It’s Popcorn Time

It’s Friday afternoon and the rain is poring down outside. You want to go to the movies but you are still waiting for your paycheck and you don’t really want to ride your bike and get wet.  So you and friend decide to stay in a watch a movie at home. But there are no good movies airing that evening and even worse, there are no good movies on Netflix. Luckily you remember your colleague talking about something called Popcorn time. You decide to give it a try. It’s so easy, you don’t believe it.

This is probably how many Danes discovered Popcorn time. If you are an average user of the Internet you probably know that it’s possible to download and stream movies and series but you have never really tried it or dared to adventure into the world of torrents. Popcorn Time offers its users a complete solution, although legality is not on the top-three-list of components. This I will discuss later in my blog post.

If you are not already familiar with the application, Popcorn Time is software you can download to your computer. The software is a free multi-platform BitTorrent client that has an integrated media player. The original software was developed by a group from Argentina and the source code for the software was free to download from their webpage. The software gives you access to a vast amount of movies and series and with the integrated media player it is easy to navigate amongst the many movies and series.  You click in the movie you want to see and the software downloads the file and you are able to watch it.

BitTorrents or just Torrents was first released for the public in 2001, by programmer Bram Cohen. It is a peer-to-peer network project that allows you to download files from other peers.

Unlike programs like Limewire, where you had to be connected to one server who had the entire file, BitTorrent can download fragments from different servers that are connected to the same network as you.

Why did Popcorn Time become such an immediate success? 

As I just said BitTorrents have excited for many years so the concept is not that new. But it’s worth mentioning that BitTorrents made it easier and faster to download, as you did not overload the central servers. As I also mentioned before Popcorn Time is a multi-platform BitTorrent client, so it works fast, of course depending on your Internet speed. So you get a fast download speed and that means you can watch you movie sooner rather than later.

One of the other reasons why Popcorn Time has been such a success is easy usage. Popcorn Time uses the same technology as BitTorrents but instead of having to download a BitTorrent and opening it in BitTorrent client Popcorn Time does everything for you in a single click. It has never been easier for the average person to watch movies at home. The software is easy to use and you don’t have to be a computer expert to use it.

I also believe that Popcorn Time’s success is owed to PC Magazine and other mainstream media for linking Popcorn Time to Netflix on its arrival. This really gave the software attention and probably made it seem more available for the average person. Everybody knows Netflix and linking the two applications together was a huge advantage for Popcorn Time.

Caitlin Dewey of the Washington Post wrote in a article called “How to easily watch any movie from your computer for free” March 16, 2014: “Popcorn Time may have been an attempt to make the normally "sketchy" ecosystem of torrents more accessible by giving it a clean modern look and an easy-to-use  interface.” And maybe it was but nonetheless it worked. Popcorn Time had instant success. But the story does not end happy for Popcorn Time and for the Danish users of the software it has had huge consequences.

Consequences of using Popcorn Time

So sharing files with other people is no illegal act, but sharing files that you do not have copyright for is illegal. So Popcorn Time has had a lot of problems with the law. Marts 2015 the Danish film industry tried to make the Danish government take action against the Danish version of Popcorn Time but the government did not do anything at this point. So in September 2015 the Danish film industry hired a law firm and they send out hundreds of fines to Danish users of Popcorn Time and the two creators behind the Danish version is no facing a trail for violating the criminal law. Although this is a consequence seen all over the world it really came as a shock to the Danish people that they actually revived fines.

Media convergence at work

So let’s take a look on who’s to blame for this new and fast expanding downloading culture. Back in the days the only way to watch the newest films was to go to the cinema. Today you can watch what ever you want whenever you want. If we look at this development as a social constructed development, one could argue that Popcorn Time was born out of the societies needs. The development could look something like this:

Cinema (Legal) à steaming and bit torrents (Illegal) à Netflix (Legal) à Popcorn Time (Illegal)

Today people are more demanding and they want to able to control their own life. So Popcorn Time is a perfect example of this development. So the flow of content, the films, converts across multiple media platforms. From the big screen to the home cinema.

On the other hand we could also look at the development in a more technological deterministic way. This would shift the focus from a social context to technological context. Meaning that because someone created Popcorn Time a new need is created. So the development of Popcorn Time is the root to the development.

There is no doubt in my mind that society has become more demanding and people want to be able to pick and choose as they please. In Denmark films and series always air some months after they air in America and no one wants to wait. We want to watch the newest films and series, so of course an application like Popcorn Time is popular. It is even possible to get Popcorn Time for your smartphone, so once again convergence culture is at work. From the big screen to your home cinema to you smartphone. I believe that the development is a clear picture of what society wants and I think it’s a social constructed development.