

The Pirate Bay May Be Launched As a Pay Service - scapegraced
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10288235-93.html

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Dilpil
We already tried this with napster. From what I hear it is not going well.
Filesharing sites do not succeed on brand equity, they succeed on the fact
that they offer things for free.

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yason
And by offering something the media companies don't:

* Movies and tv-series as simple non-DRM'd non-crippled files that can be played on any available video player as many times as you want.

* Old productions that aren't for sale currently or any longer.

* Productions that aren't released in your country

* Productions that you've already bought but unable to convert to easily copyable digital format.

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erso
Each of the things you've listed here are the sort of thing you'd expect to be
negotiated away by said media companies before they agree to any licensing.

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Dilpil
Yes, you would expect that. It would be completely reasonable to expect that.
But this is not the reality of the situation.

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reg4c
Blugh, and the company that bought them was all like "We wanna keep the users
happy and keep things the way they are"

I think its safe to say that The Pirate Bay has died.

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scapegraced
I don't think that the Pirate Bay has died yet, but I think once the owners
begin to charge for their services, users are going to look elsewhere. I know
I will.

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Musashi
Sounds more like Pirate Pay

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drawkbox
Yes I was thinking the same. The irony of "pirates" mixed with legal commerce
is obviously not being thought through.

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whatusername
Maybe a mafia/protection racket might work?

ie: We will pass on all your details to the RIAA unless you pay up?

