Rage Against Amazon (and others)

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:08 am

I already knew Amazon.ca was worthless, but today my thoughts were confirmed. Basically, because I live in Canada I am restricted from buying a shitload of products from America using the .com version. Including, it would seem, music.

Since I refuse to infect my PC with the AIDS that is iTunes, it seems I'll be forced to pirate files. Especially if I *gasp* have my American friends buy the music for me.

So yeah, fuck you, Amazon and the RIAA. Fuck you with a rake. All I want is some legit, non-DRM infused songs. Why is this such a fucking problem?

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:16 am

Yeah, over here in Europe we have the same problem. And don't get me started on DVD country codes. Why those imbeciles in charge of movie companies still try to keep different premier dates for movies despite everyone using the internet is beyond me.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:19 am

Meikle641 wrote:Since I refuse to infect my PC with the AIDS that is iTunes, it seems I'll be forced to pirate files. Especially if I *gasp* have my American friends buy the music for me.

Just out of curiosity... What would happen if an American friend of yours started a new account for you, and then you logged in from Canada? Would it allow you to use the normal version of the website?

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:20 am

Have you thought of buying the CDs instead of the files?

Different release dates actually reduces the overall cost to releasing movies... Because the best stuff still needs actual film stock, it's always going to be a load of data that needs to be distributed, and have people show up and promote it.

And for books and other personal media, the printers and publishers and servers do better when they can limit the number of people accessing or wanting them at the same date. It's better to have 100,000 ten different days than 1,000,000 on one day. It's easier to produce 100,000 books a month than produce 1,000,000 books in single a month. And distribute them, no matter how.

The country codes, tho, are indefensible, but are more an outgrowth of varying copyright law across areas.

-Crissa

Heath Robinson · Post by **Heath Robinson** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:48 am

No, they're really not an outgrowth of different copyright laws. Why the hell do I share my region code with Japan?

It's simple. Region codes exist to divide the world up according to the release date and pricing system of the big studios. We in Europe, and in Japan, have far more expensive DVDs than you guys in America. They try to turn our DVDs into different products from your DVDs to stop us importing cheap DVDs.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:37 pm

Actually, they are.

Things produced in Japan or for Japan have highly different compensation laws for incidental music, lyrics, and etc than the US. As such, in the US you have to pay for every second you use of Happy Birthday in your production. You don't in Japan.

-Crissa

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:22 pm

I wish the ACCC would grow some balls and just ban that shit in Australia. Seriously, all DVD players have to be supplied unlocked, but not Blu ray players, Laptop drives and fucking PS3s/Xboxes? Why?

Just make it happen. Even if that means sony refuses to offically distribute PS3s in australia, it will still solve the god damn problem because it means someone will import them from America and sell them, and then we are basically region 1.

Blergh.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:13 pm

Crissa wrote:Have you thought of buying the CDs instead of the files

Maybe. But why should I have to buy a whole CD when I want like, one song from like, 20 artists?

As it is, I'm having my American pal buy my songs, then I repay him with a money order. Fucking corporations.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:39 pm

Meikle641 wrote:
Crissa wrote:Have you thought of buying the CDs instead of the files
Maybe. But why should I have to buy a whole CD when I want like, one song from like, 20 artists?

As it is, I'm having my American pal buy my songs, then I repay him with a money order. Fucking corporations.

This is why I asked if your friend could set up an amazon account for you. Since you're not buying a physical good, the address on the account is mostly irrelevant - you could snag one out of a phone book - but if you did have an American account, then you should be able to buy from the American site regardless of where you are in the world, non?

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:24 am

They might be using ip addresses to screen out people from other countries though. Not that you can't get around that.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 3:22 pm

Heath Robinson wrote:No, they're really not an outgrowth of different copyright laws. Why the hell do I share my region code with Japan?

It's simple. Region codes exist to divide the world up according to the release date and pricing system of the big studios. We in Europe, and in Japan, have far more expensive DVDs than you guys in America. They try to turn our DVDs into different products from your DVDs to stop us importing cheap DVDs.

Ahhh to live in SE Asia. I pay 60 cents a DVD,oftenin conjunction with theatrical release and I've even gotten movies before their theatrical release by like 6 months. Unfortunately it was 88 minutes which sucked monkey balls but I could write in movie threads about it way in advance and be a dick

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:00 pm

Fuchs wrote:Yeah, over here in Europe we have the same problem. And don't get me started on DVD country codes. Why those imbeciles in charge of movie companies still try to keep different premier dates for movies despite everyone using the internet is beyond me.

I have found that many popular dvd players have an easy way to disable their region code software on them. You might wish to try googling your brand for region 0 "hacks". I have a couple phillips brand dvd players and it was as easy as holding down the 0 button during powering on or something (to set it to region 0 aka regionless).

[edit: also this is a mean thing to do to your enemies since I think you can use the same hack to change the region code to somewhere else. hehehe.]

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:46 pm

I already own a code-free DVD player, and two players for my computer.

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:07 am

Corporations talk a good game about "globalization", but when it comes to putting it to work for their customers, they fail big time. And then they're shocked when people turn to piracy to get what they want...

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:15 am

I buy CDs 'cause I actually like to listen to music by the artist, not just radio singles.

-Crissa

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:53 am

Crissa wrote:I buy CDs 'cause I actually like to listen to music by the artist, not just radio singles.

For me to like an artist, I have to like at least 90% of their music. And there are only two groups I can say that I actually like (Evanescence and VAST).

The rest of the time, I like individual songs. And not just the ones on the radio, either. Thanx to the internet, it's easy enough to listen to samples to see which I like and don't.

It's lame to buy a CD when you don't even like half of what's on it. Save the money; buy the individual songs.