MrKniceGuy.com

Category: DRM

  • DRM – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    DRM isn’t a new term, but it sure has been gaining popularity as of late. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and to put it simply, it is the tool that manages how an end user accesses digital content. DRM takes on many different forms; from encryption, to license checks over the internet, to limiting the number of installations. When a user encrypts their data, they are employing a form of digital rights management (something you should be happy you are able to do!). An encrypted DVD is using DRM to prevent illegal copies from being made without permission. Or a video game technology with empty blocks used to prevent duplication.

    ServerDRM usually has a bad reputation, and to be honest, it’s earned it fair and square. Seasons of DRM content becoming unavailable due to a management server being shut down, or rootkits employed on CDs to prevent distribution have plagued users since the inception of DRM. And DRM is in a constant struggle over controlling digital media that is quite easy to copy and distribute (commonly called “pirating” media). There is a very real tension between trying to make content easy to access, but not too easy.

    Book publishers are in the midst of learning how to distribute digital media right now. Amazon has a pretty heavy-handed DRM approach to books, but users don’t have a problem with it at all. Why? The make it incredibly easy to access their content. Most of the devices they sell  to use the content (like the Kindle) can get it anywhere they have a 3G connection. Amazon is also a huge company with arguably some of the best servers in the world.

    Music has had a rougher go of it. During the time span between 2006 and 2008 several major music distribution services shut down servers that allowed users to listen to the music they bought. Not being able to access music that users paid for was, to say the least, frustrating to honest consumers. The growing pains of DRM has caused many people to be bitter about the whole process.

    Movies have yet to settle on a good method, although some are trying to make access easy and long-term. Services like UtlraViolet, Amazon, Google Play and Apple iTunes allow access to movies and TV, albeit heavily tied to DRM.

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  • To Digital or Not To Digital – Musings on Mediums

    The buzz around the internet today regarding Xbox One and PS4 has me thinking more about this new age of downloading. It’s quickly becoming the prefered medium to obtain entertainment and tools. Just last week I downloaded  several ebooks to read on my Nexus 7, my prefered reading platform. On Saturday I streamed 3 new albums to my Galaxy Nexus via Google Play Music All Access while I mowing the lawn (by the way, the new August Burns Red is awesome). And in the last week, I’ve watched a ton of new stuff via Amazon Prime, YouTube, and other options.

    The last time I bought a CD was sometime in 2009. The last time I bought a film on disc was a year before that. I still buy physical books, but only reference pieces that I want on the shelf. And many of those I have digital forms that are searchable, which I honestly use more often.

    Microwaved-DVDSo today I’m thinking about all this as it relates to video games. I love video games. I’ve been playing the for close to 30 years now. I’ve had floppies, carts, CDs, DVDs and now… digital downloads of games I’ve loved to play. So what does the future hold for video games in relation to the trends we’re seeing in music, movies and books?

    I believe the future of digital is download. Who likes going to the store to buy a piece of digital content stored on a disc, when you can download it while you make a sandwich? Especially if you can purchase it for less than the hard copy available at the retailer? The last time I was at my local Gamestop they were terribly understaffed and overstocked with junk games. It really wasn’t a very pleasant experience overall. Who wants to deal with that?

    And the trends of the digital age are easily tracked. Nearly 3 years ago CNet was commenting on the trend in regards to PC games. And it hasn’t slowed down.

    Just look at the promotional material after the PS4 reveal. How many clips show people going to the store to buy a game? None. They’re all using their devices to download.  And Xbox is offering all their titles with digital download options as well as some disc based options (both systems have chosen to go with Blu-ray as their physical media of choice). But they’re both touting the age of downloads. And that’s because it’s the way of the future.

    But some may ask, what about “ownership.” Disc ownership is something that Sony mentioned was a benefit to the new Playstation. The reality is that people don’t really care anymore. The trends of “ownership” to licensed content is obvious, especially in the age of Netflix and Spotify. Millennials especially don’t really care about the ownership of things, they just want the easy access. Apple sought to provide this with the introduction of iTunes Radio on Monday and to compete with Spotify and Google’s All Access. No ownership here, just convenient access… for a fee.

    I actually think Microsoft is seeing this trend. They’re making ways to actually share and trade digital content on the new Xbox One (if the publisher allows it), something you can’t do many other places and nowhere in video games. That’s actually a more liberal approach to digital content than we’ve ever seen on a console before. Trade and sell digital downloads? Amazing! While the method may not be perfect, I think they’ve thought about this a lot more than they’re getting credit for.

    Whether the next generation of consoles can keep up with the digital trends or not remains to be seen. Either way it appears that the medium shift is in full swing, and here to stay. Hopefully, the consumer comes out on top.

  • Xbox One vs PS4 – A Few Thoughts

    Just in case you’re living in a cave, the first day of E3 2013 was yesterday. Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft and Sony all talked about upcoming games. But everyone was really looking at Microsoft and Sony to see what the next generation of gaming consoles was going to look like.

    PlayStation 4Microsoft has had an uphill battle as of late due to some decisions they’ve made regarding content licensing. They’ve taken heat for it and everyone was very curious how Sony would respond in their press conference in the evening. With a once-per-24 hour check on the Xbox One, gamers wanted to know how Sony would respond. Sony knew it too, so they were very clear on stating that disc based games could be traded, sold and loaned to friends, and would have no online checks. (This remains to be seen if publisher add their own licensing schemes as they have done in the past).

    The announcement was met by a loud applause from the audience and the internets blew up stating that PS4 had “won” and that gamers were heard. I was one of those people, quickly stating that “that was what gamers wanted.” But then I thought about it more…

    Xbox OneMicrosoft has worked hard at building an environment for the gamer. Xbox Live blows the existing PS3 online experience out of the water. Want to play with friends? They’re on Xbox, because it’s the place that supports an amazing online gaming experience. They make it easy and despite only a few hiccups over the years, is online when you want it. Sony’s network has had some issues along the way.

    But the real difference here is much harder to see. My wife reminded me of the shift in mediums, something we’ve talked about here before. More and more content is being offered in a non-physical media style, and we like it. Look at where we are with music, TV books, and movies. People stream or download as a prefered way of accessing content. To be honest, I would much rather download anything digital than go buy it on a physical medium in a store. Google Play All Access is the best service I’ve used in recent years. I absolutely love it.  And with either Netflix or Amazon Prime there’s a wealth of shows just a click away.

    And I believe that is where Microsoft is coming with the new system. 24 hour license checks are actually very generous when it comes to a digital distribution system like this. With a gaming library stored in the cloud, the ability to access your diskless game library as you need it really is the way of the future. Convenience has a has a price though. If you don’t want digital access to your games library, then (some) of the PS4 titles will fit the bill. If you want access and convenience it’s going to be nearly impossible to beat Microsoft’s approach. Microsoft has promised 300,000 servers online to make this digital access as smooth as possible.

    Xbox One will release at $499 while the PS4 will release at $399. The major difference here is the PS4 doesn’t have the camera bundled and costs another $59 while the Xbox One comes with the Kinect 2.0 system. In reality, the costs of the systems are really quite close. It’s going to come down to convenience. Do you like having access to your games from any Xbox One? Or do you want to be able to sell your used (disc based) game on eBay?

    The console race is far from over. I’m waiting to see how Microsoft handles the “Family Library” feature down the road. This is one of the features, and future thinking, that still has me very interested in where Microsoft is driving this bus. Sony made its move last night. The ball is back in Microsoft’s court for now.