We often spur debates around the office by sharing ‘controversial’ articles related to what we do here at Moovida. Last week it started with the TorrentFreak article U.S. Government Recognizes Benefits of Piracy passed on by resident media scanner guru Fernando.

‘Building a Digital Economy’ [1] was quickly fired back by another colleague, this time from the industry’s point of view. The report highlights the important loss of European jobs in entertainment at the hand of piracy. He then went on to counterbalance his argument by saying that piracy could be acknowledged as an economic impulse for the Internet sector, but at the copyright owners’ expense (I’m sure there are a quite a few of us that can be thankful for piracy’s economic impulse factor).

Needless to say, TorrentFreak is biased with their interpretation of the Governmental report. I’d declare something more along the lines of ‘U.S. Government recognizes that there may be some benefits to piracy, and cannot prove its negative effect on the economy as a whole due to lack of evidence, nevertheless Hollywood is still taking a big hit’, which somewhat weakens their position. One thing is certain, piracy is becoming synonymous with cultural values in Spain, and its movie industry is suffering for it.

I think the conclusion I’m trying to come to, in layman’s terms, is that piracy rocks for some, sucks for others, and for those who haven’t felt the sting yet, may well feel it soon enough. Unless that is, we all start substituting piracy for a sustainable media consumption model that benefits everyone.

And where does Moovida stand? Are we a product of piracy, a catalyzer for content freedom, or a combination of both?

[1] You can easily find the article ‘Building a Digital Economy: The importance of Saving Job’s in the EU’s Creative Industries’ by searching it online.

Some of you may have noticed a certain “slow down” of Moovida 1.0, with less Launchpad activity and no new plugins. A few of Moovida’s most active community members have been recently informed that there are many changes in the works for the next release, which will radically change the product (for the better, IMHO). Indeed some questions have been popping up, so let me try to clarify some of your concerns:

• Our current focus is on our next version, which is a complete overhaul of Moovida as you know it (different architecture and development language, UI revamp)
• Because of this, we currently have very little time to review requests, bug fixes and the like on Launchpad for 1.0, and we won’t  be able to merge any changes in the short term, so please bare with us in the meantime
• The next release will remain open, but not to the same extent as Moovida 1.0. We understand this may be upsetting to some of you who vow allegiance to 100% open source solutions, but we have followed this direction for specific reasons. We wanted to keep developing a great media center that could prosper in a highly competitive and evolving industry, and this is what made most sense given our objectives.
• Moovida will remain free, but will also offer premium content on demand
• Please be patient for another 1-2 months before experiencing our next release, after which we hope to blow your socks off (make sure to be wearing socks, otherwise your toes could suffer)

We’ll keep you posted as new info becomes available. Hang in there and please keep the feedback coming in the comments section and in our Forum, we’re doing our best to incorporate your valuable suggestions.

For those of you confused about the recent launch of the Fluendo Media Center, and how it oddly resembles Moovida, here’s the low down:

Fluendo Media Center, which was recently released by fellow company Fluendo, is a proprietary version of Moovida 1.0, including codec pack and DVD player. You can purchase it for €39.99 from Fluendo’s website. This is a great option for those looking for software support for their Media Center (it includes one year of bug fixes and software updates) and a powerful DVD Player complete with support for menus, multi angle and Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo. However, because it’s proprietary, plugin integration is a tad limited.

Fluendo Media Center is not a replacement of Moovida, but rather an alternative solution for those who want a Media Center with the proprietary features mentioned above. If you think the price tag is a little steep for your needs, hold on for the next Moovida release, which will still be free and partially open, and with more eye candy.

Stay tuned…

As cable TV watchers migrate towards online content, the future of traditional TV looks uncertain. Network bigwigs are capitalizing on the growing trend around online viewing, or rather filtering it as much as possible to assert greater control over their content, while keeping a bigger piece of the ad revenue pie.

On the other side of the fence, the Internet TV space is gaining popularity, but not without its own challenges. The mission of bringing interactivity to the TV set should consist in allowing more content freedom and accessibility to users, with the choice to pay or sit through highly targeted ads in exchange for premium content. This so-called freedom is not yet a reality, with geo-blocking still prevailing, not to mention alliances of monstrously scary proportions between networks and cable providers threatening to dictate the future of video media, if not swallow it whole…

Until content providers unclench their rears… uh, start allowing the distribution of their content across borders at reasonable costs through partners, mainstream media consumers will continue expressing their discontent via illegal downloading and P2P sharing. Rights owners are bound to give way at some point, as they are now opting to give up their profits in favour of piracy rather than share and expand revenue with distribution partners.

From Moovida’s perspective, we think the best way to achieve connected tv’s mission is to strike a balance between what users want without undermining copyright laws, which is probably the most sustainable solution anyway. Let’s just hope media dictators come to their senses relatively soon to make this a reality.

One of our developers shared an article by Techdirt entitled The Future Of Music Business Models (And Those Who Are Already There) the other day. In a nutshell, it’s an interesting look at how professional musicians can embrace the creative commons model to promote their music, then cash in by offering exclusive products and services at elevated costs. Nothing new, but it demonstrates how it’s paid off well for both reputable acts such as kings of viral NIN, to lesser known acts such as Jill Sobule.

