E. Zachary Knight 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Dan Bull, Amanda Palmer & El-P: A Big Week For Artists' Voices On Techdirt

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 05 May, 2012 @ 04:07pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Stake to the heart, cut off their head and stuff their mouth with garlic. If it worked for Bram Stoker, surely it can work for us.

  • On the post: Paulo Coelho Ebook Sales Jump Way Up Thanks To $0.99 Sale

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 04 May, 2012 @ 02:33pm

    Re:

    Let's see. The increase posted in the list (the percentage) is the increase that came after the sale was instituted. So that means that the first book sold nearly 150,000% more after the sale than before the sale. How that can be the result of anything but the sale is beyond my comprehension.

  • On the post: Nobody Cares About The Fixed Costs Of Your Book, Movie, Whatever

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 04 May, 2012 @ 10:43am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: People do care

    Ebooks offer a lot of added value over a physical book. Granted, most of that added value comes via the device you are reading from, but it is built into the book as well. Additionally, some of that can be taken away by the publisher as well.

    For example:

    Ebooks offer far better and more convenient annotation abilities over physical. You can simply highlight a passage, and link that passage to your notes about it.

    Ebooks have the ability to build both the readable and audio versions of the book together via text to speech programs.

    Ebooks offer tremendous convenience over physical books. The ability to carry your entire library of books with you, buy new books mostly on the fly, and much more.

    That is just a short list. A lot of the stuff you listed as the value of physical books don't really matter to some people. Some people don't really care about displays and such.

  • On the post: Nobody Cares About The Fixed Costs Of Your Book, Movie, Whatever

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 04 May, 2012 @ 09:07am

    Re: Yo quiero a Taco Bell Device

    Oh, you can rent Taco Bell food with no additional equipment needed. Unfortunately, the rental term is very short (30 minutes or so) and the termination clause is gut wrenching.

  • On the post: Nobody Cares About The Fixed Costs Of Your Book, Movie, Whatever

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 04 May, 2012 @ 06:50am

    Re: Re: People do care

    Thank you. I was about to say the same.

  • On the post: Misguided Senators Propose Plan To Make It Harder For Law Enforcement To Track Down Human Trafficking Online

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 03 May, 2012 @ 12:13pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: I agree...but also disgree

    So basically the opposite of the FBI "counter-terrorism" strategy.

  • On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 03 May, 2012 @ 10:22am

    Re: @Anonymous Coward

    Here is what I don't understand.

    You have someone who wants to pay money for your content. You won't give it to him. So the guy goes and gets it any way and he is the bad guy? The guy wanted to give you money! Are you saying that if the content owners don't want you to give them money, we should honor their wishes? I guess that is fine. Still doesn't mean that consuming the content that you want and are willing to pay for but can't because the creators is an idiot is immoral.

  • On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 03 May, 2012 @ 09:32am

    Re:

    Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I was down to the concealed carry comments when I did a double take on your name.

    Thank you fine sir.

  • On the post: Paulo Coehlo Convinces His Publisher To Offer (Almost) All Of His Ebooks For $0.99

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 02 May, 2012 @ 06:18pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Barnes and Ignoble Screws Up

    Ok. I was a bit off and Zeboyd did not provide hard numbers only percentages, but the trend is pretty much the same:

    http://zeboyd.com/2012/04/19/the-effect-of-short-term-sales-on-quantity-sold-a-case-studio-on-zeboyds-deal-of-the-day/

    During our 24-hour sale on Steam, we sold approximately 125 times our daily average from the week prior to the sale (when articles about our new game started coming out and gave us a sales boost) and approximately 230 times our daily average from the week before that (when we had no such boost).

    Not only that, but in the week immediately following the sale, our daily average was about 35% better than it was immediately before the sale.

  • On the post: Paulo Coehlo Convinces His Publisher To Offer (Almost) All Of His Ebooks For $0.99

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 02 May, 2012 @ 05:58pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Barnes and Ignoble Screws Up

    Let me use another example for a different company, Zeyboyd Games. They have a pairing of games on Steam that they sell together for $2.99. They had a sale in which they sold the pair for $0.99. I cannot remember the exact numbers, but it was something like they sold 200 copies the weekend before the sale, sold 3000 copies the sale weekend, and every day after the sale saw around 300 sales at $2.99 for about a weeks time.

    So they saw an uptick in sales at the higher price the days following the sale weekend. No cannibalizing there. They not only gained more customers but more revenue as well.

