Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Whoo, time for Economics 101.

"Paying $20-30 for music or media is ridiculous since the overall price for the media costs only pennies on the dollar."

Yes, but you're conveniently forgetting that the content on the media *actually costs money to make*. CDs aren't priced $12 to recoup the costs of producing the CD, they're priced to recoup the cost of *recording the music* on top of all the other costs associated with getting that disc in stores. Don't forget that the retailer is taking a cut, too -- anywhere between 20% to 50% per disc, depending on the store -- so only a fraction of that $12 is going to the EVIL RECORDING COMPANY in the first place. As a result, many albums actually wind up losing money because they simply don't sell enough to recoup the costs of producing it in the first place.

Also, the 'try before you buy' defense is ludicrous. In between Metacritic, GameRankings, Rotten Tomatoes, demos, YouTube and a little bit of good judgement I've been able to avoid laying money down for anything less than triple-A quality product, and guess what? I did it all without having to steal. So get off your high horse and do a little homework for a change instead of coming up with lame justifications for why you're ripping off companies. The culture of entitlement you guys have cultivated is just baffling.

First off maybe you should get off should get off your high horse since your making a common mistake with the so called culture of entitlement BS. The average person with a brain knows that it take money to create/produce products. The only difference is that we prefer to not been screwed out of every dime for the products that we are more then willing to buy legally. I think you need to do some homework and realize that it should never cost anyone $1 a song to purchase for bad/inferior quality music laden with DRM( and yes I know that the DRM has been removed not to long ago). Maybe people are tired of all the games that the industry plays and think that changes need to be forced upon the industry in order for it to change even a little bit.

As far as you "explanation" with regards to the price of music/movie discs, I'll partially agree with you that they need to sell the product for a profit and that the recording/producing of the music/movie is the most costly part. Aside from that though your argument loses since how can you explain the price of digital downloads or if you want to stick to the physical media the actual cost to produce the music/movie (not the made up numbers produced by the industry) in addition to the 10 cents a disc that they pay to make the disc.
You also forget that there is an upfront cost for any hardware (disc creation, recording studios, etc.) which has been paid for and is no longer an additional cost to making the music/movie. As far as the retailer taking a part, what about all the direct to download products. In addition to that what about the contracts that they make with these retailers, etc. Do you really think that they would make these contracts with these retailers,etc. if it wasn't for there benefit overall.

With regards to your checking out reviews,etc. from the websites you listed, that is not the same as actually viewing the movie or music you are interested in seeing/listening to. I and many others prefer not to go off of someone else's review/explanation of the music/movie. Also how exactly is it a lame justification that people want to know what they are buying before they actually purchase it. Especially considering the current financial situation the world is in and the current price being charged for the media.
I personally never P2P a video game since there are demos of games weeks to months before they are released and are being released many different ways (Xbox 360 DL, PC Steam, Direct download from game publishers, etc.)

If the industry wants people to buy then they need to give them a real reason to pay the price there asking for not just complaining about P2P and the supposed "dangers" of digital downloads, etc. Oh, and by the way the music industry has posted another year of record sale. So obviously P2P is actually a benefit overall to the industry(s).
If the DMCA wasn't worded in such a way that it prohibits and at the same time allows for the ripping of legally purchased discs, then at least some people wouldn't want to download a copy of the movies that they legally own. You know some people actually would like to have a backup copy of a disc in case something happens to the physical media or they would like to watch it on there computer without the disc. Maybe the Music/Movie industry should learn to embrace the technology instead of blaming it for everything.

I never said that the music/movie industry was "evil", you did however. I'm merely pointing out that they have tried to restrict and overcharge for the products they produce. I'm also saying that they have never tried to accept new tech. and have wasted time and money to restrict how the consumer uses the product they legally bought and have continued to stop any advancement they didn't like. Maybe they should(and you as well) get a clue and adapt/move on from the old way of thinking and move to a better and easier way of doing business without trying to screw the consumer every chance they get.

I also forgot one thing. There has been study after study, even a recent one stating that those that file share(P2P) are some of the biggest consumers of those same goods and products (including posters, shirts, etc.) Get over yourself and your better then everyone else attitude for thinking that just because you prefer to go off of some reviews and commercials that it is enough for other people to justify the spending of there hard earned money for overpriced low quality products. And by the way the industry has been bashing Google/Youtube and similar sites with DMCA takedown notices and lawsuites over the use of there product (even though the artist/actors/producers wanted it to be up and to be seen). You need to get a clue and look at the larger picture and whats been going on for nearly a century, starting with the player piano and now with P2P. Learn a little more before you start making comments about the subject.