Peoples thoughts on DRM

[Fluff]

Personally I think the DRM that Microsoft IF IMPLEMENTED PROPERLY will be a good thing for consumers.

1. If items such as Sattelite boxes / Cable TV (HDTV) can be put inside the HTPC box, and it is secure enough for the providers to be happy about it. There will be less clutter.

2. If the quality of Audio is better than CD (i.e. SACD / DVD-A), and offers the facility of a refund on tracks you don't like , it would hopefully force people to improve their content. Facility that allows the backup to CD-Audio, for legacy devices.

3. Allows the user control over his content, for example, ability to lock down say a wedding video / promotional you made etc, so it couldn't be copied.

4. Had a facility that you could transport the media to whatever other secure device you wanted and have a dongle or something on the player. With the media which is licenced to you.

5. Say you want to rent a movie, it downloads it over night, and you can watch it the next day from your HTPC, rather than going to rent it from your local DVD store.

[Jammrock]

I think DRM is a waste of money. It wastes both the consumer and the business' money. There has yet to be a DRM scheme that has been 100% pirate proof. J.K. Rowlings agent/publisher type person(s) refuses to let Audible.com, a legitimate digital audio book distribution company, publish the HP audio books because of fears of piracy ... I found three pirated versions of the audio book of HP 6 within 12 hours of them being released online. Great thinking there publisher guy.

Not that I'm 100% opposed to DRM, I just think it's a waste of money to try and stop everybody. DRM should be used to keep the average John Q. Public honest. DOn't spend tens to hundreds of millions on extravegant DRM options that will be cracked by some bored college CS major within a few weeks to months. Make it simple and effective to prevent priating among the the masses. Ignore the priates. Pirates will always find a way to circumvent it. And in the end, if your product is good enough you'll get the sales you want. Concentrate on good content, and the sales will come. You don't see any super star singer, actor, or author going broke because of piracy do you? WHy not? Because if the content is good the sales will happen.

This is my favorite article/column/opinion on DRM. It's from an author named Cory Doctorow. He simultaneously releases his novels for free online at the same time they are published in hardcover. The big wigs would argue that his books should have poor sales because of it right? Yet he consistently sells out multiple editions of each of his books. The full article where he gives his reasons for releasing his books for free digitally can be found here, and is a great read regarding DRM in the new digital world:

http://craphound.com/someone/000363.html

That article pretty much sums up my thoughts.

Jammrock

[Gurm]

DRM is a nuisance that has the potential to become an unstoppable nuisance.

I _like_ being able to watch my TV shows whenever I like. My DVR is a godsend. But if I forget to have it tape them, I also like being able to pull them from SkyOne. DRM would prevent that.

I _like_ being able to listen to my legally owned music wherever I like. Now, there have been precious few CD's I'm interested in buying lately, but if I do buy them I want to listen to that music ANYWHERE, not wherever the rights-managers feel I should.

The porn that I spend my hard-earned dollars on (in addition to being porn that Julie likes, or else I get in trouble for spending $$ on porn) should be watchable on ANY TV I WANT, including the TV at the hotel we stay at on our anniversary, or the TV in our bedroom, or hell even the TV in the laundry room (*wink*)!

DRM is evil and wrong, and perpetuates the notion that you don't OWN anything any more. You just RENT it. Pfeh. *spit*

[TnT]

Since most uses aren't what the businesses consider "typical" (ie Windows is what Joe Schmo uses, so our DRM scheme only works in Windows), DRM is just a nuisance. I shouldn't have to wait for a crack or workaround is discovered so that I can use/view/listen to something I bought.

[The PIT]

As Gurm says if I buy something I should be able to play it where I like when I like.

[Fluff]

I would have thought the chances of a workaround of the same magnitude as DeCSS are minimal.

[DGhost]

personal opinion: the trusted computing platform is a very good thing. it is also entirely seperate from the issues of DRM.

DRM as a technology has the potential to be a good tool. unfortunately, as with all other tools, it is the people that use them that determine if it is a good or a bad use.

[Wombat]

DRM is universally bad. The problem is that DRM cannot distinguish intent. The techological path to make a backup of something so that your toddlers don't destroy the original is the same path that one would use to make illegal copies for the rest of the world. You can't block one without the other. Don't impede my fair use.

