Top Manta Days Over?
December 5th, 2005 by e-man
The first time I came across manteros was when I just walked out of the Fnac in the center of Madrid, just off the Plaza del Sol.
The modus operandi is always the same: a big sheet is spread out on the street and on it illegal copies of the most currently popular CD's and DVD's are displayed for your buying pleasure. By the first sign of police the sheet is pulled together and faster than you can say "Catalunya is a nation" the manteros have disappeared.
It's pretty weird the see a copy of the new Luz Casal compilation, which inside Fnac retailed for close to 30€, lying on a sheet and selling for only 2€. Even stranger is seeing movies on a copied DVD which are currently still in theatres and nowhere near to an official DVD release.
As of today police are clamping down on this kind of activity and not only the selling of these copies is illegal, buying them is now illegal as well.
Good luck to the Guardia I say, as according to official statistics last Christmas in Madrid alone 40.000 copies of these copies were sold.
And get this, the local Blockbuster will not allow me to rent a DVD because I live in a piso compartido and have no offical address so to speak, but I can buy the DVD from a mantero for less money than it would cost to rent it.
Spanish logic again or just the power of free enterprise?
December 13th, 2005 at {entry_date format="%g:%i %a"}
Just the same over here ! Maybe worse even..! Ik denk dat sabam in België enzo nog blij mogen zijn met de situatie aldaar.