Ghostbusters Is First Film Released On USB Key

arcticstoat writes "Are you the USB keymaster? You could be soon if you pick up PNY's new 2GB USB flashdrive, which comes pre-loaded with Ghostbusters. A spokesperson for PNY explained that it comes with a form of DRM that prevents you from copying the movie. 'They have DRM protection,' explained the spokesperson, 'so customers can download the movie onto their laptop or PC if they wish, but they have to have the USB drive plugged in to watch the movie, as the DRM is locked in the USB drive.' The music industry has been playing around with USB flash drives for a few years now, but it hasn't been a massive success yet; will USB movies fare any better?"

Comments

Re:countdown

[scourfish]

You're late to the scene, they had it cracked at 4

Re:terrible idea

[v1]

and let me guess, requires windows visa with the latest service pack (DRM++)

Denied

[Anonymous Coward]

A spokesperson for PNY explained that it comes with a form of DRM that prevents you from copying the movie.

Aw. That's adorable.

Re:No thanks, I like to own media and do what I wa

[orclevegam]

Can't rip it, can't archive it, can't move it to my HDD without the dongle. And if the flash drive gets damaged, who you gonna call?

The pirate bay.

Re:terrible idea

[tom17]

Well apparently it works on Linux as well (As long as it has the right KERNAL)

From Argos.co.uk.

2GB storage.
Plug and play.
Compatible with Windows ME, 2008, XP, Mac OS, 8.6 and Higher, Linux, Kernal 2.4X and any operating system with a USB port.
Compatible with USB 1.1 and 2.0.
Size (H)2 (W)6.3 (D) 0.8cm.
Black USB pendrive.
Full length movie and link to argos website included.
Full installation guide included.

Although I guess that is wrong for the DRM stuff.

Tom...

Re:Betamax vs. VHS

[Abreu]

Blue Ray won't "win" the format wars until they sell more than standard def DVDs

Re:terrible idea

[jedidiah]

I would rather use the device and medium of my choosing without dongles.

I unlocked the DRM!!!

[CaptainPatent]

Apparently if it asks you if you're a god, you say YES!

Re:I unlocked the DRM!!!

[nick.ian.k]

Odd, I got mine Jeopardy-style: "During the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants, they chose this form for Gozer the Traveler."

Re:countdown

[Blakey Rat]

This just seems like one of the most useless ideas Hollywood has had.

Hollywood made "Battlefield: Earth." This isn't even in the top ten, sorry buddy.

Re:terrible idea

[Anonymous Coward]

What would you do if your girlfriend came up to you with that preference?

Ask to watch.

Re:terrible idea

[Lumpy]

That can be easily fixed.

Get a 4 gig usb key instead, a DVD of ghostbusters and a copy of handbrake. (you will want to rip with settings that give you about 3.2gig because the film was created on very low grade film it cant be compressed hard without artifacts.)

rip the dvd to a OPEN unencumbered codec. place on USB key.

Voila. same thing in BETTER quality without the DRM and is compatible with most computers.

hey hollywood, until you offer me something that is NOT DRM encumbered I aint' buyin' it! I'll violate your copyright instead...

Re:DRM? laughable

[meringuoid]

vlc -I dummy "E:\Ghostbusters.avi" :sout='#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=4096,acodec=mp2a,ab=192,scale=1,channels=2,deinterlace,audio-sync}:std{access=file, mux=ps,url="C:\Ghostbusters.ps.mpg"}'

And this is why Windows is fine for nerds and hobbyists, but not ready for the mainstream desktop.

Re:Some advice for users:

[hal2814]

Windows would have been fine if dickless here hadn't shut off the main power grid.

USB scratch remover

[flyingfsck]

I can sell you a can of high tech USB scratch remover. For only $19.99, this spray will remove scratches, improve picture quality and cure your herpes, but wait, now for a limited time offer you can get TWO cans for only $39.99...

Re:Betamax vs. VHS

[zippthorne]

I dunno. USB keys have a far superior form factor, and the installed players need only have a USB port and whatever processing is needed to actually view the movie.

