Why I HATE DRM

[dfcrackhead]

First off, let me say, I am in no way advocating piracy and hate piracy even more than DRM.

So, I wanted to watch the Boondock Saints, decided "Hey, I have an itunes account, and iTunes does movies, why not just buy it and then I'll own the movie?" So I logged onto iTunes, bought the movie and it couldn't have been easier and I have the added benefit of being able to put it on my iPod with a simple sync. Here's where things get stupid: I don't like iTunes at all, as far as a media player goes, it's pretty damn close to garbage in my opinion. So I loaded up VLC and tried to open the movie. VLC crashed right away, so I decided to uninstall and reinstall and then, it opened the movie, but with no video and no sound. iTunes is forcing me to use their crappy player for a movie I OWN and should be able to play with whatever I want. Whereas if I had pirated it, I could've saved 10 bucks, played it in whatever I wanted, googled a way to stick it on my iPod and probably found subtitles to go with it(I love subtitles, sue me, I'm weird). Again, I'm not saying piracy is good, I know piracy is the whole reason this DRM bullshit got made and I blame piracy for it and not Apple, what I AM saying is that the DRM is only punishing the honest customers and making piracy the logical choice for most people because it's not only cheaper, but DRM-free and therefore SIMPLER.

I really hate DRM and the industry (gaming, music, movies and anything else) needs to rethink it's approach, because I wouldn't be surprised if people started pirating stuff and then just mailing their $10 to whoever with a note attached "I stole your movie so I wouldn't have to deal with your DRM, please don't sue, here's your payment"

EDIT: I'm not a pirate, I used to be years ago, saw the error of my ways(Read: I realized when I start developing things, I wouldn't want them stolen, so I should stop stealing from others) and started buying up anything I'd pirated in the past to make up for it, and honestly, pirating was easier, but I don't regret quitting

 

[Shoggoth2588]

The thing is, when you buy something digitally (iTunes or otherwise) you don't actually own it. You have the information and all of the same 1's and 0's you would have if you owned the actual film but you don't actually own the film. If you really want the movie, your best bet is to just buy it on disc. If you want it to be portable, that's why your PC has a disc drive. If you buy digital, you're just pissing away your cash.

 

[dfcrackhead]

The thing is, when you buy something digitally (iTunes or otherwise) you don't actually own it. You have the information and all of the same 1's and 0's you would have if you owned the actual film but you don't actually own the film. If you really want the movie, your best bet is to just buy it on disc. If you want it to be portable, that's why your PC has a disc drive. If you buy digital, you're just pissing away your cash.

I'm so disorganized buying things on disc is pissing my money away too because it gets ruined within the year or lost, I have so many CD's and DVD that are lost or unplayable, Digital Distribution has been the answer to all my problems with Steam, but it seems the other mediums still need to catch up

 

[Shoggoth2588]

-snip-

I'm so disorganized buying things on disc is pissing my money away too because it gets ruined within the year or lost, I have so many CD's and DVD that are lost or unplayable, Digital Distribution has been the answer to all my problems with Steam, but it seems the other mediums still need to catch up

There are places you can go to repair your CDs and DVDs and for a good price too. Otherwise, invest in some shelves or something so as to get your collection organised. It'll cost you less in the long run to get your stuff together than to just add to the problem. Organization aside, it doesn't change the fact that buying digital isn't buying for keeps.

 

[l3o2828]

I am not surprised DRM is just convincing more people to pirate games.
except the kind of DRM that Batman Arkham Asylum had, and even then i found out people found a solution for it in the first month...

 

[dfcrackhead]

-snip-

I'm so disorganized buying things on disc is pissing my money away too because it gets ruined within the year or lost, I have so many CD's and DVD that are lost or unplayable, Digital Distribution has been the answer to all my problems with Steam, but it seems the other mediums still need to catch up

There are places you can go to repair your CDs and DVDs and for a good price too. Otherwise, invest in some shelves or something so as to get your collection organised. It'll cost you less in the long run to get your stuff together than to just add to the problem. Organization aside, it doesn't change the fact that buying digital isn't buying for keeps.

