ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (03/29/85)
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Comparisons between the situation with software and either music or TV
movies are specious.
(volume sales...etc...)
The second major difference is in the hardware of recording. With software,
being able to use the software at all almost always implies that the person
has the facilities to make copies of it. Not so with music and TV movies.
-=-
Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking
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Wrongo, bongo. Music: Prerecorded tape sales implies ownership of a
tape machine. A very large percentage of these machines record. Movies:
Hows abouts prerecorded video tapes? Tapes are still bigger than any
other home movie (rental/purchase, whatever) media. How many beta
or vhs machines out there *don't* record? Sure, you need access to a
second machine, but with a computer you (usually) need a second disk
drive (and often some cracking expertise) to do any serious pirating.
I think the hardware comparison is a good one.
Now it seems to me that although the volume sales of software programs can't
compare to sales of movie cassettes, the volume of movie piracy (recording
the TV on your VCR, or copying that tape of Superman III with your roommate's
VCR) must be corrispondingly larger. Is this damaging the movie industry?
Depends on who you talk to, I guess.
One final note: Is dual posting this discussion really necessary?
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Ron Christian (Watkins-Johnson Co. San Jose, Calif.)
{pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix,vecpyr,isi,idx}!wjvax!ron
"But it won't let me make a directory called R&D!"