Digital Copies: How not to do DRM

[dvdcatalyst]

Green Lantern 2011

Especially with new release movies, I always try and pick up the Bluray + DVD combo packs, which often come with a free “Digital Copy”. Because of DVD Catalyst, I need the DVD to make sure it works fine with the software, and with the recent addition of basic Bluray support in DVD Catalyst ( DVD Catalyst 4.1 Bluray Guide | DVD Catalyst 4, the ultimate app for movies & tv on the go ) its handy to have the Bluray version as well.


I never cared for the Digital Copies. Besides the fact that I really dislike the “license key” activation system for anything, it doesn’t serve any purpose whatsoever. Especially when it comes to software, a “key” system just causes aggravation for the customer as well as the software company, because the keys need to be entered (possible typo’s) and of course tend to get lost as well.
On top of that, often companies lock their apps to a single device with such a system. People who use pirated copies often find a nice little app called a Key Generator and/or so-called Crack with the download, and as a reward for them not paying for the software, they don’t have to deal with any limitations that a paying customer has to deal with.
While I understand that a company needs to protect their property in some form to ensure sales, taking it out on the actual paying customers is not the way to do it in my opinion, which is the reason why my own apps do not use any form of DRM.

Digital Copies have been around for a couple of years. It sort of started around the time iTunes opened its movie store. Rather than forcing people to purchase the same movie online again so they could play it on their iPods, movie DVDs came with a code you can enter on iTunes, and you basically download the movie from iTunes for free.

Nice, if you only use Apple devices that is.


For Android as well as other device groups, these Digital Copies are useless because of the DRM (Digital Rights Management/Copy Protection System) on these files. They added Windows Media “Plays for Sure” versions shortly after, but partially due to strict licensing requirements, most of the devices on the market were left out.


Recently new Digital Copy formats started to appear. You might have seen DVD/Bluray cases in the store with VUDU or Ultraviolet (not the movie) mentioned on it. With the 2011 Green Lantern movie, the movie studio decided to include Digital Copies using the Ultraviolet format, and a lot of people are not really happy with it.


Because Digital Copies used to work so well with iTunes, many people who purchase movies with them are owners of Apple devices (since Digital Copies are useless for most other devices on the market, I would say that the only reason people would pick up the Digital Copy bundles specifically are Apple owners. I have quite a few movies with Digital Copies included, but if I could save a couple of bucks for a DVD+BR combo without those useless things, I would.

Anyway, with the Ultraviolet system, things don’t work so well with Apple devices anymore. Apple’s biggest advantage is that everything is integrated under a single account. You create an account in iTunes, and all the media you obtain through it, movies, tv shows, apps, games and books, are all connected. With Ultraviolet, you have to sign up on a website from a different company, and your video files stream.


Reviews for the movie on sites like Amazon are filled with complaints about the new format.


With online availability of music files on the web, the music industry has woken up, and actually let stores like iTunes and Amazon provide non-DRM music files. Unfortunately, the movie industry has not seen the light just yet, and continue to cause complications for their paying customers by providing video files loaded with a DRM, regardless of what format, online or off-line.


A few years ago, Sony broke the official DVD specification by implementing a new protection system (ARCCOS/RIPGuard) on some of their newer releases. Unfortunately, the move resulted in people having playback issues with these DVDs on even many of Sony’s own DVD players. With Bluray, pretty much every new box-office release comes with a newer DRM system, forcing people to update their Bluray player (or, if it is too old, replace it) in order to get the full experience of the movie.

My own first Bluray experience resulted in spending 2 hours updating the player before I could actually watch my store-bought copy of Iron Man 2.


The people who use pirated versions of these movies do not have to deal with these DRM-issues, so why do they continue to make it harder on the paying customer? Its an endless battle, and only the customers are the ones paying the price, twice. Besides the purchase itself, they come home and have to go through a lot of hassle in order to get their Digital Copy to work or to be able to watch their movie, and its just plain wrong.


For me, I just continue with what I am doing. With DVD Catalyst 4, I create my own, DRM-free, Digital Copies. I pick up the DVD, and just convert it for whatever device I want to use to view the movie.
No activation, no limitations of copying the movie to only a few devices, no compatibility issues, no internet-connection requirement, no expiration, and most importantly, if I want to watch the movie I bought 5 years from now (and 2 computer-replacements later), I can just grab the disc and watch/convert it, rather than hoping the service I used to register/activate the Digital Copy with is still in existence.


I pay $20-$30 for the physical disc, and with most of the movies I pick up (my wife has a different interest), I only watch them on a portable device.


I strongly believe that if the movie studios follow suit with the music industry and drop DRM completely, they will see a lot more people actually purchasing their releases, but while they continue to harass their paying customers by forcing them to put up with it, more and more will revert to piracy and just download them from the web.