I guess many of you would know what *Bleep* stands for right now. Haha. I guess it's pretty insane of them to wanna sue people who downloaded anime from as far back as 2005. They had set up the law of illegal anime downloads just this year, 2007. (For those who are so ignorant of the dates.) I do understand the need for the government to keep downloading rates in Singapore low as we are now being positioned as the top downloaders of illegal contents. However, what does that have to do with *Bleep*? If *Bleep* is working directly under governmental influence of unknownst magnitude, it's probably acceptable. However, it seems to be the case whereby *Bleep* is the one influencing the government.
Doing a little research up on the internet, basically on Wikipedia, I have found something of interest.
-Click here to link- (Removed due to the fact that I dun wanna get sued.)
Seems that whoever is updating data about *Bleep* is obviously doing some serious reputational damage. However, I would not say that the data provided are totally baseless and are ambigious. Firstly, I had bought a few products from *Bleep* and I do not feel satisfied with the quality at all..
Quoted from Wikipedia:
"*Bleep* has attempted to fight widespread anime piracy by pricing box sets at low prices with 13-episode anime VCD box sets at $10 and anime DVD box sets at $20 each."
That's crap, if box sets were sold at $10, I don't think people would mind getting them in bulk. However, if you do go out the streets and do happen to see $10 box sets, those are probably the animations that are very old or animations that are not very welcomed by anime fans in Singapore.
Translations done by them were terrible. I cannot read chinese words that are not simplified (many Singaporeans couldn't as well), thus, proving only one thing. These translations were made by translators perhaps from China or Taiwan. The problem with translations (subbings) done by countries like them is basically the matter of quality. Fonts were horribly chosen. Sometimes the voice-casts the company (*Bleep*) uses can result in ear-bleeding. Why? If you contrast with the original Japanese voice of a character, it can end up sounding wierd (typically too screechy or too low).
I am amazed by the part whereby *Bleep* can claim that translations were done horribly was due to the fault of the limits a VCD has.
Assuming that Singapore belongs to one of the lowest illegal downloading countries, will *Bleep* still earn their fair share of the pie? I think not. Companies like that only has interests in earning money through the hurting of the consumers. Even if Singaporeans do not download animes illegally, they'll still go onto channels like importing the goods from overseas. So, when times like these were to come, will *Bleep* sue these foreign companies for selling anime VCD and DVD to Singaporeans? This will definitely sound ridiculous.
I think that *Bleep*'s main committee got to have the maturity to think like real working adults and not young little kids who will sulk when their little play session does not go too well. Singapore is trying to up her standards as being a hub for animations (one quite successful event was N.E.mation, that was terrific~). In order to up the standards, there must be the goodwill of competition, in this case, *Bleep* against fansubs. For anime-lovers out there, it is a dream to own their set of animations they love. In all, why own a set of animations without much backbone and qualities to it (still having to pay) when you can get mid-range quality animes that have a relatively good subtitling with nothing to lose?
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For those who think you are more mature out there and may want to argue with me about copyright infringements, I'll gladly hear you out because I want to develope my analytic skills and see life in a more macroscopic view.
Singapore is rapidly trying to promote herself as an IT hub throughout the SEA region. Vast improvements on technology that aids in the advancement of IT can be seen. This includes up-ing the download and upload rates of the internet, better computers and laptops and wireless connections throughout designated places.
When the country wants to develope herself so rapidly, there is always a flipside to a coin, in our case here, illegal downloading of copyrighted data.
Copyright issues will plague us for the rest of the existance of humanity. It is not something a full force approach can prevent. In order to prevent this, the government not only have to find means that can appease the nation into stopping illegal downloads, the nation themselves must understand the reason why illegal downloads are wrong. I've seen great effort from the government trying to promote against piracy (HIP alliance and all..), however, people must change their concepts towards piracy.
As the nation prosper, it doesn't means that people are willing to spend more. The older generations are always telling the young ones to learn how to save money for the rainy days, thus, whatever you can save on, you save. So, with an open channel like direct downloading of excellently subbed animes, the younger generations can actually scrimp on having to spend this money for something else, say a figurine collection of a particular anime.
Thus, in order to change such a mindset, the government must focus on telling the younger generation that when it comes to spending on original products, do not resist the urge to splurge. Which in this case is ridiculous to the point whereby, "who are you to tell me how to spend my money?" Isn't saving up supposed to be something positive? It's supposed to be a good thing right? (When it comes to buying something you really want.) At least it is so much better than to rob people. It's not supposed to be a joke but anyways, you are welcome to join in with me and laugh.
In no way a government can portray this idea so straightforwardly. Therefore, this is whereby various prominent companies for this industry must come in and aid the government. WHEN I SAY AID, I DO NOT MEAN BY HELPING OUT AND SUE PEOPLE. These companies can create products take make these anime-collecters feel that the products are to die for, and at the same time, making it affordable to them. I do believe that no matter how cheaply a company is selling a product, they actually still earn from it. In *Bleep*'s case, if sales figures really matter that much, then do it already. Sell it cheaply and at the same time of good quality. I have imported of taiwan VCD that seemingly costs much lower (excluding shipping fees) and yet of a better quality. The graphics do not look as pixelated as what *Bleep* is producing.
All in all, you can rebuke me in all that I have to say. Condemn me as childish or being a scrouge if it pleases you. It's not going to change the fact that when an organisation is challenging the very people that feeds it, the organisation will definitely fall in only a matter of time.
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