Instead of fighting the inevitable force that has become P2P sharing which usually ends up fueling frustration with fans and costly lawsuits, these musicians have taken tabs on the commercial open source business model. Test drive the shabby version for as long as you want, or pay up to get pimped out.

FLOSS                                                Flossin

Besides the fact that the article has way too many examples making it suitable for starving artists looking for inspiration, it demonstrates the creativity certain musicians have for marketing themselves all while embracing free sharing.

There is definitely a lesson to be learned from these musicians. Can B2C open source software be so successful in creating an innovative yet sustainable business model?

Looking forward to hearing your opinion on the subject…

Justin.tv is now available on Moovida. So I joked in my last post about some of the random content uploaded by users, but in all seriousness, Justin.tv is a great plugin which streams content worldwide, that means NO GEO-BLOCKING, and there’s no one more happy about this than me. If you’re not in the U.S. or Canada and miss afternoon programming of classic reruns such as The Office, Family Guy, That 70’s Show, Friends, The Simpsons, as for your daily Star Trek TNG Klingon fix, you’re in luck with the Justin.tv plugin, which streams these shows pretty much 24/7.

They have a loads of content from categories like Entertainment, Gaming, Science & Tech, Sports, Education, Animals, Social, etc. I also found interesting that they categorize High Stakes Poker as a Sport. Probably the only channel in which commentators can get away with describing a female player as having a pair of 10s.

Besides that, make sure to check out the following:

• New Movies (2009-2010)
• Comedy Movies

So do share your favourite Justin.tv channels on Moovida in the comments section. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Have you heard of Blue Monday? Not the song by New Order, but rather the “scientific” theory that the Monday of the last full week of January, which was yesterday, is the most depressing of the year. Hopefully this theory was proven wrong for you, but just in case it rang true, the Moovida Team has come up with a list of recommendations to start infusing post-Blue Monday with positive vibes.

5) Get comfy

There’s nothing worse than feeling uncomfortable. Whether it’s wearing clothes that don’t fit you, or being forced to watch Spanish tv broadcasting (expats are behind me on this), it bites to be in a situation that doesn’t feel quite right. The Moovida team recommends you get organized to avoid mediocre entertainment. How? First, get Media Center harware that includes Moovida, and browse our plugins for quality content. Moovida makes it easy for you by offering a 5% discount.

4) Never stop being entertained

Wifi has become our best friend, allowing us to stay connected 24/7. Instead of moping on your way to work this week, make sure to stream funny videos and good tunes on your mobile for the trip. The Moovida Team recommends a Nokia N900 Unlocked Phone/Mobile Computer. It’s ain’t cheap, but it’s currently the only mobile powerful enough for Moovida… we’d love to have Moovida packaged for it one day . It’s got the usual goods, Wifi, 5 px camera, GPS, Blue Tooth stereo music, so you can stay entertained while on the road.

3) Diversify your stimuli

Let’s face it, your local cable only allows you to watch a limited number of channels, 90% of which is mediocre at best. Watch what you want, when you want, on your own time thanks to Moovida’s plugins. Here’s a sample of some of the great content you can find:

• Funny vids

• Explore new music

• If you’re thinking of other kind of stimuli, I’ll let you use your sense of initiative to find the appropriate links…

2) Read more

How about reading 52 books in a year? Or if you haven’t gotten started yet, 49… Kindle can help you make it happen by allowing you to download a book under 60 seconds. Reading just got a whole lot easier with this gadget, so no more excuses (or maybe one more excuse not to exercise).

1) Produce something

Let’s face it, most of us prefer sitting back, relaxing, and letting ourselves be entertained. To conquer this sense of passivity ruling our lives in winter, be creative and produce something! Consult Vimeo’s plugin on Moovida for some cool suggestions… or produce your own video to share with friends or the whole world via YouTube and Vimeo.

Moovida’s beta tester program is kicking into full swing by making the Justin.tv plugin available for testing. You heard right, one of the most important live video sites on the web with over 500,000 channels broadcasting live content will be going through rigorous testing before it’s available to all Moovida users. Beta testers, this is your time to shine! If you’re a first timer to this blog and wondering what the heck a beta tester is, find out here.

Justin.tv’s got a large variety of content in 20 languages, in plenty of categories ranging from Entertainment to Animals. There’s even a channel entitled Chicken Coop Living where you can follow the exciting life of chickens in an enclosure… If you already followed the link, I apologize for taking part in wasting 5 seconds of your life you’ll never get back. If you follow the link after this warning, well you asked for it.

Besides useless chicken streaming, there actually is cool content. For a humorous stroll down memory lane by outspoken and slightly nutty commentator ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, check out the Nostalgic Critic. He’s worth it!

Arte, the award winning plugin (as in Moovida’s developer contest award), has been recently upgraded to support videos from the site in German. The plugin reserved for French and Germans will automatically detect in which region users are located to play the corresponding language. If you’re in bizarro world and wish to view videos in the other language, for example a French person living in Germany (crazy!), you can simply change the option in the plugin’s configuration file.

Big thanks to community developer Guillaume Desmottes for this latest plugin release.

Some of you may have noticed that the Grooveshark plugin “went missing” from Moovida’s library in the past few weeks. We’ve had a few mishaps with it and decided to temporarily remove it until it was fixed. Well now that the special day has finally come, I’m announcing its healthy recovery.

Feel free to express your gratitude for its comeback to Moovida, or just give us holla.