The Brads - Why DRM Doesn’t Work
March 1st, 2010
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Brad Colbow is an independent web designer and illustrator living in Cleveland Ohio. He is the owner of Colbow Design and creator of the web comic, The Brads. If you’re looking for fun and practical website design Contact Me.
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jason
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmHa! I work in a library with this same software. Your last problem was that you didn’t download the file before installing the OMConsole. Now that you have everything updated you should be fine. I agree with the frustration bit beforehand though! Don’t agree with your Isohunt solution, tried browsing there the other week with IE (I know I know) and caught a nasty bug…never happens with Overdrive!
Also @michelle, you can use a Mac/ipod with the MP3 files at Overdrive, though much more limited selection.
Greg Maletic
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmVery true…except that you wildly exaggerate the ease of using Torrent files. I see their usefulness, but I wouldn’t hold the Torrent process up as a standard of usability.
Guy At HockeyBias dot com
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmLOL! Nice!
Bridget Stewart
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmI didn’t realize that using wild exaggeration in a joke was forbidden. In fact, I thought a lot of funny stories employed that method for a laugh.
Let’s continue to nitpick the funny. How else can we remain miserable old sods?
Bridget Stewart
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmOh, and by the way: Dielman really does have lines that shoot out of his face when he uses profanity. I wanted to clear that up so someone doesn’t think that is an exaggeration, too.
Eric Wiley
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmpsst, Captain Facts; it’s a *carTOON*
Matthew
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmI had a similar problem with the DC public library. I have a Mac and I’m almost 100% shut out of everything the library offers for download!!!!!
Mike May
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmYes, a very similar scenario for me trying to get an audio book from a California public library. Just ain’t worth it!
josh
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmYou can download audio books from your public library? Damn, I thought requesting books through the internet was advanced. I need to move.
Jayne Vera
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Captain Facts: The thing about jokes is that they have to contain at least a modicum of truth to them for people to recognize the situation presented and thus the humor regarding the subject. The fact that so many found this amusing strongly suggests that the situation is not so far-fetched as you’d like to believe.
@Greg Maletic: Maybe YOU have difficulty with the torrent process, but the truth is that it’s not all that much harder than any other download (if nothing else, it still beats DRM schemes like the one depicted above by a long shot), and there’s plenty of “How-To” pages on it at this point for those that Just Don’t Get It (maybe you should try one). The extremely large number of people using torrents proves that they’re not just for geeks anymore…
CJ Cenizal
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmYou guys have a great site, sense of humor, and fantastic design sense. Keep up the good work! But I wonder why the “Back” and “Forward” images for viewing more comics looks so clickable and yet isn’t? It is a bit deceptive and might cause some confusion to the user (it did to me!).
Wraithe
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Captain Facts: To Paraphrase John Stewart: It’s a comic, not a whitepaper.
As a comic it succeeds, because it is A: Funny. B: True.
Is it also an “edge” case? Yes. Does it work as a critique of how ineffective/obtrusive DRM can entangle legitimate users but rarely bothers illegal users? Check.
Brad FTW! Good job!
Brad C
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@CJ, you know what, you’re absolutely right. I tried getting those to work a few months back when I added them and failed. I should have taken them out or fixed them. I’ll have to put that back on my to-do list.
Hamranhansenhansen
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmSo BitTorrent really is the public library.
Dont worry about it
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmYou seem bitter Brad - did you get turned down for a job with them?
michelle
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmYes. Very frustrating. Also frustrating when downloading audiobooks from the public library only work on your ipod if you have a windows PC. No audiobook love for those with a Mac and an ipod. God forbid!
Ken
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmTo be fair, the point of DRM is only to *limit* your use of a file, and in this case, the Cleveland Public Library successfully prevented nonauthorized users from using that file. In the process they may have also prevented any *legit* users from using that file, but that’s just collateral damage. DRM FTW!
Brad C
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@ Captain Facts. I’ll admit that it is a bit of a strawman argument. But this actually happened to me yesterday (hence the screenshots). I think the reason it resinates with people is because from time to time DRM goes from being a security precaution to a complete and total pain in the ass and it’s happened to all of us at least once.
