Court : Google is the largest torrent search engine

They love winging that people don't pay for stuff. I give a lot of my time away for free on the internet and a lot of material. I repair elderly people's computers free of charge, also single mothers and anyone with a disability. Most of the time I don't see much copyrighted material on peoples computers. I think generally that people just download the odd file. Otherwise I would see loads of files on peoples systems, instead of the odd various artist album featuring totally random one hit wonders from last decade.

If the media distribution system is truly to change, then it should run off a software token system. For say $10 extra a month, you get to download what you choose and each file has a token like a cookie. Each download credits the artist for their work and they get paid monthly based on number of downloads. This would help artists to receive a fair reward for their work.

Currently distribution systems like Itunes are more frustrating than purchasing hardware. I can buy a monitor for example with less fuss, than installing crappy software that prevents my music playing properly on my MP3 player.

Except for the fact that many people quit paying for TV cause they were sick of paying to watch a bunch of advertisements. Sometimes ads make up over 1/3 of the time slot for popular shows.

Now, even Comedy Central has started sticking ads into their online shows like The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. That alone has pushed swim back to torrents for ad free Jon and Steven.... previously the website was preferred, but they had to go and ruin a good thing.

It would be fantastic to have any media I want commercial free without consequences. We all hate commercials. Unfortunately, how do the creators make a living? Their shows are their livelihood and it's advertising that pays for that. DVD sales and other outlets are fairly inconsequential compared to ad revenues. If they don't make any money then they don't have production teams or a studio and you'll find that "charlie the unicorn" is the highest quality of programming that you get. And yes, some will use torrents to acquire commercial free programming, but many will also be like me. I don't want to pay for anything I don't have to, but I also don't want to clutter my computer and take up space for things that I don't have to either. I would say that in order to lessen the amount of advertising we're going to have to come up with an alternative to it - and I'm drawing a blank on that one, as it simultaneously boosts sales for the company and pays the wages of the studio teams. Any suggestions?

Edit: also, i didn't quit TV because of commercials. I quit because most of it is dreck and doesn't let me choose what I want to watch. Now if I want to watch a documentary I don't just hope that there happens to be an interesting one on right at that moment, I just go find one. If it's on Hulu or something, then fantastic. If not then I'll acquire it through other means. I prescribe to the notion that media and information should be free - but we occupy a capitalist society and therefor SOMEONE has to pay. If advertisers want to pay for me then I'm all for that. Remember, it's advertising that pays for free access to this site and others like it. It's a delicate give and take.

I'll pay for it when they stop filling it with commercials for crap I don't need.... I am more than happy to pay for Netflix!

The revenues netflix pulls in are pittance compared to ad revenues pulled in by the networks. The only way that would possibly work as a replacement for our current system would be if you paid for content from each network individually, and even then editors, writers, animators, and everyone else involved in production would probably have to take pay cuts in addition to it being expensive to consumers who enjoy a variety of stations, such as a family with varied ages.

What should one use ? if one were to switch?

A very valuable, if not priceless, contribution. Thank you for that.

What is this Ethernet you speak of?

http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/ethernet1/g/bldef_ethernet.htm

Ethernet is a physical and data link layer technology for local area networks (LANs). Ethernet was invented by engineer Robert Metcalfe.

When first widely deployed in the 1980s, Ethernet supported a maximum theoretical data rate of 10 megabits per second (Mbps). Later, so-called "Fast Ethernet" standards increased this maximum data rate to 100 Mbps. Today, Gigabit Ethernet technology further extends peak performance up to 1000 Mbps.

Higher level network protocols like Internet Protocol (IP) use Ethernet as their transmission medium. Data travels over Ethernet inside protocol units called frames.

The run length of individual Ethernet cables is limited to roughly 100 meters, but Ethernet networks can be easily extended to link entire schools or office buildings using network bridge devices.

(click on the link for more details and in-text links)

It's a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data.

The BitTorrent protocol can distribute a large file without the heavy load on the source computer and network. Rather than downloading a file from a single source, the BitTorrent protocol allows users to join a "swarm" of hosts to download and upload from each other simultaneously . The protocol works as an alternative method to distribute data and can work over networks with low bandwidth so even small computers, like mobile phones, are able to distribute files to many recipients.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_(protocol)

Cool, like ants carrying a grasshopper.

Oh, and wikipedia sucks too.

Files are compressed into a single file called a 'torrent' that can then be downloaded and unpackaged using a program called a 'torrent client'. Files can be video, pictures, music, a program, or any other filetype that you desire; they can contain any number of files and be any size, as well as able to contain a multitude of files, e.g. an album that contains both the music and the album art.

Haha nice analogy. I will remember that every time I get on utorrent now.

Trolls suck too.

Yep. +^d

Yup, it really is a waste of time to try & stop it. If there's a will, there's a way.