5 Responses to Question Lady Question

1. epiminondas says:

   September 21, 2012 at 8:23 pm

   I’ve never really thought about this that much because I’m too danged busy looking at stuff people send me. Also, I’m never quite sure whether being “informed” is also being “entertained”. I guess I’m being “occupied”. So far, for free. But, okay, I’ll think about it.

   LikeLike

   Reply
2. Paleo Retiree says:

   September 21, 2012 at 8:31 pm

   It’s a mix, I guess. God knows I love websurfing and going thru YouTube, etc etc, and it’s awfully nice that so much is out there for free. That said, if/when there’s someone who makes stuff I repeatedly enjoy, I definitely want to throw some money in the tip jar. I send Steve Sailer regular donations, for instance, and if there were an easy way to do it I’d send the woman who makes the Maru videos some modest money too. Culturepeople gotta support the cultureworld, or at least such is my feeling.

   It’s partly to do with price, too. If a movie or book is $2.95 or $3.95, I’m happy to pay. But once they’re charging 10 or 15 bucks or more, I start feeling like I might be willing to either forgo the pleasure or see if there’s another way of obtaining it. If you know what I mean.

   LikeLike

   Reply
3. Paleo Retiree says:

   September 21, 2012 at 10:21 pm

   The work of one particularly classy audiobook publisher excepted. Those are big faves of mine, and I’m always willing to pay full price for them.

   LikeLike

   Reply
4. Blowhard, Esq. says:

   September 22, 2012 at 1:50 am

   I subscribe to Spotify, but if I really like an album, I’m only happy to pay for a CD. I still like to have physical copies of music I love.

   As for books, I’m with Paleo Retiree — got no problem dropping $5 or less on an ebook, but anything above that price I generally won’t buy, so I’ll seek out a cheap hard copy instead.

   LikeLike

   Reply
5. Fabrizio del Wrongo says:

   September 24, 2012 at 1:41 pm

   I apply my own little moral code — which is probably foolish but WTF.

   If a media thing is not legally available, I feel okay obtaining it in a non-legal manner. I do this all the time with old movies. Last night I watched Dorothy Arzner’s “The Wild Party” starring Clara Bow. There’s no DVD of it. If it shows up on TCM, it’s only once in a great while. Whoever owns the rights to it these days has not bothered to make it available for streaming. Virtually everyone involved in making it is dead. I’m downloading it for my personal edification; I’m not going to take it and sell it to anyone. Should I feel guilty about obtaining it free of cost? Maybe, but I don’t.

   Movies that are available on DVD I rent through Netflix. I almost never buy DVDs because I refuse to spend $20 or more for something I will almost surely watch only one time. But occasionally Netflix doesn’t carry something I want to see. What to do then? I suppose I could get it from the local library, but that’s a big chore — especially when it’s waiting right there for me to download, free of cost, without hassle. There’s also the weird little fact that my getting from the library nets the artist/producer just about nothing — the same as my illegally downloading it does. What to do? Well, one thing I definitely do — bitch about Netflix not carrying it!

   I really think that, artists and media companies need to get this stuff in front of consumers at reasonable prices and via slick interfaces. Seems crazy to me that Warner, which owns the Turner catalog, hasn’t exploited its holdings with a Netflix-style streaming site that charges folks a couple of bucks to watch a classic movie. Instead, they’re selling burn-on-demand DVDs, which seems archaic. I refuse to pay over $20 for a burned DVD of a movie almost no one cares about.

   LikeLike

   Reply