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."

Comments

Re:A Slow Death

[HTH NE1]

Digital TV and the assault on the VCR/DVR is going to be the telling moment in the fight against DRM. A day doesn't go by when my Series3 TiVo doesn't tell me some HD programming it recorded is not authorized for display over an HDMI connection. (WTF?! Component I could understand, but why the hell would it prevent playing over HDMI?) So far I've managed to get around it by one or more of going back to Now Playing and selecting the recording again, turning the HDTV off and back on, or turning the HDMI switchbox between them off and back on.

Call 866-800-1275 and be a PITA

[whackco]

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.

Re:Took them long enough

[ahecht]

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.

Re:Translation?

[loraksus]

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.

I work for MLB.com...

[Anonymous Coward]

...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.