Longhorn to support only region-specific DVD drives

[Marsden11]

It would be nice if we could stick to the here and now (otherwise know as reality) and not proclaim what may or may not happen.

[epp_b]

Well, anyway, I think Temmu's question has been sufficiently answered

[Marsden11]

...or just a plain old HD backup system.

Could you do a cost analysis of what would be required to store 583 audio CDs plus 231 MP DVDs.I don't like MP3s so I would like the highest WMA compression and the same for the DVDs (no crappy compressed formats there as well).Figure that the RAID5 arrays will be replaced every 5 years. Also don't forget to figure in new acquisitions to both audio as well as DVD collections. Figure a new audio CD every other month and maybe 3 to 4 DVDs per month.What plain old HD backup will cover all that?You can also use the just released prices for Blu-Ray HD DVD. The Panasonic player will cost me $1800 with media running 25GB write once disks @ $17 per disk 50GB @ $47 per disk. Rewritable and the media rises to $62 for the 50GB.

[epp_b]

I don't like MP3s so I would like the highest WMA compression and the same for the DVDs (no crappy compressed formats there as well).

Why on earth would you want WMA over MP3? Really, it would best to have FLAC or OG.

What plain old HD backup will cover all that?

It will certainly cover my needs and will for a while.Also, I generally don't buy movies (my personal compaints and rants are mostly about music here...but read below). I'm the kind of person who watches a movie once or twice (I will only watch a movie more than that if I really like it) and only rents movies.But whether or not it affects me or affects you is not the issue. DRM and racketeering just make me shake my head... Edited January 7, 2006 by epp_b

[Guest LilBambi]

Region Codes are a marketing trick by the movie industries. They are NOT, read me, NOT Laws.

[epp_b]

Thanks, Bambi! Good to see someone around here who's not on the dark side...

[hkspike]

As somebody who lives in Hong Kong, region encoding is just a pain in the a**e. The legal shops here sell any region. I regularly travel to Europe, the States and Oz - I fail to see what Big Brother think they achieve with regional encoding. Do I break some rule by buying from a shop in NYC, Vancouver, Rome or Sydney rather HMV in HK? Fortunately, DVD43 and DVD Region & CSS Free do a great job of allowing all DVDs to be viewed on all our PCs. Most DVD players come chipped; finding a shop to chip a vanilla one is easy.When Harry Potter 4 comes out on the big screen in the States 3 weeks prior to its release in Asia, the industry is just asking the pirates to make money from their own stupidity. Can you give me a clear explanation for my kids why kids in America should watch it 3 weeks before they can?I hear what you say about people playing by the rules and don't condone blatant piracy but the industry does not help itself.

[b2cm]

Region Codes are a marketing trick by the movie industries.

Yes, it is. And any business will use any trick to ensure return on investment and survive, unless such practice is contrary to exisiting law.

They are NOT, read me, NOT Laws.

Who said they were? And they are legal where they are used.

Thanks, Bambi! Good to see someone around here who's not on the dark side...

Congratulations! So what are you? A Jedi knight?Let me just say that artists have their side to the story, so do investors and producers, DVD players and media vendors, etcetera. Let me encourage you to also consider their stories as much as you consider yours. That could be more personally fulfilling than indulging in dualistic-apocaylptic moralism, and oversimplifying people, their work and views as lightness or darkness, good or evil from where you sit.

[epp_b]

Yes, it is. And any business will use any trick to ensure return on investment and survive, unless such practice is contrary to exisiting law.

Illegal, maybe not. Unethical, definately so. It's nothing but a ploy to support an outdated business model by extorting customers at every possible avenue.

[b2cm]

Unethical, definately so.

Explain. Specifically from what ethical perspective do you issue that jugment? What particular ethical principle is being violated by the profit motive?

by extorting customers

You mean "the use, or the express or implicit threat of the use, of violence or other criminal means to cause harm to person, reputation, or property as a means to obtain property from someone else with his consent"?

[epp_b]

Explain. Specifically from what ethical perspective do you issue that jugment? What particular ethical principle is being violated by the profit motive?

The perspective that businesses should be in the business of people and just happen to specialize in a particular type of product. Big Media is in it for the money and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means selling big fat lies to the public and robbing them.Do you seriously think and businesses should be allowed to tell you where a product they sell you can be used? Do you think Ford or GM should be allowed to place a GPS in my car that shuts it down whenever I leave Canada? Get real.

