MovieLink Baby Steps

Ars is reporting that Movielink has inked a deal with Sonic Solutions (makers of the Roxio burning software) to allow its users to burn downloaded movies to DVD.

Supposedly, the burning will be scrambled with DRM, but I haven’t been able to find technical details on how that’s supposed to work. My understanding is that the reason commercial DVDs can’t be duplicated is that the encryption keys are normally stored on a part of the disk that ordinary consumer burners can’t write. It’s not clear to me how you make a burned disk that can’t be duplicated.

In any event, I think Ars’s take on the subject is spot on:

The focus on DRM is starting to look downright silly. The Wall Street Journal reports that “many studios worry consumers will find new ways to pirate their products with downloadable DVDs, even though Sonic says the discs will be secure.” But it’s not as if normal DVDs are unrippable, and there’s no shortage of other illegal ways to gain access to the latest and greatest from Hollywood, if your dedication to Jolly Roger is strong enough…

You’d think that the movie industry would take a cue from its musical cousin, where anybody can rip MP3s from most any CD in her collection, and people still buy songs through iTMS and its brethren. Not to mention the relatively easy access to illegal downloads. WSJ says that “getting the movies onto DVDs would help boost the online movie-sales business, which, despite years of effort, hasn’t taken off.” Make that “despite years of half-hearted and self-defeating effort,” and we’re good on that.

Memo to Hollywood: The people who are plunking down their hard-earned money for your products are not your enemy. You should be focusing on making your products more convenient for your paying customers, not worrying about whether you’ve thrown up enough roadblocks to their enjoying the product they’ve purchased.

SHARE: 2 comments