P2P is the Same as Used – What You Want Isn’t Always There

Inspired by We Jam Econo screening by MN Film Arts, I thought I’d blow out my fIREHOSE and Minutemen collection.

Now, I haven’t set foot in a cd store since I stopped doing secret shops for Cheapo Discs and buying CDs from Amazon seems like a step backwards. Today, I thought I’d check iTunes and mp3.com – nothing except “Flying the Flannel”. Not one of Watt’s better albums.

Nothing over in the torrents either.

Moments like this make me wonder where in the long tail I need to look for digital versions of late 80s punk.

This reminds me, Jen got into Lost a little late this season, and we’ve been trying to catch up before the new season starts. This experience has proved to me that unless bandwidth speeds dramatically increase tv and movie producers shouldn’t worry about “piracy”. According to our calculations, by the time we would have waited for the entire season to download, the DVDs were available in stores – for $40. I spent more than that just figuring out how to do it.

Now, I’m all for simultaneous release dates across multiple medias; TV, DVD, Theater, P2P networks, Netflix. Each distribution channel has their own strengths, weaknesses, costs, and benefits.

It all depends on what’s going to work best for the individual fan.

To entertainment producers: Personally, I prefer .mov in my backyard.