----- Original Message -----
From: M. Adam Davis <adavis@UBASICS.COM>
To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: [OT]: Will pay cash for pic programming


> 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'.

Actually, it is the 'price that maximizes our profits', or at least an
attempt at that.

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

Won't happen of course. By definition DVD's and CD's are _not_ overpriced if
people continue to buy them in such quantities as to provide sweet profits
to the content providers.

OTOH: remember when the typical VHS movie was US$70 and up? Now you can get
most anything for US$20 to US$25. I guess they learned something there.

> 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.

Let's hope you are right!

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

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