Movies - Making it hard to be legal?

[neil_g]

Not a thread about illegal activity to clarify first off.

I have a few bought from new Blu-Ray, the kind that are branded "Triple Play" so have the BD, DVD and Digital Copy.

Excellent I thought remembering this after just having bought an iPad.. so into the computer I popped the disk from my Max Payne Blu-Ray and it asked if I wanted to transfer to iTunes after which it prompted for a code from the inside of the case.

I punch in the code at which point it tells me the code has expired. Sure enough in small print under the code it expired on the 3rd March.

Seriously, how can a code on something I purchased legally expire.

:bang:

/rant

 

[Matt.]

Spotify stopped me downloading music. They need the same type of thing for TV/films now.

 

[mayhem7]

That's terrible. If I was you, I would REMOVED, remember which company released the movie, and never buy from them again.

 

[DazJW]

Sadly they seem to be learning from the games industry. Give it five to ten years and you won't be able to use anything without having an always on internet connection that dials out every time you use it to make sure you didn't steal it. And after a few years they'll decide that they don't want to support the thing you've bought any more so they'll turn the servers off, making it always fails the authenticity check.

Meanwhile people who have the pirated version are happily using it with no problems at all.

 

[wack61]

It's the ads that you can't skip that do my head in and that anti piracy video that runs for 30 seconds, I don't need to watch an anti piracy video, I bought it, the anti piracy video won't be on the pirate copy.

Another bugbear of mine is the price they want for a download, my son has an ebook , he wanted a book for it, on amazon the hard copy was £6. , the e book was the same price, if they weren't so greedy piracy would be minimal

 

[Marc]

It's the ads that you can't skip that do my head in and that anti piracy video that runs for 30 seconds, I don't need to watch an anti piracy video, I bought it, the anti piracy video won't be on the pirate copy.

Another bugbear of mine is the price they want for a download, my son has an ebook , he wanted a book for it, on amazon the hard copy was £6. , the e book was the same price, if they weren't so greedy piracy would be minimal

Just a thought, if you bought a print from a photographer, would you expect the electronic hi-res copy to be cheaper?

 

[srichards]

Movie trailers drive me nuts as well. Pirate copies seem to just be the film without the pap! I buy or rent legally all mine and it is infuriating.

As idiotic copyright law stands copying a cd into itunes or equivalent or any other content is illegal anyway. They're supposed to be changing it so it becomes a lawful use for you to change format of something you've bought and keep.

 

[wack61]

Just a thought, if you bought a print from a photographer, would you expect the electronic hi-res copy to be cheaper?

I'd expect it to be more expensive because it would allow me to make multiple copies to distribute to family and friends I don't want multiple copies of a book.

With a hard copy book there's harvesting of the paper, shipping, export, import , printing, delivery,wholesale, retail before you get it which creates jobs and profit, a ebook is a file on a server with next to no cost for the publisher and no jobs

 

[Marc]

I'd expect it to be more expensive because it would allow me to make multiple copies to distribute to family and friends I don't want multiple copies of a book.

With a hard copy book there's harvesting of the paper, shipping, export, import , printing, delivery,wholesale, retail before you get it which creates jobs and profit, a ebook is a file on a server with next to no cost for the publisher and no jobs

But that's just the point, I've just plugged my Kindle into the computer and I can access the files for all the books so there's nothing to stop me copying them and distributing them, same as with photos. I hasten to add that I wouldn't but plenty of people do.

 

[Lynton]

Just a thought, if you bought a print from a photographer, would you expect the electronic hi-res copy to be cheaper?

Just a thought but yes.

Cost to make from scratch a book from the original manuscript compared to cost to print a photo from an image. :shrug:

Yes I know all about photographers have to eat etc... but just lookin gat the base cost - it's a posh word document?

 

[Marc]

Just a thought but yes.

Cost to make from scratch a book from the original manuscript compared to cost to print a photo from an image. :shrug:

Yes I know all about photographers have to eat etc... but just lookin gat the base cost - it's a posh word document?

Not sure what you're saying Lynton, you think ebooks should be cheaper than printed?

 

[wack61]

But that's just the point, I've just plugged my Kindle into the computer and I can access the files for all the books so there's nothing to stop me copying them and distributing them, same as with photos. I hasten to add that I wouldn't but plenty of people do.

The only reason I can see a photographer letting a customer have a hi res file is if they've sold the copyright with it which is why I'd expect it to be more expensive, when you buy a ebook your getting the rights to one copy of that book, if the picture came with a licence to only print one copy I'd expect it to be cheaper because I have to pay to get it printed.

 

[Lynton]

Fans, just tetras my post and it doesn't make much sense!

Yes I would expect ebook to be cheaper than a book, due to no manufacturing, transportation, storage costs. No wasters etc either.

 

[Lynton]

Fans, just tetras my post and it doesn't make much sense!

Yes I would expect ebook to be cheaper than a book, due to no manufacturing, transportation, storage costs. No wasters etc either.

Even "reread"

Bloody "smart"phone and predictive text!

