Quote:
Originally Posted by Fayth
That is the only valid argument for DRM, stopping local sharing by those who would otherwise lack the ability to get it from the pirating world. This won't last long either. With the state of technology as it is, it wont be long before those who aren't technically inclined are phased out, and almost everyone will be more than knowledgeable enough to grab stuff from torrents or other filesharing sites. Then DRM will be truly useless.
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DRM does nothing to stop piracy. Nothing. It doesn't even stop casual copying between friends. People simply download a torrent instead.
Even for me, a techie, it's often simpler to download a torrent of something than to rip a copy of it. Say for some DVDs, I want to put a copy on our laptop for the kids when we're on vacation. It's seriously much easier to find and download it than it is for me to circumvent the DRM, rip the disk and convert it.
Oh wait, to the industry, I'm a criminal. I should buy it on DVD, on BD, a digital version for itunes for PC and our ipods, a digital version for my android device, over and over and over again. Like Sony, who famously said before that ripping CDs to mp3 should be illegal.
All DRM does is encourage people to say "**** this, I'll just download a torrented version, at least that will work right". It might, might stop a few older or super-non-tech-saavy folks who then just spend the money to buy it. BUT - I know plenty of people in their 30s and 40s that aren't techies, but they know how to google something + torrent and download a torrent...with the DRM already cracked and removed. Guess what? It's a a better product that probably JUST WORKS.
Industries need to adapt to the digital age, not DRM the hell out of their products in an effort to pretend it's not here. For music, the amount of money they were spending on DRM schemes, programming, tech support, and losing from angry or frustrated customers surely was more than the DRM realistically netted them in profit after all of those expenses.
As far as the music industry, I'm so fed up with the RIAA mafia I've simply bowed out. I went from a Columbia House multiple-accounts person that bought probably 20-40 CDs a year to buying zero new CDs, ever. I buy less than 1 new CD a year now. I get used ones of my favorite bands...maybe a couple per year now, if that. I do fine with radio, internet radio, public radio podcasts, the occasional used CD, and free mp3 downloads/promos/etc. That's what happens when you treat your customers like garbage. They stop buying.
There's no reason not to treat digital goods like any other good. They expect us to pay the same price (or more!) for them...but have far, far, far less rights. How does that make sense?