HP unveils plans for digital home invasion

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My thoughts are more philosophical

To me the real question is, does a company just have the right to a reasonable profit, or do they have the right to extract every single potential penny from every single potential consumer no matter what?

When I hear entertainment exec. say things like they don't want to allow recording from a TiVo because we might show that recording to a house full of people and then those people won't buy their product, I am struck buy the absolute greed of the situation. My $24.99 for DVDs (as if I ever bought them at that price), My $60+ for a cable subscription, My $17.99 per month for Netflix, My $$$$$$$ going everywhere to line their coffers is not enough. They want more. I no longer care about the pirate. I have never been one, but I have often considered it simply as a cost reduction measure. Never have there been so many entertainment revenue producing schemes, and I am going broke trying to keep up.

No, you are right, I do not have to participate in any of these. I could eliminate cable, I could eliminate trips to the movies for my family, I could unsubscribe to Netflix, and I could quit buying those DVD's that I truly like. It may even come to that. What bothers me is that I am paying more for less. Hollywood, Detriot, and Nashville (as if content were still created in these places) are producing less of interest to me, but want ways to charge me more for it. I used to be able to buy a Pink Floyd album and copy it to tape 3 or 4 times and have one for my bedroom, my car, my work, etc. There was no problem with this. They added a little to the cost of blank cassettes and left me alone. Now they have added the same perdium to blank CDs, but they won't leave me alone.

I understand their arguments, the quality, the prevelence of abuse, etc. I have heard al kinds of competing views that both debunk and bolster many of these arguments, so I largely ignor them. I stick to what I know. What I know is that I'm a law abiding consumer, yet my enjoyment of entertainment has gone down lately for two reasons.

1. The quality and diversity of material coming from the entertainment companies is not what it used to be.

2. I am bombarded with alll kinds of reports that I can no longer do what I used to and remain law abiding. My behavior is consistant, but I am now a criminal because I want Pink Floyd in my car, my room, my office, etc. even though I only paid for it once.

I guess I will have to start looking for artists that want their products shared. I have recently run across a few that advertise and distribute on the web and specifically allow me to do with their music what I am used to doing with their music. Not names I recognised, but good enough to listen to. Maybe the big guys won't get so much out of me after all.

Posted by: Mack DaNife   Posted on: 01/06/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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