Video and Software Downloads Overtaking Music 234
Trigun writes "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that movie and software downloads have outpaced music downloads. Music accounted for 48.6 percent of files shared online, compared with 62.5 percent in 2002, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The article says that 1 in 4 internet users have downloaded at least one movie, and attributes the proliferation to access to broadband. Maybe we've just downloaded all the good music already?"
Global coverage (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Global coverage (Score:4, Insightful)
But that's just my opinion, so whatever
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Global coverage (Score:2)
Re:legal mp3 downloads vs P2P (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Global coverage (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Global coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
I honestly wonder how they calculate this? I daresay that the majority of people using P2P networks share their music shares which probably are around 1000 files or more. I just have a hard time seeing that most are sharing that many movies and pieces of software. i.e. those sharing movies almost certainly are also sharing songs.
What I suspect they did is just scanned for not music files. They then end up with all these small files - sometimes the content of you system directory - that dumbnits share or people trying to get a certain GB shared limit share. Yet if they count each .ini file and other such thing as a different software file, of course the number of files will outnumber music. But is that a real accurate count of movies and software shared?
i.e. shouldn't they count software packages and movies shared rather than *files* shared?
Perhaps they aren't making this mistake. But given their statistics something just smells fishy. I'd like to see their methadology.
Re:Global coverage (Score:4, Insightful)
It's goes on and on. I can't stand research like this anymore. They are just giving organizations like RIAA fuel to sue by miscalculating left and right.
Re:Global coverage (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, if they did scan specifically for movies, software, etc, I wonder how porn messes things up. I mean, seriously, how many movie movies have you downloaded compared to how many porno clips/movies?
It's too bad there isn't a better discussion of the methodolgy in the article.
1000 files? (Score:2)
The OECD is tracking pop music...HUH? (Score:3, Interesting)
These people are serious stuffed shirt economists. I don't think that they have the methodogy or the skills to track the semi-legit world of P2P and the various secretive subcultures asssociated with warez and big time file sharing. I suspect that they are simply repeating highly questionable numbers obtained from dubious sources that have clear political agendas (the RIAA, anyone?)
You wouldn't smoke pot from any of these guys in the OCED, why trust their analysis of P2P usage? I suspect that this is just another example of economists getting bad data from journalists who got numbers from secret sources (the RIAA) who just pulled them out of their ass to get laws passed to make themselves rich.
The OCED should stick to what they do best and tracking the P2P/warez underground is not it.
Re:Global coverage (Score:2)
Re:Global coverage (Score:2)
But if you are in a pinch and something appears to be in Finnish or some other distant language, some syntax can be guessed. Again, they'd have the advantage going to English than the inverse, but...
One of the things about the German aspect is English and German are the closest languages [to each other] on most of the language trees I have seen, such as Scientific American.
Re:Global coverage (Score:2)
And the Germans are pretty bad at keeping their language intact. In TV, magazines and the economy you hear a lot of dumb English phrases. Here's one I just made up "Bei diesen Problem weiss ich den Solution noch nicht. Ich muss es noch checken.". Look at the website of Deutsche Telekom [telekom3.de]; "WebEasy", "enjoyTarif"... oh well, I could rant all day.
Re:Global coverage (Score:3, Insightful)
Everyone likes to cite "Half of all marriages end in divorce." When it's actually, "There are half as many divorces as there are marriages this year."
I'm willing to bet dollars to doughnuts some of the quotes are bent around a bit so they sound better in the press. Book publishers found a way to cook the books rather dramatically within the previous five years ago or so. They found out there were a few key channels used to guesstimate total sales so they started pushing as many shipments through those channels then had them picked back up on the other end and distributed correctly.
All-in-all, I find most of the numbers to fall into the category of this joke:
Two guys were riding a train together and one bet the other he could tell how many sheep were in the field. The settled on the wager and the first guy went, proudly stating his count. The second guy said, "that's incredible! How did you do it?" The first guy said, "I counted all of the legs, then divided by four."
Bah (Score:3, Insightful)
its faster.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:its faster.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, but when you go to a movie theater
All in all, I'd go to the theater.
Re:its faster.. (Score:2)
At least you don't have to deal with ringing phones, gumwads and overly tall people front of you.
Try leaving a theater 10 mins into a chickflick with the girlfriend all wrapped up in it.
Love the immersive experience of a theater though
Re:its faster.. (Score:2, Insightful)
still, the cinema is an enjoyable experience, imo.
if it didn't cost nearly $10 a ticket and $4 for a box of candy, I'd probably go more often.
Re:its faster.. (Score:2)
Re:its faster.. (Score:3, Funny)
Real butter, too.
Re:its faster.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:its faster.. (Score:3, Funny)
We'd gone to see "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"; the cinema was packed and the five of us got settled, munchies and drinks at the ready. The only problem was, there were the usual couple of kids who'd not been able to get into anything else, so were sat right on the front row and were doing their best to be annoying.
