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Stop the Anti-Divx Madness! Posted by Chris Williams [IP: 195.232.122.23] on November 14, 1998 at 18:44:40: In Reply to: Stop the Anti-Divx Madness! posted by David on November 14, 1998 at 18:39:32: : Let the flaming begin!) ;) : I don't understand the rabid anti-Divx propaganda. OK, here's my main arguments against DIVX. 1: The vast majority of the money and control of the system is in the hands of one company and a group of lawyers. If they succeed in pushing this, and killing the VHS rental market and DVD rental market, they can start raising prices...even on the discs you curently have in your "library". Cheap initial rentals are like "free" software from Microsoft. 2: It allows one huge marketing machine to have far more information about one's viewing habits than any reasonably prudent person would wish. When you combine the information in your credit report with all this info about what you watch, the value is so high to them they could give you the films for free, and still make money. 3: It's the proverbial "camel's nose". If they can succeed in getting the public to accept the idea of a Pay-Per-View disc, they'll try for a Pay-Per-Listen audio format next. Don't think for a minute they haven't considered this. What's next? Pay-Per-Read books? : So the question is, just because we home theater weenies want DVD does that mean the VHS market SHOULDN'T get an upgrade? Indeed, the more Divx machines they sell based on its merits, the larger the DVD market grows, because every Divx owner will be a potential DVD purchaser as well. This is a canard. If DIVX succeeds, DVD will be killed. If Hollywood studios can get money from every play, as opposed to selling it once, they will not release anything on open DVD. : And anything that enlarges the DVD market increases availability of DVD titles, and maybe even lower DVD prices a bit more. Not likely. DIVX does not exist because Hollywood studio owners are altrustic. It exists because they have been trying for years to figure out how to get you to pay every single time you watch their product. : Let's not force people to choose between VHS rentals and DVD purchase. Divx is a nice happy medium between the two for many people. Isn't this a country whose founders came here to avoid having the views of the majority forced upon them? You don't know how nearly right you are. Opposing DIVX is a civil liberties issue that would be very clear to our Founding Fathers. The Copyright Act included the "Doctrine of First Sale", specifically authorizing one to re-sell an issue of a copyrighted work, like a book. I can re-sell any of my books, DVDs, Laserdiscs and VHS tapes. DIVX is an attempt to gut First Sale. If we have any respect for the wisdom of the Founders, we cannot let them succeed.
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