Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Posted on February 25th, 2005 | by admin |No soapbox, but maybe a few rantish gestures. Here are some choice quotes from yesterday’s BBC article on the broadcast flag, and a few thoughts / half-baked theories (read: wishful thinking).
TV piracy is a growing concern for broadcasters, particuarly as next-generation high-definition devices and programmes become more popular. Downloads of TV programmes have increased by 150% in the last year, according to a recent report, with a typical episode of the popular TV series 24 downloaded by about 100,000 people globally.
Guess what, I’ve downloaded every episode of 24 this season. I also download The Daily Show with John Stewart on a daily basis, as well as The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle, Enterprise, and LOST every week. Guess what I’m not? A pirate. I pay way too much for cable television and cable Internet access, however I choose to download the shows rather than record them because I’m too cheap to get a Tivo (I know, its on the list somewhere, and I keep trying to roll my own but that requires time). Anyway, since I’m paying for the right to watch (and timeshift) the shows there is nothing illegitimate about downloading a recording, just as there is nothing illegitimate about recording it myself.
However I’ll flip the coin and see that the networks are probably upset that
- Anybody can download a TV show recording, from NBC or HBO, subscriber or not.
- Commercials are interestingly absent from the downloads
Now if only some bright, innovative company could come along and turn this gray market legit, and make a profit while they’re at it. I know I wouldn’t mind paying a buck for an episode of 24, even if it did have a commercial or two. Kind of like what Apple did with iTunes and the whole P2P Music File sharing scene. Except that iTunes doesn’t really make a lot of money, it’s really just a ploy to get people to buy iPods. Humm, what’s that over there, a rumor that Apple may purchase Tivo? Steve Jobs saying this will be the year of HD at the last Macworld keynote. Mac mini looks oh so cute in the living room?
Ok, I’ll calm down now. I’m not even an Apple fanboi but they are least likely to screw up this much needed service. Listen to the people. Years ago when we started pirating MP3’s you sat on your asses for too long before providing a legitimate way to download what we wanted… Now people are downloading TV shows. Don’t sit on your ass, give me an option to download the shows I want, al la cart, and I’ll ditch cable TV for good. The people have spoken.
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
12 Responses to “Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev”
By Danki on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
HA! I get first post! The concern that you addressed is the major concern that they have, I’m sure. There are people w/ broadband and no cable TV, so, for them to download a show would be piracy. For people like you and I that have cable and choose to “timeshift” digitally as opposed to analogue it shouldn’t be a big deal. Once again, they are only trying to keep their pockets padded and will fight tooth and nail against anything that may thin that lining.
I thought Google already bought Tivo…..or was that fake in the whole E.P.I.C. thing I saw.
By Harrison Holland on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
I actually heard that Apple was considering buying TiVo:
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/24/0127255&tid=176&tid=126
Who knows whether or not this is going to happen.
By Danki on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
So I was wrong, not the first, won’t be the last. From what the folks on slashdot were saying, The union of Apple/TiVO wouldn’t be a bad thing. Jobs is a damn good salesman and since he has gotten around the powers that be w/ Itunes and Ipods, as well as having a huge shared interest in Pixar. It shouldn’t be that difficult for him to work something out with the MPAA regarding a ‘g-VO’. A small subscription fee would be more than acceptable for on-demand, recordable, entertainment access.
By Karen on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, “Rock Around the Clock.” Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn’s got a winning team, Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland. Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev, Princess Grace, “Peyton Place”, trouble in the Suez
By Darren on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
By Karen on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
Ok, identify this Mr. Lyrics.
We crossed the line
Who pushed who over
It doesn’t matter to you
It matters to me
We’re cut adrift
We’re still floating
I’m only hanging on
To watch you go down
My love
By Darren on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
I disappeared in you
You disappeared from me
I gave you everything you ever wanted
It wasn’t what you wanted
The men who love you, you hate the most
They pass right through you like a ghost
They look for you but your spirit is in the air
Baby, you’re nowhere
By Karen on Feb 25, 2005 | Reply
So cruel
By Danki on Feb 26, 2005 | Reply
That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and
snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - world
serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs. Feed
it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, Ladder
start to clatter with fear fight down height. Wire
in a fire, representing seven games, a government
for hire and a combat site.
By Darren on Feb 26, 2005 | Reply
Six o’clock - TV hour. Don’t get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn,
return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning,
blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle,
light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh,
this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament,
a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives
and I decline
you have no idea how hard that is to type on a palmtop
By Danki on Feb 26, 2005 | Reply
ctrl-c ctrl-v
By Darren on Feb 26, 2005 | Reply
revelations man.