 

[Lynton]

Fabs, just tetras my post and it doesn't make much sense!

Yes I would expect ebook to be cheaper than a book, due to no manufacturing, transportation, storage costs. No wasters etc either.

 

[Lynton]

Fabs even, and reread not tetras

Bloody not so smart phone and predictive text.

 

[Marc]

The only reason I can see a photographer letting a customer have a hi res file is if they've sold the copyright with it which is why I'd expect it to be more expensive, when you buy a ebook your getting the rights to one copy of that book, if the picture came with a licence to only print one copy I'd expect it to be cheaper because I have to pay to get it printed.

Photohraphers sell hi-res copies of photographs all the time without selling the copyright. They get usage rights only. That doesn't mean just the right to print one copy.

Fans, just tetras my post and it doesn't make much sense!

Yes I would expect ebook to be cheaper than a book, due to no manufacturing, transportation, storage costs. No wasters etc either.

Manufacturing costs don't really come into it. If you purchase a hi-res copy of a photograph then, if you distribute it to others, there is a limit to the potential loss of the photographer, given that the majority (if not all, in the case of family and/or friends) of those who receive it would not have purchased it anyway.

If you purchase a book, the distribution of that book has the potential to cost the publisher 1000s in sales.

 

[Musicman]

Yes I would expect ebook to be cheaper than a book, due to no manufacturing, transportation, storage costs. No wasters etc either.

Also, once you have a physical book, it's yours to keep or dispose of as you like and has a resale value. If you have a first edition of George Orwell's 1984 in good condition, 10 shillings when new, it could now be worth over £5,000.

AFAIK, an electronic download of a book has no resale value, you've only licensed its use by you. The residual value after your purchase is zero. You can't even use it to light a fire to keep you warm, if it came to that.

Moreover, you may not even have the right to continue using it even when you've got it.

If you bought a copy of George Orwell's 1984 for your Kindle in 2009, you may have found it summarily deleted from your Kindle by Amazon as it turned out they didn't have the rights to sell it.

The electronic download consequently has less intrinsic value to the end user than a real book, beyond the economics of producing and distributing it.

Flipside for publishers, of course, is that if they price their electronic editions accordingly lower, they'll seriously annoy their primary distribution channel, i.e. bookshops, which still account for 85% of their sales.

 

[neil_g]

back on topic, i emailed fox and they sent me a new code.. my faith is restored

 

[neil_g]

i'll retract that statement, the code doesnt work.

 

[menthel]

It's the ads that you can't skip that do my head in and that anti piracy video that runs for 30 seconds, I don't need to watch an anti piracy video, I bought it, the anti piracy video won't be on the pirate copy.

Another bugbear of mine is the price they want for a download, my son has an ebook , he wanted a book for it, on amazon the hard copy was £6. , the e book was the same price, if they weren't so greedy piracy would be minimal

The main problem is that you pay VAT on ebooks but not on the paper copies. That means that the government are getting 20% they don't get with print copies.

 

[DorsetDude]

Sadly they seem to be learning from the games industry. Give it five to ten years and you won't be able to use anything without having an always on internet connection that dials out every time you use it to make sure you didn't steal it. And after a few years they'll decide that they don't want to support the thing you've bought any more so they'll turn the servers off, making it always fails the authenticity check.

Meanwhile people who have the pirated version are happily using it with no problems at all.

That observation has frighteningly realistic prescience about it. I can just see it coming.

 

[DazJW]

It'll be interesting to see what the music industry does. They went through all this first and got something of a bloody nose from it but as it seems to be quietly creeping into everything else they might well see it as an opportunity to go back to locking music down.

 

[wack61]

The main problem is that you pay VAT on ebooks but not on the paper copies. That means that the government are getting 20% they don't get with print copies.

I didn't know that but it doesn't surprise me

 

[neil_g]

bloody apple.. *shakey fist*

Hello Neil, I have just tested this digital copy and you are correct, this title is currently expired in iTunes.

For the time being, this title is currently only available for a Windows Media Player digital copy transfer at this time and I have given you a new serial number for the transfer below.

This title is currently expired in iTunes as iTunes expires all digital copy codes when the movie has been on sale to the public for over 2 years, as this title has. The expiration date for iTunes should be listed in small print on the back of your DVD/Blu-Ray case. There are no new codes we can issue you today that will work for an iTunes transfer of this movie.

You may use the digital copy in Windows Media Player until there is a re-release of this movie as a Directors Cut/Special Edition or has more new features as iTunes will then consider it a new title and give us another 2 years. For the time being, I will issue you a new working code for Windows Media Player and put you on the waiting list for an iTunes code if they become available at a later date.

If you try using the new code in iTunes and it tells you it is expired again, you will not be able to use it in Windows Media Player and we cannot give you any more codes, except the one we owe you for iTunes when those become available.

Your new digital copy code for Windows Media Player only is: xxxxxxx

We will keep your information on file and send you an iTunes code once it becomes available.

Thank You,

Fox Digital Copy Support

it'd be quicker to download or rip a copy.