Will Movie Streaming Destroy Piracy?
The Washington Post is reporting that a new study done by Global Web Index, a London based internet research organization, suggests the end of piracy is nigh. Streaming sites, they say, have taken over and could possibly become the nail in the coffin for illegal downloads.
GWI is reporting that a full 64% of internet users stream viral content, with 31% watching full length TV shows. They also suggest that if you spend more than three hours a day online, you are more likely to download illegal content than the user who frequents his computer much less.
This is not the first study of its kind to come to the same conclusions. Earlier this year a study was done by Music Alleys consumer research division with much the same results. They say downloading is out, streaming is the new trend.
What the Washington Post doesn’t mention is the fact that the most popular streaming sites, even Google video, hosts copyrighted content. Many of them also carry movies that are still in theaters, or in some cases, haven’t yet been released.
So is streaming not piracy?
Apparently not, according to the major news organization. Nothing was mentioned about the fact that is is much easier and faster to stream something than to download it, which is probably a major point amongst users who prefer to (illegally or legally) stream full movies and TV-shows.
So in conclusion, no. Streaming movies will not kill piracy. It will only make it less geeky and more wide-spread.
Next time, Mr. Washington Post article Writer, maybe you should do a little research on exactly what it is users are streaming before you make fantastic claims about the defeat of piracy and the triumph of all that is good and honest in this world. Because in this case, you were severely under-informed.
Well, I’m personally not a big fan of streaming. If I’m streaming it I have to use bandwidth on it every time I want to watch/hear it. I’d rather have it on my HD and use my bandwidth for something else.
When my ISP decides to actually give me some bandwidth, I might think about streaming. As it is, even YouTube is glitchy.
Ah, but streaming videos can still get takedown notices. So the lawyers will have a new shiny thing to howl at once they can no longer go after downloading due to DHT/PEX.
Until TStreaming comes out of beta, of course.
Stream? Yeah right.
I get a limited number of GB to use in a month at rather poor speeds (thanks to my ISP’s rate shaping).
There’s no way I’ll stream movies rather than downloading them. (If I’m using the MB, I may as well get half-decent quality that I can store if I want to.)
Good article – nice and snarky the way I like it.
And I’ve seen plenty of streamed pirated content…
But I still like being able to store a copy if I get interrupted by a van at my door for later.
XD
Downloading FTW
but one thing I love about Streamers is that even if the video is halfway streamed to your PC, if your system crashes, has a system failure, or your browser or media player app crahses youll have to start streaming from the start again so in the end using 1 and 1/2 more bandwidth :)
Andrew: that’s not how streaming video works – you don’t have to download the whole thing again if something crashes or your connection is lost, you can simply jump to the point of the video you want to see and start from there. What you’re likely thinking of is progressive downloads (like YouTube videos) which let you play the file as it downloads (as opposed to downloading the whole file before allowing you to play it). Streaming video plays whichever part of the bitstream you select (click anywhere on the video timeline) without first having to download what came before that point and without automatically downloading to the end of the video. This music video for Vampire Weekend new release “Cousins” embedded on the Pitchfork Modeia site is an e.g. http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/musicvideo/3921-vampire-weekend-cousins-xl
[...] Will Movie Streaming Destroy Piracy? Next time, Mr. Washington Post article Writer, maybe you should do a little research on exactly what it is users are streaming before you make fantastic claims about the defeat of piracy and the triumph of all that is good and honest in this world. Because in this case, you were severely under-informed. [...]
Are those retards at he Washington Post (soon to Washington Tomb Stone) for real? They are the ones who are going the way of the dinosaur not BT. Who watches streaming video, only retards that don’t have the patients or know-how to d/l a torrent file. I laugh every time one of my non-geek friends or their girlfriends brags to me about how she can watch all her favorite video streams, because only a few days later she’ll be begging me to come over and fix their crashed system. Yes I spend well over 3 hours a day in front of a monitor — about the only thing the WP got right. I love it, and I would have it any other way.
As for pirated software, there is no proof that pirating takes away any legitimate sales. Most consumers of pirated warez(except for China) buy what they will use long term. What they don’t buy is mostly the stuff they were never going to buy in the first place. I have used thousands of warez that I would never have paid for if they weren’t available for free. But quality products with top notch support will always get my dollar. I don’t know how many times I’ve come across stuff that I tried out for awhile and then slowly came to the realization it was worth buying a legit copy to get the support and updates. There is no question I have spent significantly more on warez than my non-geek conterparts.
Software companies should concentrate on keeping costs down and support up. Some of the richest people in the world own and operate software companies. Who are they kidding.
In China, a country I frequent often, one can buy a legit copy of almost any well known ware for a fraction of the price in Europe or the States. Yet I estimate that approximately 99% of the warez consumed in China are pirated. And what are these software companies doing about it? — Nothing! And how about their(China’s) economy; no shortage of jobs in the software industry.
I seldom watch movie online,
i just downloaded them all than i’ll watch them any time i like.
there’s no software installed on my PC is legal.
iTunes has proven that if you make it easier to buy than p2p or torrent, people will buy. Apple are currently in acquisition talks with LaLa. I’d say it’s on the cards we are going to see a lot more streaming via iTunes.
The main problem that content producers have had is that they are going through a market correction. They are still trying desperately to hold on to their 20th century distribution foodchain. Cinemas, DVDs, PayTV, Free to air (that chain may vary depending on your location). Their market is telling them they don’t want to consume it that way. Streaming puts a lot more reliance on networks than downloading does. That is one thing Apple does not control. Having said that, if (big if) it was easier to watch a stream than get a download I probably would. However a HD stream has to be VBR (variable bitrate)to maintain the quality. Trad streams are CBR (constant bitrate). I can’t even stream the Avatar HD trailer from my laptop to PS3 without latency & buffering issues. It will be interesting to see how they solve this issue of delivery content in realtime & maintaining quality. We did over 150 live video webcasts in the late 90s. It’s hard!
No one wants to pay though…
and Apple rip off the artists…
I prefare not to pay anyone rather than give money to apple…
but hey maybe thats just me… id like to hear from you if you do feel the same way though :)
Where do they think the movie/tv show stream sites get the shows and movies from? Yeah, the scene, ‘nuf said.
“Streaming movies will not kill piracy. It will only make it less geeky and more wide-spread.”
totally true! i remember my classmates had no clue how to download torrents, let alone the fact they didnt know what a torrent was…
now they all use these streaming link indexing sites like TvShack.net ect.
its amazing how fast different trends go around the WWW, its like a viral wildfire…