Hardly anybody in Spain buys DVDs anymore

[Stephen]

According to this Guardian piece there is so much illegal downloading going on in Spain that it's wrecking the legit DVD business.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/31/spain-film-piracy-downloading-dvds

[Grimace]

Yes, it's true. I was surprised to see "manteros" (people selling CDs and DVDs on blankets) in the street when I first arrived in Madrid, which was my first clue that Spain was a piracy-rife country. Granted, the police very occasionally bust them, but I think that's more to do with the fact that the people selling them likely aren't here legally and can be deported fairly easily.

Rampant movie and music piracy is an instance of the market needing to adapt, because the current system is obviously not working. Either the laws need to be changed so that people are punished adequately for illegal activities or the distribution and revenue mechanisms need to change. Spotify for music fans is a step in the right direction. I don't know what the solution is for movies. I will say, though, that the solution is definitely not putting a supplementary tax on blank storage media (DVDs, CDs, USB drives) as a pathetic attempt to cover losses.