Obviously I mean "assuage" not "asuage." It's late in the day and my granola bar still lingers on my desk, uneaten.
M- ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 mattb...@virginia.edu | 434-924-3812 -----Original Message----- From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Ball, James (jmb4aw) Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 5:30 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: Re: [Videolib] Question about streaming rights Hi Dennis, This is very informatvie, thanks for taking the time to explain things from the disrtibutor perspective. (Thank you too, Jessica). And just to asuage anyone's fears, I do try to be a good steward of our video collection and make sure that we do things by the rules. So just as I wouldn't make ten copies of a DVD that I bought, neither would I make ten copies of a digital file either. So here's another question. In my library (and everyone's, I suppose) a DVD might get checked out to hundreds of people during its life. Is it "Fair Use" or the right of first sale that allows us to do that, to check out DVDs to our patons? How would those laws be applied differently to a digital version of the same title? Cheers, Matt ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 mattb...@virginia.edu<mailto:mattb...@virginia.edu> | 434-924-3812 ________________________________ From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis Doros [milefi...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 3:43 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: Re: [Videolib] Question about streaming rights Matt, The simple answer is this. A DVD is a physical item that you have to drop into a player. It is illegal to copy if it's encrypted (in most cases). A streaming version is a digital file, and if it's on your hard drive, it's literally forever. (Though, of course, this is ridiculous because how many people can open files from 1992 even? but let's assume a file can migrate over the years.) As Jessica points out, distributors have limited contracts of usually seven to fifteen years, but even more important, livelihoods (and the filmmakers') are based on repeated licensing of the same film. That was the also case in most leasings of 16mm prints before the video age as well, so it's not a new thing. And of course, if you have a digital file, you can pass that file on to other hard drives so it's like buying ten copies for the price of one. And if you have to stream off of the distributor's hard drive, they would be responsible forever to make it available to you. I'm not saying I'm right, but that is the thought process. And you know, I haven't thought of this before (and this is about us feature film distributors at least), but even though you guys have bought 16mm prints, then VHS tapes, then DVDs and now possibly blu-ray, I can guarantee that with each purchase there was either an ease of use or greater quality provided with each purchase over the years. With each technology, the buyer has gotten better and better film transfers (at least from most of us) and better and better context. In the old days, you would get a study guide. Today, you can get commentaries by the director, short films that the director did, the original script, video interviews of the cast and crew, an essay by a esteemed critic, etc. Back in 1965, how many students outside the major cities would have had the chance to listen to a number of directors talk about his work? I understand at $395 a crack, those various formats get annoying but with a lot of stuff at $9.95, it probably balances out to be pretty good overall. I'd love to see what a media library's budget is compared to 1970 and what percentage of the overall institution's budget would have been compared to today. Best, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero email: milefi...@gmail.com<mailto:milefi...@gmail.com> www.milestonefilms.com<http://www.milestonefilms.com> www.ontheboweryfilm.com<http://www.ontheboweryfilm.com> www.arayafilm.com<http://www.arayafilm.com> www.exilesfilm.com<http://www.exilesfilm.com> www.wordisoutmovie.com<http://www.wordisoutmovie.com> www.killerofsheep.com<http://www.killerofsheep.com> AMIA Philadelphia 2010: www.amianet.org<http://www.amianet.org> Join "Milestone Film" on Facebook! On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 2:51 PM, Ball, James (jmb4aw) <jmb...@eservices.virginia.edu<mailto:jmb...@eservices.virginia.edu>> wrote: Hello Everyone, I'm a bit perplexed by the complex licensing and pricing structures of streaming rights, and some of the recent talk on this listserv has helped clarify a question that's been floating around my mind for a while, so I figure I'll pose it to the collective wisdom. If I can buy a DVD for, say, $295.00 and I can keep it forever, and I'm allowed to do certain things with it to meet the educational goals of my institution, then why is it different for a streaming version of the same title? Some streaming rights have to be renewed every few years. Or, if there are perpetual rights they are often priced exorbitantly high. Doesn't it make sense to pay the same price as for a DVD (maybe even less since manufacturing costs wouldn't be an issue) and keep it forever, just like a DVD? Or even an e-book. And, as with an e-book, I would be bound to restrict access to it only to members of my institution. Perhaps this is a gross oversimplification of something that's actually quite complex, so consider these the innocent (demented?) musings of a newbie, but I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts on the matter. Yours in hopefully not opening a Pandora's box, Matt ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 mattb...@virginia.edu<https://mail.eservices.virginia.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=62fe60f092584617be4c37bdfc2dcf42&URL=mailto%3amattball%40virginia.edu> | 434-924-3812 VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors. -- VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors. VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
