Mediacorporations want to make money. It is that easy, and I can see where that is coming from
of course, and piracy is a big issue for them as they represent a downloaded media file with a
lost sale. Now most of us know that this is not true, that you downloaded the file doesn’t automatically
mean that you wanted to purchase it just to see/listen to it. It has also been established that
media pirates are willing to pay for media in various ways if it has easy distribution.
(Look at spotify will you).

I saw a retweet from @janlindgren to the following image:
Good thoughts on this image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the idea in general is sound, no doubt about it, but there are some things there that even I can see
as not being plausible, for instance to include boxart and extra content and similar issues.

So I gave the idea a few thoughts and a few minutes of my time and came up with this:
mediasuggestion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what is that then?
Well, it is an application that can simplify distribution of movies and tv-shows.
You can easily choose the categories you wish to browse, you can choose resolution
and for those of us that has extreme bandwidth, stream both dvd quality and hd quality,
You have the ability to gift media to another person, you can sync to a device
or pherhaps to itunes for you apple-eaters. You can either stream the file through
the application (would make it pretty good for tablets and similar devices) or
download the actual file.

You can also order a physical disc and THERE is where the extra content should be stored.
Include special features like “how was it made”, extra box art, etc etc in these discs to make
purchasing the physical thing a viable option, also you can have the standard order X discs, pick
one or two extra for as a bonus.

Now how should it work. Well, to tell you the truth, I haven’t given that as much thought as I
would like, the quick thought that entered my mind would be that each file that you purchase
should in some way be branded with a unique “tag” for lack of a better word that would
be hidden from the users, only viewable from the mediacorporation and this should be embedded
somewhere in the file. No tracking software, no DRM, just a simple encrypted ID that in no other
way alters the file, making the removal of it redundant (if you can move the file as you wish between your
different devices, what’s the point of breaking it up just to get rid of some text, right?)
So that once you buy this movie, it is a file that you “own” so to speak.

Tether this ID to a string that combines creditcard number and one more factor like
social security number or similar. (means it can be crosschecked with card issuer)

So, lets say a file ends up on a file sharing network. Media company snags the file, reads
the user tag and promptly ban this user from further purchases and from using the network.

Now then, make this application in different formats, so it can be used directly on devices, for
Android, iOS, windows phone, Windows for pc, mac OS X and Linux and also for consoles like
PS3 and Xbox360. Do you see the market impact this has the potential to have?

So what you would do is instead of trying to battle piracy with methods that obviously doesn’t
work, causing disturbances and public hatred towards you, learn from them. Create a platform
that is fast, userfriendly and without hindrance for the paying user and you will see an increase
in generated money from people.

Of course there will always be freeloaders, there always has been, there always will be, but
once again, look at spotify. Music download has drastically gone down since the start of it.

Now, I am not sure how to pull all this together. I have to admit that is a bit beyond my
abilities, but isn’t this something that you, personally, might like to see and try? I know I would