What is Digg?87 Comments
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+85True.
DRM, in the sense "copy protection", has the fatal flaw that it makes you PAY for merchandise of lower quality than you could get FOR FREE.
Also, all DRM schemes which are based on making it hard for the customer to access the merchandize (e.g. disk checks, on-line validation, encryption, "region coding"...) only achieves two things: they piss off legitimate users, and have even non-pirates heading for sites like http://www.gamecopyworld.com to find software to remove the restrictions.
That the companies response to the fact that users don't LIKE to have to pay for inferior goods has been to make the DRM even more intrusive and annoying, speaks volumes about how dumb companies like Sony really are.
The only DRM I've seen and liked, are based on streaming content on demand, so that the user simply never has all the data. The best examples are MMORPGs and Valves content delivery system Steam. They're as close to uncrackable as anything will ever get, and they can ADD value for the user, by updates, upgrades, and continuous bonus content. - ArthurSucks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+40*****? Is this possible?
- williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36The content publishers don't deserve to have their broken business model protected.
Did we protect whalers when electric light became popular? Buggy-whip makers when the car became popular?
Copyright protection was invented to protect AUTHORS not publishers of mass produced recorded performances. So, when it stops working for the RIAA/MPAA, what do we do? Pervert our freedom so the content publishers can give our computers the anal probe, or tell them "It was a nice ride while it lasted, but you might have to snort less coke next year." - mrmcbastard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31Who cares if Hollywood makes ***** movies? There are plenty of other people out there making awesome movies. Start buying their superior content instead of Hollywood's inferior tripe.
- 42nnn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+32sorry, you still use AOL?
- amosjones, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21It looks like the system is still broken. If there were a good way to legitimately own all the media I want, I would do it........
- ddxChrist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17That may have been the consensus on Slashdot 5 years ago, but considering DRM is still rampant today and is still causing anger, then complaints are still warranted. Granted, I agree that this was pretty much angsty self-promotion.
- vuke69, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1735 lines, 1310 words, 7288 characters, there by my count, sheesh... learn to count already ;)
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Only if you can play console games on that sled.
Piracy means you can play those HD format movies without having those HD format players, you know. - cday, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12@wtf00, don't worry about the "little guy", he belongs to a Union and gets paid when his job is finished, long before you could possibly download any movie he worked on. The general crews don't make royalties and will get paid whether the movie flops or wins an Oscar.
Not really commenting on whether (so called) pirating is good or bad, just didn't want you to shed any crocodile tears for "the little guy". - Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Hollywoods problem isn't lack of cash, it's lack of vision.
What is Hollywood churning out right now? Comic book adaptations and remakes of "classics" like King Kong and Miami Vice.
In computerdom that kind of stuff is called "shovelware". - jmaynardg, on 10/12/2007, -12/+241300 words of nothing said beyond self-promotion and angry hyperbole, all of which could be summed up as "DRM sucks." Yeah, that was consensus opinion on slashdot five years ago. A little more facty, and a lot less truthi, please.
- waynechng, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11The movie and music industry needs to understand that all they do is entertain. Their industry does not save lives, feed the hungry, take care of those who need care. Hence, they don't deserve to live in $50 million dollar mansions and drive $500,000 cars. They also don't deserve TV shows that show off those mansions or cars. Jim Carrey doesn't deserve $20 million a movie and neither does any rapper deserve diamonds in his mouth. Neither do the film makers deserve a lot of the ***** that they get.
If all DVDs are priced at $5 retail, piracy would stop. But they can't price it that way cause some stupid actor has to bathe in Evian or something dumb like that. So they charge $25, which means that piracy will continue and prevail.
As pointed out by another Digg'r, buggy whip makers never got protection for their industry and neither has a myriad of industries and companies that have died out in the past 200 years. To think that the entertainment industry deserves protection is foolish because how can we get better output if the weaker producers don't die out? ;p - Chilllllion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I hope the Hollywood film farm dries up forever. I'll watch YouTube videos of crazy dudes high on PCP for the rest of my life. Sorry.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12They're already on the path to ***** and ***** (and remakes don't forget the craptastic remakes) movies even without piracy. It's a rarity to see a genuinely good movie (one who's attraction is deeper than the millions of dollar spent on special effects). Hollywood maybe the worlds biggest producer of movies, but they are by no means the best.
