Friday, February 24, 2006
SPL DVD Policy encourages Copyright Scofflaws?
So, the Seattle Public Library has decided to implement a new checkout period for DVDs: one week. I kind of have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the old policy where you could keep the DVD for fourish weeks, was a bit much. I mean, if you haven't watched the dang thing in a couple weeks, then really, are you going to?
On the other hand, the library never has anything on the shelves that you want to watch so you have to play the online reserves game. Basically, the strategy is like this: You try to guess when the new releases for next month you may want to see will be entered into the SPL catalog. At that point, even though the item is on order, you can place a reserve. If catch this window right, you will be in the first 50. If you wait until you notice the DVD is out of stock at your local Hollywood, God help you. Case in point, the 792 people waiting to see Bill Murray in Broken Flowers.
The big problem is you never know when these things are going to come in -- and they seem to arrive in batches. My problem is that I have time to watch one, maybe two movies a week. When six DVSs (plus a full season of the Sopranos; another 4 discs) show up, they aren't going to be watched within a week. So then, you are stuck with late fees (admittedly, at 10 cents a day, vastly cheaper than video rentals), because dang it, if I waited four months for say, Party Girl, little Parker Posey is not going back until I watch it.
So what's the solution? Well, for some I'm afraid it's going to require the blatant flaunt of copyright and some technology that isn't going to sit well with DRM, DCMA loving Hollywood: Copy the discs. I mean, and keep in mind, this is just a hypothetical guess about what people might do, a blank DVD is now runs about 20 cents on sale. Programs like DVD Shrink are easy to use and pretty much only take a few minutes and then, boom, you've got the DVD to watch whenever you feel like it. Of course, you'll handle this in an ethical manner and destroy said disc once you do get around to watching it. Problem solved, right?
Well, I don't know about that. I'm a little uncomfortable putting users in a situation where they are even accidentally encouraged to violate copyright, just for the sake of cycling through the holds a bit faster. Sometimes you may have a legitimate need to have a DVD for a month (Like the Sopranos box set I mentioned). Who could work through a whole season of Sopranos is a week? Someone with too much free time. Or, what about kids' DVDs that they can truly watch 20 times before tiring of them? A month is about perfect for those.
Sorry, if you waded through all this and were hoping for an easy answer. I don't have one, but I promise to think about it more. Once I finish watching that stack of movies, that is!
On the other hand, the library never has anything on the shelves that you want to watch so you have to play the online reserves game. Basically, the strategy is like this: You try to guess when the new releases for next month you may want to see will be entered into the SPL catalog. At that point, even though the item is on order, you can place a reserve. If catch this window right, you will be in the first 50. If you wait until you notice the DVD is out of stock at your local Hollywood, God help you. Case in point, the 792 people waiting to see Bill Murray in Broken Flowers.
The big problem is you never know when these things are going to come in -- and they seem to arrive in batches. My problem is that I have time to watch one, maybe two movies a week. When six DVSs (plus a full season of the Sopranos; another 4 discs) show up, they aren't going to be watched within a week. So then, you are stuck with late fees (admittedly, at 10 cents a day, vastly cheaper than video rentals), because dang it, if I waited four months for say, Party Girl, little Parker Posey is not going back until I watch it.
So what's the solution? Well, for some I'm afraid it's going to require the blatant flaunt of copyright and some technology that isn't going to sit well with DRM, DCMA loving Hollywood: Copy the discs. I mean, and keep in mind, this is just a hypothetical guess about what people might do, a blank DVD is now runs about 20 cents on sale. Programs like DVD Shrink are easy to use and pretty much only take a few minutes and then, boom, you've got the DVD to watch whenever you feel like it. Of course, you'll handle this in an ethical manner and destroy said disc once you do get around to watching it. Problem solved, right?
Well, I don't know about that. I'm a little uncomfortable putting users in a situation where they are even accidentally encouraged to violate copyright, just for the sake of cycling through the holds a bit faster. Sometimes you may have a legitimate need to have a DVD for a month (Like the Sopranos box set I mentioned). Who could work through a whole season of Sopranos is a week? Someone with too much free time. Or, what about kids' DVDs that they can truly watch 20 times before tiring of them? A month is about perfect for those.
Sorry, if you waded through all this and were hoping for an easy answer. I don't have one, but I promise to think about it more. Once I finish watching that stack of movies, that is!
