If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

That's a fantastic article

Because the library did not actually loan it to you to copy. They lent it to you to listen to and enjoy. If you find that you enjoyed it so much you want to have a copy permanently, you should legally purchase it.

 

Never change your staff Bit-Tech... Or re-staff...

I hear you guys

 

I think you underestimate the average consumer. I know a lot of average consumers who already know how to use DVD-Shrink and know were to get torrents or elinks of their favourite series. The average consumer this days is becoming way more tech savvy, and whenever he hears that he can get for free the same content he used to pay for, he becomes a learning machine

But more important...the average consumer may know little about the technical details of DRM, but knows a lot about his money and how does he spends it. What media companies are missing is that you can only push so much the consumers until they hit back. Sony's rootkit fiasco was an example, and the ITC is going to become another (that's why they don't seem so keen on activating it...to many people with HD Compliant TV sets that lack HDMI and are going to get pretty pissed if their HD-DVD or BD doesn't work as advertised).

Joe Consumer isn't going to care about the nuisances of different DRM schemes, compatibilities, EULAS etc. He's going to buy a song/film/video and if it doesn't work exactly as advertised, if it complains about "you should have player X or item Y to play this file", he'll either stop buying or fill a formal complaint /class action lawsuits. At least, he'll get back at the store and shout to the guy in charge until he gets blue.

I have no doubt that if the DRM schemes try to go much beyond their intended use (impede piracy) and restrict consumer rights too much, they'll fail and they'll alienate their user base.

 

V.G article, reminds you that this has been going on longer than we all thought.

This seems to be the eternal struggle between assuming cash value and artistic value are somehow joined when I think they run paralel to each other yet can still be tied together in a product, CD, DVD... etc

Maybe the DRM companies need to realize that even if you pinch some music of the net without paying, you are still in a sense paying with your time/attention and this is beneficial to the artist in the long run. I've probably done more good to bands and films by recomending them to everyone- whether I've paid for that first 'hit' or not.

Obviously the dodgy guy on the market flogging copied DVDs is just a profiteering swine but the poor kid at home who has to take on an army of lawyers isn't really deserving of a lawsuit.