Feds Shut Down File-Sharing Website Megaupload

[Scootaloo]

12. Embracing the new reality is definitely the way to go

Now... laugh if you want, but I've recently been converted as a Brony - a fan of the new My Little Pony cartoon. Trouble is, the episodes are only released on iTunes... and are encoded so that if I wished to watch them on my tablet, or if I bought a new computer, I would have to buy them again. At $3 an episode, and 39 episodes (with more to come this season) that's $117 dollars to access content that I've ALREADY PURCHASED.

So the solution? Buy an episode... and watch a pirated version of it on my other machines. it doesn't hurt that the pirated version tend to have better colors and higher resolutions than the official releases, either.

Considering that at the end of the day, each episode of this cartoon is a 22-minute toy commercial, this doesn't strike me as a very customer-friendly method of getting the media out there. Should Hasbro release these episodes in a free-for-all business plan? probably not, after all it's pretty evident that schmucks like me WILL pay for the content, so why not charge. But there needs to also be the understanding that providing low-quality product at high prices with limited access isn't going to do anything but ENCOURAGE piracy.

And that, by the way, is the problem with the gaming industry that Nadin brought up, above. when every game you put out is utterly derivative, when you charge $60 for a football game that is IDENTICAL to the football game you released last year (also $60) and then pack it with so many protections and certifications that actually playing the thing feels like you're trying to bust out of Rikers, and on top of that telling the people who just purchased your disk that they are only "renting" the content? You can't expect any reaction other than a drop in sales and an increase in people cracking and pirating the games.