To all the people who reflexively decry Digital Rights Management as evil (you know who you are Benabooey), how exactly do you propose that a movie rental service like Apple's be administered?
The low price ($2.99) can only be justified if the rental is controlled, and doesn't involve purchase. Please explain how you would accomplish this feat without DRM? Give examples.
Memo to cretins who think DRM is evil: you obviously don't create anything and do not understand the value of creative output.
So, how many rentals until breakeven?
Posted by: ANP on January 15, 2008 9:03 PM
Have you got some proof for that assertion? I hope it takes into account not only this DVD being sold for $3.99:
http://www.amazon.com/Strike-Force-Don-Blakely/dp/B00013NEJA/
but also the hundred or so Warner Bros. DVDs being sold down the street from me at 699 yen (about $5-7, depending on the current exchange rate). And of course the thousand or so beyond that selling for 999 yen. This has been going on for years.
Posted by: Curt Sampson on January 15, 2008 9:32 PM
I'm all for open source and such, but I have always sat in the nicely manicured lawn inside the drm fence. unlike the music biz, where artists can make more money through live shows than pressed content, the same does not hold true for the video business. I'm with you, I'm having trouble seeing a business model without drm. What are movies only going to make money off advertising?
Posted by: Jonathan Kind on January 16, 2008 6:25 AM
allow me to clarify my position:
> music DSM is a no-no. i want to buy a song and play it whenever, wherever. i bought it, i own it. that means on any of my PCs or portables or media servers, you name it. when i was young and bought CDs, i didn't need to buy 2, one for the car and one for the house.. it's just bytes and i want my bytes with me wherever i may be.
> movies are a different game. i'd prefer to own them and watch them, like music, anywhere. my laptop, my tv, etc. rentals are a stickier proposition, so i guess i'd go with some sort of protection there.. quite frankly, i think the whole thing will move to an on demand model, i dont care for the rental business.. and at these prices, they are ensuring i buy lots of DVDs.
Posted by: benbabooey on January 18, 2008 5:16 PM
seth godin had a good idea, much lower prices:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/01/how-much-for-di.html
Posted by: ben on January 21, 2008 9:10 AM
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