Well neither is buying the physical copy really, the people who bought VHS tapes that have started dying off because of age, they can't get them replaced or trade them in for DVD copies or anything. You OWN the disc/tape, but not whats on it, you can't make copies of it, or do anything with it really.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm so disorganized buying things on disc is pissing my money away too because it gets ruined within the year or lost, I have so many CD's and DVD that are lost or unplayable, Digital Distribution has been the answer to all my problems with Steam, but it seems the other mediums still need to catch up

And that's fine. As long as you don't want to own things. But you really shouldn't be making a rage thread about iTunes stopping you from playing a movie you OWN if you don't actually own it.

Of course, you don't own Steam titles and can't play them separate from the service either. I'd point out that double standard, but it's kind of futile because ireallyreallyreallylikesteamandthereforeitstotallyokaythattheydothesamethingitunesdoes.

Interestingly enough, a lot of iProduct users have the same attitude towards iTunes you do to Steam.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

I am not surprised DRM is just convincing more people to pirate games.
except the kind of DRM that Batman Arkham Asylum had, and even then i found out people found a solution for it in the first month...

That mostly just has convinced me to still not buy the game after all this time. Everyone keeps telling me how awesome it is, and it keeps going on sale on Steam for $7.50, but dealing with the combination of Steam, SecuROM, and GFWL, all on the same game? I might as well punch myself in the dick and save the money and hassle. There's just so much other good stuff that I can buy legitimately that's ridiculously cheap that it's not worth the trouble.

 

[dfcrackhead]

Editted for a double post.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

-snip-

-snip-

Well neither is buying the physical copy really, the people who bought VHS tapes that have started dying off because of age, they can't get them replaced or trade them in for DVD copies or anything. You OWN the disc/tape, but not whats on it, you can't make copies of it, or do anything with it really.

Sure you can copy it: There are digital conversion kits and ways of hooking up VCRs to DVD players so as to copy the the information from a tape to a disc. You've been able to do that for music tapes/CDs too. It's much easier to put a CD onto your computer and use just about every form of MP3 player to watch it and not only do you have the CD but you have copies of that same CD on anything you use as an MP3 player. It's different with DVDs of course but I'm sure the principle is the same when you use content recorded on a DVD-R (like a home movie or something) As for an actual movie, many DVDs come with codes that give you digital copies. The problem with those is that they almost always favor the iPod etc.

Rambling: point is you can convert tapes to disc, owning all content on all mediums or rather, those copies of said content.

edit: broken tapes are irreplaceable. Just got that last edit. Tapes that are in-tact are capable for conversion though and, discs are capable of re-surfacing assuming of course you can find a place that does that.

 

[Silenttalker22]

Sweet jesus, another drm topic? Whatever was going to be said, has been so, 10X in all the other daily topics. Let it go.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

I think your problem lies within the format of the file you got from ITunes (VLC, while really awesome, does not play certain file types well)

You can convert file types, there's a bunch of programs online that do it.

(Also: Am I the only person who is fine with ITunes? I've never had a problem with it, although I do prefer VLC)

 

[dfcrackhead]

I think your problem lies within the format of the file you got from ITunes (VLC, while really awesome, does not play certain file types well)

You can convert file types, there's a bunch of programs online that do it.

(Also: Am I the only person who is fine with ITunes? I've never had a problem with it, although I do prefer VLC)

It's causing my video to lag out at times and "skip" like a scratched disc would and the interface in my opinion is just bad. Not to mention all the other apple things that come packaged with it, like a constant process that I can't get rid of called "AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe" I just can't stand it, it's a massive CPU hog and one thing I make sure of with all my media players is low CPU usage(VLC and Foobar2000 are my media players right now, very minimalistic)

-snip-

-snip-

Well neither is buying the physical copy really, the people who bought VHS tapes that have started dying off because of age, they can't get them replaced or trade them in for DVD copies or anything. You OWN the disc/tape, but not whats on it, you can't make copies of it, or do anything with it really.

