Comments on: DRM: Why Apple Has it Wrong http://www.geekactivism.com/2006/06/23/drm-why-apple-has-it-wrong/ A little activism, a lot of geek. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:36:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Devanshu http://www.geekactivism.com/2006/06/23/drm-why-apple-has-it-wrong/#comment-1239 Devanshu Tue, 25 Jul 2006 19:32:56 +0000 http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/06/23/drm-why-apple-has-it-wrong/#comment-1239 Well said, illovich- the free market is great when it exists and is truly free, with a level playing field. If the game is fixed, there is no free market. Well said, illovich- the free market is great when it exists and is truly free, with a level playing field. If the game is fixed, there is no free market.

]]> By: illovich http://www.geekactivism.com/2006/06/23/drm-why-apple-has-it-wrong/#comment-1232 illovich Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:51:34 +0000 http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/06/23/drm-why-apple-has-it-wrong/#comment-1232 The simple rebuttal to the market-knows-best argument is the very real situation with DVDs as the current majority format for video distribution. They can't be backed up, you can't take a screenshot of them on your computer, you can't save clips for academic use -- but somehow the market selected them as an acceptable replacement for VHS tapes. But the sting is that the market did not select them, rather the industry decided to stop selling the old format -- using a fade in/out strategy where suddenly the video rental places and stores didn't' carry VHS anymore, and no new VHS tapes were released. There is no free market when it comes to this stuff, because the market is essentially what, 3 companies? The simple rebuttal to the market-knows-best argument is the very real situation with DVDs as the current majority format for video distribution. They can’t be backed up, you can’t take a screenshot of them on your computer, you can’t save clips for academic use — but somehow the market selected them as an acceptable replacement for VHS tapes.

But the sting is that the market did not select them, rather the industry decided to stop selling the old format — using a fade in/out strategy where suddenly the video rental places and stores didn’t’ carry VHS anymore, and no new VHS tapes were released.

There is no free market when it comes to this stuff, because the market is essentially what, 3 companies?

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