Yes, DRM is evil because I think it's been used primarily to force consumers to lock into a particular technology or business model.
After renting movies via Apple TV I began to see how useful DRM can be. The experience is just like I would expect.
If Real can devise technology that interoperates with devices from multiple manufacturers and lets me view my media on any other device I own... all the power to them. I don't want to share content, I just want to be able to use it like I can my existing DVDs (except without physical media).
If DRM-free works for music, why can't it work for videos?
Renting isn't the same as owning. You expect to lose your rental after some short period so it doesn't really matter how its encrypted, encoded, purchased from, tied to a device or anything else. The same is not true for purchased content. At the very least there needs to be a common industry format and common industry DRM so that consumers can purchase movies anywhere and play them on any compatible device. Digital downloads will never take off (except on torrent sites) while different companies try to lock purchases into their own hardware, or tie it to particular service.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian @ Apr 28th 2009 6:55PM
Yes, DRM is evil because I think it's been used primarily to force consumers to lock into a particular technology or business model.
After renting movies via Apple TV I began to see how useful DRM can be. The experience is just like I would expect.
If Real can devise technology that interoperates with devices from multiple manufacturers and lets me view my media on any other device I own... all the power to them. I don't want to share content, I just want to be able to use it like I can my existing DVDs (except without physical media).
If DRM-free works for music, why can't it work for videos?
DrXym @ Apr 30th 2009 12:11PM
Renting isn't the same as owning. You expect to lose your rental after some short period so it doesn't really matter how its encrypted, encoded, purchased from, tied to a device or anything else. The same is not true for purchased content. At the very least there needs to be a common industry format and common industry DRM so that consumers can purchase movies anywhere and play them on any compatible device. Digital downloads will never take off (except on torrent sites) while different companies try to lock purchases into their own hardware, or tie it to particular service.