or CD's. I found a good app that lets me copy region-protected DVD's, making them region free, and also lets me copy copy-protected DVD's, eliminating advertisements. The app is DVD Region+CSS Free Lite.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i think this goes to a beef of mine in that why should we have to pay for someone inconveniencing us. at the supermarket if it takes longer for you to check me out then it did for me to shop, forget it, you can restock my items. i walk.

i went out for batteries last night. one store wanted 4 bucks and small change but when i got to the counter it was almost 6 bucks. i pointed out the difference between the price on the shelf and the cashier's charge. he gives me attitude and says it will take time to get a manager. i left. next store charges me almost a dollar under what the price said. i thought of saying something but then thought of the time & gas money wasted to come to a second store, even if it was to a different chain. i thought of the time it would take to correct this store's bumbling, so i just took my savings and ran.

 

[peggy]

I've always been good about not copying copyrighted CD's or DVD's, respecting the rights of the artists and the media companies. I probably felt this way because I was a software developer and also a musician.

However, here are the things that have changed my mind:

1. I recently put a DVD movie into the player, and it forced me to watch previews of coming attractions. That is, there was no way to fast-forward through them and get to the main menu. No way that I found, anyway. Some DVD's force me to have the FBI copying warning on the screen for a long period, with no fast-forwarding allowed.

2. When DW's parents send me Swedish DVD's for Christmas presents (no, not porn ), I couldn't watch them because they are designed to only work on European DVD players (media companies put region codes on the DVD's so that they can release the DVD on different dates in different locations in the world).

That kind of stuff is intolerable, so I no longer have any qualms about copying DVD's or CD's. I found a good app that lets me copy region-protected DVD's, making them region free, and also lets me copy copy-protected DVD's, eliminating advertisements. The app is DVD Region+CSS Free Lite.

So you're punishing the creators for something they have no control over? The actors starring in those movies didn't choose to put all those warnings and commercials and region codes on those DVDs, but they're the ones who could be hurt by illegal copying.

[This is mostly a devil's advocate argument; I think the current IP laws are flat out wrong and need to be revisited.]

 

[kcowan]

I guess what I want to see is that the oriiginal creator gets fair returns for their work effort. I see all the issues that you raise as being attempts by the distributors to rip us off to ensure they get their big profits.

Look at the success of iTunes. It is making good money and rewarding artists while making it easy for consumer to get what they want. No one really want to cheat.They just want to get what they want at a fair price without hassles.

Personally I have paid for some tunes on record, then 8-track then cassette and finally mp3. At least I hope it is finally. How many times does the artist and distributor need to be paid for the same song?

I hope the emerging electronic distribution will eventually give the creators more and eliminate the middlemen.

 

[HFWR]

Not that I've never pirated swapped music with friends, but I generally support intellectual property rights.

Having said that, T-Al, use those glorious moments to go get a cold barley pop...

 

[brewer12345]

So you're punishing the creators for something they have no control over? The actors starring in those movies didn't choose to put all those warnings and commercials and region codes on those DVDs, but they're the ones who could be hurt by illegal copying.

[This is mostly a devil's advocate argument; I think the current IP laws are flat out wrong and need to be revisited.]

I didn't see any indications that TAl was copying stuff en masse for pirate distribution, fun and profit. Just that he was undoing the annoying crap manufacturers do to mak it difficult to use something you legitimately paid for.

 

[peggy]

I didn't see any indications that TAl was copying stuff en masse for pirate distribution, fun and profit. Just that he was undoing the annoying crap manufacturers do to mak it difficult to use something you legitimately paid for.

Well, I based my comment off of:

I no longer have any qualms about copying DVD's or CD's.

Which I may have taken out of context, and if so I apologize. If Al's still going to buy those DVD's (the Swedish ones), I don't have a problem with this at all. Not, of course, that my opinion matters a whit. LOL

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I use dvd decrypter, which is a free product. Never made a copy to rob someone of anything or made a permanent copy for anything other than personal use. Mostly just for copying netflix disks onto my home theater machine to watch when I got around to it. Always delete them when i'm done.

Every once in a great while a movie I copied to the hard drive with dvd decrypter wouldnt play, I suspect due to someones attempt at another layer of copy protection that dvd decrypter didnt remove. One pass through another freebie, dvdshrink, using no compression options (full size output) seemed to solve the problem. Maybe 1 out of 10 movies.

Dvdshrink is also fairly handy...will take a dvd movie file and recompress it smaller. Looks like crap on a big screen but I can shrink 6 hours worth of video onto a single layer dvd disk to put in gabes car dvd player. Looks fine on a 10" screen.

The relative merits of six hours of Barney going off right behind my head is quite debatable.

 

[d]

The relative merits of six hours of Barney going off right behind my head ...

'splains a lot!

 

[TromboneAl]

So you're punishing the creators for something they have no control over? The actors starring in those movies didn't choose to put all those warnings and commercials and region codes on those DVDs, but they're the ones who could be hurt by illegal copying.

I agree with you 100%. I can't defend my position, and maybe I'm really just looking for an excuse for copying things and saving money. But it feels like I'm getting even with the big bad media megacorporations.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I'm just throwing another wrench in the works, but from what I hear the artists (actors, musicians, etc.) generally don't get much money from the CD and DVD sales. The distributors do. As I understand it musicians get most of their money through concets and actors are usually paid based on previous popularity.

I also am extremely annoyed by being forced to watch an FBI warning and previews on a disc that I paid for. Isn't it counterproductive that the copied discs can easily skip those annoyances? I'm also annoyed by the artificial scarcity of region encoding.

I guess the core problem is that the people who currently make the money (distributors) are the ones threatened by the new media which can make copies at near-zero incremental cost.