inportb

I bought a bunch of DVD’s last night at the video store. When I tried playing them on my computer, I found every one of them unwatchable. Naturally, I was concerned about the health of my DVD drive, but it was able to play some other videos just fine. Then it hit me that the discs that I just bought were intentionally corrupted for copy-protection. So I took the defective discs back to the store for a refund; but the employees noted that the packages were opened, alledged that I had copied the discs, and refused to accept the products. Now I’m sitting at home with a bunch of broken discs that I’d wasted good money on. Would the next logical step be to circumvent the copy-protection and generate clean, watchable copies? Perhaps it would save time in the future to visit the bay for pre-cracked videos rather than the store for defective merchandise.

It’s perfectly reasonable to spend money on videos and encourage the production of more high-quality products, but I love how DRM (digital rights management) is forcing lawful individuals into shady dealings. When someone buys an item, he/she expects it to work and has the right to use it in any way. DRM violates that right and often trashes an otherwise-fine product. It treats legitimate customers as pirates and stomps on the work of artists. Meanwhile, the real pirates continue to traffic their warez. Isn’t it time people realized that DRM doesn’t work?

A few hours later: I now have DRM-free copies and a bunch of shiny-new coasters. Yay?