Screw em! - thirdtenor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11@waterdragon
While I don't disagree with you, and certainly Bush & friends represent some of the worst perversion of the constitution to date, we should not forget most if not all politicians are in the pocket of big moneyed interests. - edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I've never even heard of this 'live!' thing. It certainly hasn't stopped me from getting HD movies from usenet for the past few years (i.e. the years in which there hasn't been any other way to get it in the UK).
- scheper, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10"Hollywoods problem isn't lack of cash, it's lack of vision. "
It's not lack of vision, it's fear.
Comic book films are safe and predictable investments, as are remakes. Very few film makers dare create something new, lest they lose a few million dollars of their large heaps. - IMustBeEmo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8FTA:
"I would say the same for AMD, but to this day, I am not sure what Live does, if it really exists."
Does anybody really know? I have an AMD Live! X2 4200+ in my desktop computer and I really want to know if my privacy is being invaded. - Chilllllion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7It sounds like he doesn't want the MPAA bothering him. This is the similar to the whole OJ, "if I could have" stuff.
- ddxChrist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9There isn't much else to it, as far as I'm concerned. I never have had, nor will I ever have, the intention of buying a product that is inferior and cost prohibitive. Decrease the price to reflect the actual costs involved and remove the unwanted annoyances and privacy invasions or be prepared to face the masses who will increasingly stop buying your products. They'll either deal without or pirate a better version (the one they likely wanted in the first place!).
- jmaynardg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9ddxchrist:
so, what has five years of angry ranting on slashdot accomplished? Nothing. What will angry ranting on the Inquirer accomplish? Nothing, but increased ad revenue. It is almost consensus opinion on tech sites (even the good ones like AVSForum) that DRM will only hobble consumers and do nothing to prevent commercial pirates. But one thing we know for sure, loud complaining won't change industry rollout plans.
An interesting question to ask: Why is the content industry more concerned with consumer copying than commercial piracy? Answering that question would take research and hard work, though. Much easier to pull 1300 words of nothing out your ass. Feh. - WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8@junkyarddawg
"That the companies response to the fact that users don't LIKE to have to pay for inferior goods has been to make the DRM even more intrusive and annoying, speaks volumes about how dumb companies like Sony really are."
Maybe they are not so much 'dumb', but are just really sleazy. Could it be that they are banking on the formation of a fully dictatorial form of government -- which would support their hard line policies of attacking citizens/customers?
Certainly, their actions seem absurd from the viewpoint of a person who has become accustomed to the freedoms and protections formerly guaranteed to all the people by the US Constitution.
But from the viewpoint of the rapidly emerging corporat-ocracy, under the shameful rule of Bush & Cheney & Co., their continued raping of consumers makes perfect sense.
...Unfortunately, for the people who don't own mega corporations. :-( - Durrok, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6right, but he is correct. There are copies out there for you to download and the quality has been excellent. Need a little beefier PC then what you have been playing divx on though.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"to say a movie is superior just because it's indie is just false, thats like saying "anime is superior because it's japanese""
Who said that?
"Yes, we all want to watch intimate character studies of acting school students and their angsty relationships. The shakier the camera and the dimmer the lighting, the more the dramatic veracity pops out at you! Who needs CGI?"
I don't know that they need to do away with CGI, but good CGI is all a movie it has going for it, it might be time to consider spending some of the films budget in other areas. - jmaynardg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5A good question to ask: Why is music so much more expensive than DVDs? Isn't there a significantly larger per-project dollar investment in film-making than music? So why does the RIAA (music industry) think music is worth $18.99/cd while filmmakers often sell new DVDs at the same or lower price point?
- KlayBorg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The media companies need to embrace technology such as BitTorrent and the potential of the internet to spread their media. For example, tv networks could allow their shows to be downloaded a day after they are premiered on the tv, and simply putting ads into the video file. If they wanted to be insidious, they could make you use their own media player so you could not forward through the ads. If they did provide their own media player though they could implement a bittorrent download system and allow the users to easily access and download the files.
