• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

New app for media streaming

J

Jacob Villarreal

Newbie
Hi all,
I might have posted this on the wrong thread. So I'm posting in this thread again.

I have a new app idea for media streaming... It's really simple, somewhat like Kodi, but much simpler, and safer. The app acts as a portal for free media sharing between media-sharing consumers. You simply install it, share the folder containing the TV/movie/music media you would like to share, and the app posts your listing as a shared media source.

There's no uploading, downloading, recording of media, and no consent forms. So there's no piracy.

So you can share your personal collection of TV, movie, and music clips with anyone with access to the sources by means of the software portal.

So the app splices your full-length TV/movie/music streams into 5 or 10 second clips, buffers the clips into memory blocks, and streams the media data to whoever accesses it by means of the app.

Does anyone have any feedback?
 
Jacob Villarreal said:
There's no uploading, downloading, recording of media, and no consent forms. So there's no piracy.
Click to expand...

That's entirely subjective and dependant on laws in what ever country the content is being hosted/streamed in.

Unless you're legally trained, you can't say what you want to do isn't piracy.

Also, streaming is technically downloading and if you're making stuff available for others to watch, that would count as uploading.

Regardless of how "clever" you try to be about it, if you're offering paid content for free, it will be piracy.
 
Sounds similar to what I thought might work, but I don't think it's exactly the same thing.

I think plex requires addon (channel) activations like Kodi, which requires some knowledge of repositories, and addon installation.

I thought this new app could clear it up by simplifying the whole interface. You simply share your media folder, and browse through a vast amount of media that's shared by other members.

So it's not only for your friends, and family, but for anyone with the app installed on their smart phone, media box, or pc.
 
As far as I know, copywrited media content is either distributed unlawfully/illegally, or not distributed at all, and piracy cannot be accomplished without the distribution of goods/services.

For example, if you can share your "Kong" movie with a friend, without distributing a copy of it to your him/her, why wouldn't you be able to share with anyone else without distributing the media unlawfully/illegally?

So I thought it might be clear of any legality issues.

What do you think?
 
If you can't download/upload anything, and you just list your files for viewing/hearing, as with movies/music, what might the problem be?

I figure if the app doesn't allow any downloading/uploading/recording, then the piracy would have to be accomplished by third-party means, and that would take alot of programming knowledge to be able to record video off the screen, or music off of the audio interface on the device.

So I figure the app developers would not be held liable to any extent.
 
What you're describing sounds kind of like how Kodi works.

You say there's no downloading or uploading involved, how do you think other people are going to access the content other people are making available? Streaming is essentially a form of downloading.
 
Really? I thought you could use something like a persistent session protocol to maintain a stream session, then just stream the media content by means of the protocol.

I thought maybe the media could be accessed through a server which contains the sharing member's media in a media buffer. So that 1 million users, for example, can access the same movie from the members media buffer, and receive the stream in the form of a video/audio stream.

I think there's a lexical difference in uploading a file, for example, and streaming data. From what I can tell, uploading/downloading consists of file transfer, and storage, whereas streaming might only consist of file transfer for playback, but without storage. So it might be put in RAM for the playback, then erased from RAM after playback.

Seems fair to me. What do you think?
 
Didn't bittorrent get shut down? Guess not, I must have heard that on youtube...

I haven't used bittorrent, I'm not sure.

Picture an interface like the one on this androidforums site, and similar to Kodi, but simpler, and installed on your device, rather than a website.

Another thing is that bittorrent allows for downloading, and uploading. So that wouldn't be the same thing.
 
Last edited:
No matter what way you try and sugar coat this, it will be viewed as illegal/piracy.

Regardless of terminology etc, it sounds as though you're just trying to invent a way of offering paid content for free and that's illegal.

I think before you pursue this idea further, it might be a good idea to seek proper legal advice. :)
 
I guess it is complicated, but if you compare it to bittorrent, Kodi, or even Plex, they aren't anything like it. They all consist of uploading/downloading/recording, and aren't as safe as this app infrastructure.
 
Well just make sure you're legally safe and watertight before you launch the app and/or service. Maybe seeking professional legal advice first if necessary, rather than trying to argue your case on an Internet forum. Copyrights and intellectual property can be very complicated.

Thing is you did say "sharing", which very probably sets alarm bells ringing with Hollywood, MPAA, RIAA, FBI, etc
 
Last edited:
I just found out that copyright infringement is pertinent to violation of the copyright agreement, which covers the right to produce, copy, make, and sublicense the artistic, literary, musical, or cinematographical work in its entirety.

Copyrights are grants to Licensors for exclusive reproduction, duplication, making, and sublicensing of

So this solution might work out just fine.
 
Is that something you've found on the internet or have you actually asked a lawyer or legal professional and explained what you want to do?

The above might also relate to whatever country you're in, copyright laws differ from country to country.
 
If the app is distributed via Google Play, AFAIK it's United States copyright laws, DMCA, etc. that very much apply to it, in addition to copyright laws of the countries that the app is distributed in.

IANAL of course.

Your movies, TV shows and music sharing app might be welcome here in China though. :thumbsupdroid:
 
Last edited:
First, you will have legal issues. Similar sharing services have them.
Second, phone and ARM processor don't work will for server apps. In your case phones are storing the data and streaming it. It will consume a lot of power. People understand that when they are watching something. But I am pretty sure that nobody will be happy when there device will lose power, be hot (because somebody else watching).
Also, phones can't normally make P2P connection, it will be a problem for you. You will have to have a server.
But if you will go with this app, I would suggest you to use torrent architecture. It is match the best to your requirements.
 
El Presidente said:
Is that something you've found on the internet or have you actually asked a lawyer or legal professional and explained what you want to do?

The above might also relate to whatever country you're in, copyright laws differ from country to country.
Click to expand...


Can you answer these questions?
Can piracy be accomplished without paid use, and distribution of copyrighted work?
Can copyright infringement be accomplished without contiguous full-length reproduction, duplication, making, or sublicensing of copyrighted work?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom