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Blu-Ray Facing Delays Caused by DRM Squabbling
Tomo Hiratsuka writes "Disney, Warners et al, the companies behind the AACS content management system,
apparently can't get their act together to complete the standard they wish to impose on Blu-ray. The result? Pioneer has the first Blu-ray drive for PCs ready for market next month but is openly admitting the DRM issue may force it to delay." From the article: "The inability of the companies behind the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) content management system to complete their work has already caused Toshiba to put launch plans for its HD DVD player on hold. AACS is made up of a number of companies from the electronics and content industries. The group's founders include IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Disney and Warner Bros."
Maybe if Pioneer sold enough of them, there'd be such an uproar when the DRM'd players come out that they'd be rejected completely by consumers. Or, at least, it would wake up more people to the dangers of DRM.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
The film industry has no real desire to jump into HD-DVD/Bluray. They won't be making much money until player costs drop significantly and the HD market is better established. They have the DRM leverage over manufacturers and will string this out as long as possible to get as strict as possible protection.
Yes, I for one welcome the indecisiveness of our would-be DRM overlords.
It amusing that the greed of the big media corporations which kickstarted this whole mess to begin with, is the same exact thing that is keeping them from developing effective DRM. All the shifting alliances as all the tech companies try and lock the content providers into their DRM scheme, and all of them fight to make sure their DRM doesn't really work with anyone elses. It'll be a moot point before they get their crap together.
Ahhh, the sweet spectacle of infighting among ones enemies.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
If we're welcoming our new overlords, does that make us doormats?
Anyway, I wish companies would realize that DRM is not the answer to copyright infringement, there is no "answer." The best way to lessen the problem is to lessen the cost to the end user, and don't introduce new formats!
A lot of people bought DVD copies of their VHS tapes because of higher quality and longer life spans, will BlueRay be enough of an advance?
I don't get it.
Both HD-DVD, and Blue Ray will be delayed until the DRM is done, so they'll both end up launching at the same time creating a split in the market that makes DVD+ DVD- elegant by comparison.
Can anyone say 2 stillborn products?
You know an issue has been beaten into the ground when the first 20 posts are moderated at a best of +3... let the fruitless posts begin!
IMHO a lack of good comments would be caused by a lack of anyone's suprise by a delay in deciding competing consumer-unfriendly technologies...
(After re-reading this post it sounds a little muddled, my apologies for a lack of clarity.)
If it can be read, it can be copied...
How do you get to be the CEO of a large corporation if you're stupid?
Get an MBA.
Sadly, I really don't think DRM will bother the unwashed masses. Why?
-Most people have been trained to buy their information. Along the way free information is derided as just that, "free" and all it suggests.
-It will "just work."
-If the quality is good enough, they'll gladly lose what freedom is left in exchange for a prettier picture. Most have gladly done that already with iTunes. So the audio battle is over and DRM has won. Your video is next.
-Even when someone breaks it, it just won't put a big dent in the corporation's bottom line.
-The Entertainment corps get to drag the poor guy through court as an "example to all." Thereby reinforcing the mindset that information should be owned, lock, stock and barrel.
While I understand that DRM and OSS are idealogically polar opposites, there should be an OSS DRM. Then there would at least be some transparency. Not to mention a generally better system.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
The really sad part is that these companies have now wasted millions of dollars and months, if not years bickering about a DRM system that will be cracked by bootleggers within months of its public release.
Is that they've got to convince people to switch.
As sony has found out, asking people to give up a non-DRM format for something with DRM is a tough sell (as in SACD replacing Audio CD).
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
It's a lot of stress for them.
They just FEEL that whatever they end up with for AACS it'll be hacked and dismantled the week it's out, and are frantically trying to prevent it.
It's of course funny to see how the minuses of DRM pile on top of each other (now delaying manifacturing and entering the market), while the benefits are yet to be seen (if ever).
It will only take one company to release blue laser DVD technology that does not have DRM (Even if it is against the law in the USA). The consumers will vote with their dollars. And thus DRM will lose the battle again.
Jiminy, I don't give three-quarters of a rat's ass about movies on BluRay. I want these turkeys to go ahead and get their consumer market rolling along so I can get a writable BluRay drive and start burning spindles full of data DVD-R's to a handful of BluRay discs.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
A better solution for me would be to just sell MP3's on the legal download sites. The first thing I do when I buy a CD is rip it to my HD and then toss it aside never to come out of the CD pile again.
Seriously: MP3 is much more portable, and much less restrictive. Also, there is no shortage of MP3 versions of a song available on the internet, so it's not like they would be leaking some pristine non-DRM'd copy of the song - the P2P networks are full of them. Instead they'd rather punish the people actually paying for the product.
So long as the pirated copy of the work is superior in quality & functionality when compared to the legal versions they'll have problems. In early years this was a given. Pirated VHS versus legit? The legit plays better, of course I'm going to buy it. Studio release version cammed copy? I'm picking the studio release. DRM-laden media versus portable file of bettery quality? I'm skipping on the DRM thank you.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
After the whole thing with Sony's music CDs, I wouldn't be surprised if they've had to change some aspects of the copy protection - namely removing stealth copy protection mechanisms. Because you know it was on their minds, and probably already coded.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
They're squabbling over which DRM standard will cracked 24 hours after it's released? What a waste of time.
LK4
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts", Earl Weaver - Legendary Coach of the Baltimore Orioles
The problem is that this is ultimately about content, and your whiz-bang engineering solutions do not make it easy for you to sign bands or fund major motion pictures. The **AAs have beaten you to the market by decades on that front and it is unlikely that you will catch them.
You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
-- Colonel Adolphus Busch
Early CD systems were extremely expensive, too. What killed DAT, aside from the delays, was the onerous copy-prevention systems which locked out owners (mostly garage bands) from their own works. It totally killed the idea of DAT mixing workstations. Not much point to perfect digital archives on digital tape if it can't be replicated.
{ - Generic Guy - }
I don't think that's quite it. Thier goal is to increase the bottom line any way they can get away with.
What these schemes really do is allow them better controll distribution and move things more towards pay-per-use by forcing you to buy more copies if the first one gets scratched or damaged or lost.
The slight effect it has on piracy is just a bonus.
They say it's all about piracy because by raising up that spector they sell these schemes to the public who otherwise wouldn't buy something 'anti-backup' or 'sell at different prices to different markets and prevent buying mailorder from cheapland'.
While people do pirate many things, the ones that really do impact thier bottom line are the pro's who churn out thousands of copies complete with lables and such that just might pass for the real thing. The average Joe lending his buddy cdr(w) or dvd -/+r(W) is much less of an impact and may even be free advertising. The pro's generally have gear that's more than capable of doing bit-perfect copies and aren't in least concerned or even slowed by these schemes.
It never was much about 'piracy' and more about forcing the customer to pay as much as possible, repeatedly if they can.
Mycroft
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