Sure you can copy it: There are digital conversion kits and ways of hooking up VCRs to DVD players so as to copy the the information from a tape to a disc. You've been able to do that for music tapes/CDs too. It's much easier to put a CD onto your computer and use just about every form of MP3 player to watch it and not only do you have the CD but you have copies of that same CD on anything you use as an MP3 player. It's different with DVDs of course but I'm sure the principle is the same when you use content recorded on a DVD-R (like a home movie or something) As for an actual movie, many DVDs come with codes that give you digital copies. The problem with those is that they almost always favor the iPod etc.

Rambling: point is you can convert tapes to disc, owning all content on all mediums or rather, those copies of said content.

edit: broken tapes are irreplaceable. Just got that last edit. Tapes that are in-tact are capable for conversion though and, discs are capable of re-surfacing assuming of course you can find a place that does that.

If I remember correctly, it's technically illegal to rip DVD's to your computer or copy them, and it was also illegal to copy tapes or convert them to DVDs

 

[CthulhuMessiah]

This sums it up quite well.

 

[gabe12301]

What an original thread.

thanks for contributing to the convers---
oh wait.

OT: I hate it too but that's how life works. A small group of morons (in this case pirates) ruin nice things for everyone else.

Also "I didn't know if my computer can run it" doesn't really hold up. You have the internet. If you can't figure it out with all the (hopefully legal) information in the world at your finger tips, then that's just laziness.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

I think your problem lies within the format of the file you got from ITunes (VLC, while really awesome, does not play certain file types well)

You can convert file types, there's a bunch of programs online that do it.

(Also: Am I the only person who is fine with ITunes? I've never had a problem with it, although I do prefer VLC)

It's causing my video to lag out at times and "skip" like a scratched disc would and the interface in my opinion is just bad. Not to mention all the other apple things that come packaged with it, like a constant process that I can't get rid of called "AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe" I just can't stand it, it's a massive CPU hog and one thing I make sure of with all my media players is low CPU usage(VLC and Foobar2000 are my media players right now, very minimalistic)

Huh. Mine never skips and the background programs it runs never seem to slow my laptop down. Not sure if it's because I always update ITunes or if it's something else. Don't know what to tell you there.

 

[dfcrackhead]

I think your problem lies within the format of the file you got from ITunes (VLC, while really awesome, does not play certain file types well)

You can convert file types, there's a bunch of programs online that do it.

(Also: Am I the only person who is fine with ITunes? I've never had a problem with it, although I do prefer VLC)

It's causing my video to lag out at times and "skip" like a scratched disc would and the interface in my opinion is just bad. Not to mention all the other apple things that come packaged with it, like a constant process that I can't get rid of called "AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe" I just can't stand it, it's a massive CPU hog and one thing I make sure of with all my media players is low CPU usage(VLC and Foobar2000 are my media players right now, very minimalistic)

Huh. Mine never skips and the background programs it runs never seem to slow my laptop down. Not sure if it's because I always update ITunes or if it's something else. Don't know what to tell you there.

It's probably partially my fault simply because I always have steam up, atleast 3 tabs opens, chats going and skype running in the background, thats why I like my media players to use the least memory as possible because I have to multitask almost all the time or I get bored and restless. Like I was watching the movie and doing this thread and talking to friends over the last 2 hours

 

[Aprilgold]

This sums it up quite well.

Actually, that does make all the sense.

 

[Worgen]

Sweet jesus, another drm topic? Whatever was going to be said, has been so, 10X in all the other daily topics. Let it go.

The day we let it go is the day we stop owning things and are only renting things. I for one, refuse to give up my right of ownership, if you want to pay 60 bucks for a rental then you can, I don't and I wont.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

It's probably partially my fault simply because I always have steam up, atleast 3 tabs opens, chats going and skype running in the background, thats why I like my media players to use the least memory as possible because I have to multitask almost all the time or I get bored and restless. Like I was watching the movie and doing this thread and talking to friends over the last 2 hours

It's probably skype. I can't do anything when I'm running skype because it eats all my memory, which is really annoying. Whereas if I'm running something that's high-impact on ITunes (such as a movie) that's all that I'm really running at the time, so it doesn't matter how much memory it uses.