Hollywood Finally Set to Allow "Buy Once, Watch Anywhere'?
The New York Times is reporting that one of the holy grails of digital media, the ability to buy a piece of content like a movie once and watch it on all your devices, from iPhone to iPod to Apple TV to Xbox 360 to PS3 to PC might actually be coming our way via the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE). Currently 5 major studios including Warners, NBC Universal, Sony, Paramount, and Fox (but not Disney) are working on DECE with Microsoft, Cisco, Comcast, Intel and Best Buy, and are set to add Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Netflix, Tesco, Cox Communications, Liberty Global and others (but not Apple) to the list.
Under the proposed system, proof of digital purchases would be stored online in a so-called rights locker, and consumers would be permitted to play the movies they bought or rented on any DECE-compatible device.
So, for example, business travelers might find that their hotel room television could tap into their personal movie collections. Consumers could buy Blu-ray discs and have digital copies of those films accessible from all of their devices, even their mobile phones. And a PC maker could customize a new laptop for buyers by loading it with all their movies and shows — and eventually even their video games and e-books.
So what's with Disney and Apple, who coincidentally share Steve Jobs on their Boards of Directors?
Disney is still a holdout. It is advocating a similar plan called KeyChest, which analysts say it may introduce working with Apple. A Disney spokesman said the company would give an early look at its rival technology at C.E.S.
"Buy once play anywhere" should have been the deal all along. So, whoever gives it to us -- give it to us!
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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The biggest barrier to "play anywhere" is the movie studios themselves. Always wanting more DRM and a bigger paycheck. Scrap the DRM, or many of us will just continue to rip movies the way we want - DRM free.
Does this sound to anyone like the latest pi££ing contest which eventually ends up buggering us lot?
VHS vs Betamax HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray anyone else care to add to the list?
The problem with the concept of a "rights locker" is that the locker can and does go offline. Yahoo, Walmart and MSN all tried in 2008 turning off their music DRM servers ("rights lockers" in this Newspeak), after just a couple of years running, leaving customers without the ability to play the content they legitimately purchased on ANY device.
Yahoo eventually offered customers coupons for music on Real's service, while Walmart and MSN reversed their decisions, but only after massive customer outcry. That is the fundamental problem these management schemes can never address -- there is no guarantee these services will remain up a year from now, just as there is no guarantee any of the servers will be up and running at the moment you need authorization.
This "buy once play anywhere" management scheme just defers the consumer pain for a short while (~2 years in the case of MSN music), but it still treats legitimate customers as criminals, and presents a raw deal to them.
Gee, does this mean they'll finally do away with DVD region coding, too?
I'll believe it when I see it.
fassy nailed it on the head. The music industry finally realized (probably too late) that DRM is waste of time and money. Too bad the Movie Studios failed to learn the same lesson. The model of selling the same content to the same person multiple times is no longer going to work. Just give your customers access to what they purchased, preferably at a reasonable price, and people won't feel the need to download ripped copies for free.
I guess the movie companies are finally realizing that if they want folks to shell out money for over priced stuff, the products need to be as easy to use as a free pirated copy.
Ultimately, a consumer should be able to put a DVD in their computer and burn a copy of a movie purhased online or rip a copy to their media application of choice...and it shouldn't be a hassle! I look forward to the day when both of these things are natively possible in iTunes the way they are with music.
I bought a copy for my own personal use. How is it any business of studio, distributer, or label what device I copy it to as long as I'm not selling it or preventing someone else from purchasing their own copy?
Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!
I'm sure this will all come at a higher price to all of us, the consumers.
How nice would it be to be able to download a movie once, be able to transfer it to my Apple TV, iPhone, maybe make a copy for my car, all natively from iTunes, and not have to shop for a DVD, but have all these "iTunes Extras" included? That's the world I want to one day live in...
People, download handbrake and vlc, and voilà! Enjoy your DVDs on any device anytime!
I agree the official support for this in iTunes would be great, but for now, this is a great workaround.
Interesting piece on this on techdirt http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100104/1540217600.shtml
Well, the problem with this is that it plays anywhere EXCEPT the 7,000 devices you already own that aren't DECE compatible. Three words: playsforsure.
Umm NO, just ELIMINATE all the freakin' DRM already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These content holders are not going to do this for free. Can you imagine how much more they will charge you for this enhanced capability.
While all the major labels are agreeing on a unifyed system, Jobs just has to be different. If this/these systems were made easy to use and affordable, I might be more willing to pay fir video.
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Depends on your budget! Your best bet is to ask her either to pretend to be buying for your sister (?) or tell her straight i would prefer to chose my own watch or point some out in catalogue to give my guy an idea what I like and also what i hate.
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why not get a nice USB flash drive? They’ll last years (unlike floppies), and they can be rewritten, unlike most CDs.