Throughout the film they got more and more irritating. One of them, in particular, had managed to find a seat that was squeaky, so was taking great enjoyment in pissing off the entire cinema by rocking loudly backwards and forwards. It got to the point where one of our group, Toots, said quietly, "Right, I've had enough of that little bastard, I'm going to shut him up." He'd finished his small stashed bottle of whiskey and was getting ready to lob it at the kid's head, when Smeg, another of the lads, put his arm out and said, "it's OK, I'll deal with this."
In a fluke of timing, the film was just coming up to the love scene between Xiou Long and Xiao Hu. Sure enough, through the silence of the cinema came the squeaking of the chair: eewwwwkk, eeek, eeekkk, eeek. Smeg chose his moment well, and spoke out in a loud, clear voice, so the entire audience could hear.
"Excuse me. Are you masturbating down there?"
The entire place erupted with laughter. Needless to say, we didn't hear one peep from those kids through the rest of the film
Re:Child care (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:its faster.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Blame ' pirates ' (Score:4, Interesting)
Its the RIAAs secret plan (Score:5, Funny)
On a serious note- do they separate legal from illegal downloads? Lots of movies/software is legal to download.
Re:Its the RIAAs secret plan (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously. Because if they're measuring bytes transfered, I've downloaded much more legal software (Linux ISOs) from bittorrent than I've downloaded music from anywhere in quite a long time.
What do they call movies (Score:3, Insightful)
Their Percentages Are Totally Off (Score:3)
A full length song is around
That means, everytime a Movie is downloaded, the equivalent of 100 songs would be required to make up for that bandwidth usage.
So, basically, I'm saying per copyright violation (or not sometimes), that music is far more highly pirated.
market penetration (Score:2, Informative)
Broadband market penetration in the U.S. is over 40%.
Re:market penetration (Score:2, Funny)
Dude (Score:2)
Did the sarcasm just fly right over your head??
Anyone who believes AOL 9.0 Optimized will make the internet 5 times faster, even just browsing, is crazy.
Of course... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Of course... (Score:4, Informative)
You have a point here: probably the most kind of downloaded "movies" (which I suppose they call to everything with certain extensions, like .avi, .mpeg, ...) is porn, and with the expansion of p2p file-sharing networks and broadband, more and more people probably download porn stuff there, I even imagine lot's of teens using p2p software only for that purpose...
Same old story (Score:2, Interesting)
All empires crumble, why won't they accept it?
Re:Same old story (Score:3, Insightful)
Downloading stuff is not a right. It's a privilege.
Re:Same old story (Score:3, Insightful)
Downloading stuff is not a right. It's a privilege.
It's neither. It's a mechanism. The map is not the territory.
Re:Same old story (Score:2)
And it's working. RIAA: legal threats, suing users and advertising it, ad campaigns castigating typical consumers, criminalizing legislation, and falling markets. MPAA, relative to the RIAA keeping very quiet, a billion dollar month. Correlation isn't causation true, but it certainly merits a look.
Maybe if by size... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Maybe if by size... (Score:2)
Re:Maybe if by size... (Score:2)
RIAA spin (Score:5, Insightful)
Surprise, surprise... (Score:5, Insightful)
It would be nice to see the full stats, though, to see if music has plateaued (as would be expected) while movies climb as broadband proliferates.
br. -Adam
Re:Surprise, surprise... (Score:3, Interesting)
Wow, nice move.
Re:Surprise, surprise... (Score:3, Interesting)
Only partially correct. I believe it is having a chilling effect (maybe) on trading of music produced by RIAA members or that would otherwise get you in trouble with the RIAA if caught.
Conversely, in some areas, such as ( to use a rather geeky example ) anime and video game soundtracks, music is easily found with a bit of work and people are more than willing to share vast quantities.
Re:Surprise, surprise... (Score:2)
I'd be interested to see if the MPAA have the sense to try legal downloads out, and what effect it has on the problem of illegal online distribution.
Surely it makes sense to exaust your options before you start alienating your customers?
Number of files or size? (Score:2, Redundant)
MPAA not exactly impartial (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem is right there.
oh the humanity! (Score:5, Insightful)
oh wait, no it was only in Eight Countires...
oh, and only broadband users were polled.
ooh! and I almost forgot, of those that answered, one in four said they had downloaded at least one (YES, ONE) movie...
nothing to see here... just FUD and paranoia...
SOFTWARE downloads? (Score:2, Insightful)
From the article:
Well, isn't that a defining feature of file swaps? Swapping copyrighted files (as opposed to just downloading them, which can be legal or illegal) has always been illegal.
Re:SOFTWARE downloads? (Score:2)
> Video and software downloads? Looks we're back to the roots here.
