The Joys of Purchasing Content

[Rob Williams]

We live in a content-rich world, and no matter what you're in the mood for, there's always something to read, watch or play. Well, if only it was that simple. Want to game? Register it first, hope that it connects successfully to some server, pray that Games for Windows Live starts up, and then play. Want to watch a movie? Things are not much different. One thing's clear - while there's a lot of content to partake in, there's even more hassle involved just to access it.

Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

 

[MacMan]

This was funny! I love the Oatmeal. In fact, I just did a little post on Siri singing (trust me, she can't sing for beans!) on my own little practice blog which was created by the genius's over at Scoopertino, another great and comedic site.

 

[Brett Thomas]

It's a shame that it's so true, but really...

The real downside to it is that it's not the content MAKERS that are forcing this. It's the content PUBLISHERS consistently trying to force the old ways of doing things, mostly to continue to validate their own existence in a new world where creators can easily reach consumers without the middleman. In an attempt to show their value in the product chain, most publishers simply further alienate the consumer and try to spin it as thievery to the creator.

 

[Kougar]

Brett said it pretty concisely there. I'm just glad that the ball is rolling downhill towards the day when the publishers either need to get back to acting as a "publisher", or are bypassed altogether. The sooner they quit taking 60-80% of every artist/author's $1 (none of which pays for physical distrib or manufacturing costs, that's extra), the better.

Availability does seem to be the largest reason for people downloading shows these days. There's one show I enjoy watching that's syndicated in Canada, the UK, and the US, but rarely is it shown in most of the US. Even when old reruns are being aired on multiple networks, nobody actually hosts the new show. Short of waiting over a year or more for it to be released to DVD, I'm literally left without any other alternative if I want to watch it.