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Proprietary media formats — time to get rid of them!

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zridling:
Proprietary media formats like WMV, MOV, and WMA need to go. Many of the same arguments for open standards (e.g., OASIS OpenDocument (ODF) format) apply here:

* you should be able to do anything whatsoever with media (you create);

* users will migrate toward software and devices that play open format media;

* EVERYONE can implement a true, open standard, and it increases competition and choice;

* the world is shifting to non-proprietary open standards based on the amazing success of the web, a success that was far more important than any single vendor’s market position or ideas for what was right for the world. (Imagine if the web had started out as a proprietary entity! Thanks to the DMCA, a public library could never been conceived and built in this century — "You can't share that book among more than one person, you criminal!)


With proprietary media comes the dreaded DRM. PCMag's Bill Machrone talks about how: [DRM] has become a circus act in which we're trained dogs that jump through media companies' hoops. Their goal is to resell us every song, TV show, and movie each time there's a new format and to control how and where we consume the content.

I'm not about to rip someone/some company off, but the point of a proprietary media format is restriction, not collection or sharing. Be gone already!

Lashiec:
The only thing that really needs to disappear is DRM. Proprietary media formats, unlike office formats, are not specifically tying you to an application, and then there's the problem of the encoders being used. The whole thing is a real mess, because you have this big range of formats, plus another big range of encoders, so you require to have at least three different players installed (or their corresponding decoders), plus another set of decoders for those algorithms not covered by the main players. And I'm not even getting into the metadata problem. Really, this is something they have to fix, and there's no simple solution in the future, apart from using a format like Matroska and a universal media player like mplayer or VLC (or if you just don't care about QuickTime and Real Player, any DirectShow capable player and a codec pack). Maybe HTML 5 will sort the thing a bit, thanks to the video and audio tag, and the intended use of open formats, although corporations are pushing against it.

I wish things were as easy as with music formats. So, long live the Xiph Foundation :D

Deozaan:
My personal opinion is that the solution is that if they're going to treat the media they sell us as if it doesn't belong to us, then they need to do something similar to the following:


* Sell us a license to use the particular media that lasts our lifetime. This way we can enjoy our movies and music and books on whatever format we choose, no matter what new technologies become available.
* Make sure licenses are designed in a way that the media can be shared with other members of a household. I shouldn't have to buy a separate license for my kids in my own house, and I should be able to invite friends over to listen to music or watch a movie, or loan a book to them.
* Along those lines, licenses should be able to be sold or transferred to others, so people aren't left high and dry when they buy a book or movie they don't like, and so you can "loan" an album or book or movie to a friend.
* There should be licenses made specifically for libraries that incorporate a lot of these features I just discussed.
They already are trying to treat us like we buy licenses to our media, so they might as well really make a license that doesn't rip us off at every turn.

cmpm:
Greed making sudo laws that are to govern the use of something we bought but do not own.

There are already copyright laws in effect. Companies are writing laws into their programs.

http://www.undrm.info/remove-DRM-protection/

http://www.google.com/search?q=remove+drm&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGIC_enUS269US270

J-Mac:
I don't think you'll find anyone here, Zane, that disagrees with you. I don't believe that I have ever seen anyone here at DC offer arguments FOR DRM!  (Different from arguments against outright pirating: making many copies and selling them).  I have probably as much rip/copy software as anyone here, and yet I still have a WMV that I paid $30 for and after reinstalling my OS the password/key for it is no longer working. (Really pisses me off).  I contacted the vendor - a known, "real" vendor, not a private party or fly-by-night operation - and have never gotten a response.  Digging deep on their website I found a paragraph stating that when this happens I have to remove WMP 10 or 11 and install WMP 9 - one specific build - and then contact them for re-activation.  That's a bunch of BS!

Over the past, say, 35 to 40 years I have re-purchased the same music at least 4 times over again:  That's a small fortune in music on vinyl, then as 8-track tape cartridges, then cassettes, and now I have purchased some of the same stuff yet again on CD's.  It will never, ever end  They want our money for the same products every 3 to 6 years.  And the RIAA and MPAA are keeping a lot of cretins - err... - lawyers - wealthy doing this every day.  I have been sick of it for a lot longer than the current "DRM" label has been assigned to this scam.

Personally I fully support any and all efforts to bypass whatever DRM protection is applied to recorded media.  Not doing it for sales profits, but for personal or family unit usage. Without even a tiny a twinge of guilt.

Jim

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