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Then again, this is the internet we are talking about. There is not much stopping you from using technology to gain freedom.

Pandora blocks your IP address you say? Go look for a proxy in the US.

Hulu recognizes proxies you say? Use a VPN instead. That opens the door to every free offer in the US.

iTunes won't let you download from the US store you say? Go to Ebay and grab an American iTunes gift card.

Spotify requires a bank account in UK/Scandinavia you say? There are always virtual credit cards like Entropay (I call them credit card proxies). Well, Spotify won't take those. But Paypal does, and Spotify accepts Paypal.

You see, this is the internet. There are no countries or borders on the internet. The tools are all there. You just gotta use them.

Not the point. None of these solutions are easy or obvious to the casual consumer. Companies (and governments) should make legal distribution easy for consumers worldwide if they want to reduce illegal downloading.

You are completely missing the point. This IS the internet, as an honest paying customer you should not have to jump through those hoops in the first place.

And none of those, as noted by others, matter, because it's simply still easier to illegally download to acquire content.

Given that I'm from germany too I have to agree. If you want to watch movies and TV shows in their original language illegal sources are almost the only way to do that. I'd gladly pay for netflix or something similar, but i'm not allowed to.

And don't get me started on music streaming - when people talk about those lucky europeans with their Spotify accounts, we germans are still left out - thanks to the GEMA i guess.

I recently moved to Germany from Ireland, and I must say I find it extremely limited in terms of what you can and can watch - half of youtube is blocked!!

Seriously, frakk the frakking useless GEMA and frakk that youtube "sorry, not available in your country" screen. I am trying to see something on the internet for crying out loud!

If youtube would at least show that in the preview already. Or make it an option - filter automatically all videos from preview which you are not allowed to watch anyway.

At least in German you have lovefilms.com, which was acquired by Netflix some time ago. It's not available in Austria where I currently live.

Lovefilm was acquired by Amazon - and its selection is very poor. I don't expect to find really obscure stuff there but it's extremely lacking when it comes to feature and independent films.

Our german netflix clone is called Maxdome [0], but unfortunately Mono Moonlight lacks the DRM parts of Silverlight. So Linux users are locked out. It should work with Windows and Mac, though.

[0] http://www.maxdome.de/

It sucks hard, though. Last time I checked, video quality was way worse than DVDs and prices were too high for rental. And of course everything is dubbed.

Fellow European here - I was going to say the same thing: I have practically no options of watching any current shows, a lot of FANTASTIC shows don't even make it over here and most of the German translations are abysmal in terms of being wrong and having horrible voices/voice acting, to say the least.

I don't feel bad for using tvtorrents - as far as I am concerned, I am just watching a TV show that has already been paid for by its target audience and stations in the States anyway and I got a copy; what's the big deal?

And movies: why are there still significantly different "launch dates" for the same movie all over the world? This is 2011.

And while we are at it with movies, my favorite pet peeve are the frakking movie theaters here... you pay outrageous prices just to get a seat, then you pay extra for 3d goggles, then they sit you through 20 minutes of commercials, then they switch on all of the frakking lights AGAIN and ask "Does anyone want to buy some ice cream???"... and of course there are always some assholes who want to buy a $1 popsicle with a $100 bill but first they take their sweet time deciding on what to get... then finally the light goes out... and there are more commercials. The whole experience is just begging to install a nice home theater and since one cannot (legally) watch current movies while they are in theaters.. pirating surely becomes an option.

Movie theaters and current movie distribution are a concept from the stone age when people could not afford to view them at home; they are a fossil in terms of modern technology and possibilities. Most people who go to see a movie could just as easily watch it at home without much less enjoyment or sound or visual quality.

Can you please elaborate on the ice cream vending prior to the show of the movie?

An actual human solicits ice cream orders between the previews and the start of the movie?

They sell popcorn, candy, drinks and ice cream at quite a few regular counters in the lounge there. And, yes, in the theaters once you sit down, they turn off the lights, show you commercials, then they turn on ALL THE LIGHTS again and (usually) two humans with a basket nonchalantly waltz in with "Will noch jemand'n Eis" in German, "Anyone want some ice cream"?

Then of course there are always a couple of inconsiderate a-holes who want some ice cream but did not manage to buy it before... in a big theater room they are spread out nicely so sales-humans walk around with their ice cream and sell their stuff; typically the people buying either have no idea what they want so they go through the whole "what do you have" talk and/or they don't have small bills and pay with 50 or 100 bills and go through the "oh sorry I don't have change for that" talk.

And we are talking around US $20 per person per viewing for "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" for example; just for seeing the movie in half-asses 3D.

I swear to FSM: Should you ever read about a bloody massacre in a movie theater in Germany it was probably me. :9

> Most people who go to see a movie could just as easily watch it at home without much less enjoyment or sound or visual quality.

Whether most people could enjoy the home experience as much is an interesting point of debate, but there's no question that the sound and visual quality are lower in >>99% of homes. Very few people have good surround-sound systems. Even fewer have truly large screens for viewing. I have a 50-inch TV at home, and I love it, but it doesn't compare to a 20-foot screen.

I think theaters will remain relevant for some time to come. Until the "ten-foot-experience" at home means a ten-foot screen, people will probably remain interested in seeing movies at the theater.

Europe is not a 3rd world country, on the contrary, most people can easily afford huge TVs over here, including surround sound. In fact, huge televisions are often a marker of low-income families.

At home, we're never interrupted by stupid people talking or being late, we don't have to wait 20 minutes with ads, the movie can start at the time most convenient to us. So the effective quality is higher.

I'm pretty sure I didn't say Europe was a 3rd world country. Such a statement would be patently untrue, if only because Europe is not a country.

I also didn't say that people could not afford surround-sound. I said that most people do not have high-quality surround systems installed. Relatively few people have surround-sound systems, and those who do have fairly low-end ones. As for the "huge TVs", huge to most people is 50-60 inches. Huge for theaters is 90-feet (that's actually just standard Imax size).

I have a 55 inch Samsung and it was considerably affordable. And even a 42 inch full HD can keep up with a 20 foot screen when you factor in the different distance you will be sitting from it. And 5.1 speakers or sound-bars do not cost a fortune anymore either. Neither do full HD beamers.

I never said anything about affordability. I don't know why you and silvestrov are trying to argue that point. The fact is that most people do not have high-quality surround-sound systems in their homes, nor do they have truly large screens. Even in the home, truly large screens involve projectors.

And no, 55-inch doesn't compare with the theater. 42-inch certainly doesn't, unless you're sitting two feet away from the screen. Modern theaters have very large screens, and even considering the seating distance they are still relatively much larger than a flat-screen TV a typical family might install. A decent theater will have screens large enough to completely or almost completely fill the field of vision someone sitting in the middle of the theater. You'd have to be about 3 or 4 feet away from a 55" TV for the same effect. (Or else the theater you're going to sucks.)