I've gathered (perhaps incorrectly) the aim of this website is to promote the free and unencumbered transfer of all forms of digital media. Yes, free-as-in-beer access to any file on a computer.
I can understand the argument for music. The CDs seem overpriced, the organizations have a monopoly, and music shouldn't be about financial gain in the first place. It's an art, right?
What about movies? Should movies be free as well? Yes, it's another art form but it is a more perverse art generally bent on entertainment and shallowness. Not that this is a bad trait but without a profit motive who would make our beloeved, albeit trite, Hollywood blockbusters?
And finally comes software. Hardly an art form by any stretch of the imagination, people that go to University to learn programming do so in order to make money. What happens if all software is free? Being a programmer no longer becomes a viable source of income and they go in search of other work.
We all know the huge open source movement, yet most of the people developing this movement are programmers with other PROGRAMMING jobs. As computer software becomes unprofitable, no one will persue and even those who would like to enhance open source software simply cannot as they did not gain the expertise in University.
We can all agree that music will survive if it is free, and perhaps even very-low-budget movies, but what about computer software? Computer GAMES? When was the last time anyone heard of an open source video game? I can think of one.
Stop downloading music, Boycott the RIAA!
"i used to buy dozens of cds a month--obscure stuff, indie stuff. now that i can get it for free, ... i will never pay again,"
-notbob
"Me, I'm just along for the free ride, milkin' this fucker until the well runs dry... These boycotts are unfeasable, and fruitless."
-cjrules13
Downloading movies, software and video games are a way to "try before you buy" without the restrictions of demos. If I download something and like it, I buy it.
"One would like to believe in the freedom of music."
-Rush "Spirit of Radio"
My profile in Cnet's "Three I can't live without"
Incorrect you are. This is a portal site as it says under the name, whose aim is to provide information about file sharing, file sharing programs, and news. This is not a warez site which you have mistaken it for.Originally Posted by killswitch1968
Perhaps that's the rubber-stamp "about" section of the website, but it's clear to me that the patrons of this website would never ever pay to use a p2p file sharing program. In any case, what's your opinion? Can free software/music/movies exist in a p2p system?
"Try before buy"? You are banking on a moral argument, and in practice I sincerely doubt people will buy $500 copies of software when they can get it for free. Case in point: Windows XP.
Stop downloading music, Boycott the RIAA!
"i used to buy dozens of cds a month--obscure stuff, indie stuff. now that i can get it for free, ... i will never pay again,"
-notbob
"Me, I'm just along for the free ride, milkin' this fucker until the well runs dry... These boycotts are unfeasable, and fruitless."
-cjrules13
Just because something is an art doesn’t mean you can't make money. People have a right to sell whatever they want, especially if people are willing to buy. This decision is left to the consumer market, not some ideology......and music shouldn't be about financial gain in the first place. It's an art, right?
Anyway, enough people will always buy music, movies and software. None of these markets are in any real danger of collapsing.
The most serious problem for copyright holders is music. However, as long as the RIAA/MPAA stay in power you will never see them just give away their products...
I kinda agree, that the try before you buy arguement is garbage. If I want photoshop or 3ds max, I gotta tell ya, I aint payin 700 dollars for those. Especially when I can dl them in 10 minutes.
Why do you say this? Let's zoom 10-20 years into the future of p2p:
1. Vast quantities and efficient networks allow searches to be quick, easy and reliable.
2. Audio encoding has made lossless low-byte encoding a reality.
3. CD jackets, lyrics, liner notes, etc. are now bundled with audio files.
4. People can support artists by purchasing merchandise or going to concerts.
What reasons are left? People who want to have that 'warm and fuzzy feeling' of owning a CD? Perhaps these peopl exist, but I imagine they are in a miniscule minority, and certainly not enough to keep CDs afloat.
For what reasons will people buy software when they can get exact replicas of pirated ones off the networks?
Movie are different. People will pay to go to a theatre because of higher sound quality, bigger screen, etc. I don't think the MPAA has much to worry about, and I can't really say if everyone could get any movie for free that sales would decline.
As for art: I agree, people should be compensated if you want to listen to their music. All I'm saying is that even if they WEREN'T compensated music would not die out. Take China for example. When was the last time you heard a big Chinese artist? Probably never, not because they aren't making music, but rampant piracy has prevented them from being signed. Whether this is good or bad is up to debate.
Stop downloading music, Boycott the RIAA!
"i used to buy dozens of cds a month--obscure stuff, indie stuff. now that i can get it for free, ... i will never pay again,"
-notbob
"Me, I'm just along for the free ride, milkin' this fucker until the well runs dry... These boycotts are unfeasable, and fruitless."
-cjrules13
Since you have gone on and on about piracy what does it have to do with the topic?
I have a certain opinion about software. I use to work for a university and many times got evaluation software sent in to try out. Depending on whether I was satisfied with the overall performance, I would order said package with full rights and licenses. 360 computers means I needed 360 different licenses ( depending on the package ). If something is buggy, sloppy, or inefficient, there was no way I would implement it into my network. Most of the feedback that software companies get come from the general public. Yet most of their profits come from large named companies. Chances are that sharing software over p2p networks will do more good than harm.
