Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

[Arc Orion]

Shut the fuck up, Fuggle. They're free to do whatever they want with their work, and you should be thankful that they gave it away for free in the first place.

Don't be a greedy bastard.

[Martin Blank]

When they've already released it for free, and will, it seems, both cease to do so, and step down on the distribution of what's already been released for free? Yes. If they wanted to ask for donations, or offer it for sale, on its own, that's fine. The problem comes from that they're also taking down the free distribution beforehand.

It's called a teaser, Fuggle. I participated in a promotion where Tor sent me free, unencrypted e-books for a few months. Does that mean that those books should be forever more free? That the authors are not due their royalties?

[StruckingFuggle]

If they wanted their pay as obligatory, rather than in donation form, then yes, they should have sold it first / only. Or, y'know, done a bit of it for free, and then continue with new content for pay.

"Oh hey we give you this for free, but now if you missed it, or want to see it again, you have to pay for it."

Yeah, no. It just bugs me, more than a bit.

Like how you shouldn't have to pay for anything aired on tv or played on the radio by their broadcasters. If they put it out there for free, they shouldn't then be able to shove that cat into a vending machine, and persecute people for enjoying and distributing and obtaining for free the exact same content that they were previously distributing for free.

[bagheadinc]

Like how you shouldn't have to pay for anything aired on tv or played on the radio by their broadcasters. If they put it out there for free...

That's because they didn't air it for free, advertisers paid for your opportunity to watch or hear the programming.

[StruckingFuggle]

Fine, release it with the advertising intact, where I can continue to ignore it as I tend to do already.

[bagheadinc]

Fine, release it with the advertising intact, where I can continue to ignore it as I tend to do already.

Many networks do this now. Go to the websites like NBC, ABC, or CBS; there you'll find full episodes with limited commercials.

[JermCool]

We bought the season pass on iTunes anyway so the wife could actually download it with any kind of speed in NZ. Trying to stream from there is like pulling needles through one's cheeks.

It was worth the 4 bucks, I thought.

[Deacon]

Fuggle, if you're going to be shitting up this thread, at least offer some sort of rational explanation of what otherwise seems like an irrational reaction.

Also, I'm not really sure about the ending.

[DreamRose311]

Fruggle, so does that mean you don't think we should have to buy DVD seasons of tv shows, or CD's?

[StruckingFuggle]

Well, yes and no. Depends. DVDs are dvd quality, with official subtitles, and extra features, you should have to pay for that. CDs, not all tracks get thrown up in their entirety on the radio.

Now, if a song has been on the radio, or simple records from the tv, yeah, those should be able to be collected and distributed, so long as it's not for profit ... they've been being given away for free already.

[DreamRose311]

But...the DVD will have extras... very shiny extras at that. Plus I'm going to go with Martin Blank's book place analogy thing. He makes lots of sense. Would you have bought it if you didn't know it was going to be awesome? The tease is what lets you know its totally worth it

[Deacon]

Fruggle, so does that mean you don't think we should have to buy DVD seasons of tv shows, or CD's?

I think you should never ever color the text in your posts like that again.

[DreamRose311]

Fruggle, so does that mean you don't think we should have to buy DVD seasons of tv shows, or CD's?

I think you should never ever color the text in your posts like that again.

Any particular reason? I figure if the option is there, I much prefer color to black.

[StruckingFuggle]

But...the DVD will have extras... very shiny extras at that. Plus I'm going to go with Martin Blank's book place analogy thing. He makes lots of sense. Would you have bought it if you didn't know it was going to be awesome? The tease is what lets you know its totally worth it

Maybe I wasn't clear? The DVDs they should be able to sell, and control the distribution of the extras - unless they put them on the web, too.

Additionally, the stuff I say should remain free, either in distributable form or at least in the previously offered format (free on the web with advertising or traffic counts or what-not) - is only what has been released, that is to say, if they wanted to use the current blog as a teaser, and then start charging for future 'episodes' or whatever, sure. That's perfectly fine.

As for the book thing, was it the complete and final form of the book? I can see that making a difference; and it also depends on why they gave it to you, and for what purpose.

[DreamRose311]

I think my problem was more with the "fuck-em" attitude, which strikes me as way overkill. With something like "I wish they wouldn't do that" it probably wouldn't have elicited a response from me, but with the "how dare they!" attitude... Causes me to respond with a "It's their product, they can dare do whatever they wish with it" kind of feeling. They have a strong desire to pay the hard working people that created this with them, and since there are people who would rather have it downloaded and saved to their computer than own a DVD, it seems perfectly right to decide to charge for it. Who knows, maybe they will include the extras with the download as well. But even if they don't, I see no reason to be opposed to their decision. Other than currently having no money to spend.