You could have media players smaller than a Nintendo Wii, far better future compatibility (both the players and the disks are likely to be backwards compatible in a way that either could work with the other for quite some time)

The media is far less susceptible to scratching, impact, and even heat and chemicals: I've put USB sticks through the washer AND drier and what came out has worked perfectly for over five years.

It's also more portable. You can grab a handful of films and stick 'em in your back pocket before visiting friends (so they're also likely to be lost easily.. a big win for Hollywood!)

The only drawbacks are capacity at the moment (it's not anywhere near as cheap as optical disk. Although I wonder how expensive 30GB mask roms would be for a print run the size of a typical hollywood film (if anyone was making mask rom of anywhere near that size, that is)) and DRM: a usb stick can have active crypto circuitry, which really changes the game quite significantly.

Oblig

[YourExperiment]

OMG PNY!!!

Re:terrible idea

[Suzuran]

But would you publish it without DRM?

Little Brother

[sm62704]

This is insanity. I can download a copy of that stupid movie without Dumb Restrictions on Media from TPB, or I can just watch the tape I already paid for over ten years ago. Now, I'd buy the key with the movie pre-loaded, but to pay good money for crippleware when I can get a perfectly useable copy for free is just brain-dead stupid.

DRM doesn't affact copyright infringers whatsoever. It only inconvieniences paying customers. The only rational explanation for the MAFIAA's insanity is drugs - cocaine. It must be all the coke they're snorting/smoking/shooting that makes them behave like a bunch of thieving, distrusting, irrational crack whores.

I just started reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother (HTML version linked; there are other formats here), and its preface has something to say about the insanity that is DRM (I've abbreviated it a bit):

I recently saw Neil Gaiman give a talk at which someone asked him how he felt about piracy of his books. He said, "Hands up in the audience if you discovered your favorite writer for free -- because someone loaned you a copy, or because someone gave it to you? Now, hands up if you found your favorite writer by walking into a store and plunking down cash." Overwhelmingly, the audience said that they'd discovered their favorite writers for free, on a loan or as a gift. When it comes to my favorite writers, there's no boundaries: I'll buy every book they publish, just to own it (sometimes I buy two or three, to give away to friends who must read those books). I pay to see them live. I buy t-shirts with their book-covers on them. I'm a customer for life.

People who study the habits of music-buyers have discovered something curious: the biggest pirates are also the biggest spenders. If you pirate music all night long, chances are you're one of the few people left who also goes to the record store (remember those?) during the day. You probably go to concerts on the weekend, and you probably check music out of the library too. If you're a member of the red-hot music-fan tribe, you do lots of everything that has to do with music, from singing in the shower to paying for black-market vinyl bootlegs of rare Eastern European covers of your favorite death-metal band.

Same with books. I've worked in new bookstores, used bookstores and libraries. I've hung out in pirate ebook ("bookwarez") places online. I'm a stone used bookstore junkie, and I go to book fairs for fun. And you know what? It's the same people at all those places: book fans who do lots of everything that has to do with books.

If I could loan out my physical books without giving up possession of them, I would. The fact that I can do so with digital files is not a bug, it's a feature, and a damned fine one. It's embarrassing to see all these writers and musicians and artists bemoaning the fact that art just got this wicked new feature: the ability to be shared without losing access to it in the first place. It's like watching restaurant owners crying down their shirts about the new free lunch machine that's feeding the world's starving people because it'll force them to reconsider their business-models. Yes, that's gonna be tricky, but let's not lose sight of the main attraction: free lunches!

Universal access to human knowledge is in our grasp, for the first time in the history of the world. This is not a bad thing.

For me -- for pretty much every writer -- the big problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity (thanks to Tim O'Reilly for this great aphorism). Of all the people who failed to buy this book today, the majority did so because they never heard of it, not because someone gave them a free copy. Mega-hit best-sellers in science fiction sell half a million copies -- in a world where 175,000 attend the San Diego Comic Con alone, you've got to figure that most of the people who "like science fiction" (and related geeky stuff li

Re:If every file on my hard drive...

[ProfessionalCookie]

You'd need some sort of . . . filesystem.