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MLB Fans Who Bought DRM Videos Get Hosed
Billosaur writes "Major League Baseball has just strengthened the case against DRM. If you downloaded videos of baseball games from MLB.com before 2006, apparently they no longer work and you are out of luck. MLB.com, sometime during 2006, changed their DRM system. Result: game videos purchased before that time will now no longer work, as the previous DRM system is no longer supported. When the video is played, apparently the MLB.com servers are contacted and a license obtained to verify the authenticity of the video; this is done by a web link. That link no longer exists, and so now the videos will no longer play, even though the MLB FAQ says that a license is only obtained once and will not need to be re-obtained. The blogger who is reporting this contacted MLB technical support, only to be told there are no refunds due to this problem."
Google Throws Lead Paint on Movie Download Market http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/7002/google-video.html
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Their EULA is horrible and long.
Its also buried away in a tiny text frame and opens up to a novel size.
however there is one gem which made me smile:
2. Message Features
Participation. The Website may offer opportunities for you to transmit messages in connection with various features including, but not limited to, vanity email, auctions, contests, games, blogs, video submissions message boards and chat features ("Message Features"). You must use Message Features in a responsible manner, and are solely responsible for any content you transmit. You must not transmit any message ("Message") in connection with any Message Feature that: (i) imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the Website's infrastructure, or otherwise adversely affects, restricts or inhibits any other user from using and enjoying the Website; (ii) is threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, offensive, pornographic, profane, sexually explicit or indecent; (iii) constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law; (iv) violates, plagiarizes or infringes the rights of third parties including, without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, rights of privacy or publicity or any other proprietary right; (v) contains a virus, trojan horse, worm, time bomb, cancelbot or other similar harmful or deleterious programming routine; (vi) contains any information, software or other material of a commercial nature; (vii) contains advertising, promotions or commercial solicitations of any kind; (viii) constitutes or contains false or misleading indications of origin or statements of fact; or (ix) contains material irrelevant to the subject matter of the Message Feature. In order to participate in any Message Feature, you may be asked to register by providing certain personal information such as your name and/or email address. (The Website's Privacy Policy explains how such information may be collected and used.) You may also be asked to select a screen name ("Screen Name") for identification purposes. You must not use any Screen Name that violates any term of subsections (i)-(ix) above, or any other operating term set forth by MLBAM.
liqbase
Call 866-800-1275 just to be a pain in the ass. I don't even watch baseball, but I called it to protest their treatment of customers. The guy was nice to me, and admitted they have a big problem, they will try to fix.
No. It states that YOU cannot post a time bomb, not that they won't sell you one.
This is why DRM is evil, and so are EULAs when you are PURCHASING product.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
The switched to the new system in 2006, but the old system kept working until April. In April, MLB said they would have a fix available shortly. Now they have changed to saying that they will not fix it.
Why hasn't he contacted his credit card company? He paid with a credit card, right? File a complaint with them.
Take MLB to small claims court. It's streamlined and can't be hijacked by lawyers the same way the normal court system is.
Yes, there's a plugin for Firefox.
There's also Moonlight, the Open Source Silverlight implementation working with M$ support.
No, I don't like Microsoft either, but after working a little with Flash, and seeing their license fees for doing anything interesting with it, I heartily welcome the competition. (Something like 98% of Web users have Flash installed... According to Adobe).
I'm a dreamer, the world is my playpen. But hey, I'm a serious person, I can't dream all the time.
BTW - Discover - the card with the most worthless chargeback policy in the industry (amex is the best) will automatically reject any claim that has to do with a purchase more than 6 months ago.
While other cards have limits, the "clock restarts" in certain circumstances - for instance, if the product was sold with a 2 year warranty and they refuse warranty service, you're covered for x months after the claimed warranty expires to file a claim regarding warranty.
So, despite what the wonderful people at MLB claim, you'll probably be able to file a successful chargeback. If you get resistance from phone CSRs, file a written chargeback (crappy banks (chase, etc) can jerk you around a lot more over the phone)
BTW - Successful chargebacks are punitive to the merchants and a large number can significantly affect them financially, so this is the best way to get back at them.
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NO NO NO!
Don't fall into this trap! You did not purchase a license, you purchased a copy. There are huge differences in the rights you acquire when you purchase a copy vs. a license to view.
MythTV, man.. MythTV... I have a triple tuner DVB-S setup and have recorded the NHL games of interest to me this season. I archive everything to DVD when its done recording. ... Maybe something you should look into!
...and as an employee can honestly tell you that this latest DRM snafu is just that, a snafu. When the old DDS system has been taken offline, many people within the company predicted that this would happen, but this project has slipped due to technical difficulties. I for one feel really badly about how we're basically screwing the fans out of their money. As much as this is sad, however, I'd like to ask everyone to bear with us and let us work out a solution to this issue. We're not doing this on purpose, and a solution will be found.
I hope at least some of you would believe me, even though I have to post anonymously. I'm really just another geek working for a big corporation, trying to make ends meet.
Use FairUse4WM to remove the DRM. Problem solved.