Forum - View topic

NEWS: Japan Fights Piracy Abroad

No, I perceive it as gouging because IT IS. Remember video prices in America in the eighties? They were much higher then. Now they've gone down significantly. Japanese prices have remained the same. You prove my point.

Japan has CD/DVD rental stores that sell CD/DVD burners and recordable media and expect the consumer to put two and two together. Don't tell me that's not more blatant than in the US, where piracy is still limited to people with some knowledge of the Internet.

Again, a different pricing model. In Japan, the companies earn a percentage on every rental, as opposed to most US companies that make a one-time sale to the rental stores. So even if each person who rented made a copy, the companies are still compensated each time.

That's not really true. For the last 5-6 years+ virtually everyone is engaged in some kind of profit sharing scheme that Blockbuster originated. The studios provide the media pretty much at the cost of making it, and they split the rental revenue.

It'd be nice if the anime companies would do it. I could spend more on keeping my sale DVDs stocked rather than keeping up with the new releases for my rental section.

No, I perceive it as gouging because IT IS. Remember video prices in America in the eighties? They were much higher then. Now they've gone down significantly. Japanese prices have remained the same. You prove my point.

Also, a Japanese person's wages are higher than an American's, so in proportion, the prices are about level.

Piracy goes beyond those that know the internet. There are people who know people who know the internet. There is also the bootleggers who sell to people through retail shops. This is why I find the bootleggers more of a problem, because a person who doesn't know jack about pirating media can simply walk in and purchase something that they just have to drop into their DVD player and play.

Hardly. Prices HAVE gone down. Virtually all DVD reissues are cheaper than their LD counterparts by quite a large margin. (for example, it used to be 5800yen for 2 episodes for many TV series and OVA, now 4 is more and more the standard).

You honestly don't have any knowlege of the Japanese market, quit while you're behind.

Maybe that used to be true, but the Japanese economy has crashed since the eighties.

Have prices for DVDs gone down? Not yet. Everyone thinks for some reason I'm making some sort of far-reaching statement when all I'm saying is, "Maybe a combination of a stringent legal strategy and reduced prices for media will do something to drive down bootlegging and piracy." That's all. Japanese pricing systems, exchange rates, rental store contracts, all these things have nothing to do with it. I don't know if you keep bringing these things up because you want to show off your knowledge or what, but try to stick to the subject and I'll try to stick to my areas of knowledge, OK?

And yet the dollar/yen ratio is HALF that of 20 years ago. You don't know what you're talking about.

Stop trying to refute me with your "this is how I think it is"(paraphrase). You keep missing the point entirely. Go back and re-read previous posts, I'm sick of repeating myself. To sum up

THE PRICE TO THE JAPANESE CONSUMER HAS NOT CHANGED. In fact adjusting for inflation it HAS gotten cheaper, and the cost per episode has reduced dramatically.

Therefore, the yen is worth approximately double what it was, therefore, the cost to US consumers is double what it used to be. DEAL WITH IT. Other countries are very expensive, and we are quite fortunate to live in a country where things are so cheap.

I'm not complaining about the price to me. I'm saying that reducing the prices to Japanese people might help keep down bootlegging and piracy in Japan to Japanese people. Studies show (unfortunately I've lost this particular link) that if someone feels they can afford it they will prefer the legal option. It makes them feel less guilty.

I'm sorry, I realize you probably do know more about Japanese economic history than me, but I still don't understand what the exchange rate has to do with the domestic economic crash and subsequent recession and deflation.

I think we are having context problems here:

1980's: 5800 yen = 1-2 episodes per disc (laser)
2000's: 5800 yen = 3-4 episodes per disc (DVD)

hmm thats funny because every r2 I have only has either 1 or 2 episodes on it.


but that could just be the ones I have.

cyrax777 wrote:

hmm thats funny because every r2 I have only has either 1 or 2 episodes on it. but that could just be the ones I have.

OAVs or TV Series? I'm not saying that all are like that, but I seem to remember the TV series DVDs are more likely to have three or more episodes on them.

OAVs or TV Series? I'm not saying that all are like that, but I seem to remember the TV series DVDs are more likely to have three or more episodes on them.