Felis
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmNice!
The reboot thing is awesome!
ahmet
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmsame applies for audible
Mickey
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmHaha, I enjoyed this
Biju Neyyan
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmHa ha.. really!!
By the way, that Step 18 and 19 repeated.. was that intentional or that just happened when you did an Alt+Drag?
A slight correction
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmIf it was a newer Windows than XP there’d be no reboot.
Kim D
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmThis is the exact same thing that happened to me on the Ottawa Public Library website. Arg….
Brad C
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Biju, thanks for the heads up, I missed that
@Aslighcorrection, yeah I’m kicking it old school. XP takes up less ram and lets me run IE6.
Daniel
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmYou’re voluntarily running IE6??
Brad C
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Daniel, yes I’m publicly admitting I run it. But it’s for testing, I swear!
Ian Tearle
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmI actually just giggle out loud! Ha. So true, about. Once again you hit the nail on the head Brad! Love it!
Captain Facts
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmComparing the pathological case to the optimal one?
Wow, this isn’t a strawman argument at all!
Tomasz Kowalczyk
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmVery funny, but i really thought that someone posted DRM-compromising materials ;]
Josso
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Nate Klaiber:
This is the image you are looking for:
http://www.geekologie.com/2010/02/25/piracy-full.jpg
Daniel Groves
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmHaha. Sounds about right to me!
Daniel
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Brad, if it’s just for testing you should use the App Compat VHD’s: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EFdisplaylang=en with Virtual PC. You can install all versions of IE since IE6 and test your sites.
Nate Klaiber
March 1, 2010 at 1:00 pmI saw a comic like this last week (can’t remember the source) that had the same workflow and thought process around buying a DVD versus downloading. It walked through all of the steps for buying, all the screens/previews you were forced to watch, etc - then showed the steps for downloading on bittorrent.
It couldn’t be more true. So many barriers placed in the way.
Raye
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmMan, this is so true. Not just at libraries, but with music, games… (oh man, the shit they put you through to play some games that you legally bought)
And to the naysayers, I am an artist, I know perfectly well how copyrights work and why downloading a torrent is illegal. But if you treat people who obtain your product legally badly by putting roadblocks in their path when it comes to enjoying it (no, you can’t use your favourite media player you MUST use this one (which you don’t like), if you use it, we’ll install other software which you can’t remove and may damage your system (SecuROM) or one that pissed me right off, no, you can’t play this game if you *have a CD burner* I wrote to customer support and they flat out told me I had to have a CD drive not capable of burning a copy or I would not be able to play the game, and having 2 drives (one for burning one for playing) was not sufficient, if you had a CD burner AT ALL, it would not play. So, hell yeah I got the cracked torrent, I wasn’t going to put up with that. (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time fyi.)
When I find an outlet that takes the hassle out, I will use it. DRM free is best, but even if they just take steps to make the DRM not treat you like a criminal, and make it hassle free, it’s good. Steam is a good example. Steam does have DRM in that it must be running for most games to launch, but it is unobtrusive (and even helpful, as it automatically patches games) and strips away any other DRM in 99% of the games offered so you don’t have to worry about SecuROM worming its way onto your system, (and if the publisher has requested that their DRM stay, Steam will tell you about it) and it is very easy to use. It removed the hassle, so as a result I buy *more* games than I did before when I was worried about SecuROM etc.
peter
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmI work at a large public library and found myself laughing and crying when I read this comic. Although many customers get the Overdrive download to work first time and love the free and legal service - we also hear from lots of people who struggle. Even worse are the others who we never hear from who simply give up on us a source of free, legal audiobook downloads.
Two additions based on comments:
Audible will not license to libraries - so they are not a choice for us.
Overdrive has increasing numbers of MP3 files for audiobooks that work on iPods.
If you think Overdrive is bad, try their main competition in the library market netLibrary.
devilman676
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmThat’s awesome. That’s the same EXACT thing that happened to me last week. And after reading the other comments on here, apparently I’m not the only one.
