Bye, Grokster! Now, next!

The movie people are happy this week after getting a US Supreme Court decision against Grokster. Does anybody think that shutting down Grokster will slow down illegal copying online? For people who download, they do not use just one or two programmes or services. No Grokster just mean more traffic on other networks. This is just like when they shutdown Napster, not a dent was made in downloading. The heart of the matter lies in the price and quality of mass-market movies and music: they are too expansive and too poorly made. The industries keep putting out numbers of how many billions are lost to illegal downloading. But be honest, how many of those people who downloaded would pay the market price for what they downloaded? Sure, they may download Herbie, but who in his right mind would voluntarily spend $20 to see it? They should do it like they do in Hong Kong: sell VCDs and DVDs cheaply. That way there is no real reason to go through the trouble to look and then download movies or songs. People can just pick them up with their happy meals for about the same money. They can sell special editions at premium price to the true fans. Make it a truly mass-market product and not a special night out, and we get back to the heydays of movies when people spent the whole depression in movie palaces. That way they have to spend less time in spending money and put more efforts into making interesting movies.