The Price We Pay to Enjoy Media

In my tutorial this week, we discussed (or argued) on the topic of copyrighting. However, someone in class made a good point about the pricing of CDs and DVDs being quite ridiculous and I definitely agree. I never really thought about it but now that it was mentioned, it has been bugging me.

On my usual trip to my favourite technology-filled store, I would enter, my eyes light up at all the new pretty gadgets, I look over the laptops, cellphones, games...to put it simply, it is my version of the Willy Wonka Factory to Augustus Gloop.
I end up at the DVD section. This is my favourite section of the whole entire store because I love collecting DVDs. I will immediately get sucked into the obvious marketing scheme of "Cheap DVDs!", "Sale!", "Everything under (a price that is actually quite expensive when you think about it)!" and that dreaded yellow sticker on the cover that has been placed over another sticker to make you think that the DVD is on sale - when it isn't!!!
Yes, studying FTVMS has made me aware of these blatant schemes but for some unknown reason, I still get sucked into buying an over-priced DVD.

But back to the tutorial...the person in my class mentioned that it is cheap to produce a CD or DVD, a few dollars maybe. All that is needed to be done is copying the movie/music onto a cheap CD and then printing out the cover and sticking it into a case. I mean, how expensive can it really be to make?
However, Luke made a good rebuttal that made me realise that it isn't just the making of the product that has costs. Things like transporting the product, paying the people to transport it, paying for the gas, paying for the truck, paying for the packers who put the product onto the truck....I could go on and on. It is like a vicious cycle.

When I think of these costs, it does make me feel that I am justifying the throwing away of my hard earned cash on a cheap CD. And on the topic of copyrighting, at least I'm paying for a genuine copy of a movie, right? So I would like to think that I'm paying to enjoy this over-priced DVD for the greater good because no, I don't steal people's handbags, I don't steal from the video store and I certainly don't steal cars because "downloading pirated DVDs is stealing."
Oh wait, did I just get sucked into another marketing scheme?!? :P

I'm joking. No, I'm not going to stop buying genuine DVDs just because downloading pirated movies are free. People should be buying genuine copies because firstly, it makes you feel better about yourself, secondly, it's a much better feeling when you're exchanging money for a physical object and lastly, I'm sure you're taking this paper because you enjoy films and media so you should be supporting this industry, not ripping it off. How would you feel if your film was being distributed illegally? It's sort of an insult, as if your "fans" are saying that your film isn't good enough to be paid for.

Bottom line, pay to enjoy media the proper way, I say!