Eric
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmtotaly true, but its so weird that big companies don’t see this.. its time they strike back with cheap drm (security) free music (video) downloads!
Nile
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmI don’t know who this ‘Michael’ is, but he is so far out of touch with the reality of using DRM-protected media that I question his sanity.
Yeah, the cartoon’s a comic illustration. It’s a ‘straw man’, in the sense that I’ve never seen this exact sequence of events. But it seems that every time I’ve attempted to access DRM-encumbered media on a Windows XP or Windows 7 machine, the operation has turned into an hour-long obstacle race that usually ends in failure.
I find it difficult to do, and I’ve been developing Windows apps for a decade. Joe User at the public Library isn’t going to bother, and I’m left with the certainty that Microsoft and the content owners (1) hate public libraries and their socialized theft of profitable media; and (b) tested the downloads is a world where computers are a single-purpose device that’s set up once, for one user, for one task, and never used for anything else - like a CD player, or an iPod.
Michael is either the 21st-Century Geek Archangel, unto whom all creations of God and Man shall render due obedience… Or he’s living in a very, very limited subset of the electronic world.
etiquette bitch
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmTOO funny. This is *exactly* what happened to me, and precisely why I do not download audiobooks from the chicago public library.
g
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Michael: Distortions? It sounds like this comic is based on an anecdote that actually happened at least once. Kinda like your anecdote where everything worked great.
“Why is it assumed that installing non-DRM software would be hassle-free?” That’s just it; downloading a non-DRM audiobook *requires no new software*, it’s just a simple mp3 that lets you use the media player of your choice to listen to it.
Michael
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmComments suggest that this is a comic so distortions need to be overlooked. But you are suggesting that it is harder than it really is and thus discouraging people from trying. I have overdrive installed and never experienced these errors. Why is it assumed that installing non-DRM software would be hassle-free? Those who resort to downloading illegally posted copies from torrent sites might as well just go to their local bookstore and steal it on CD so they can have the physical copy too. As joly points out, the torrent process should also have been started from scratch.
Steve
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmStep 1) Take brick
Step 2) Break window.
Step 3) Steal jewelry
Step 4) Run like hell.
ragi
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmhahaha that was awesome
Darren
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmThat’s brilliant. Nice job. I wonder if the publishing houses trying to sell ebooks that you can only view for a certain amount of time and only while online will ever put together that that is the very reason their sales suck.
Paulius
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmlol, so true!
i was expecting a turtorial for hacking though.. ;/
Crosbie Fitch
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmHas no-one actually stopped to think how silly it is to prevent people (let alone libraries) sharing the world’s knowledge and literature?
Here we have an Internet able to instantaneously diffuse an ‘eBook’ across the planet, and apparently sane people are trying to make digital files behave like paperbacks, i.e. very difficult for readers to copy.
What was so good about the 18th century printing press that we have to pretend all books can only be printed by authorised publishers?
Pinch yourself. File-sharing is the future trying to hit us with a clue stick. Copyright is the 18th century anachronism the traditional publishers are desperately clinging onto.
Rob D
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmAs a librarian, may I say that this is totally not our fault? I hate, hate, HATE OverDrive, which is the buggiest, most annoying piece of software garbage I have used for a very long time. I understand why the publishers insist on DRM, but this crap software was clearly designed solely to make publishers feel good. In doing so, they neglected to design the software with a single user in mind.
jackie
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmpirating is for homos.
JasonLibrarian
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm@katwill00 Libraries and consortia need to refuse to spend their money on non-functional content, or they are complicit in the DRM failure through their funding of these companies. Providing access to non-functional content really hurts libraries too. We need to fund the vendors that are willing and able to make library-available e-content functional, and not work with those who don’t.
dude
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmHad similar experience with legally-purchased DRM Sony CD years ago: Load CD into tray, get error message from OS because CD has unsuccessfully tried to download a rootkit, remove CD, look up how to rip it, only use illegal copy for the rest of all time, decide never to pay money for a CD again.
