[mythtv-users] Zap2it Labs Shutting Down?

[Michael Jones]

The greedy nature of the human condition aside.. ;-)

I think it would be, with a little intelligent/creative programming/ 
license management, relatively easy prevent the data from being  
misused or abused.  We know the "honor" system won't work since the  
"greedy human nature" is a given..

I doubt that this decision is purely technical on their part..  
Unfortunately my suspicion is that there's some pressure being put on  
Zap2It by some entity/customer that doesn't want this data to be  
available on a "free" basis.  .. but that's only my suspicious nature..


On Jun 20, 2007, at 10:14 AM, Brian J. Murrell wrote:

> On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 10:00 -0400, Michael Jones wrote:
>> At $500/month, or $6000 a year it would require 1200 subscribers
>> paying $5 year to break even...
>
> Hrm.  Something tells me that it's really not this simple.  Surely the
> TMS bean counters have come to the conclusion that the number of users
> the data satisfies is relative to it's worth.
>
> Surely they have not missed the boat on the fact that a national
> newspaper like USA Today or The NY Times satisfies a much bigger
> subscriber base than a small 500 subscriber newspaper.
>
> Surely they have not ignored the "per seat" model than almost everyone
> selling a single reproducible copy of something is using.
>
> Maybe I'm wrong, but the basic greedy nature of mankind and  
> corporation
> makes me think I am right.
>
> But let's suppose somebody does set up an amicable (to both TMS and
> subscriber base) agreement to collect subscriber fees and pay TMS.
> What's to stop the same abuse that is going on currently from
> continuing?  How is this "somebody" going to curb it any better than
> Zap2It could?  Surely license (from TMS) to the data does not include
> the right for the licencee to allow re-distribution by it's customers.
>
> So now not only will this "somebody" need to collect enough to pay for
> it's license to TMS, they will have to collect enough to build up a
> legal fund to prosecute the abusers.
>
> One can see why Zap2It wants to stop dealing with consumers.
>
> b.
>
> -- 
> My other computer is your Microsoft Windows server.
>
> Brian J. Murrell
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