  • On the post: Paulo Coehlo Convinces His Publisher To Offer (Almost) All Of His Ebooks For $0.99

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 02 May, 2012 @ 05:11pm

    Re: Re: Barnes and Ignoble Screws Up

    I remember reading about Valve and its Steam sales. They talked about how when they would do a 75% off sale for games, they would get not 4 times the sales but 40 times the sales of a normal time period when the game is full price.

    Let me explain a little more detail:

    A game is normally $20. They have a 75% off sale, meaning the game now costs $5. They would have to sell 4 times as many copies to make the same amount of money as at $20. In stead they sold 40 times.

    So on a normal weekend they would sell say 1000 copies at $20. That is $20,000. On a sale weekend, they would sell 40,000 copies at $5. That is $200,000. That is a HUGE jump in profits for the game developer.

    I don't see why games would be any different.

  • On the post: How A Free Movie Made $1 Million In 14 Days

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 02 May, 2012 @ 04:01pm

    Re: Re: Re: Once again, the studios were there first...

    What does piracy have to do with the obscene lengths of copyright?

  • On the post: After Four Years Feds Finally Get Around To Prosecuting Ten Mod Chip Sellers

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 02 May, 2012 @ 11:08am

    Re:

    What's really sad, Mike, is how you always defend the pirates--yet you pretend that you're neither pro-piracy nor a piracy apologist.

    What is really sad is that you continue to ignore bylines. Also, you seem to be unable to recognize that technology is neutral and the use of technology should not be banned simply because some people might use that technology for nefarious purposes.

    Why do you lie to your readers so? Why are you so fundamentally dishonest?

    Its only lying if it is not the truth. So far, you have provided no evidence that what you say is the truth.

  • On the post: Apple Rejecting Apps That Use Dropbox Because *Gasp!* Users Might Sign Up For Dropbox Accounts

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 02 May, 2012 @ 11:04am

    These are the people who rejected an e-reader app because people could download the Kama Sutra from Project Gutenberg. I am really not surprised.

    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090522/1051084979.shtml

  • On the post: Sad State Of Copyright: Guy Using Short Clips Of Music In Viral Videos Accused Of Infringement

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 01 May, 2012 @ 08:01am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Ok. I read your post and the one you reference. I understand where you are coming from. The purpose of most government officials is to enforce existing laws.

    However, I don't see how that invalidates Mike's position on the original purpose of copyright law. Mike's position is that copyright law as originally for the purpose of benefiting the public. Unfortunately, due to the maximalist philosophies of our nations leaders, that original purpose has been changed to what copyright law currently is. That is a major dogmatic shift that would not have happened if our leaders had kept in mind the original purpose of copyright law. It is the right of every citizen to challenge the direction government is going. Mike is saying that the head of the copyright office is going in the opposite direction of the original stated purpose of copyright law.

    To say that his argument is wrong is to say that anyone who questions the government's position or actions is in the wrong.

    Also, for some reason, you can't keep your websites straight. You alternate between mike writing for Techdirt and Techcrunch.

  • On the post: Sad State Of Copyright: Guy Using Short Clips Of Music In Viral Videos Accused Of Infringement

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 01 May, 2012 @ 07:39am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    So if something is the "single most important", how is that different from being key?

  • On the post: Sad State Of Copyright: Guy Using Short Clips Of Music In Viral Videos Accused Of Infringement

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 01 May, 2012 @ 07:37am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    No matter what the MPAA and RIAA say, Google is your friend. They provide all kinds of useful services such as taking a quote and finding the source of said quote:

    http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=510&invol=569

    http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=471&invol=539#566

  • On the post: USTR Releases Ridiculous 'Naughty' Special 301 List For Countries Who Don't Pass Silly Laws Hollywood Wants

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 01 May, 2012 @ 07:24am

    Re:

    Last I checked, and it was recently, the US Constitution requires the Senate to ratify all treaties with other nations. I am not aware of any Constitutional amendments that have removed that requirement. So, please explain why the President can sign a binding treaty with other nations and not have it ratified by the Senate?

  • On the post: UK High Court Expands Censorship Regime: Orders The Pirate Bay To Be Blocked

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2012 @ 02:46pm

    Re: So what? Dan Bull can use other legit services

    If we followed your suggestion, we would have no home video or home music industry. There would be no VCR, no cassette tape, no CD, no DVD etc. All those were claimed to be the tools of pirates and criminals. Fortunately, wise judges saw that those tools had numerous valid uses and it would be more harmful for the world if we were to block their introduction.

  • On the post: Hulu Puts Gun To Own Head: May Require Users To Show Proof Of Pay TV Subscription

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2012 @ 10:42am

    Re:

    Oh, there are a number of shows that I watch that can't be found through a tv network. So no shortage of entertainment there.

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