Comments on: Traffic throttling Bell opens video store

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:22:31 +0000

Does Canada have anti-trust laws because in the US this would probably mean a lawsuit….

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:21:07 +0000

wordpress eats my comments when I put a name in the optional name box

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:18:08 +0000

wordpress eating my comment test

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:03:07 +0000

It seems to be getting harder to get movies I want. If I could download them for $2-$5 I may consider it if they were unavailable elsewhere. When they can be found often there’s no seeders or a few with a minor trickle rather than a torrent.

I thought we were winning. So where’s the movies then? If they are there it’s no use trying to hide it, and pointless to offer them if hardly anyone knows.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:51:13 +0000

if there is any justice in the this world this f**ktard business should be closed down.(fat chance). Never mind I can dream. hahahahahaha.

By: Justin Olbrantz (Quantam)

Justin Olbrantz (Quantam) — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:49:15 +0000

That’s staggeringly typical for Bell and others like them. They want to introduce a new service that requires massive amounts of bandwidth, which they believe will generate large amounts of new income. Instead of upgrading their infrastructure to provide that service in addition to their old services, they simply shut down some old services - services that didn’t directly make them money, naturally. That’s the name of the game for these pigs: don’t offer more, just offer what makes you more.

By: Devil's Advocate

Devil's Advocate — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:06:13 +0000

Though I knew about Bell’s intention to do stuff like this, for some reason, I thought they would have waited until the outcome of the CRTC hearings against them, before launching this. (For obvious reasons.)

Unmitigated gall, indeed!

Then again, the CRTC might just want to know, before handing down a ruling, how users of video stores such as this will differ from the “P2P bandwidth hogs” that Bell claims are “hijacking all the resources” and “stealing enjoyment from the other 95% of its users”!!

In launching this store, Bell may very well have shot itself in the foot.

By: Mostly Harmless

Mostly Harmless — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:27:39 +0000

For those who may be tempted by Bell’s…. um, offerings. Keep in mind, if Bell’s “Video Store” goes away (very probable) so does your ability to play the movies you “purchased”. You won’t get a refund or credit at another “movie store”, just screwed.

Kids, don’t do DRM!

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:45:06 +0000

Another of these corporations that can’t compete with free. So the solution is to find some way to kill the competition, ie throttling p2p. Piracy exists for one reason. To fill a vacuum that the public wants and the media corporations can’t or won’t meet. DRM at any price is no bargain. If I am going to spend money on something I want something to show for it in return. I don’t consider useless dead dvd discs of value when it comes to showing that what I bought for the money.

Till they figure out that low price, high quality, unrestricted items are what the market is demanding, I’ll continue to use other means to obtain what I wish. I will also continue to raise cain about these corporations trying to herd us into some little pasture with little choice while the world opens up for everyone else.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:11:15 +0000

only on emule?

By: A User

A User — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:04:14 +0000

Nice that they’re “plays for sure” compatible. That means FairUseforWM will work to strip the DRM off the wmv file. Sweet! Gotta get me one just so I can strip the DRM and offer it up on emule!

By: Johnnyg0

Johnnyg0 — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:35:21 +0000

So this is the reason why my downloads can’t go faster than 25k/s anymore? … (and I’m not even with Bell, I’m with AEI, who uses Bell’s network like every other DSL ISP in Quebec).

By: Xenu Xevious

Xenu Xevious — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:35:03 +0000

Buying a video in such quality to download and keep at a comparative cost of £2.50uk would be pretty reasonable imho. The only problem here is that it would not translate as £2.50uk, more like £5uk for the same service. Plus the DRM nightmare kills it for all those who don’t have media centre based crap technology to stream media to just to watch it easily on their telly.

So. Even if it did actually cost £2.50uk to download, there’s still the TIME it takes to download along with the TIME and frustration to find a way to remove the DRM just so 90% of paying customers can actually watch it without needing to burn off extreme wastes of energy (and noise) running swathes of computers to watch a movie.