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Boycott Netflix. They don't want the business, don't give them money. Send the message DRM is unacceptable.

Is Netflix the right target though? What makes you think they want to have DRM in their product? The answer is, they don't. Netflix was forced by its content providers to use DRM.

Setting aside the debate around the value of content protection and DRM, they are requirements we must fulfill in order to obtain content from major studios for our subscribers to enjoy.

Netflix is not the only online delivery service forced to use DRM. Lovefilm, which operates in the UK was also forced to switch from using flash to Silverlight by the studios.

We’ve been asked to make this change by the Studios who provide us with the films in the first place, because they’re insisting – understandably – that we use robust security to protect their films from piracy, and they see the Silverlight software as more secure than Flash.

I agree that as customers, we should not have DRM forced on us. And yes, a consumer boycott is a way to show our displeasure. But to be consistent, target the true masterminds behind the DRM scheme, the movie studios by refusing to watch their movies on any medium. Consider this -if you boycott and kill Netflix, the studios will be happier because they earned more from the old system pre-Netflix.

Now, contrast the studios' dismal quarterly numbers with Netflix's performance during the same period. The video-rental service, which mails DVDs to subscribers as well as streams films and TV shows over the Web, added 3 million subscribers in the quarter--largely on the growing popularity of its streaming service, the company said.

It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it shows significant numbers of consumers are moving to Netflix, a service that all but eliminates the need to own movies.

A while back, LoveFilm UK moved away from Flash to Silverlight citing DRM reasons. Apparently Flash DRM isn't good enough, while Silverlight DRM is. They also claimed that it was the studios that required the Silverlight DRM, so blame Hollywood.

Multiplayer games can't be rented either since it reduces the player base.

Not sure where you got that idea from.

You can rent multiplayer games in just the same way as single player games.

You can also rent games that take longer than 16 hours to complete.

Multiplayer games can't be rented either since it reduces the player base.

Not sure where you got that idea from.

You can rent multiplayer games in just the same way as single player games.

You can also rent games that take longer than 16 hours to complete.

Multiplayer games can't be rented either since it reduces the player base.

Not sure where you got that idea from.

You can rent multiplayer games in just the same way as single player games.

You can also rent games that take longer than 16 hours to complete.

not just that, if you have a Sony BDP-s370 blu-ray player, you can (apart from play blueray discs of course), plug a USB HDD into it and play movies on that (even in mkv format), or stream vids from your PC (using a DNLA server like PS3MediaServer, Tversity, Twonky, Mezzmo or any of the others). Or you can stream video from iPlayer, GoogleTV or similar, and even LoveFilm (not sure if you get some of these in the USA, but there's bound to be alternatives).

Nice review here.

LoveFilm for example, is £10 a month and you get a bluray disc in the post whenever you send the old one back, but you can also stream movies for free (once you're a subscriber, that is)

And its £120 for the device, which is $134 in the USA :(

Netflix serves the US only. Our equivalent in the UK is lovefilm.com.

That's the one! The Wikipedia page also has a fair bit of info on it. And Lovefilm has it on DVD, so I'll be adding that to my rental queue.

I bought the XBOX add on drive for £90 in January, while it's down to about £35 I got 5 Free HD DVD's thrown in - http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/hd-dvd/default.htm

Since Toshiba pulled the plug I have bought another 7 HD DVD titles at an average price of about £6 each, plus I am a customer of http://www.lovefilm.com/ so I can still rent HD DVD's from them. In the UK, the firesale seems not to have started yet, so I'm currently buying most of my stuff from Australia

I also own one of these - http://www.palsite.com/9300ovi.html so I have a history of backing failed technology ;)

Jonathan

Lovefilm does offer some downloads as an alternative to DVDs in the mail, but generally unless a download has some sort of "can only be played once" DRM, it's competing with DVD sales, not with rentals.
Similarly BBC Radio offers everything as streaming audio under "Listen Again" for a limited time, but only a very few things as savable podcasts (and they sometimes have bits missing, replaced with a voice over saying things like "there was some music here, but out licencing agreement for it doesn't cover the podcast version"). Of course you can record the stream version for later, but it's tedious.

Heh, from their FAQ:
Broadband internet connection recommended.

+9000, Duh

Some sort of Windows Media DRM I'm sure, just not time crippled as it currently is.

Love Film is doing the same for the UK. 14.99 a month for 2 rentals at a time, no maximum limit on films per month or time held. Ive been using it for ~ 2 months now, and cant say Ive had any problems, turn around is pretty fast (mail one in, two days later get one back).