Peter
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmI find similar irritation with legitimate use of movie DVDs: region codes and too long pre-videos (in Oz anyway) on illegal copying, alway affect legitimate users, presumably seldom affect pirated editions.
Anon
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmDownloading by torrent/p2p is legal when you have already bought the thing.
Maddy
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmLoved this comic-sad but oh so true!
DRM is a major obstacle to e-book use in libraries…
SomeGuy
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmThe libraries are innocent, this is a problem with Overdrive that is making the libraries look terrible! Notice how several people had the same problem at different libraries…
g
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Cynical:
You’d have to be pretty ignorant to get malware just from browsing a torrent site (Use Firefox+Adblock Plus for one; scan downloaded files before opening them for another; open media files with VLC instead of the ‘default’ media players like QuickTime that malware is more likely to target…).
Besides, Windows isn’t even the regular OS in this comic.
Big kate
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmWarning under the new UK digital rights bill publishing this will be classified as an intent to inform. supply materials for or incite a terrorist act! To whit avoiding DRM!
even though this is used in humour it is still a terrorist act. If you were in the uk you would lose your internet for 6 months minimum
AJ Barnes
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm100% dead on and has happened to me many times. DRM exists to punish lawful users. I tried as hard as I could to do everything right for BluRay on my PC… spent TWO DAYS updating drivers, programs, phone calls to customer care. The result? A Skipping, choppy movie I couldn’t watch. The fix? Bought a program to remove the DRM for about $50 and PRESTO! Everything works just fine. When will these STUPID GREEDY PEOPLE stop punishing their good customers? What they’re doing is pushing us to circumvent copy protection to get what we paid for. It’s amazing stupidity.
Frustrated Too
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmI’ve been through this too, only with one added step (admittedly I should have looked more carefully beforehand):
Overdrive Media doesn’t work on iPods.
ARRRGG!
katwil00
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmThe frustration is real and understandable, but it should be noted for accuracy’s sake that the problem doesn’t actually originate with the Cleveland (or any other public) library. They all buy this service from third-party vendors such as Overdrive or Audible. The libraries are often as frustrated as the patrons with the process and are stuck because nobody else offers these kinds of services.
icedwater
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm+++ for the comic.
@Daniel (March 2, 2010 at 8:02am): did you notice that step 5 is highly indicative of a virtualisation environment? Or the fact that he needed to boot up Windows at all. So the whole virus concern is moot, VMs are easily replaceable.
Ian
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmStupid free local libraries! Why can’t they be as cool as Amazon! Aw hell, I might actually have to WALK to the library and get an actual printed BOOK! Argh!
Adam
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmToo true, why does the legitamate consumer go through this process, when pirates do not? Why would a legitamate consumer illegally distribute their own license. Mad I say, absolutely mad.
Enlightenment
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmThe PIRATES are still in the bay!
Muscle Building Programs
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmhaha..this is actually pretty true man..
to save time, you should check if it’s at the torrents first or not.. saves a whole lot of time.lol
Brad C
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm@Jason - That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing. If it makes you feel better I didn’t actually download anything from ISOhunt, I didn’t have time. Torrents take to long but don’t tell anyone it might ruin the joke
Brad C
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm@katwil00, I’ve heard from several folks who work at libraries about how much they hate the software they are forced to use. If I knew this comic was going to get this much exposure I probably wouldn’t have mentioned the CPL by name.
Cynical
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmSTEP 23: Spend the next 6 months removing malware, battling effects of Identity theft, and repairing your credit.
THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH!
wwwprofi
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmAudible works very fine for me, since the audio quality was rised. You can download as often as you like and a new Client PC is no problem. I like free Software, but not all data must be copied or saved life-long.
JB
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmThe problem is obvious. It’s step 5.
