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Ghostbusters Is First Film Released On USB Key
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:46 PM
from the free-gozer dept.
from the free-gozer dept.
arcticstoat writes "Are you the USB keymaster? You could be soon if you pick up PNY's new 2GB USB flashdrive, which comes pre-loaded with Ghostbusters. A spokesperson for PNY explained that it comes with a form of DRM that prevents you from copying the movie. 'They have DRM protection,' explained the spokesperson, 'so customers can download the movie onto their laptop or PC if they wish, but they have to have the USB drive plugged in to watch the movie, as the DRM is locked in the USB drive.' The music industry has been playing around with USB flash drives for a few years now, but it hasn't been a massive success yet; will USB movies fare any better?"
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countdown (Score:5, Insightful)
Waiting to hear news that the movie's been unlocked in 3... 2... 1...
Re:countdown (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:5, Interesting)
Agreed. There is no chance this DRM will work. My question is what are they afraid of? Ghostbusters has been on the pirate bay since at least 2005. I'm sure it was on Limewire and Kazaa before that. If they are testing to see if this DRM will work, they already know the answer. It works OK for the non-technical folk, and has no chance in hell for the people who would actually want to buy a movie on USB stick (if it didn't have DRM, at least). This just seems like one of the most useless ideas Hollywood has had.
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:5, Funny)
This just seems like one of the most useless ideas Hollywood has had.
Hollywood made "Battlefield: Earth." This isn't even in the top ten, sorry buddy.
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:5, Interesting)
They're more interested in proving the principle of the thing than protecting this particular film. If it gets ripped, Hollywood isn't going to be as upset as they would be if, say, Quantum of Solace were ripped. If it doesn't get ripped, well, distributing Return of the Revenge of Batman in 2012 on a 32Gb SD card isn't going to seem so crazy.
The idea of tying digital copies to a particular storage device isn't new, and several parties have been trying to persuade Hollywood that this idea works for a while. HD DVD supported something called CPRM, where each writable disk could have embedded upon it, in an unwritable part of the disk, a key that copies could be tied to. The idea was that you'd (or a kiosk would) be able to download and burn to a disk an official, authorized, copy of a movie, that would be just as uncopyable as a regular AACS-controlled disk. This was an extension of attempts by the DVD Forum to make CPRM work with regular DVDs for some years, which looks set to be a part of the next revision of the DVD standard. You can imagine how attractive this is to studios who do not want to put hundreds of thousands of copies of low-interest content in stores around the world.
Likewise, the "SD" in "SD card" is about a similar system, and initially that was the major difference between SD cards and MMC cards, though the two standards have grown apart since in other ways.
Whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view to a certain extent, but what is clear is that Hollywood isn't planning on abandoning DRM any time soon. As a result, they're not going to adopt any form of writable media to store digital copies unless it has some kind of DRM system built-in. This is a step towards that goal.
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:5, Funny)
OK, so NO ONE crack it or rip it until it becomes standard.
Shhh, keep this on the down low.
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't readable media more the problem, since you can copy to another media? Writable media just means you can destroy it.
That's the purpose of the new WORN (Write Once, Read ? No.) standard. An elegant solution to the problem.
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I'm guessing they're just wanting to see what people will do. For that purpose, an already widely "pirated" film would be ideal.
The model of distributing the film on a USB key that serves as a DRM dongle is very curious. From a consumer point of view, this looks a lot like the way DVDs are supposed to work: the material is tied to the delivery vehicle. But -- you can also copy the movie to your hard disk, although it is still tied to the key. So, it's kind of an answer to iTunes, where you have a master key to your entire collection.
The USB format allows you to do kinds of cryptographic protections you couldn't do in a DVD. If the system requires Vista style DRM protections in the OS, then cracking the protection would be considerably harder as long as you can't just copy the file onto a hard disk. Allowing the user to copy the file to disk makes this a very interesting test. Clearly, this means that crackers will be able to put the entire DRM protocol under a microscope.
Maybe this is even what is intended.
There are a number of possible outcomes, all of which are interesting to a company that is evaluating a technology:
(1) The play from USB option is proven insecure.
(2) The play from disk option is proven insecure.
(3) One of [1,2], but not both.
(4) Both of [1,2], but sufficiently inconvenient to deter casual infringers.
etc.
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:5, Insightful)
Even without DRM, this is doomed to fail.
Why would one buy a movie in less than 2 GB quality on a device that costs dollars to produce instead of an 8.5 GB version on a storage device that costs pennies to produce?
And the latter being playable on computers and consumer devices, while the former needing not only a computer, but a certain operating system and special software?
Surely, the producers must know that this is doomed to fail, and only use it as another example to show the ignorant politicians that "See, we gave them more options, but they STILL pirate! Legislate, legislate!"
Parent
I unlocked the DRM!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:I unlocked the DRM!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:4, Funny)
Waiting to hear news that the movie's been unlocked in 3... 2... 1...
Good news for you...
Used copy of Ghost Busters: $5 - $10 or so
2GB Flash Drive: $15 - $20
DVD Shrink to strip out everything but the movie, compress enough to fit in 2GB, and save as an ISO image: Free
VLC Media Player [videolan.org] to play said ISO on Linux, BSD, Solaris, OS-X, BeOS, Windows, QNX (WTF is this?), or Syllable (WTF is this one as well?): Free
Purchasing an overpriced, DRMed version of a movie (that will most likely be playable only on a Windows box) just because it's sold on a Flash Drive?: Pointless
Parent
Re:countdown (Score:4, Informative)
This hasn't stopped my company from using them for licensing... Despite me demonstrating this.
