arstechnica.com — Major League Baseball has apparently switched DRM clearinghouses. As a result, some fans are stuck with DRMed footage that they purchased, but are unable to watch because their licenses can't be verified.
Nov 7, 2007 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountNov 7, 2007
So this guy would buy old games for $4 a piece and then burn them to a CD? Anything to avoid getting laid I guess.
disruptor108Nov 7, 2007
I feel like part of the problem here was that people who buy this stuff don't even know anything about DRM, so all of a sudden when a company switches DRM schemes, the customer wonders why the hell they can't play xyz.mp4. By this time, it's too late and the Joe Blow is SOL.There really needs to be some kind of legislative change so that this kind of stuff can't happen to consumers, or maybe companies could stop using DRM....but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
troymccluresfNov 7, 2007
Yeah, I was sick last year and jonesing for some baseball, so I bought a handful of games to kill a couple of days laying in bed. Not one of them worked.MLB finally dumped RealPlayer five years after everyone else did, but somehow managed to stay just as useless and unfriendly as before. Congrats!
jebus123Nov 8, 2007
You just need to purchase it again. Do you see now how DRM benefits the consumer?
magus_melchiorNov 8, 2007
Actually, he should file a chargeback if he still can. The best way to hurt a company is through the wallet (and even better, since the CC company will issue a ~$15 charge to the merchant).
disruptor108Nov 9, 2007
I got an email from MLB today updating this issue:Dear Valued Customer,It has come to our attention that a small subset of our MLB.com Digital Download customers are unable to access and watch certain games that they purchased prior to 2007. MLB.com is committed to ensuring that all non-functioning MLB.com Digital Downloads that were previously purchased are again made available at no additional cost to our customers.If you are unable to view any MLB.com Digital Download game that you purchased prior to 2007, please contact MLB.com Customer Service by either (1) sending an e-mail to customerservice@website.mlb.com listing the games that are no longer accessible, or (2) by calling 1-866-800-1275 to speak to a representative.We will then send you an e-mail containing information on how to re-download and access these games. Please note that all Regular Season games will be available, in the originally purchased format, and all Postseason games will be made available, in the same format currently used on mlb.com/downloads.We regret any inconvenience, and value your continued support.Sincerely,MLB.com