Thursday, March 24, 2011

Debate

How does everyone out there feel about torrent sites?  I'm not talking about downloading the newest album or viewing the newest flick in the cinema, but searching for those things you just can't find otherwise.  They call it pirating when you download virtually anything with a copyright, but is it sometimes justified?

Case in point.  I've got copies of every Alan Moore MiracleMan on a disc somewhere.  The trades for those issues are all long out of print and run in the hundreds of dollars.  Were they available down at the bookstore (are you listening Marvel), I would be first in line to buy the hardcover.  I don't feel bad about downloading it, and I'm quite sure Alan Moore cares even less then I do.

But not everything I've ever downloaded is new, which brings me to the reason I decided to ask this question of you in the first place:  The Second Season of Southland.

I love this show, and it's the best police drama to hit the airwaves since The Shield ended.  I've got the uncensored Season One, and I would love to have an uncensored Season Two to go along with it.  Only for some reason, it's not available, and there is no listing anywhere for it to even comes out.  Why is that?  It just finished up it's third season, and if it followed the lead of every other show on television the season would have hit DVD a week or so before the season premier.

But it didn't.

I checked on the shows official website, and the episodes were not there either.  How does TNT expect anyone to invest in these characters if a third of the output has just disappeared?

After much searching, I did discover the shows are on iTunes, but at nearly $20 for the six episodes I'm a little apprehensive.  I love the digital revolution, but I like my DVD shelf more.

So the question is there.  Do I download, saving myself the $20 but with the annoyance of watching the show on my computer without nearly the same amount of quality, wait an undisclosed amount of time and pray for a DVD release, or pour over the television listings and hope that TNT runs a marathon in the near future. Or buy that import Blu-ray?

What would you do?

4 comments:

  1. And can you tell me why there are only 4 seasons of NYPD Blue available? 4 of 12?

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  2. They renewed it so that's good.
    I have a problem with the show though. I miss a lot of the dialogue. But I love the ambiance and characters.

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  3. Chris, I understand your frustration on that.
    And Patti, that's one of the reasons I love the show. I've always thought that in situations like those shown, people would often be more busy talking instead of listening.

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  4. I'm not a fan of pirating just on the principle that it doesn't get the artists paid, but that being said, If the studios don't offer it anywhere, it's their bad. If i were you I'd grab it and then buy the "official" version whenever it feels like coming out.

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