Why would Sirius care about Stern show filesharing?

[NewsSleuth]

I thought it was interesting the way that Howard 100 News reported on the instances of people sharing files of past Stern Shows on Sirius.

If you think you about it, the ones sharing or downloading the files are mainly "Super Fans" who already are Sirius subscribers. The majority of listeners want to hear Howard LIVE talking about current topics, and besides, even if they did the files are so long that it would take about 4 CD's to burn each show. What a hassle!

Honestly, Stern's show is a different beast than the recording or music industry. Downloading an older show, will do little to effect the numbers of subscribers. While I understand the legalities of intellectual properties, I think that this type of file sharing can only be a good thing, as more and more people are inclined to sign up to hear Howard Live!

 

[stljohn]

> I thought it was interesting the way that Howard 100 News
> reported on the instances of people sharing files of past
> Stern Shows on Sirius.
>
> If you think you about it, the ones sharing or downloading
> the files are mainly "Super Fans" who already are Sirius
> subscribers. The majority of listeners want to hear Howard
> LIVE talking about current topics, and besides, even if they
> did the files are so long that it would take about 4 CD's to
> burn each show. What a hassle!
>
> Honestly, Stern's show is a different beast than the
> recording or music industry. Downloading an older show,
> will do little to effect the numbers of subscribers. While
> I understand the legalities of intellectual properties, I
> think that this type of file sharing can only be a good
> thing, as more and more people are inclined to sign up to
> hear Howard Live!


Because its their exclusive product!

And obscurity isn't protection. It aint as tortured as you describe, virtually nobody burns to CDs, everyone has mp3s. You can put a minimum of 7 shows at 64k on 1 gb. But there are other sources besides newsgroups and if they dont aggresively protect their product eventually the options would multiply and people would repackage and/or resell the show and there would be no reason for anyone to sign up. and since I'm paying my 13 everyone else ought to pay also.

 

[NewsSleuth]

I'm a subscriber as well, but I honestly don't think the majority of the listening audience really cares to listen to old Howard Stern shows, especially when 80 % of the material is topical. It's the same reason why TV Stations could care less if you tape programs off the air.

 

[stljohn]

> I'm a subscriber as well, but I honestly don't think the
> majority of the listening audience really cares to listen to
> old Howard Stern shows, especially when 80 % of the material
> is topical. It's the same reason why TV Stations could care
> less if you tape programs off the air.

Yeah, News, a famous computer maker once said there will never be a need for a computer in the home.

Technology changes the business model.

Similar thing happened with the music industry.

RIAA never cared you recorded songs off radio or TV and traded with your friends. Then the internet and file sharing proliferated cutting into their profits and they woke up with a vengeance.

TV doesn't care about people recording cause there has never been a big interest in sharing TV shows or movies online. Maybe cause people that want to look at a TV show have TV and the abolity to see it themselves?

If Sirius doesn't do something as the ability to share free shows increases the interest in getting free shows will increase. And I somewhat disagree with your opinion on listening to old shows. No way to tell but there is a large community of people posting and downloading current, recent and classic Stern shows on the alt.binaries.howard-stern newsgroup.

I myself download shows to my mp3 player for later listening cause I seldom catch more then an hour in the morning.

Bottom line Sirius has a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to protect their 500 million dollar investment.