DRM is a tool. There are positive and negative ways it can be used.
An open source, truly cross-platform DRM standard is desperately needed for content distribution to grow out of the current decidedly adolescent phase.
Content producers deserve to be paid, consumers deserve to get something for their payment that is more than they can get by downloading a file illegally.
There are many examples of DRM used to restrict what you do with your media after you download it...share it, and it won't work anywhere else. However, with a little unconventional thinking, there are other ways of using DRM that give the consumer rights they never had before.
Weed files are such an example. Just as the GPL gives the consumer rights they never had before, leveraging the restrictions of copyright law, Weed files use DRM restrictions to give the consumer the right to share and be rewarded financially for sharing. See http://weedshare.com/ for details.
Weed files make the expense of buying music into an investment. When you buy a song at iTunes, you cannot resell it, or get anything back for it. With Weed files, the cost is the same, but you now have a capital asset that you can give away, everyone who gets it can listen to it 3 times, and if they buy it, the artist gets 50%, and you get 20%.
This can't happen without DRM. Selling unrestricted MP3s is being done, but they you are depending on the good graces of the consumer to not distribute it, and if they do, the consumer and the artist get no compensation from it.
This open source initiative by Sun deserves support. The current Apple/Microsoft feud is intolerable for the industry. Ogg (For example) + DRM wold be a powerful combination. Otherwise, Microsoft is the only game in town for a DRM with a published API, and Apple trying to dominate with its unpublished API.
If you can limp yourself to download it, I've found Ad-Aware does an outstanding job in most cases. But you must have the new (free) version to do any good, The rate of evolution of these beasts are high, and they apparently came up with a new engine for Ad-Aware SE, that I've seen fund hundreds of objects that Ad-Aware 6, a moment before with current updates, had missed.
The cancellation of Farscape was also a turning point for my respect of the network. I gave it the benefit of the doubt for a while, but resented Stargate SG-1 being literally force-fed 2 episodes at a time at first. I used to be bummed for a week if I didn't get a good tape of Friday's shows. Now I don't bother.
Scare Tactics is just embarrassing to watch at best, mind-numbing much of the time. Tremors is just not that interesting. Two movies was as much as the concept had. The series has little to do but play out variations on a theme. And aside from a couple of interesting episodes (like the black hole) Stargate SG-1 is highly derivative, and more of an army show than a SciFi show. None of them hold a candle to Farscape.
The final straw was now they've taken off even the repeats of Farscape except Sunday nights, replacing them with fine movies, like Universal Soldier III...Ugh!!
I don't expect them to pay for shows that are losing money, but they've turned to just filling up space. I believe they are now owned by USA networks, and the greater cable gods seem to have less and less interest and insight into what makes SciFi unique, both as a genere and a network. In short, they don't seem to care. And it's too bad.
As far as Battlestar Galactica goes, I was never a fan, and couldn't get too worked up about how the new one compares to the original...but I don't see the current management giving me much confidence that they even want to produce something really good...they just play with their numbers, and if a show is cheap to produce (like, presumably Crossing Over and Scare Tactics are) then they'll suffer a small audience drop since they end up netting more.
Anyone know if Scare Tactics is getting decent ratings? If so, I doubt it is the usual SciFi Core audience.
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DRM is a tool. There are positive and negative ways it can be used.
An open source, truly cross-platform DRM standard is desperately needed for content distribution to grow out of the current decidedly adolescent phase.
Content producers deserve to be paid, consumers deserve to get something for their payment that is more than they can get by downloading a file illegally.
There are many examples of DRM used to restrict what you do with your media after you download it...share it, and it won't work anywhere else. However, with a little unconventional thinking, there are other ways of using DRM that give the consumer rights they never had before.
Weed files are such an example. Just as the GPL gives the consumer rights they never had before, leveraging the restrictions of copyright law, Weed files use DRM restrictions to give the consumer the right to share and be rewarded financially for sharing. See http://weedshare.com/ for details.
Weed files make the expense of buying music into an investment. When you buy a song at iTunes, you cannot resell it, or get anything back for it. With Weed files, the cost is the same, but you now have a capital asset that you can give away, everyone who gets it can listen to it 3 times, and if they buy it, the artist gets 50%, and you get 20%.
This can't happen without DRM. Selling unrestricted MP3s is being done, but they you are depending on the good graces of the consumer to not distribute it, and if they do, the consumer and the artist get no compensation from it.
This open source initiative by Sun deserves support. The current Apple/Microsoft feud is intolerable for the industry. Ogg (For example) + DRM wold be a powerful combination. Otherwise, Microsoft is the only game in town for a DRM with a published API, and Apple trying to dominate with its unpublished API.
Affiliation: I own http://weedtracks.com/ which distributes Weed files, including over 75.000 songs from http://cdbaby.com/'s digital distribution program, and http://sharenewyork.com/ where anyone can share Weed files legally on the web.
If you can limp yourself to download it, I've found Ad-Aware does an outstanding job in most cases. But you must have the new (free) version to do any good, The rate of evolution of these beasts are high, and they apparently came up with a new engine for Ad-Aware SE, that I've seen fund hundreds of objects that Ad-Aware 6, a moment before with current updates, had missed.
Makes most machines usable again, and quickly.
The cancellation of Farscape was also a turning point for my respect of the network. I gave it the benefit of the doubt for a while, but resented Stargate SG-1 being literally force-fed 2 episodes at a time at first. I used to be bummed for a week if I didn't get a good tape of Friday's shows. Now I don't bother.
Scare Tactics is just embarrassing to watch at best, mind-numbing much of the time. Tremors is just not that interesting. Two movies was as much as the concept had. The series has little to do but play out variations on a theme. And aside from a couple of interesting episodes (like the black hole) Stargate SG-1 is highly derivative, and more of an army show than a SciFi show. None of them hold a candle to Farscape.
The final straw was now they've taken off even the repeats of Farscape except Sunday nights, replacing them with fine movies, like Universal Soldier III...Ugh!!
I don't expect them to pay for shows that are losing money, but they've turned to just filling up space. I believe they are now owned by USA networks, and the greater cable gods seem to have less and less interest and insight into what makes SciFi unique, both as a genere and a network. In short, they don't seem to care. And it's too bad.
As far as Battlestar Galactica goes, I was never a fan, and couldn't get too worked up about how the new one compares to the original...but I don't see the current management giving me much confidence that they even want to produce something really good...they just play with their numbers, and if a show is cheap to produce (like, presumably Crossing Over and Scare Tactics are) then they'll suffer a small audience drop since they end up netting more.
Anyone know if Scare Tactics is getting decent ratings? If so, I doubt it is the usual SciFi Core audience.