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There's nothing about DRM that intrinsically must be obnoxious to the user - setting aside the issue of control over your devices, because so far that's not som

There's nothing about DRM that intrinsically must be obnoxious to the user - setting aside the issue of control over your devices, because so far that's not something that much of the population cares about. Yes, lots of companies have implemented DRM in really terrible ways. But there are also examples of DRM that users are perfectly happy with. BBC iPlayer uses some very trivial DRM so that their programmes are available for a limited time, usually a week. It's easy enough to bypass, but people mostly don't bother: it doesn't get in the way, and I think people understand why it's time limited.

incongruity 14y ago
Exactly – as I said, if you're looking for anything approaching a 100% "protection", then it's my contention that it will long since crossed that line into obnoxiousness. Your point about trivial DRM working well exemplifies just makes my point –- "does it become painful to deal with your product because of all of the DRM? Do you treat consumers like criminals? Is it significantly less hassle to pirate than it is to buy/rent/view legally (and likely pay for)? If any of those are true, you will tip the balance away from a completely successful business model." If the DRM is minimal and unobtrusive, then it doesn't meet my stipulations, above, and it's probably found some sort of happy-medium. (FWIW, I think most of Apple's DRM approaches in the iTunes store have gotten close, except for the device lock-in)
rayiner 14y ago
Netflix has reached the convenience level for me. I didn't even know it had DRM nor do I have any reason to care. Netflix, Spotify, etc, are the future of content online: unobtrusive DRM with subscription oriented payment.
- incongruity 14y ago
  I'd even argue that just in time streaming with minimal buffering is its own form of copy protection - it just gets to be too slow to make it worth the while to copy en masse.

incongruity 14y ago

Exactly – as I said, if you're looking for anything approaching a 100% "protection", then it's my contention that it will long since crossed that line into obnoxiousness. Your point about trivial DRM working well exemplifies just makes my point –- "does it become painful to deal with your product because of all of the DRM? Do you treat consumers like criminals? Is it significantly less hassle to pirate than it is to buy/rent/view legally (and likely pay for)? If any of those are true, you will tip the balance away from a completely successful business model." If the DRM is minimal and unobtrusive, then it doesn't meet my stipulations, above, and it's probably found some sort of happy-medium. (FWIW, I think most of Apple's DRM approaches in the iTunes store have gotten close, except for the device lock-in)

rayiner 14y ago

Netflix has reached the convenience level for me. I didn't even know it had DRM nor do I have any reason to care. Netflix, Spotify, etc, are the future of content online: unobtrusive DRM with subscription oriented payment.

incongruity 14y ago
I'd even argue that just in time streaming with minimal buffering is its own form of copy protection - it just gets to be too slow to make it worth the while to copy en masse.