Blogging Ottinger (tim)

Apologies: This has been reported as a hoax.

People are talking about the new microsoft single-play DVDin such glowing words as:

The discs would give Hollywood increased control over the release of new films and allow consumers the
chance to watch a film at the fraction of the price of an ordinary pre-recorded DVD. More important, the
discs would prevent copying and digital piracy, which is costing the film and music industry billions in
lost revenues.

So the world needs more control by the MPAA?
Consumers want fewer options for the the content they buy?

We already know some of the problems that are common in the movie industry. Let’s not even focus on those. Let’s pretend that the movies are fine and that there is a piracy problem that eats into profitability. And let’s not even bring up legality, because the whole piracy thing is really a stalking horse for increased movie industry control. Everytime they want to raise prices, squeeze the consumer a little more, pass an oppressive law, it is always to “help the consumer by fighting piracy.” I don’t buy it. Piracy is how some consumers route around obstructive structures and prices. We need to recognize that, even while condemning it.

We need to look at piracy as a symptom of a more important disease. The movie industry is reluctant, but is easily capable of making movies available to consumers at a very low price (as some consumers are doing for other consumers, illegally and apparently without personal profit — “as a favor”). Hobbyists are using modern technology that the industry is afraid to embrace, because the industry doesn’t want to admit that they’re charging outrageous prices and that they don’t have control. The movie industry distributes its products in the least desirable way, with the least amount of consumer freedom. They are very close to making themselves irrelevant to the market.

The market is a bit fed up with the fact that we don’t already have “the chance to watch a film at the fraction of the price”, when we can pick up old movies and DVDs in a cardboard wrapper for $1.00 at the local WalMart. Why in the world are we paying up to $25.00 for a new movie? Is it really 25 times easier/cheaper to rerelease old plastic film movies on DVD than to release new, digitally-mastered ones?

Isn’t it a shame that it takes new dvd players with special controls to play new dvd formats to save us money? Are the new single-use DVDs that much cheaper to make than the sub-$1.00 duplicates being made now? If not, then there is a lot of opportunity for discounts in the prices for standard, multi-play DVDs.

And who wants to go out and buy new DVD players? I got mine because VHS was dying, because DVD is clearer, because DVDs last longer, and because I like the compactness of the DVD format v VHS. It was not because I like buying new appliances. Why would we want to go out and buy new dvd players which will eat the one-time DVDs for us and limit our use of content? I don’t mind paying for an upgrade, but paying for downgrades is silly.

I guess if you’re Bill and could drop a few million to rent a honeymoon island, it seems funny to carp about a few hundred dollars for a PC or DVD player. But I’m from Indiana, and my money matters rather a lot to me.

I guess we’re supposed to think that they can “afford” to give us lower-price DVDs only if they expend additional effort on their part to make them practically useless to us. Are DRM and single-use DVDs supposed to make us feel more secure? It looks to me like they’re still pushing a pay-per-view agenda in a world that wants none of it.

Then we see this:

Microsoft hopes it will help the company dominate home entertainment as it dominates the
desktop computer market.

Microsoft wants its DRM software to be the industry standard, giving it dominance of the server
market, and the telecoms and cable companies that need to store and manage their video-on-demand
services.

Oh, of course they do. Everybody wants to rule the world. Here is the dream of yet another standard that everyone has to follow, entirely owned by a single, monied, commercial interest. Something patented that movie vendors have to license in order to continue to sell movies, and that player manufacturers have to follow to be compatible with the common media. All this and per-view pricing on “cheaper” video discs (that cost more to make)?

Tell me that this is a positive force that will create a more efficient flow of goods to the market in response to market needs, and I’ll sell you my collection of all the world’s bridges. This is about bloated major corporations making the little guy (over)pay for entertainment options that they don’t even need. As usual.

We want our corporations to serve consumers in the market, not on a spit.