Yep, it's 2004, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has discovered that there are Warez D00dz. How amazing.Re:SOFTWARE downloads? (Score:2)
here's some legit P2P music downloads for you (Score:4, Informative)
How does independent music become legit? (Score:2)
How can the people who make their recorded music available for download prove that the songs they write and record aren't already copyrighted to someone else [slashdot.org]?
Sales down because of bad customers or bad music? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Sales down because of bad customers or bad musi (Score:2)
I'm serious -- my music collection is becoming stale, and, hey, a random Slashdotter has as valid an opinion as anyone else I'd be liable to ask.
Music down by volume or percentage? (Score:4, Interesting)
If music swapping is actually down, could it be because there are viable legit music download services now? I know I've bought multiple albums from both iTMS and Audi Lunchbox myself...
I download videos... (Score:3, Informative)
Better than the Primetime crap that comes on broadcast tv...
This is jacked in so many ways (Score:5, Insightful)
Video accounted for 27 percent, up from 25.2 percent, the study will say.
So, movie downloads didn't really increase much.
The OECD report does not give separate numbers for pirated downloads and those that do not infringe copyright
I'm not even going to start on this one.
The biggest growth in downloading last year was in "other files" - neither music nor film - which almost doubled their share to about a quarter of all downloads. The category includes software and pornography, but the report gives no breakdown between the two.
Basically, they're saying they have a lot of data and it seems to indicate something, but they can't really say what, so they just threw out some numbers. Nice work, OECD.
You mean that... (Score:2)
I really wonder about acuracy (Score:3, Insightful)
Decline of Morals (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Decline of Morals (Score:3, Insightful)
Legal Music Downloads (Score:2)
1 in 4 internet users? (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder.. (Score:3, Interesting)
PORN (Score:2, Funny)
I do know that it accounts for about 90% of my video downloads.
What I would be interested to see (Score:2)
Downloads (Score:3, Informative)
No doubt some high profile ridiculous case will be discovered of a student with a trillion dollars in film copies in his/her bedroom causing the entire movie industry to fail. We've seen it before in music and we'll no doubt see the same arguments and PR tactics mobilised again to get legislation passed to *save* the industry.
It is depressing but it seems to work everytime. I only hope that people start to wake up and take a stand before its too late and the corporations have it all locked down exactly how they want it...
I call bullshit. (Score:2)
As I see it, the difference is that more and more music trading has been pushed underground on encrypted networks and the likes, whereas you can still Google up movie and software torrents left and right. By design, even if you're part of many of the music sharing networks, you can't tell how many others are around, and can't get raw index lists of files to count.
If they're counting the people caught, the above still holds. Music swapping is more mature, and so it's tougher to catch folks.
downloads cause increased sales! proven! (Score:2)
funny thing is.... (Score:5, Funny)
Can accuracy be downloaded? (Score:2)
As far as I know, people looking for a good DVD rip or screener will download multiple copies. Also, they'll have to download multiple copies if they find that copy of Spider-Man 2 turns out to be a fake.
Video includes all the TV shows (Score:2)
But... (Score:2)
Yet another legal quirk that makes absolutely no common sense.
I don't believe it (Score:2)
I think they are pushing the stats to make the situation look worse than it is. By a LOT.
Not that I like people stealing movies, cause I don't. I doubt if any person in a creative art that can be ripped off is much in favor of having their work used and not compensate them for it. Not if they make a living that way.
Interesting... (Score:2, Insightful)
From the article: (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:From the article: (Score:2)
None of that exists!! The Internet is only used for illegal purposes! Terrorists use it, and now these illegal downloaders! Maybe they're economic terrorists by ruining the profits of the movie studios?
Seriously though, this is reaching the point of sheer ludicrousness. How is it that these guys can spew this stuff constantly without even a modicum of a challenge? I know, I know, it's because they control the media too. This is getting sick.
Solution for Music Cost (Score:2, Insightful)
You save all the time you need to wait for downloading. You are assured of the quality. What more can you ask for?
When you consider all the box office records being smashed there's always going to be people buying movies. When they can also just pick up a few songs for a song, no one can lose.
I don't download SHIT anymore. (Score:2)
Adam Sandler would be pissed off if he knew how many times that movie has been grabbed off the net.
And porno flicks? Bah. Every 'effin keyword they can think of, they'll use to describe a stupid short clip promoting some website.
I went old school - getting verified good stuff from friends.
Seattle? who do we know there? (Score:3, Interesting)
While the SPI has a good reputation (I think) I can help but wonder if this article might have something to do with a little software company in Washington who has a deep and abiding interest in software- and hardware-based DRM schemes. Hyping the threat to companies from "software terrorists" is a prerequisite for the kind of digital rights infringement that Microsoft and other want to sell the public and content providers.