Chris Howard
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmI traded in a DRM compliant MP3 player at a hock shop after going through this same sort of mess. I should search for the title I want, click a link to download it, then copy it to my device of choice. That’s it.
joly
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmIn fairness, and in keeping with librarian Jen’s comments above, the torrent process should also have been started from scratch including 1) figuring wtf is a torrent? 2) selecting from various confusing client options 3) massive struggle with portforwarding (not strictly necessary to just d/l I admit)
thorn
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmyep. drm is best at ripping people off. in this case, it’s cleveland public library that got hosed. they paid someone’s tax dollars for the inaccessible content.
vendors/publishers are so freaked out that someone might be able to read their content for free (which they can anyway, ‘cause of those library places, so it’s a stupid fear), that they’ve forgotten their bigger challenge: that *reading* is on the decline. every obstacle tossed up in the path of the act (or habit!) of long-form reading is another nail in the coffin of the publishing industry.
that’s where the publishing industry differs from the music industry. music listening has never been on the decline.
i predict that if they persist with this kind of sh!t—treating their paying customers as such, that is, the industry will contract. it could remain profitable, but because it will be small and shrinking, an awful lot of people will be hitting the job market.
dot tilde dot
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmreboot macht frei.
.~.
Online Classifieds
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmThis is so true. And funny too. And as Jon B said, the pain all over again if you want to download to your mp3 player.
-Charles Wilson
Jon B
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmI have to say that this comic pretty much says it all for me. I bought audio books on audible.com and can no longer use them on my mp3 player because something was changed in a update and it no longer works. So I did the same thing, I found a torrent of the books that I own and downloaded them DRM free.
Jen
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmPublic Library director here, and I have to say that I felt both amused and chagrined, and want to ditto what someone else said that we’re trying to get folks the stuff they want, but the vendors make it difficult! Also, once you go through this process to initialize the system, you should (in theory) never have to do it again. Once I got overdrive installed, it worked fine every other time.
Gubby
March 2, 2010 at 1:00 pmI had the EXACT same experience with my library’s digital downloads…and I was so excited when it was first announced.
Jami Gibbs
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmBrilliant!!! Had me chuckling most of the day.
Sean
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmThis was funny till I saw the library where I work named by a commenter as ‘the exact thing happened to me at…”
Boris
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmI love it! Thank you. =)
LordPhoenix
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmHi, Very well done. Have you an svg version of this strip? I would like make a french version if it’s possible.
NadXlol
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmHaha that was awsome XD
fay
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmThis comic scenario is so true! Not only for the public library audio books, but any DRM protected title.
I purchased a DRM protected ebook and downloaded it to my flash drive, thinking I’d read it on my laptop later.
But, wait! I had to be connected to the internet and jump through blazing virtual hoops, cross piranha invested e-rivers, and climb sky-high authentication mountains in order to be allowed to access the ebook I just freakin’ paid for!
What? Publishers think people don’t use more than one computer or device thoughout their typical day and that readers won’t want to access their book from both home and work?
As pointed out by others, placing barriers between me and access to a title I legally purchased just makes me angry and frustrated with the publishing industry.
I have never purchased another DRM ebook again. I refuse to go through the frustration so the book publishers will not be getting my money if they use DRM—which is a very big loss for them since I spend more time reading than any other entertainment passtime.
I soooo agree with this cartoon, Brad.
SM
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmNice. Thanks for shared! %)
Jörg Oyen
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmthx - passt zu meinen Eindruck wie Verlage DRM Erfahrungen der Musikbranche den Konsumenten aufzwingen…
steelneck
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmOf course an updated XP will flounder and require things out of the ordinary, Microsoft wants you to upgrade and pay them money.
mheart
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmHaha! I love it.
spudbot
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmDRM - just another example of “Chlorine in the gene pool”. Like the fellow who manages to get the shotgun barrels in his mouth but then has to get someone else to take his shoe off so he can reach the trigger with his big toe.
BJ Wahl
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmOh for heaven’s sake. It is sooo easy to go to my library’s Overdrive page, check out a book, download it in minutes, and transfer it to my device. I do this many times a week. Nothing to it. I currently have 12 books on my MP3 player downloaded from Overdrive. And its legal. DRM protects authors’ and publishers’ work and rights, and that is how it should be.
EricW
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmYep, that’s pretty much how it happened to ME, too.
