Author Topic: "Steal this Comic"  (Read 5269 times)

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Offline iago

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"Steal this Comic"
« on: October 14, 2008, 02:58:51 pm »
Today's XKCD is fantastic:


I opted to post this in 'general' rather than 'humour' because, although it's presented in a satirical way, it isn't funny at all, but the truth.

Who does DRM affect? The people who legitimately buy a product. And the people who pirate it? They get something much better. It's pretty ridiculous.

Offline Chavo

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2008, 03:19:46 pm »
The obvious solution in the comic is to buy non-DRM media.  Nothing speaks louder than consumers spending their money elsewhere.

Offline iago

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2008, 03:22:36 pm »
Absolutely.

Of course, if enough people start doing that, the sales of the DRM record companies will fall, and they'll blame piracy. Catch-22.

Offline MyndFyre

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2008, 03:29:17 pm »
Absolutely.

Of course, if enough people start doing that, the sales of the DRM record companies will fall, and they'll blame piracy. Catch-22.

Tough to blame piracy when sales of non-DRM media go up.
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Offline iago

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2008, 03:44:53 pm »
Absolutely.

Of course, if enough people start doing that, the sales of the DRM record companies will fall, and they'll blame piracy. Catch-22.

Tough to blame piracy when sales of non-DRM media go up.
That's true, but numbers can be twisted.

Offline Joe

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2008, 04:05:53 pm »
"In a race of two stock cars, the United States beat Russia. A Russian newspaper reported that their car finished second while the United States' finished second to last."
I'd personally do as Joe suggests

You might be right about that, Joe.


Offline Newby

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2008, 04:57:58 pm »
It is very true. But it is also very sad. Amazon sells non-DRMd stuff but their collection pales in comparison to iTunes. I am able to find things on iTunes that I can't on Amazon, and I can find even more on the internet floating around that would constitute "piracy."

Corporate companies don't have a clue. There was an article from the RIAA once that said something like, "Think that perfect christmas album is too good to be true? it is, it's bootlegged!" My question is... why don't they make that perfect christmas album for the consumer?
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Quote
[17:32:45] * xar sets mode: -oooooooooo algorithm ban chris cipher newby stdio TehUser tnarongi|away vursed warz
[17:32:54] * xar sets mode: +o newby
[17:32:58] <xar> new rule
[17:33:02] <xar> me and newby rule all

I'd bet that you're currently bloated like a water ballon on a hot summer's day.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.  Why would a water balloon be especially bloated on a hot summer's day? For your sake, I hope there wasn't too much logic testing on your LSAT. 

Offline Sidoh

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2008, 05:07:11 pm »
Yeah, iTunes is massively convenient, I must admit.  I haven't used it but a few times, but I was impressed with how easy it was to use and how well it worked (other than the shitty DRM, of course).

That being said, I think Randall hit the nail on its head with this one.  I couldn't agree more with the underlying argument.

Offline Camel

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2008, 05:47:38 pm »
It is very true. But it is also very sad. Amazon sells non-DRMd stuff but their collection pales in comparison to iTunes.

Amazon also sells V0 MP3s, which are technically lossy, but of comparable quality to a lossless format. iTunes sells music of substantially lower quality - which I suppose doesn't matter to the millions of customers who put the DRMed song on their shuffle and listen with the shitty ear buds that came with it.

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Offline leet_muffin

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2008, 10:38:50 am »
iTunes faiiiils. I wish I still had a rockbox compatible ipod...
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Offline Camel

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2008, 05:30:48 pm »
iTunes faiiiils. I wish I still had a rockbox compatible ipod...

Why? When I used Rockbox, it didn't have any features that my iPod didn't have, and it can't play DRM protected files.

I've heard it will play video on non-video ipods, but it's choppy.

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Offline Newby

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2008, 06:18:31 pm »
When I used Rockbox, it didn't have any features that my iPod didn't have

Besides a lack of need for iTunes, more codecs (ogg, flac), skinning, better selection of games (e.g. gameboy emulator, Doom), voice recording... totally worth the battery life dropping by a bit.
- Newby
http://www.x86labs.org

Quote
[17:32:45] * xar sets mode: -oooooooooo algorithm ban chris cipher newby stdio TehUser tnarongi|away vursed warz
[17:32:54] * xar sets mode: +o newby
[17:32:58] <xar> new rule
[17:33:02] <xar> me and newby rule all

I'd bet that you're currently bloated like a water ballon on a hot summer's day.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.  Why would a water balloon be especially bloated on a hot summer's day? For your sake, I hope there wasn't too much logic testing on your LSAT. 

Offline deadly7

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2008, 07:41:48 pm »
Besides a lack of need for iTunes, more codecs (ogg, flac)
Putting FLAC on an iPod is just a dumb idea, imo.
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Offline Sidoh

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #13 on: October 18, 2008, 10:25:20 pm »
Besides a lack of need for iTunes, more codecs (ogg, flac)
Putting FLAC on an iPod is just a dumb idea, imo.

Yeah, I agree.  I won't argue that lossless codecs don't have a place, but even with pretty good sound equipment, I cannot distinguish a V0 from a FLAC unless I look at the file sizes -- then I definitely notice...

Offline deadly7

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Re: "Steal this Comic"
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2008, 11:45:58 pm »
Yeah, I agree.  I won't argue that lossless codecs don't have a place, but even with pretty good sound equipment, I cannot distinguish a V0 from a FLAC unless I look at the file sizes -- then I definitely notice...
I was going more along the lines of "You could fit like, 7 mp3s for every single flac, and when you're dealing with TRANSPORTING music to listen to, it makes sense to go with the higher density format."
[17:42:21.609] <Ergot> Kutsuju you're girlfrieds pussy must be a 403 error for you
 [17:42:25.585] <Ergot> FORBIDDEN

on IRC playing T&T++
<iago> He is unarmed
<Hitmen> he has no arms?!

on AIM with a drunk mythix:
(00:50:05) Mythix: Deadly
(00:50:11) Mythix: I'm going to fuck that red dot out of your head.
(00:50:15) Mythix: with my nine