Quote Originally Posted by Rase View Post
I may not want to pay $50k for a car despite wanting said car, but I think we can agree my solution should not just be to take it.
Indeed since you have literally taken money out of their hands. However, if every person had a matter duplicator that could duplicate anything they had a picture of with practically no overhead cost that would be more akin to the internet/digital example. Obviously in such an environment something would give out. And it is far more morally grey, than the example of which you steal the car from the lot. This is what is happening with the digital media at the moment.

And since people seem to state their own deals I will too. I pirate stuff regularly. Mostly to see if it is worth the cost. Most of the time I find that it isn't. However, I do prefer to rent/borrow over pirating(though it can often be difficult to find things like that). Saves space/time/effort/etc, this is why things like Netflix do so well. People are lazy, they will take the path of least resistance in most cases. However, even lazy people will balk at a path that appears to be ridiculously costly to take. Particularly if there is a path nearby that is far cheaper and far more user friendly(which torrenting movies has become, they can get the movie instantly with nearly no hassle or they can pay for the privileged of being inconvenienced; even computer illiterates can download stuff these days. . . usually. . . my mother is exempted from that group. If I have to teach her how to update her profile pic on facebook or to right click and save an image one more time. . . ).


Back on topic'ish. The web and the interweb pirates have created new expectations in people. The internet has greatly reduced the cost of distribution and has made it possible to release world-wide at once with almost no hassle to the consumer. However, very few companies have embraced the technology; rather they cling to the past(probably because making full use of the new technology isn't easy nor, for many, intuitive).

As for distribution. It should be released(imo) to both theatre and home theatre(online streaming of somekind) at the same time. This would allow a world wide release(though native language releases may come later) since the net, thus online streaming, isn't limited by location(well location can play a part, but it isn't anywhere near as large as when stocking dvd's in a store). Anyways if that was met it would be ideal. Then the choice of going to the theatre or watching it at home would be entirely up to individual preferences. And the competition could even be good for the theatres when it comes to improving service.