StarROMS Interview

[cool_goob]

=Feature]http://www.performancepccanada.com/?defaultarticle=414&defaultnode=69&layout=20&pagefunction=Load%20Layout&formfields[sect_title]=Feature

Thought you guys might like to read....

[GamingGreg]

Interesting article.  I hope StarROMs is successful in expanding their offerings this year.  They're helping to "untarnish" the whole emulation scene.

Saint, (hope you see this)

I noticed the following blurb from the above article (Keith Schengili-Roberts is currently co-authoring a book called

[SpamMe]

We plan to significantly expand our offering of Atari and non-Atari games over the course of this year, although we have no definitive schedule at this point. ... This year should bring a significant expansion of titles offered, both by increasing our offering of classic arcade games, and by expanding into console titles, starting out with the classic Atari console games.

[Stingray]

I noticed the following blurb from the above article (Keith Schengili-Roberts is currently co-authoring a book called

[Sephroth57]

seriously though, who would actually buy roms if not for the purpose of selling them in a MAME machine or something...  im not gonna decide one day i have an extra 100$ that i should waste on "legalizing" my rom collection to purchase things i can already play.  

[mahuti]

Can't resell them. 'S not allowed in the liscence. Can't give them away either. You buy em, you're stuck with them.

[paigeoliver]

And then they go out of business, and you are stuck with no proof that you ever even bought your roms in the first place. I personally wouldn't spend a dime on them the way they are now.

I want them on a CD.

[Wade]

I'm glad for StarRoms and I hope they do well and stay in business.

No, it isn't an end-all solution and of course most people won't buy the roms when they already have them illegally for free.

HOWEVER, this does open the door for people to sell Mame machines and assure the buyer than they can legally purchase roms, if they so desire.  I really think the legality issues scare some people away from Mame or prebuilt Mame boxes.

Wade

[bigmoe]

HOWEVER, this does open the door for people to sell Mame machines and assure the buyer than they can legally purchase roms, if they so desire.  I really think the legality issues scare some people away from Mame or prebuilt Mame boxes.

I would suspect that at some point a prebuilt MAME box seller could set up a reselling deal with StarROMS where a buyer of the box *legally* buys the ROMS from StarROMS but hires the box seller to do the installation for them.  We see preinstalled software on boxes all the time--it's a value-add for both the hardware and the software vendors.  Seems like that would actually be a selling point for StarROMS in wooing other license owners to sign on...larger distribution channel.

Of course, just because it makes sense doesn't mean it'll succeed.

And paigeoliver has a point.  There needs to be more assurance of permanent legality than a list on a website somewhere...I like the idea, and I'll pony up (IP is the future, and hey, I make a living programming myself) but we're not there yet.

Also, considering that we are talking about software which for the most part is well past its intended life cycle, the prices are actually a bit high.  Especially for games I might only play occasionally.  We can buy emulated coinops for consoles at well under $4-6 per game (even less if I buy used), and those games are mostly the cream of the crop.  I would like to see some bulk or even subscription pricing.

[Howard_Casto]

It should be noted that these liscenses are for PRIVATE use.  So it's extremely doubtful that you could sell a mame cab complete with roms as most mame cabs have a coin door, which would denote public use.  Just a thought.

Besides that, I don't think the liscense is transferrable so if the company installs them then, they can't "resell" them to their customers.

[paigeoliver]

I really think the legality issues scare some people away from Mame or prebuilt Mame boxes.

I don't.

In my experience the general public could care less about copyright, intellectual property, or anything like that. The only people I have ever met who really care about this stuff are heavy internet users (who very often have a double standard about the whole thing, not mentioning any names here), and someone I know who owns a small recording studio (who also seems to have a flawed understanding of the laws, because he believes it is illegal to record anything under any circumstances).

Heck, my mom has trouble understanding why it could possibly be illegal to download music, copy movies, or burn copies of those crappy slot machine games she buys to give to her co-workers.

Joe Public does not care about these issues at all, and never did. I used to care a little, but not anymore. When the corporate suits started buying laws I stopped caring. The real issue (in my mind) is that record companies are now suing teenagers for downloading songs, which is absolutely no different than what they were going before mp3s, which was copying tapes and taping things off the radio.

[Wade]

It may not matter to you, and it may not matter to a lot of people you know, but having a LEGAL avenue for a Mame setup is a plus.  Most people may choose not to use it, but I am happy to know that it's there.

You can disagree, but I think it will make it easier to sell a Mame setup.  The legality of Mame and the ROMs is a topic that has been brought up frequently at my house (by others)...

Wade

[jerryjanis]

If I have children one day, I fear the day that they get caught shoplifting and when I try to scold them and tell them that it's wrong, they start challenging me with questions about my Mame roms.  I think I would have a difficult time explaining how copying games is different from shoplifting.  In the Information Age the distinction between a physical cd and the games on it has completely faded away.   For that reason alone, Star Roms is totally worth the price, and I hope that they are able to convice other Rom copyright holders to provide a legal avenue for the ol' Mame cabinet.

[mahuti]

Since the guy that owns the marble man roms didn't want to release them because of fear of reprisals from Atari.... I'm hoping StarRoms gets the go ahead to sell the rights to the Marble Man roms, and then gets a copy from the marble man board owner.