- molecool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It's not bittorrents that are 'clogging their pipes' - it's all that ***** spam we are all getting. What - it's up to 90% of all email now? Typical example of the 'boiling frog effect' - would you have gotten yourself an email address a few years back if someone would have told you that you'll get 200 penis pump messages a day? Case in point - we all do stupid things and get used to a status quo until we cross a certain pain threshold, after which usually the proverbial fit hits the shan. Personally, I'll enjoy watching both BlueRay and HD-DVD self destruct in the coming years. Instead of paying much buckos for a DRM (and sometimes virus ware infested) technology, I rather pay for more bandwidth. Relakks.com and Anonymizer is your friend - even at 10kbit/sec all day I can suck at least one movie down the pipe. So many opportunities these cats have wasted - not our problem right? After all, we have repeatedly told them what we want - if they don't fulfil they'll just disappear like other industries before them.
- yoyodim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4this article is completely right.
Its sad really, the media companys should just sell cheap drm free content. If they would sell the same amount as the illegal markets are transfering each day, they would be filthy rich.
The content will end up on the illegal sites anyway, there is no use for drm, since it will not delay the releases on torrent networks.I have no idea why the media companys even bother.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, SELL LEGAL DRM FREE CONTENT CHEAPLY AND MAKE TONS OF MONEY NOW!!!
I hope some record company reads this, because there is huge demand for good drm free content. I would gladly pay money for good high quality drm free music. - pegisys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4AMD has always jumped on the name game
when windows XP came out they had the XP CPUs
when Nvidia FX GPUs were supposed to be the next best thing(lol) they came out with the FX CPUs
now xbox, and windows, live is starting to get popular they take that name and stick it on their products
but seriously the only thing I have seen about AMD live CPUs is that there are programs that are "optimized" for the AMD live platform - esteban, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My guess any proprietary media player would be bypassed/hacked pretty quickly and once again the consumer would have a homebrew product that does more than the commercially available one.
In the old days companies would give their right arm to deliver the customer something that does more than the competition's product. These days they seem to be in competition to make their products do less but appear to do more.
If Amazon actually rolls out a DRM-free music store then I think they will have the whole download market sewn up, iTunes and the others will either fold or follow. Seems obvious to me, why can't the money hungry fat cats see this? Their is a demand, where is the supply? As far as digital media is concerned it does not appear obey basic economics. - madhaha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Penny Arcade does.
- molecool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Actually, if they sold DVDs at $5.- I would buy one. You know how many I've purchased in the last 10 years? Maybe 10 - one a year, and most of them are special music DVDs and foreign classics I badly wanted in physical media. Guess where most of my entertainment comes from these days? Exactly! And if they would sell that for a decent price online I'd be willing to pay. But I simply feel stupid when I'm forced to plunk down $25.- for some shiny disk I know took 20 cents to produce. They are insulting my intelligence by trying to price gauge me like that - and I'm not going to be the one paying for their kid's ***** Porsche.
- ddxChrist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4True enough, jmaynardg: it's likely just an opinion grabbing for ads. But at the same time, loud complaining isn't all that's happening. Complaints are getting louder, true, but all of the stories on digg point to a decrease in legal methods of obtaining these media. The complaints are reigning down and people are starting to take action as well. I don't think we should consider complaints as simply inaction.
- Mudbeast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@cday
I live in Louisiana. I don't know if it gets much coverage outside of the state but the movie industry has been doing a lot of filming here, not just in New Orleans and Baton Rouge but in smaller cities like Shreveport (the upcoming movie Factory Girl was filmed there). What they DON'T tell you is that Louisiana is a Right to Work state which means, that's right, NO UNIONS! In practice they do have some unions but only in certain industries media production not being one of them. I work in media production as a video editor/audio technician. Yup it's my day job. You have to fight tooth and nail for more pay and I'm sure the sound guys and camera jockeys that get hired to do these films here get >$7/hr from these multibillion dollar companies. Why am I sure of this? I know some of the guys who worked on some of these films. They didn't do it for the money; they did it to be credited in a big production like a hollywood film. And the ***** who came here to film know that so they know they can get away with paying peanuts for good work. It takes a LOT more skill and attention to correctly place mics, grab camera shots and keep multiple sources of audio balanced than it does to sell some jerk a soda or pick up trash but our state won't let us band together to bargain for a decent wage. I'm not on the side of anti-piracy, however, I'm against Right to Work laws! - lowerlogic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Buying music/movies online should be as easy as giving a credit card to some company, and then logging into their FTP site or Web site and downloading whatever non DRM'ed song or movie you want. The company would supply the bandwidth and monitor your account, and charge you for each unique download to your computer. If you downloaded the same thing more than once, they would not charge you a second time. Ideally they would also have a variety of formats and compression amounts.
