[MPlayer-users] Re: Rescuing a scratched DVD

[D Richard Felker III]

On Sun, Dec 07, 2003 at 02:28:14PM +0100, HR wrote:
> As for the other discussion on this thread; replacement copy, licence
> and the sort; The company should absolutely not have to replace the DVD
> free of charge, but a replacement copy should have cost less, since a
> substantial part of the cost for a DVD far exceeds what is justifiable
> from production cost and gross margins - which is what governs most
> trade in the free world. If DVD's, music CD's and such were priced
> according to such principles, I would expect piracy to almost be limited
> to the communities that would do piracy regardless the cost - even if
> the DVD's were (next to) free. I guess it's another principle of free
> trade that applies to the greater extent - the price is what the market
> is willing to pay - or simply has to pay, because the manufacturers have
> unofficially agreed on a price range, a more common problem in so-called
> free trade than most people think.

Let's not even go into "free trade", which is a euphemism sweatshops,
slave labor, and supporting governments that engage in gross human
rights violations on a daily basis...

My point is that you should not be paying a premium for a DVD over
what the media costs. Copyright monopoly is not any more legitimate
than other government-granted monopolies as a way to make money. If
you can't make a profit without enforcing it against individuals, you
should find another business model.

Now that Magnus has mentioned rental.... If you have a DVD go bad and
want to recover it, why not just go rent it and make a copy from the
rental version? Then you pay something like $3-4 for a new copy rather
than $20. Will that make you happy?

Rich