[Gurm]

DRM is universally bad. The problem is that DRM cannot distinguish intent. The techological path to make a backup of something so that your toddlers don't destroy the original is the same path that one would use to make illegal copies for the rest of the world. You can't block one without the other. Don't impede my fair use.

Bingo.

------------

Fluff,

The odds of something like DeCSS happening again are... minimal. I'm not saying that these things are uncrackable, but they are orders of magnitude harder than CSS. The industry has learned its lesson and hardware encryption on future media streams will be EXTREMELY difficult to circumvent.

[xortam]

DRM is a tool of Big Brother. I regard privacy quite highly and I resist any type of products which might invade that. I'm not a TiVo fan either (though they don't even address my needs anyway, i.e. BUD satellite).

[GNEP]

My own thoughts are that DRM is simply the wrong response to a correctly identified problem. These days, a large portion of "things" that consumers want are information-based, and hence easily digitally replicable. The producing (i.e. the people who make "things" and not literally "producers") part of the system has responded to this by trying to make it more difficult to replicate their "things". What they should have done instead is realised that this is a whole new market place for them, or at the very least a new distribution mechanism. And hence spent the effort they've put into DRM into developing for e.g simple, secure micropayments. I don't have pirate MP3s because I don't want to pay the equivalents on CD/Napster/Apple. I have them because it's a million times easier to get the music that way and lets me do my own specific thing (in my case read the files in hex. Pure joy). And I can get .shn files to maintain the quality. Or ditto with movies etc.

Or alternatively they could get more sophisticated with advertising (which pays for most TV shows at the moment through the conceptually bizarre ad-break). I mean here some properly sophisticated embedded advertising. If an episode of the Simpsons actually featured them talking about another product in a way that encouraged you to buy it, but subtly and sophisticated enough to possibly enhance the quality of the programme (ie NOT cheeeezy or otherwise crap), then surely the production company would want as many people as possible to see it, by any means possible. Just needs a bit of thought, that's all. Oh, and an auditable (direct/indirect) way of measuring viewing figures in order to put a value on the directly attributable sales increase of the embedded product.

Hmmm went on a bit there. Not sure if my points are clear or not. Sorry if not.

[Fluff]

Wombat,

I think the industry will end up with a licence scheme. You will be given a key to access your content, of which titles you are entitled to play. And spare media should be available for a mimimal replacement cost, re download etc. Thus negating the backup argumment.

Of course inferior second generation copies will always be possible. Either through the use of a camcorder / recording the analog outs.

We will have DVD's, CD's and Vinyl for the forseeable future, so there is a choice.

[Wombat]

Wombat,

I think the industry will end up with a licence scheme. You will be given a key to access your content, of which titles you are entitled to play. And spare media should be available for a mimimal replacement cost, re download etc. Thus negating the backup argumment.

Yeah, whatever. We already have a license scheme now. When the corporations want to prevent you from copying, they say you're restricted by copyright. When they refuse to replace damaged disks (I've tried), they say it's property, and that you have to buy a replacement. Plus, if you've bought a CD and it is destroyed, you're not allowed to burn or download a copy from somebody else.

Not to mention, these are all conditions inflicted on you AFTER the sale, so I don't agree to those licenses anyway. If I don't sign a contract prior to the sale, there's no deal (except for standard copyright law).

We will have DVD's, CD's and Vinyl for the forseeable future, so there is a choice.

You don't even have those choices now. Copy-protected CDs are already here, and DVDs are encrypted. Can you tell me why it's illegal to watch DVDs on Linux? Only DJ stuff comes out on vinyl.

[Fluff]

It's not illegal to watch DVD's on linux, it's just few people were prepared to pay / had the money for the licence for the creation of the software, there were some hurdles with open source graphics drivers apparently.

http://linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/5804/4/

Turbo Linux has PowerDVD built in.

[Fluff]

Wombat, the issue with things like damaged media, is a problem. Maybe with items such as DVD-audio discs / SACD they might not have as much of an issue replacing the damaged media. I don't know.

That needs to be sorted out if the strength of the media is inadequate for the typical usage of the product.

With vinyl get a scratch or a jump and you are screwed anyway. No one will replace it unless it's a manufacturing defect.

My only issue is if i'm trying to get a rare or deleted song / old movie which the shops /online stores don't carry, often the only place to turn is file shares.