Comments on: Paul’s Soapbox: DRM, 3G, Playstation Home

By: softpower

softpower — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:26:03 +0000

iPhone won’t play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora. iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don’t spy on you, play free media formats.

By: Bob Caswell

Bob Caswell — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:16:59 +0000

I think DRM — if it is to work at all – must have an expiration date of the death of the servers managing it. I don’t think I’d have as much of a problem with DRM (meaning, still wouldn’t like it but might tolerate it more) if it is understood that files become DRM-free and accessible to users once the parent service dies (basically the opposite of what happened in the incidents you mentioned with Google Video, Major League Baseball, MTV URGE, AOL Music Now, and Virgin Music Club).

By: Paul Ellis

Paul Ellis — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:56:46 +0000

The best part about the ISPs and their attitude about caps is that you often see quotes from them saying that it will only affect the top 1% of users. How many times are they willing to cut off the top 1% of their users? Because once you do it, you will now just have a different batch of people that are going to be labeled the selfish bandwidth hogs at the top 1%.

As long as Apples DRM servers stay up nobody will be outraged, but what about 10 years down the road? Apple doesn’t have the greatest track record for prolonged profitability. DRM is fine if it is used appropriately for non-pseudo-ownership of media (rentals, subscription services). A consumer can never own anything that is DRM’d.

By: Bob Caswell

Bob Caswell — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:59:54 +0000

I don’t really care much about Playstation Home, but the other two topics make me pretty annoyed. I know bandwidth isn’t really “unlimited,” but ISPs already converted the world to the unlimited model. So whenever I see caps on data, I think to myself, “Didn’t we all decide that this isn’t the consumer’s problem?”

As for DRM, well, I’m not sure how much longer it can last… I’m surprised, actually, to see Apple maintaining such high market share while DRM still flourishes as part of the company’s offering.