Comments on: DRM more appealing than piracy

By: robin leonard

robin leonard — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 03:06:01 +0000

I s Vongo considered movie piracy? Or is it totaly legale?

By: AT&T DNA can’t be changed, too many we suck genes » Make You Go Hmm

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:37:11 +0000

[…] still believe that DRM is more appealing than piracy. Why isn’t AT&T working on a better DRM system as opposed to an advanced tattle tale […]

By: Will you celebrate the DRM funeral? I will » Make You Go Hmm

Will you celebrate the DRM funeral? I will » Make You Go Hmm — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:33:53 +0000

[…] And no, I don’t pirate media or support those who do. At the same time I’m not in the business of lecturing other people on their own ethical and moral compasses and would appreciate if others don’t try to do the same to me. I still believe DRM is better than piracy. […]

By: Gerald Buckley

Gerald Buckley — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:12:54 +0000

I asked my dad, aunt and wife last night if they cared one whit about DRM. In near unison, “No.”

Michelle knew what it was. Dad didn’t have a clue although he listens to music through iTunes all the time. My Aunt quickly figured out it wasn’t anything she would object to either.

So, while there’s a group of people who seem truly miffed about the various good and bad aspects of DRM… The mainstream doesn’t give a hoot and THAT is why DRM will stick around in one form or another: Complacency.

Personally, it hasn’t gotten in my way of doing what I want to do with MY music (and by that I mean the CD’s I paid money for and HAVE ripped and the iTunes music I’ve paid for and have cut to CD’s). The RIAA is probably a good and necessary institution on the whole. This deal though has far outstripped their ability to enforce. If it’s unenforceable policy… chuck it out and start over with something that is.

By: iiq374

iiq374 — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:17:25 +0000

I think you help to reinforce a good point here that the RIAA/MPAA are their own worst enemy here by trying to make genuine Piracy and Fair Use the same thing.

I contend that the moment they actually make it “legal” for someone to buy a CD and rip it to their own MP3 player they will see the piracy levels drop. The fact that they are making something illegal that virtually everyone thinks they should be able to do means that people just can’t be assed with the difference between that and going the step further to pirate a song completly.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:19:22 +0000

Should have clarified in my post. I agree, however, I have used Linux since 98, solaris before that, so the imbedded code is a don’t care for me. Until the day comes and they break compatibility with CD standards and it own’t play in my Truck, I will continue to buy CDs. Excellent point though, be very wary and check the CD if it is infected with windows DRM programs. Also, I was thinking more about P2P networks where everything is available DRM free. I tend to forget about DRM on CDs.

I think iTunes is, while not acceptable, the least nasty DRM because even Apple tells you how to circumvent their DRM to create MP3s. MS et all, they want to stop that practice entirely. I have occasionally, heard the lower quality iTunes version, and maybe it is spoiled with all Q7 ogg, but I just can’t take the bad quality.

By: TDavid

TDavid — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:11:14 +0000

“No DRM infected piece of C.R.A.P. content exists that isn’t available DRM free.”

Actually this is incorrect, Kevin. Remember Velvet Revolver’s CD? It came loaded with anti-copying/archiving software. There are other CDs along the same ilk and I chose the same option as you suggest: send a message with my wallet and not buy.

Doesn’t mean that people couldn’t copy these CDs via other means, but I’m not aware of a version of that Velvet Revolver CD sold that didn’t include that copy-protection.

With iTunes selling some 88% of all legal online music business, that is sending a message to the music companies that DRM is ok even when many people dislike it.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:49:10 +0000

Hacking DRM is no answer. You still purchased the item with the DRM, and that re-inforces to the RIAA/MPAA that DRM is accepted. I refuse, absolutely and unconditionally refuse to purchase any online content with DRM. If no one purchased it because it was DRM infected, do you think the RIAA/MPAA is going to say, OK, if you refuse to purchase out products, we’ll just um..er..wait, if you don’t buy our C.R.A.P. we won’t make money. They have somehow convinced Joe Average that they don’t need us, we need them.

DRM has nothing to do with Piracy, Copy protection, IP rights, and blah blah blah. No DRM infected piece of C.R.A.P. content exists that isn’t available DRM free. It is about restrictions, restrictions, restrictions so that you will eventually have to pay again to use it in another way. Looks like “Plays for Sure” is already dying. MS’s partners such as Real are dumping “MaybePlays” for their own since Zune own’t play their infected content. How much “Plays for Now” content do you own and how long till it doesn’t work anymore.

I think the consumer is in for many rude awakenings in the future when they upgrade to a new PC and are SOL. Their music store goes belly up and they are SOL. Malicious crackers write code that uses DRM infection to delete content, the list goes on and on.

P.S. I don’t buy DRM infected content, and I don’t download pirated content. Regardless of how immoral and greedy the MPAA/RIAA is, that doesn’t excuse me from dropping to their level.