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The rules around streaming are much tighter than the rules around purchases. For purchasing films, stuff like iTunes & Google Movies are still pretty good bets
by shakna 7y ago
The rules around streaming are much tighter than the rules around purchases.
For purchasing films, stuff like iTunes & Google Movies are still pretty good bets, they do have quite a lot.
Streaming often falls under public performance and a few other more restrictive contracts, making it harder.
As to why a mass-streaming service like Netflix doesn't offer both, usually, then it's simple - you want people to continue paying. The business model depends on people not signing up, downloading, and then cancelling.
In my experience a surprising number of people are willing to do that. (Doesn't stop me offering it, however.)
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As for DRM with videos... Hollywood truly, truly despises the idea of DRM-free. I've looked at few contracts for film collections recently, and every contract I saw _required_ the use of DRM. It wasn't a negotiable point.
Which is mostly theatre. Bypassing DRM does not take significant effort. It can never truly prevent theft (ignoring any definition of theft), and is massively anti-consumer in the way it breaks. It hurts real customers and doesn't hurt pirates.
All the same, it's a hard rule with most national film associations.
- jakobegger 7y ago> It hurts real customers Yes it does. We bought a lot of kids movies on iTunes, and then I couldn't play them back because a device was not authorized (I bought it on my iPhone, so it doesn't work on my girlfriends iPad), or because the internet didn't work, or because iTunes was broken after upgrading to a new OS, ... it's so frustrating when you have a collection of video files on a USB stick that you paid for and you can't watch them.
- jeena 7y agoYou could re-download them DRM free from pirate bay, and because you already paid for them it wouldn't even be a immoral thing to do.
- lkschubert8 7y agoIt would however be illegal, which is a concern to some.
- krzyk 7y agoIllegality depends on country, I think in Europe (or parts of it) you can download for your personal use, but you can't distribute (e.g. you can only leech, you can't seed).
- wolco 7y agoLegal in Canada as well.
- Scoundreller 7y agoOnly the downloading part, not the uploading part. And I think that’s music only too.
- krzyk 7y agoTo clarify in Poland it is only for media, so movies, music - so it is like in the days when one had cassette and recorded the music that was on radio (or VHS and TV) - allowed private use. Download of software without license/approval (so illegal download) is prohibited.
- jeena 7y agoYeah, it's funny/interesting how far divided morality and legality are.
- TomMarius 7y agoIt is not illegal in Europe even if you did not pay. Seems immoral though.
- wolco 7y agoYour immoral point made me think. I think it seems immoral but the more I think about it, it's not. A corporation (like a studio) and capitalist system (like hollywood movie making) doesn't operate with morality. It seeks to gain the largest profit without regard to morality. If these movie companies reached a fair profit point and made the movie free afterwards you could make the point they acted with balance. If they shared profits with society morality could be an issue. But they try to make as much profit as the market will allow. They act without morality. Therefore you cannot assigned a morality value to your interactions with such entities. It is not immoral to pirate (even if it is illegal in some places).
- anoncake 7y agoIMO the immoral thing here is supporting DRM. Especially since it's completely unnecessary to do so if it doesn't even gain you anything.
- amerine 7y agoThis is a bummer. :-(. I only had this happen a long time ago with a iTunes code-provided copy of Shrek. Every other movie I’ve purchased has worked across generations of devices and stuff since the first iPad. I’m curious if I’m just lucky?
- netsharc 7y agoPresumably you've logged on to all the devices with your iTunes account? OP said he couldn't get the movie on to his girlfriend's iPad. Can an iPad have multiple iTunes accounts associated with it? AFAIK no, and if he had tried to log her out to log himself in, it would have erased her downloaded content. Ah, isn't DRM beautiful. I'm reminded of a time when a man sitting next to me on a flight couldn't play any downloaded content on his tablet he was not in his home region. Gee, people fly to places outside their home, what a surprise!
- wolco 7y agoI'm okay if they label only playable in the lower 48 states but the problem is the surprise.
- ghaff 7y ago>In my experience a surprising number of people are willing to do that. Of course, a somewhat surprising to me number of people will also subscribe to a service, binge-watch a show, and then cancel. Nothing wrong with doing that of course and I imagine for most people, subscriptions are pretty sticky. (That assumption is probably bolstered by the observation that Netflix and HBO don't offer annual subscriptions at a discount AFAIK.) For purchasing films and TV series I just buy a DVD a lot of the time. With Blu-Ray, the quality is probably better and I can lend it, etc.
- shakna 7y agoThat doesn't surprise me at all. The download & cancel combo is more surprising, because it takes significantly more effort, and people prefer less friction. Binge & cancel is the least friction for most people, so it makes the most sense for them. Especially when they don't want to track your subscription along with the rest of their bills.