The real problem is not copyright protection, but that our current economic
models do not adequately support copyrights for digital works.  VHS wasn't so
bad, you knew that it took a lot of time to copy a tape to another tape (even
for high volume, high speed copies).  DVDs and CDs can be pressed in a fraction
of the time it took for tape.  Since the price of distribution fell, the end
user cost should have as well.  It hasn't, and it won't since the companies are
milking consumers at the 'price the market can bear', rather than 'the price we
can still make a decent profit at, and still get our product into their hands'.

I'd like to see you convince the populace of the world to stop buying
over-priced DVDs and CDs.

I don't know the answer.  I still believe that a copyright holder should be able
enforce their rights, but I also know that many of these holders are basing
their models on older methods.  They are collapsing now, and are scrambling to
find new ways to keep using the old model with new technology.  Most of these
'fit the large foot into the tiny shoe' schemes center around 'copy
protection'.  It won't work.  It can't work.  Some small company is going to
come along with a completely different model and mindset that uses a different
method of distribution that actually works.  When that happens, these older more
established companies are going to have to change rapidly, or they'll die.  This
isn't going to be some small change such as pricing structure, copy protection,
etc.

My favorite quote from Dilbert:
*POP*
"What was that sound?"
"A paradigm shifting without a clutch."

-Adam

Bob Blick wrote:
>
> I think there are more than two opinions on this (and actually
> any) topic. My own personal opinion is that VHS tape is good enough for me
> and I hope DVD dies a painful(for the copyright holder) death. Copy
> protection is wrong, the main reason being it turns people into criminals.
>
> Perhaps we need one of those polls at piclist.com, but I hope it has more
> than two choices.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bob
>
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