International Day Against DRM

Spread the word.  The music world has won the war against DRM already, but it doesn't have to stop there.

DRM, for those that do not know is a form of copy protection designed to work only on devices registered by the seller of the media.  Sounds good for those that want to prevent piracy.  In fact outside of that you may feel ok with it as you may not plan to use the media you bought on anything else.  Here's where the problem lies.  eReaders can't read all e-books.  Why?  Because if you buy an e-book on Amazon, you'll need a Kindle or a Kindle compatible device like an iPhone or Android phone with a kindle app.  So they might have this great book you want on your Nook that you bought from Barns & Noble.  Trouble is that it's on Amazon.  Uh-oh.  Now you need a Kindle.

But that's not a problem for me personally.  Here's another predicament.  Let's say I finally give up on the DVD format.  In fact I know a few shows that should have been on DVD long ago, but the problem is that it's only available on iTunes, which carries DRM.  So you might tell me to just watch it on my computer.  WHY?  I'd MUCH rather sit in my recliner to watch the show.  I have a Playstation 3.  Ok, why not just stream it through my network from my computer to my PS3.  That doesn't solve anything.  I've tried doing it once.  I'm a techy, if you haven't guessed.  Why doesn't it work.  I have no idea.  I follow the directions.  To be quite honest most people don't even have the knowledge and skill to do it, if it even worked.  Well, there goes that plan.  If I want the series then I must watch it on my computer.  Oh, so maybe I can stream it with the new Amazon application on PS3.  Well, I wish I could.  Netflix works just fine over our internet line, but does Amazon?  Well, I have had a few free bucks to spend that was meant only for video purchases.  I got these from buying something else on their site.  Well I got The Dark Knight and Se7en.  Two great movies.  I tried streaming them through DSL just like Netflix.  It pauses to buffer after not even a minute.  We have a weak internet connection here.  As for why Netflix works most of the time and Amazon always fails.  Who knows.  Their speed requirements are exactly the same.

We SHOULD be able to freely copy these videos to a disk just to play them wherever and whenever.  This entire copy protection they call DRM doesn't just cripple our rights, but it makes things so convoluted that who's going to buy electronic media?  I don't.  I'm still buying DVDs and Blu-rays.  I guess I'll do without some of these great shows that are only available through electronic means.  If you want my money corporate America.  You damn well better earn it.  Till then, you aren't getting one red cent from some crippled video file you sell.