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Philippe Lemay · 12-01-2010, 10:32 AM

I understand the need for, and the wisdom behind, DRM. I get it that the artists need to protect their money-makers in this scary new world of complete interconnectivity.

What pisses me off is when the companies like Apple and their iTunes store place obnoxious limitations on their digital products that ensure your purchase will never last longer that 4 - 6 years. With iTunes you get an actual file representing the song/episode/film that you've purchased. You can store it, move it around, hell you can even make copies. But only 5, after that the file locks up and it becomes impossible to move or copy.

Your typical storage medium will last 2 years. Not just because newer and better mediums will come to the fore, there is an actual demagnetization process that will eventually corrupt the data. Some claim their drives can last up to 5 years, but realistically you can start to expect some corruption after 2. In addition some people, like myself, like to store their files on more than one device at a time. If my experiences have taught me anything it's that computers like to fail without warning. So that gives you four years with the files sitting on 2 drives each, plus on extra.

And that extra one will be used up if... say, you want to loan the book/song/movie to a friend. A copy is a copy, under DRM.

"Hey Bill! I heard you got the latest book in the Dungeon Master saga, can I borrow it?"

"Sure! Here you go, just give it back when you're done."

That's how it used to work with paper books, now things aren't so simple.

"Hey Bill! Can I borrow that new Dungeon Master book you got?"

"Sure! I... DAMNIT. I used up all the copies making backups. Sorry man."

"Well why don't you just pass me the drive you have it on right now, it's external right?"

"My primary 1000 GB drive? Upon which I keep everything? Including a sizable pornography collection? Uh...sure, what's the worst that could happen."

It's all just become so damn complicated. People would MUCH rather download that stuff for free and not have to deal with hidden programing within the files that will come back to bite you in the ass 4 years down the road.

12-01-2010, 10:32 AM	#95
Philippe Lemay Apple Hater Posts: 18 Karma: 30 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Canada, Quebec Device: iPad, iPod Touch	I understand the need for, and the wisdom behind, DRM. I get it that the artists need to protect their money-makers in this scary new world of complete interconnectivity. What pisses me off is when the companies like Apple and their iTunes store place obnoxious limitations on their digital products that ensure your purchase will never last longer that 4 - 6 years. With iTunes you get an actual file representing the song/episode/film that you've purchased. You can store it, move it around, hell you can even make copies. But only 5, after that the file locks up and it becomes impossible to move or copy. Your typical storage medium will last 2 years. Not just because newer and better mediums will come to the fore, there is an actual demagnetization process that will eventually corrupt the data. Some claim their drives can last up to 5 years, but realistically you can start to expect some corruption after 2. In addition some people, like myself, like to store their files on more than one device at a time. If my experiences have taught me anything it's that computers like to fail without warning. So that gives you four years with the files sitting on 2 drives each, plus on extra. And that extra one will be used up if... say, you want to loan the book/song/movie to a friend. A copy is a copy, under DRM. "Hey Bill! I heard you got the latest book in the Dungeon Master saga, can I borrow it?" "Sure! Here you go, just give it back when you're done." That's how it used to work with paper books, now things aren't so simple. "Hey Bill! Can I borrow that new Dungeon Master book you got?" "Sure! I... DAMNIT. I used up all the copies making backups. Sorry man." "Well why don't you just pass me the drive you have it on right now, it's external right?" "My primary 1000 GB drive? Upon which I keep everything? Including a sizable pornography collection? Uh...sure, what's the worst that could happen." It's all just become so damn complicated. People would MUCH rather download that stuff for free and not have to deal with hidden programing within the files that will come back to bite you in the ass 4 years down the road.