Canada film pirates sapping Hollywood profits

[DurkaDurka]

Snowles,

I assume you have read about the content protection being bypassed on HD/DVD & BlueRay?

I own an HD/DVD player, but due to my video card not having a HDCP certified DVI port, I am unable to view any HD content on my pc, which really bothers me. Now with the help of a small java program, I can peel off the DRM layer and create a clean version of whatever HD/DVD I might have.

The more restrictive the studios become, the greater lengths people will go to "free" their media in my opinion.

 

[snowles]

Oh yes, I remember reading a few articles on the Blueray being cracked.

It was the same as when DVD encryption was announced as being "unbreakable;" 72 hours later, it was. And the same as when we were able to copy audio CDs. And VCRs. And audio tapes.

It's funny how everytime they try to restrict how we use the content we pay to own, the people find a way around it. The three biggest advents to online media: MP3s, Divx and streaming content were all the results of consumer backlash and innovation that sprang from the restrictive natures of their predecessors - now they are the norm and incorporated into our everyday technology. They took the restrictive content, removed the barriers around it, and in the process made them more efficient and accessible than the older methods they're replacing.

 

[snowles]

It's really sad to see how far protected content has come. I refuse to even consider Windows Vista until users have hacked away the very core of DRM that it was encoded around. In fact, my next computer will be a Mac that I can dual-boot with XP.

Itunes musiuc can only be played on IPods, leaving anyone owning another player to find songs in a different manner - when you buy an Ipod you are basically signing a lifelong contract to Apple. Who would leave all the money's worth of songs you paid for for so many years? It will be cheaper to simply keep buying Ipods than switch to a new technology, a practice which to me is simply sick.

In addition, the quality of the songs is very poor, and the costs are equal to that of buying the CD - except you don't get the album, the physical disc, the artwork and the special features; as well, you have to pay for the computer, the service, the bandwidth, the player/blank media.

In the case of blank media, we in Canada are paying for music twice, and taking it like good little sheep. Once in the hidden 50% levy that goes to compensate artists, and again when we purchase songs online for $1 each. Considering it costs the studio next to nothing to produce, it's almost all profit, which is sick; meanwhile, artists see next-to-nothing for every track that is sold by them.

Now they want us to move to the even more restrictive Blu-Ray, and the entire gammit of new products we'll need to run this largely unnecessary and inefficient product.