This doesn't mean that copying isn't happening, just that someone nearby has an incentive to make the problem appear larger than it is.
Fair use? (Score:2)
If I go to a website and get a torrent (or if I go to an IRC channel, or even a usenet server) and download a DVD rip / telesync movie, and then I drive down to a theater, pay my $7-10 and never walk through the front door with my ticket, can my subsequent single viewing of the same movie be construed as "fair use"? Can that be the same "time shifting" that's legal for TV?
Say I've got an 8 month old baby girl, and I want to watch movies at home with my wife after our daughter goes to sleep, would the RIAA rather have our movie fare x2 or have us watch stupid sitcoms?
Blame broadband? (Score:5, Insightful)
So if "the industry" doesn't produce any new music that is worth craving, people don't download or buy it.
reality check (Score:2)
1 out of 4 people reading this post have downloaded at least 350kb of non-mp3 data over the past 15min!
Downloading is just plain wrong (Score:2, Funny)
Here's Your Fahrenheit 9/11! (Score:2)
2. Open it with your favorite BitTorrent client.
3. Start the download and wait X hours for it to finish. My DSL line downloaded the 1.03GB file in around two hours plus.
4. Unpack the file "pot.911a.rar" in the CD1 directory as well as the "pot.911b.rar" in the CD2 directory with your favorite RAR extraction program. Opening the RAR file will automatically identify all the segments and put them together. This will create "pot.911a" and "pot.911b" directories which each contain a
7. Download the VideoLAN Client media player found here [videolan.org] and install it.
8. Use VLC to open "CD1.cue" from the "pot.911a" file.
9. When that part of the movie finishes, open the "CD2.cue" file in the other directory.
The quality is quite good for a camcorder effort. Only some of the subtitles are cut off at the bottom of the screen.
Re:F911 CAM-POT sucks (Score:2)
The camcorder technigue may be poor compared to others, but this is not a collector's item, it's a way of viewing the movie without wasting money on a mediocre effort. I recently saw a camcorder video of a Corrs concert in Jakarta - now THAT was BAD. Compared to that, this camcorder effort deserves an Academy Award. The video was quite clear enough, the sound was quite good enough, and only the fact that some of the subtitles were cut off was at all a problem and not much of one.
I downloaded it merely because I wanted to see how badly Moore did his job. While I agree with most of the points made in the movie, the fact of the matter is the movie offers little documentation that wasn't obvious to anyone following the Iraq situation over the last year - especially if you visited the www.iraqwar.ru site or www.antiwar.com or www.counterpunch.com.
To anyone who has followed the Iraq war, this is NOT a "scorcher" of a movie.
But if you're a typical ignorant US drone "citizen", it probably is an "eye-opener".
W32.Beagle skews the numbers... (Score:2)
If you count all of these infected systems that drop copies of the virus in "Shared" folders (and if my Inbox is any indication there are thousands), then you're not going to get an accurate count of actual software that's being traded on P2P networks.
k.
Whoa! (Score:2)
Re:back in the day... (Score:2)
Auto-resume, throttled speed, no leech benefits, etc.
Of course, no one downloads copyright violations that way do they?;)
Re:In-theater cameras (Score:3, Informative)
There are a lot of really shitass cams out there too though. Like I said, its hit and miss. I find cams are most useful for those movies that i'm kind of interested in, but don't feel like blowing $20 to go see in the theatres. If its a really good movie, then yeah, I might go see it with some friends or something. If it sucks, all i've wasted is two hours and some bandwidth.
Re:In-theater cameras (Score:5, Informative)
What's more interesting to me is the fact that thousands of people have grabbed this file from BitTorrent sites like this one [slashdot.org] that require a registration, valid email et all to join. They literally signed up, and had their IP addy registered into a database of 'trusted ips', so that they could download Spider-Man 2. Simply Astonishing. I've seen 4 or 5 of these sites that appear to be using the same code, it wouldn't take the MPAA more than 30 seconds to start another one and start nabbing people IN THE ACT. Not to mention the fact that all the connected IP Addresses are visible from the tracker page..
Re:In-theater cameras (Score:3, Insightful)
Isn't that entrapment? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not illegal to download a file, or swap it amongst people. It's only illegal if you don't have permission to do it..
Re:Isn't that entrapment? (Score:3, Informative)
A) only applies to agents of the government
B) only applies if the person wasn't inclined to commit the act anyway.
Aside from that, in an ironic twist, they can actually use the defense used by most torrent sites use: they're not hosting the content so they're not directly condoning the copying.
Re:Isn't that entrapment? (Score:2, Interesting)
You mean that DEA can't infiltrate with drug dealers, sell/buy some drugs to catch the dealers? It's the same MPAA can infiltrate, maybe help a little just for not being recognized and identify who is sharing...
Re:1 in 4 isn't believable (Score:2)