Jennifer
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 pmPrior to the ascendancy of Overdrive, several public libraries were experimenting with loaning out iPod Shuffles preloaded with audiobooks - a much saner way to do it, and at a much lower cost to the library (and therefore to the public). Sadly, all the libraries that I know of that were previously doing this have moved like lemmings to Overdrive. There are also some loaning out Playaways, which are single-audiobook devices - subpar audio quality, but easy operation and long battery life compared with an iPod. (Also less subject to theft.) But the library loaner-iPod idea has gone away, as far as I know.
I completely agree with Crosbie Fitch’s assessment that Overdrive exists to make digital files behave like paperbacks, complete with limited “checkout” period. And that it makes absolutely no sense. I don’t blame libraries, or even Overdrive (though they could do a better job with their software); it’s the publishers who insist on these conditions for distributing digital audiobooks through public libraries, because they are so afraid of losing income. I hope one day they wake up and realize the potential inherent in improving access to their content, rather than putting barriers in the way.
Allen
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmYou missed a step. After doing all the downloading and upgrading—find out the file won’t play on your device.
Dan
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmthis is so true… if is responsible for promoting piracy it’s the record labels themselves. DRM that sucks that frustrates people, outlandish prices, and just plain a-holes that you refuse to give money to.
Don Johnson
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmVery true
No DRM DRM - simple as that. It doesn’t protect artists’ work, all it does is prevent or obstruct legitimate customers from accessing content.
As for Bittorent being a minefield it’s not in the slightest, one click of a magnet link and the download starts automatically. I’ve used bittorrent to download terabytes of data over the last decade of so and not once have I caught a virus or malware from any download
Matt Knowlton
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmCongrats on getting Lifehackered Brad.
Definitely agree, DRM model is broken especially if it requires everyday users to install things they don’t know anything about. When the complex fails, simplicity will always win.
hobs
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmFor everyone bitching about torrents being so hard, first of all, you suck at the internet.
Second of all, there are numerous sources of “free” material that do not require bt. People still use crappy filesharing methods like kazaa and limewire.
I like grabit and a usenet account.
Others like various dc++ hubs.
Yet others do the ddl approach, and try to avoid what annoying fake rars and other bs may come.
And yet still others go to other various darknet approaches to getting this content.
Anyway you slice it, this is far from pathological to optimal. Pathological case is Sony installing their rootkits on your computer and you becoming a part of a botnet because of it.
Fuck you DRM.
doctorwhofan
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmAlthough this may not be everybody’s cup of tea…
It is very nice to know that not all publishing houses are greed-driven, stark raven DRM mad. It may not be free, but for the price of a simple online purchase or subscription you get no-hassle, DRM-free downloads that are playable on any mp3 compatible device. You can access the downloads from anywhere in the world with an internet connection at any time you like and the downloads are non-expiring with no limit on the number of times you can download, so you can build up a nice little online library if you so choose. Plus you automatically get free access to a whole bunch of cool bonuses and extras. I wish every company were this consumer-aware!
http://www.bigfinish.com/
Oh, and I was told you CAN get a refund!
Dan Hughes
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmI think you may have missed a couple of steps
1) Sign up for 15 different eBook / Music / Movies sites and download and install their plugin /software b/c obviously you can’t just shop them from a web browser or without a username.
2) Search though all the different stores until find one that sells the thing you’re looking for.
3) Search through all the other stores b/c Digital content pricing is entirely fricken random and you don’t want to over pay.
4) Start the download and realize that b/c your movie has been encoded with some crappy / closed source encoder the file size is at least 2x larger than it really needed.
5) Because Akamai has convinced all the major content distributors that P2P is crap, you’re now an hour-and-a-half into your download and only about 75% complete.
6) With all that time you wasted finding, buying and downloading you try to move your stuff onto a portable device.
7) You’re screwed.
8) Ask for a refund? Heck no… you can’t get your money back on a digital download… that’s just crazy talk.
lfb001
March 4, 2010 at 1:00 pmOverDrive works well for me. My only issues are
* Small selection
* Number of copies available for download.