karened | subbing and selling and buying (Reply)

Here's the view of someone who had been on both sides. Likely to be over-sympathetic, as I'm built that way.

Back when I was still a new fan, I never downloaded anything and had dependedfully on streaming clips. Reasons for that include:

Fear of virus
Lack of knowledge todownlodfrom clubbox (the most common/popular download source back then)
Slow Internet speed
Lack of hardrive space
Fear of being caught by authorities
Lack of proficiency in Japanese, hence can only watch subbed videos, which required me to join certain communities
Lack of knowledge of different video players/codecs required to play videos

So, back then, I really appreciated people burning videos onto dvds and selling them to fans like me. Fans like me who have little other options when it comes to watching Arashi.

But now that I've progressed in various ways and, most importantly, learnt the hard work that goes into subbing a video, I see the other side of the picture. The unspoken rules of fandom. I'm still sympathetic towards fans who buy those dvds (I think it's precisely because there's a demand that there's a supply), but I cannot accept it.

Do I sound confused? Yeah, kind of.

Anyway, Ohno's birthday celebration in advance on Thursday! I can't wait!

Ok, Freeter just started! Ja ne.