Yeah, I'll keep dreaming. - KlayBorg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I forgot to mention that they would allow their shows to be downloaded for free.
- j0keR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I've been telling my friends this since the HD wars were announced. Bandwidth is still a problem, yes, but we may end up forcing ISPs to upgrade their services if we keep "clogging their pipes." If companies keep designing products and doing PR with their shareholders as their top priority and the customer as their last priority, they will lose. No matter what. You can't bite the hand that feeds and get away with it.
- sunimoto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Does anyone remember DIVX from Circuit City?
- meso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Restricting culture doesn't help anyone except people who have money.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@scheper
It's market-driven, though. Comic book movies have taken in huge amounts of money at the box-office. The Spider-Man series has broken quite a few records, especially in the area of sequels. When business was down in the late 60's and movies like 'The Wild Bunch', 'Easy Rider', 'The Graduate' and 'Bonnie and Clyde' did huge business it led to a decade of quirky, interesting films made by "New Hollywood' filmmakers who made very personal films. Then eventually those filmmakers started making bloated, self-indulgent films finally culminating in 'Heaven's Gate' in 1980, which is kind of regarded as the end of that era. I actually like the film, but I can see why it tanked as big as it did. That was right at the start of the Reagan era and big braindead blockbusters kind of became the new paradigm. I keep wondering if we're ever going to recover from it, but it will take some indie films with a brain making a lot of money and that doesn't seem all that likely. - DarkSnake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Very true, piracy for the win.
- Cerberus047, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I love steam actually. I dont notice that its drm. I love the fact that my cd key is binded with my username.. so i dont have to have a cd in at all times.. no looking for no cd cracks... and its almost impossible to pirate hl2 so vavle must be raking in the money!!
- Outdoor83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@WaterDragon
They wouldn't *be* criminals if they put out cheap DRM-free music and stopped suing us all. If allofmp3 was in the United States and sponsored by record companies, I'd still use it. If they improved on the technology to bring me more artists that I'd probably like, I'd use it more.
Like it or not, record companies do provide a small service to artists: they front them the cash / production / studio time if the company thinks they have a chance of making it big. The artists lose out if they make it big. The record companies lose out if they don't. It's kind of like insurance, and people pay money to reduce their risk. They deserve *some* money for this.
I'm into forgiveness for past transgressions. If the RIAA wrote an open letter tomorrow saying that they were launching an American allofmp3.us or something like it and said that they were just going to try it out, see how it goes, see if it's a viable business model... I would sign up. I think many others would, too. - sloncek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Excellent article. I am happy to see larger media companies being on the 'pirate' side :).
- combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The Longest Yard remake. The Wicker Man. The Stupids. Barber Shop 2. Beerfest. The Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project 2. Titanic. Punch Drunk Love. Bruce Almighty. One Hour Photo. The Beastmaster 3.
The way I see it, those ***** owe me anyway. - williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@jmaynardg
Complaining has brought some results. DRM technology providers keep their business locations secret because they are so unpopular they would probably get a brick through the window or their cars keyed. These people are pariahs now. If the pressure is kept up they could become complete outcasts, making it even less likely that they could attract quality employees.
The RIAA/MPAA bought laws we all hate. We have to work outside the law to restore balance. Direct pressure on the people making DRM is one example of that. It is an asymmetrical struggle. You can be sure the RIAA/MPAA don't seek to play by the same rules as everyone else. They deserve a response that they find unable to directly address. - hdortez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I enjoyed both this articles cynical tone and brooding anger. Laws are made by lawyers. Lawyers are hired by companies. Companies sell things to people. People always pay the price. In a fair market economy the price should be set by the people not by the company. People make companies rich. And people should decide what technology they want, and how they want to use it. They decide through their money. Companies always forget who has the ultimate power. Microsoft forgot. Sony forgot. I hope they are reminded by conscience ( aka the bottom line).
- lysdexia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Even easier than five bucks for a DVD - I'm sick and tired of the massed space consumers of vinyl, cds and now dvds around my home - a standard fee to access whatever media we want and need. Make it cheap - say 20 a month and the studios, actors, musicians and the rest will still make a pile of cash and no consumers get their arses burst.
And how ecologically sound would that be when no more cash was thrown at making a billion CD/DVD or more over the course of a year? - Stonekeeper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Try checking out the idie scene and Film Four. Some great stuff there.
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