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Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

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Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#231
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

>We got scammed.

Yes, but it matters less than we think, since it mostly affects entertainment consumption. In fact, I'd argue that the amount people get burned for using DRM content is precisely enough to keep physical media alive and well for along time; and insofar as DRM enables the production of more stuff, and the inevitability that the popular stuff will "escape" thanks to piracy, that's its not that big of a deal.

That said, the issues of DRM are far more vital for creator applications! When you've coupled your ability to write, communicate and earn a living to any privately controlled service that is hard to replace (and that is the very definition of the Google vs. Apple software ecosystem, to take the most important example) then you've lost something far more profound, and when things go sideways (losing your Google account, say) you won't be prepared. It is scary that so many public services require access to a smartphone, when "having a smartphone" is itself not a public service. (And no, library computers don't count. You can't install and use an app in the library computer browser.)

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a very tenuous argument. With DRM, one has to work against the grain of a software to implement it, whereas focusing on one native platform is almost the opposite - one has to go against the grain to make it cross platform. In that sense, DRM is an artificial limitation, whereas supporting just one platfrom isn't one.

Wasn't Cyberpunk compiled for Linux to run on Stadia though? Not shipping the Linux binary looks like an artifical limitation at that point.

Judging by the QC nightmare that game appears to have been, supporting just one installation configuration on an OS with the direct support of the company running that configuration (I wouldn't be surprised if Google had chipped in resources to get the Stadia port through) is a much different level of resource commitment than supporting it for a user base.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I relate to this energy.

Most users just do not care about "owning" DRM-free files. Most users don't have any clue about how to store, manage, or safeguard their DRM-free digital purchases.

To be quite honest I'm basically in this boat. With the rationalization in the back of my mind that if Amazon were to ban my account and block access to my ebook library, or were Steam to do the same thing to my games; fuck em. I already paid for the items, I'll dust off my torrent client if I need to get them some way or another.

Until such time, I have enough other stuff going on in my life that I don't particularly have the time to search for DRM-free media in my purchasing, organize and curate the collection, and so on.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#235
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

> We got scammed. Well, depends on how you look at it and how comfortable you are forgetting about how it looked before you could buy online. I pay for convenience which is a service rather than tangible good. If I need a book for my research, I would prefer to have access to it immediately rather than wait two weeks to get it from overseas. My time is valuable and the pause on the project or inconvenience of not hav…

Fine, but selling convenience is DIFFERENT from selling possession.

Alan may want convenience of streaming a large library for a low price.

Barbara may want the conveniece of having physical media she can bring on her travels and play without an internet connection, or the ability to play it 20 years from now and give to her kids.

That is all fine, they are two different things

The scam is selling the rental of transient streaming service rental as if it had the attributes of buying physical media.

Apple and others are exploiting the familiarity and positive connotations of "buying a movie/album" to sell something that clearly lacks the same attributes. It is a linguistic sleight-of-hand, and it is a scam.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#236
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

"The books stopped working" is a fantastic writing prompt for a dystopian novel.

>Please drink verification can to continue

https://i.imgur.com/dgGvgKF.png

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#237
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>the ability to use it has been greatly diminished Really? I have tons of music ripped from CDs on my iPhone and I can trivially play that in my car. I have CD players in my car (which I never use) and attached to my stereo (which I rarely use). It's not that the ability to play CDs (or rip them and play them) has been diminished but a lot of people prefer to just use a streaming service. I'll grant that many people…

> I have tons of music ripped from CDs Are you suggesting that it's a simple and convenient thing to do for the public?

Yes...all you had to do with iTunes was insert a disc and click a button. After a couple of minutes, the tracks would all be in your library with metadata pulled from the internet. Everyone I knew who had a computer used to duplicate CDs for their car and make mixes.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#238
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you purchase and download a movie you can copy it, back it up, and watch it whenever you want as many times as you want. The lawsuit is about repeated downloads and streaming after the copyright owner has removed the movie for sale.

But can you copy a movie out of iTunes onto, say, an external HD? I thought Apple used DRM for purchased media.

They use DRM, but movies and TV shows are downloaded as regular movie files. You can move and copy them to wherever you want.

Downloaded movie files can be played using either iTunes or the QuickTime Player, copied to an iOS device, or streamed to an Apple TV box.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#239
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We got scammed. Well, depends on how you look at it and how comfortable you are forgetting about how it looked before you could buy online. I pay for convenience which is a service rather than tangible good. If I need a book for my research, I would prefer to have access to it immediately rather than wait two weeks to get it from overseas. My time is valuable and the pause on the project or inconvenience of not hav…

I used to be somewhat skeptical of the convenience claim. A former colleague argued that the attraction of Napster was more about convenience than price which I didn't really buy. But if we look at the popularity of streaming services today versus owning even DRM-free music, that would seem to support the convenience theory. (It hasn't taken off for books to the same degree but I'd guess that's in part because the va…

I have Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Spotify, sometimes Youtube TV, OTA via TIVO. Trust me, TPB is much more convenient.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#240
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

"The books stopped working" is a fantastic writing prompt for a dystopian novel.

Which could happen system-wide because they turned off the DRM servers (a la Microsoft books) or maybe you've been deemed "unacceptable" on the platform.
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