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MattCruikshank • today at 9:49 PM • 0 replies • view on HN

Dear copyright holders,

You deserve to get compensated. You should get compensated.

But stop acting against the will of the consumers. And stop fighting the technology.

Remember when you thought VHS and DVD would kill the movie industry? You were wrong then, and you're wrong again, now.

Make a very simple website where people can search for actors, search for directors, search keywords, search awards...

And then show us torrent links for all of the content, all of the versions, all of the audio formats, all of the video resolutions, all of the languages, the director's cut, with or without subtitles baked in, theatrical release, re-release, fan edits, all of it. Make it easy for someone else to document a new version, and share the torrent. Set up Popcorn Time or whatever, if you're smart.

I download the content on my own dime. I'll even seed it for a bit, because I like it, and why not?

And then, let me buy a decryption key. Make the price reasonable. Make it Pay What You Want, if you're really smart. When you're setting that price, think real hard about the fact that the illegal option is literally one click away for anyone technically savvy. That decryption key should be shared for all of the different versions available to me. I pay once, I get all the formats, now, and forever. Let me save the key to my account, if you want to set up accounts and recommendations, and etc. Let me save the key in my Plex or Jellyfin server. Or as file metadata, or in a json in a zip file at the end of the file...

Say it's legal for me to pass that license on to one of my kids, when I die.

If you're real smart, grant me the right to legally loan that key to a friend, so they can watch the movie, and then return the key (or I get to auto-revoke it after a number of days).

Hell, tell me a price to have a private (or public?) screening of the movie at a theater that rents out screens.

Cocoon is not available on streaming. That's so dumb. It will enter the public domain in 2081. Until then, earn some reasonable money, by making a legal way for people to do what they're already doing. As frictionless as possible.

And if you're a genius, come up with a way for someone to show you their DVD, Blu-Ray, VHS copy of a movie, and give them that decryption key, for free. They already bought your movie once. Don't make them regret it. Reward them for it. Send it out to anyone who "bought" the movie on AppleTV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Amazon, etc. But I doubt you're that smart.