4 ms·

Ha, but the thing is, DRM makes it harder to pay for content, because it adds inconvenience and hence makes the content less attractive. This is especially true

by gcp 10y ago

Ha, but the thing is, DRM makes it harder to pay for content, because it adds inconvenience and hence makes the content less attractive. This is especially true if there are free alternatives (pirating, ad-supported services) that don't have the downsides of DRM. And all DRM is defeatable, so pirating is always an alternative. The point is to make the acquisition and paying for content as smooth and buttery as possible, so it's easier to stream or buy from a legal service than it is to find a torrent with the right language and subtitles. This is understood by a large part of the industry (you don't see "anti rip" CDs any more), and many game publishers are only doing perfunctory DRM. But not by the movie studios, it seems.

deleted 10y ago
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jasonkostempski 10y ago
The most pleasant experience I've had paying for and consuming video in the past 15 years was Horace and Pete. Heard about it through an email subscription I voluntarily signed up for, bought the first episode for a few dollars (I used Amazon but there were several options including bitcoin), downloaded the DRM free MP4, watched it, liked it, bought the rest of the episodes, downloaded, watched, downloaded, watched... No previews, no ads, no proprietary viewer, no searching through huge lists of things I will never want to see. Even when there was an option to sign up for the newsletter, which I already had, it defaulted to something like "No, don't bother me ever again you fat looser". I have all the episodes on my main computer, backed up on an external drive and in Amazon Glacier (just in case of extreme loss). When my kids are older, I'm going to show it to them and I'll know right where to find it and what the experience will be like instead of wondering if it will still be available, ad free, through my mid-tier Disney Huflix subscription. Edit: Forgot to mention, I say past 15 years, because there was a brief moment in history where DVDs had a similar experience, the worst thing was maybe having to hit "Play". That was before "Disney FastPlay" which just gets to the ads faster, right after the 30 second explanation of "FastPlay".

by gcp 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jasonkostempski 10y ago

The most pleasant experience I've had paying for and consuming video in the past 15 years was Horace and Pete. Heard about it through an email subscription I voluntarily signed up for, bought the first episode for a few dollars (I used Amazon but there were several options including bitcoin), downloaded the DRM free MP4, watched it, liked it, bought the rest of the episodes, downloaded, watched, downloaded, watched... No previews, no ads, no proprietary viewer, no searching through huge lists of things I will never want to see. Even when there was an option to sign up for the newsletter, which I already had, it defaulted to something like "No, don't bother me ever again you fat looser". I have all the episodes on my main computer, backed up on an external drive and in Amazon Glacier (just in case of extreme loss). When my kids are older, I'm going to show it to them and I'll know right where to find it and what the experience will be like instead of wondering if it will still be available, ad free, through my mid-tier Disney Huflix subscription. Edit: Forgot to mention, I say past 15 years, because there was a brief moment in history where DVDs had a similar experience, the worst thing was maybe having to hit "Play". That was before "Disney FastPlay" which just gets to the ads faster, right after the 30 second explanation of "FastPlay".