Here's another thing to think about. Why has technology been going through a boom in the last couple of decades. My guess is competition and rebellion. You make a toaster. It's the best toaster out there. You sell many toasters. You have no need to improve your toaster. Then a rival company makes a better toaster. Now you have to make a better toaster than theirs. Ect...ect...ect.
You make a program. Someone hacks the program. You have to make a better, more secure, more reliable program. Someone hacks that program. You have to make a even better, more reliable, more secure program. Someone hacks that program. Ect...ect...ect.
In short...p2p is one giant leap into our own evolution.
PS: Anybody think I got a little carried away?
If you grab them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
I see Zeropaid as a great resource for news about P2P and related technology, and there's a family community here from around the world that is very, very smart--all with a sense of humor. The piracy issue is a prevalent topic because that is what's in the news. Dig deeper KillsWitch, and you will find about alot of far more interesting topics. Seph, please forgive my rambling below for going off topic, but I wanted to respond to his last post
* * *
Well, Killswitch, you have a hit a hot button I think the prevalent feeling here is that the record companies have been unreasonable on a number of fronts:
1) Instead of adopting new technologies they have taken out their blunders on their best customers
2) Instead of trying to work with electronic companies and ISPs , they greedily want all the distribution for themselves
3) They're lazy and have not come up with a business model that makes sense for what they offer
4) They put out a lot of crap and overcharge
5) They are not fair to their own artists
6) And now that they are starting to adapt to the web, they put unreasonable restrictions on what can be copied and how
All this has created a potential nightmare for movies, video games and other software creators. I think a lot of people at Zeropaid would support a pay service, if it was easy to use, the quality of the product was superior, the economics were reasonable, and they were treated with respect rather than pariahs. The fact is they love music and entertainment more than the people who sell it. But I'd like to hear more ZP comments from them and see what the stalwarts say...
The fact is that the big record companies, just like the other oversized corporations leeching off the public good, are going out of business and there isn't any turning back.
The only difference is that the record guys are stupid enough to blame and sue their customers even though they also cheated and stole from us for years now.
That's what makes it personal, that's why we care so much. The movie guys have a chance still to avoid some of these mistakes. If they don't, they are going up against the same wall next.
Warez has nothing to do with it, if you are a programmer and you aren't making your stuff unstealable, you are either incompetent or (as is more and more common) you are on our side and want the company you work for to fail miserably. If they treated people like people rather than interchangeable commodities they wouldn't have this problem.
I have yet to see any popular software that I could not easily find a way to pirate.
"You make a program. Someone hacks the program. You have to make a better, more secure, more reliable program."
When someone hacks a program, steps must be taken to ensure that hacking is made more difficult. This does NOT mean the quality of the product increases, but that the current product is harder to hack. Indeed you could even argue that when a company devotes resources to preventing hackers they are allocating resources that could be used to improve their product.
Stop downloading music, Boycott the RIAA!
"i used to buy dozens of cds a month--obscure stuff, indie stuff. now that i can get it for free, ... i will never pay again,"
-notbob
"Me, I'm just along for the free ride, milkin' this fucker until the well runs dry... These boycotts are unfeasable, and fruitless."
-cjrules13
IF YOU BUY A JACKET, and it DOESNT FIT!!! YOU Can TAKE IT BACK AND GET REFUND!! if you buy the software OPEN IT, and dont like it.. YOU HAVE TO EXCHANGE IT!!! ANd you spend 500 dollars on software, it gets corrupted, you lost the serial number or key, where do you go noWWW??? AND software makers have support, but you have to pay for it!! I believe in buying the video games, AND Movies if their good enough, IF A trailer cant get me to see the movie, i wont even download it. But when you spend 8 bucks to see a movie, and its a FLOP!! you get no refund!! So when they make Photo shop so damn expensive, and you really like it, if you have DIAL Up or broadband, doesnt mean you have to go without it.. These programers who support OPEN SOURCE, agrees to making the software better with allowing anyone to contribute to the cause, if your a programmer, and you make programs for big companies, later on in life they will lay you off, or if you get too old, they will retire your butt cause your making alot more money cause of the raises. I will buy software if its under 40 dollars. ITs fair since they can reproduce it, put it in a cardboard box with the words of it on there box, no fancing colors, or fonts.. They cut cost to be affordable they would sale more, make more money. Sitting on a shelf, you buy it, they make a better product, you can upgrade some products, other you have to buy again.
P.S. Artist make music to give to the world and to express feelings, thoughts and believes. When you bottle it up, put a price tag on it, and tell the artist this is the way to get your music heard and through the world. Your not only lieing to them, your making them belive in the system they created. Websights, servers, broadband can be less money for artist then going to recording company, asking them to produce 10 million albums, and only distribute where their fan base is or cities that have the highest income or buy ratio.
Because it's too expensive for you. My version of this "try before you buy arguement" includes making decisions based on personal finances. If you like but cannot afford whatever you're downloading, you shouldn't be obliged to buy it. Therefore, software (and other media) companies should offer alternate pricings for students and home environments.
an eagle in your mind
Again what the hell does that have to do with the title which you created which is: To what extent does Zeropaid actually support ZEROpaid?
Seems to me only the first two sentences you posted has anything to do with that and in the future please keep your threads on topic with the title.
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