You make some valid arguments, but let me play devil's advocate. Don't you think with storage being so inexpensive people would be inclined to want even more porn now that they don't have to worry about filling up their hard drive? Now people can go out and buy 300GB portable for $150 and dump all their porn on that.
This same theory would apply to cheaper access to broadband connections. Faster=get more. This, to me, would impact smaller sites more than larger sites. As you said, people can rip through a site in hours. Not so good for a small site. Their only recourse is to produce MORE content to build up their content as fast as possible. Problem is, it takes money to do that. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
On the flip side, it's now easier too gather up free porn. With dial-up people may have decided to join a site simply because it was easier and faster to get their porn rather than dealing with pop-up windows, blind links, viruses, etc.
It's interesting you don't mention anything about the poor economy. For over a year now things have gotten worse and worse and there's no sure sign things will turn around in the near future. I do believe porn is somewhat insulated from the economy, but I believe the economy has finally caught up.
You talk about protecting your content better. It's a logical argument, but at the same time for every protection scheme, a crack is going to come along. Remember when webmasters used DRM and how resistant member's were to accepting it? Having DRM is a strike against you. Even disabling right click, or now using a variation of the flash simple viewer pisses members off (this is actually an annoyance, not any kind of serious prevention method). People will simply go elsewhere rather than deal with it. It sux, but that's what happens.
And in order for DRM or any other kind of security goes, it needs to be easy to implement, acceptable to the users, and most importantly be adopted by the majority of webmasters. Unfortunately....fat chance of that perfect storm happening.
By no means am I disagreeing that webmasters need to adapt and overcome these challenges to stay profitable. Things are changing and if you don't change with them you're gonna get left behind.
Let me throw a radical idea out there. Yeah, if enough people don't get on board it won't be a viable solution and it's certainly nothing new. But to me, the subscription model is flawed. What other business models allows people to have unlimited access to content for $25/mo? Can you imagine if restaurants and bars did this? Pay $25 for all you can drink/eat? As a consumer I'd say "hell yeah!", but as a business owner I'd say "hell no!". What about a grocery store? An electronics store? A clothing store? Movie theaters?
Instead of offering an all you can buffet 24/7, why not make people pay as they go? Make people pay for individual galleries/videos or a combination? Perhaps have nominal monthly fee which gives you limited access and to get any more you have to pay more. To help people stay around, have a reward program where each month they get access to more.
YIKES! HERESY!!!!
I know. surfers will scream bloody murder. The few sites that actually do this, Mystique Magazine, for example, deal with this. Read a review of Mystique and virtually all of them bitch about how expensive it can get.
But look at what's going on with the music industry. Their subscription model only allows for streaming music. If you want to take it with you you gotta pay for it. If you delete it. Too bad. You gotta buy it again.
When the music industry finally (and reluctantly) embraced an online delivery method the public whined and complained since they were spoiled by Napster. Now, a few years later all that bitching has largely subsided. The general public has come to terms with it. What helped make it work, is that all the major labels were on board.
I realize there's always going to be people who will never be happy and if not handled correctly could increase the amount of illegal sharing. But as time goes on, that will level off or actually decrease as it gets harder and harder. No matter what, illegal sharing is going to happen.
Now that I've opened that can of worms, let the debate begin! I'm sure a major argument would be that there's no way the majority of major players in the porn industry would embrace this...like someone said in a thread about forming a union..it's like herding cats (
- love that).
I'm not suggesting this happens all at once, but over time. Phase it in. Keep the subscription model, but make the higher quality content only available for an extra fee. Say photos over 1024 and HD videos would be extra.
Over time as more and more new users come online they would never know the difference. That is until they talk to an old timer who says "man, I remember the days when I could get all the porn I wanted for a low monthly price". Than that newbie would say "I bet you walked to school in the snow uphill both ways, pooped in a shack, and sent smoke signals to your friends".
Anyway..I know it's out there (call me crazy) and doesn't even begin to address tube sites and all the free porn already out there....but...it's food for thought.