You mean "the use, or the express or implicit threat of the use, of violence or other criminal means to cause harm to person, reputation, or property as a means to obtain property from someone else with his consent"?

Big Media calls it "DRM". Joe Customer is tired of having is fair use rights violated (illegal, I'm pretty sure, but the Gov't obviously doesn't care) by having to paying for his legitimate media five or more times over and decides to find a way to override region settings. Big Media finds out and sues him out of existance under the infamous and utterly-stupid DMCA. Yeah, I'd call that extortion.

[epp_b]

Region Codes are a marketing trick by the movie industries.

Corrected: Region Codes are a marketing trick by the movie distribution industries.@ Everyone pro-DRM/region-encoding...Here's just one reason why region encoding (a form of DRM) steals from and hurts consumers and the industry that does the real work: DRM kills award chances for Munich. Edited January 11, 2006 by epp_b

[b2cm]

Big Media is in it for the money and will stop at nothing to get it

Of course. This is the livelihood of stockholders, management, employees, artists and agents, etc. They obviously don't feed on compliments or applause alone. They are all in it for the money, and that doesn't make them out-dated, immoral or criminals.

even if it means selling big fat lies to the public

Well, that's mispresentation, and is certainly unethical. If the lie induced the buyer to purchase the product, the sale is tantamount to fraud and the seller can be held liable. For example, if the seller said the DVD is CSS-free and would play on anything, everywhere (and for that reason you bought the DVD), and later find out it isn't (and won't play on your DVD player), you can sue him to recover your money and even to have him punished.

and robbing them

You certainly sound like you have been 'robbed'. All you probably meant was that Big Media 'charges excessively' for their products. And that's both subjective and relative. There are also others who find the charges reasonable. It is really a question of what market your purchasing power puts you in, and to what market the DVDs are being priced for. And whether or not you and I like it, they own the material, it is their business to run, and they are free to choose whom to sell to and at what price. Choosing not to cater to everyone and to price the product according to the means of the poorest does not make them outdated, immoral and criminals.

Do you seriously think and businesses should be allowed to tell you where a product they sell you can be used?

In fact, they are allowed to. Personally, for as long as they inform the buyers of the restrictions that comes with the product, I think the buyer finally decides whether or not the restrictions are reasonable. I'd rather assume both seller and buyer are free and responsible people who know what they are doing, than pontificate and call for some form of prior restraint on people.

Do you think Ford or GM should be allowed to place a GPS in my car that shuts it down whenever I leave Canada? Get real.

Is there a Canadian statute or jurisprudence that specifically prevents Ford or GM from doing that? If there isn't, then they can if they want to. As a consumer, of course, I would choose a car without that feature. I do have the right to choose the product to buy. No one can force me to buy a product I think is beyond my means or with a restricted functionality.

Big Media calls it "DRM". Joe Customer is tired of having is fair use rights violated (illegal, I'm pretty sure, but the Gov't obviously doesn't care) by having to paying for his legitimate media five or more times over and decides to find a way to override region settings.

What I know is that DRM revolves around a copyright holder's exclusive right to make copies of his or her work, and the exclusive right to control the distribution of those copies. These exclusive rights have limits. 'Fair use privilege' allows a particular kind of unauthorized copying while 'first sale' limits the right of distribution. Maybe DRM restricts these but I doubt both are relevant to Joe Customer as you described it.In particular, fair use privilege applies to unauthorized copying (without permission of copyright holder) of limited portions (not the entire work, which constitues theft or piracy) of a copyrighted material. There are conditions that must be met for that unauthorized use to be considered 'fair' and therefore not infinging on the copyright holder's exclusive right to make copies of his or her work. (One of that condition is that the use must not harm the potential market of the original.)

Big Media finds out and sues him out of existance under the infamous and utterly-stupid DMCA. Yeah, I'd call that extortion.

Well, you're free to call anything by any name. I don't believe in the so-called intellectual property, on philosophical and theological grounds. But I'm willing to grant people and societies their beliefs and leave them to their devices. I never think of my idea as better or worse, just different. And never as a justification to attack other people.