7 ms·

That's a pretty poor analogy. The average user doesn't notice DRM or even know what DRM is. The difference between Netflix with DRM and Netflix without DRM is a

That's a pretty poor analogy. The average user doesn't notice DRM or even know what DRM is. The difference between Netflix with DRM and Netflix without DRM is approximately 0 for the average user. DRM isn't there to keep content off the pirate bay, it is there to keep mildly computer literate people from doing Right Click->Save As in Netflix and then sending House of Cards to all their friends.

simion314 9y ago
Are you sure? I do not use Netflix but DRM books(at least some of them) you can't copy paste text, I think many people will miss this. Someone explained that Netflix app buffers very bad, this seems to be a problem caused by DRM but I can't prove it.
- davidcbc 9y ago
  I doubt that many people are reading ebooks in a context where they need to copy and paste regularly, I could be wrong though. I read exclusively ebooks and it hasn't ever come up that I remember. I'm not saying it isn't a valid use case, but I question whether it is a common use case for the average user. I'd be curious to know how someone has narrowed down the black box that is Netflix to determine that buffering is caused by the DRM.
  - simion314 9y ago
    Sorry if I was not clear, I suspect that DRM caused the buffering issue, or at least an open source player could be implemented that could keep more back buffer so you can go back 30 seconds. Wouldn't be illegal to reverse engineer the players that include DRM? or you would have to be careful not to look at the bytes that implement the DRM.
- bunderbunder 9y ago
  The Kindle and Nook iOS apps both let you copy/paste. I did it all the time when I got stuck having to use DRM ebooks in school, and never had a problem with it. There may be limitations on how big a region you're allowed to do it with, but, if so, the limit's large enough that I didn't encounter it in the course of normal academic use. I did sometimes run across ebooks that basically used images of the text instead of actual text, and copy/pasting from those naturally doesn't work. But the ebooks in question were all non-DRM.
  - simion314 9y ago
    I am disabled, I need to copy paste the full chapter so I can have my Text To Speech application read it to me. Maybe today the Kindle app has TTS, I can't find it on Google though.
rossy 9y ago
I hate to underestimate the "average user," but there are legitimate things the average user could do with a Save As button in Netflix, like playing video on unapproved devices that they own. There are a lot of people who still don't have a smart TV capable of streaming Netflix but do have one capable of playing .mp4 files from a USB drive. The last time I ripped a DVD was so my mother could watch it on her iPad over a long plane flight. If DRM didn't exist, I imagine importing a DVD or Blu-ray into iTunes would be as easy as importing a CD. Empowering users to watch media they own on devices they own would have a real impact. It might not be something the average user devotes a lot of thought to, but it would certainly be something they would do if they were allowed.

simion314 9y ago

Are you sure? I do not use Netflix but DRM books(at least some of them) you can't copy paste text, I think many people will miss this. Someone explained that Netflix app buffers very bad, this seems to be a problem caused by DRM but I can't prove it.

davidcbc 9y ago
I doubt that many people are reading ebooks in a context where they need to copy and paste regularly, I could be wrong though. I read exclusively ebooks and it hasn't ever come up that I remember. I'm not saying it isn't a valid use case, but I question whether it is a common use case for the average user. I'd be curious to know how someone has narrowed down the black box that is Netflix to determine that buffering is caused by the DRM.
- simion314 9y ago
  Sorry if I was not clear, I suspect that DRM caused the buffering issue, or at least an open source player could be implemented that could keep more back buffer so you can go back 30 seconds. Wouldn't be illegal to reverse engineer the players that include DRM? or you would have to be careful not to look at the bytes that implement the DRM.
bunderbunder 9y ago
The Kindle and Nook iOS apps both let you copy/paste. I did it all the time when I got stuck having to use DRM ebooks in school, and never had a problem with it. There may be limitations on how big a region you're allowed to do it with, but, if so, the limit's large enough that I didn't encounter it in the course of normal academic use. I did sometimes run across ebooks that basically used images of the text instead of actual text, and copy/pasting from those naturally doesn't work. But the ebooks in question were all non-DRM.
- simion314 9y ago
  I am disabled, I need to copy paste the full chapter so I can have my Text To Speech application read it to me. Maybe today the Kindle app has TTS, I can't find it on Google though.

rossy 9y ago

I hate to underestimate the "average user," but there are legitimate things the average user could do with a Save As button in Netflix, like playing video on unapproved devices that they own. There are a lot of people who still don't have a smart TV capable of streaming Netflix but do have one capable of playing .mp4 files from a USB drive. The last time I ripped a DVD was so my mother could watch it on her iPad over a long plane flight. If DRM didn't exist, I imagine importing a DVD or Blu-ray into iTunes would be as easy as importing a CD. Empowering users to watch media they own on devices they own would have a real impact. It might not be something the average user devotes a lot of thought to, but it would certainly be something they would do if they were allowed.