20 - #itb8 How do you watch a movie? - Streaming

teach-it (54)in #itb8 • 6 years ago

When I was a child, I remember my parents recorded TV-series on VCR (magnetic tapes). I guess most of my students would not now, what this tape has been use for, when they see one. And the DVD or Blue-Ray is also at the end of its life-cycle. The future is streaming – and many of my students are already using this method – time to teach them some things about the background of it.

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So what is streaming

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Streaming means, that you watch a movie or listen to music that is not saved as a copy on your computer. The data is delivered on demand to you as you consume it. If you look at media in the form of text, streaming is actually the norm on the internet – or do you frequently copy the web-content before you read it?

Legal issues

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The most important reason I need to teach about streaming are legal issues. I remember some years ago I was tired of spending money on cinema tickets. In my opinion these tickets are overpriced and when I was studying I lived on very limited financial resources. The streaming platforms I used in those days are, from my point of view today, dubious or worse. Law-experts are still discussing the difference between ownership, copying and consumption of media. I do not want to go into legal details, as they vary internationally. If some big studios pay a couple of million US-Dollars to produce a movie it cannot be legal to stream it while it still runs in the cinemas. In the last years, some people in Germany have been fined heavily, although it seems that only heavy abusers have been targeted until today.

What made streaming big?

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Two factors led to a massive increase of streaming: fast internet and commercial providers. Availability of fast internet as it happened in Germany around the year 2000 is actually a main condition for most phenomena I describe in the #itb8 series, so lets look at the commercial providers. The three biggest in Germany are probably also among the biggest on an international scale: Netflix, Amazon and Sky. Netflix started out as a mail-order dvd rental company. Amazon added a streaming service to its Amazon Prime offers, as Amazon is highly professional in online storage systems. Sky is a pay-TV provider who shifts more and more from TV to the internet. Before these providers came up, there were dubious platforms only. But as people enjoyed streaming services because it is so much better than carrying the DVD through the rain to the rental shop (as I did) – the companies discovered this market. I love feeling save and legal by streaming for a small fee. And with me many who just waited for a legal opportunity. Another great lesson for my students: Though we live in times of disruptive technologies – sticking to moral and rules can be also an advantage.

Why do I prefer to streaming?

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I have a tendency to minimalism, a relatively new trend meaning that you try only to own what you need. A year ago I had more than 50 DVDs I soled on the flea market, keeping maybe 10, that I still cannot stream. I want to save space in my flat and I want to contribute to share resources.