[Lilwolf]

Marble Man roms aren't being distributed because when Atari gave him a copy... they asked him nicely not to.

Note:  The same guy has release TONS of rare / weird alphas and protos.

Its not him.  Its him respecting Ataris wishs when they did him a HUGE favor.  With Ataris help he wouldn't have got it working.

Anyway... take a look at his collection... Notice that some are emulated... Then ask yourself how that could be possible.

(and yes... it would be GREAT if starroms could sell them... But don't blame the guy (sorry... can't remember his name) for the problem.  He really isn't at fault)

[mahuti]

Exactly what I'm saying. Atari asked him not to, so he didn't

Star Roms bought *some* rights from atari. They told HIM to find the roms himself.

SO, what I am hoping is that StarRoms secures rights to distribute the roms, and gets it from that guy. I'm not *blaming* him. He's been doing the right thing all along.

[Magnet_Eye]

In my experience the general public could care less about copyright, intellectual property, or anything like that. The only people I have ever met who really care about this stuff are heavy internet users (who very often have a double standard about the whole thing, not mentioning any names here), and someone I know who owns a small recording studio (who also seems to have a flawed understanding of the laws, because he believes it is illegal to record anything under any circumstances).

Heck, my mom has trouble understanding why it could possibly be illegal to download music, copy movies, or burn copies of those crappy slot machine games she buys to give to her co-workers.

Joe Public does not care about these issues at all, and never did. I used to care a little, but not anymore. When the corporate suits started buying laws I stopped caring. The real issue (in my mind) is that record companies are now suing teenagers for downloading songs, which is absolutely no different than what they were doing before mp3s, which was copying tapes and taping things off the radio.

I have to somewhat agree with you. Especially when it comes to music. Many forget that the recording industry was sued (and lost) for price fixing. Basically, they have been RIPPING US OFF the whole time, and now we are supposed to be concerned with downloading MP3's? They are the biggest hypocrites of all. Gimmie a break.

Also, copying/sharing a digital format of a song is NOT the same as stealing a cd from the store. A CD from a store has actual material cost involved. They had to pay workers, advertisers, printers, shippers, etc. to get that CD out. With mp3's they did nothing at all. They didn't rip the CD, they didn't spend any time to develop software to rip the CD or to play the MP3's. So, I wouldn't really say the are losing anything...rather they aren't gaining. They see mp3's as potential money out of their pockets. Screw them! They are still charging us the same price for cd's when cd technology started in the 80's, and we all know the costs have gone down 1000% to produce them.

/rant  


Man, this subject always gets going.. we should have a board just for copyright discussion. Sorry to go offtopic.

Star Roms? Hell yeah. It's a start. But it's too early to tell what is gonna happen if you ask me.

 

[Edgedamage]

Well I have a friend that works at a pressing plant. And the journey the cd makes from the pressing room to the silk screening room to the packaging room and to the loading dock. The whole journey costs less than $4 per disk. And that was 1995's costs they are less now.

[paigeoliver]

Well I have a friend that works at a pressing plant. And the journey the cd makes from the pressing room to the silk screening room to the packaging room and to the loading dock. The whole journey costs less than $4 per disk. And that was 1995's costs they are less now.

It has to be WAY less than that. Go into the store and look around, you will likely find some (shovelware, and classical music) CDs priced at $1.99. If they can sell them at that price then the actual cost has to be pennies.

[Kilgore]

And then they go out of business, and you are stuck with no proof that you ever even bought your roms in the first place.

It appears that have attempted to address this issues.  As found buried in the help section (http://www.starroms.com/support/help.php#8):

If I purchase ROMs from StarROMs, how will I be able to prove my license is valid?
StarROMs offers our customers the ability to generate a digitally signed email documenting the licenses issued to you by StarROMs. You can print this out as proof of your license. The secure digital signature proves that StarROMs sent the email, should this ever come into question. This feature is available under Your Account. Furthermore, StarROMs keeps records of all licenses granted.

[dommer]

Look at the success of all of these new on-line music commercial ventures.  People are willing to pay what they consider a fair price for music.  I imagine the same thing applies to Roms.  People also are eager to have an easy, repeatable experience.  Getting a lot of roms, much like getting illicit MP3's, is technically challenging for the average person, problematic, and filled with bad files, duplicates, incomplete files, etc.  For us nerds, we dont mind hacking, but for the average person, an inexpensive, legal path is desirable.  The legal issues may not bother us, but they would prevent many third parties (but obviously not all) from building a business model around emulation.  

About IP, all of our laws seem to me to relate back to a time when information was stored in text format, which was meant you had a physical artifact, a book, magazine, etc., which you could easily regulate.  This is why it's easy for us to understand how this should be treated as property, the delivery mechanism, which is really just a hanger-on is what is seen by the lay person as the good to be bought and sold, owned and destroyed.  Now with information being in it's natural state (seperate from it's media), this analogy falls apart, and it's difficult for the average person to understand how I can steal something from you if you still have it after the act.

That's my 2 cents anyways, let me know if I need change.

[jerryjanis]

That's my 2 cents anyways, let me know if I need change.

Tokens or quarters?