Parent
No thanks, I like to own media and do what I want (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No thanks, I like to own media and do what I wa (Score:5, Funny)
Can't rip it, can't archive it, can't move it to my HDD without the dongle. And if the flash drive gets damaged, who you gonna call?
The pirate bay.
Parent
Re:No thanks, I like to own media and do what I wa (Score:4, Funny)
With apologies to Ray Parker, Jr.:
If there's D-R-M, on your movie now,
Who ya gonna call?
The Pirate Bay!
If the U-S-B, key just died,
Who ya gonna call?
The Pirate Bay!
dooodooodit doo dit do dit doo dit doooo dit doooo dit dooo dooo dit dododo
I ain't afraid of no cops.
dooodooodit doo dit do dit doo dit doooo dit doooo dit dooo dooo dit dododo
I ain't afraid of no cops.
Parent
Re:No thanks, I like to own media and do what I wa (Score:4, Informative)
> With apologies to Ray Parker, Jr.:
who in turn apologizes and makes a substantial payment to Huey Lewis for shamelessly ripping his tune off.
Parent
Re:No thanks, I like to own media and do what I wa (Score:5, Insightful)
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Denied (Score:5, Funny)
Aw. That's adorable.
"Go ahead and steal it", says spokesman (Score:5, Insightful)
You probably can't even get Ghostbusters down at your local "Three DVDs for $20" guy on the corner; his stock is all newer. Everybody who wants this movie already has it. I can't even imagine who they expect to sell it to, except as a novelty.
Presumably they're keeping an eye on how long it will take for the DRM to be broken. People will break it for the challenge and because they hate DRM, but it's like stealing cockroaches from my kitchen: you're welcome to it.
Some advice for users: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Some advice for users: (Score:5, Funny)
Windows would have been fine if dickless here hadn't shut off the main power grid.
Parent
How is this better than DVD? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How is this better than DVD? (Score:4, Insightful)
You can erase it and store actual information on it?
Parent
Oblig (Score:5, Funny)
If every file on my hard drive... (Score:5, Insightful)
...required me to keep possession of a USB-key-sized physical object in order to maintain access to it, then I calculate that I would need to keep about two thousand pounds of USB keys, which would be enough to fill approximately twenty desk drawers.
I guess it's not impossible on the face of it.
I could store them in shallow drawers, vertically, alphabetical order, with little P-touch labels on the end of each one.
Re:If every file on my hard drive... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Little Brother (Score:5, Informative)
This is insanity. I can download a copy of that stupid movie without Dumb Restrictions on Media from TPB, or I can just watch the tape I already paid for over ten years ago. Now, I'd buy the key with the movie pre-loaded, but to pay good money for crippleware when I can get a perfectly useable copy for free is just brain-dead stupid.
DRM doesn't affact copyright infringers whatsoever. It only inconvieniences paying customers. The only rational explanation for the MAFIAA's insanity is drugs - cocaine. It must be all the coke they're snorting/smoking/shooting that makes them behave like a bunch of thieving, distrusting, irrational crack whores.
I just started reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother [craphound.com] (HTML version linked; there are other formats here [craphound.com]), and its preface has something to say about the insanity that is DRM (I've abbreviated it a bit):
BTW, the 90's called.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Insightful)
and let me guess, requires windows visa with the latest service pack (DRM++)
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Informative)
Well apparently it works on Linux as well (As long as it has the right KERNAL)
From Argos.co.uk.
2GB storage.
Plug and play.
Compatible with Windows ME, 2008, XP, Mac OS, 8.6 and Higher, Linux, Kernal 2.4X and any operating system with a USB port.
Compatible with USB 1.1 and 2.0.
Size (H)2 (W)6.3 (D) 0.8cm.
Black USB pendrive.
Full length movie and link to argos website included.
Full installation guide included.
Although I guess that is wrong for the DRM stuff.
Tom...
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Insightful)
That can be easily fixed.
Get a 4 gig usb key instead, a DVD of ghostbusters and a copy of handbrake. (you will want to rip with settings that give you about 3.2gig because the film was created on very low grade film it cant be compressed hard without artifacts.)
rip the dvd to a OPEN unencumbered codec. place on USB key.
Voila. same thing in BETTER quality without the DRM and is compatible with most computers.
hey hollywood, until you offer me something that is NOT DRM encumbered I aint' buyin' it! I'll violate your copyright instead...
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Informative)
I thought that you were allowed by fair use to make copies for your personal use. You aren't violating copyright, since you purchased a DVD of Ghostbusters. The DMCA is another matter, though...
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Funny)
Duh! 500% _of_a_CPU_ on an 8-CPU machine...
Parent
Re:Just because you can do it... (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
We all make our choices. (Score:4, Interesting)
DRM, in this case, is a choice between DRM'd content and no content at all. I'd rather have DRM'd content than none.
I, on the other hand, would rather do with none than with DRM.
I made that choice when the DVDs supplanted videotape and didn't buy DVD movies - or buy or rent any movies at all - until after CSS was cracked and the movie industry gave up on their attempts to stuff that genie back into the bottle. No blu-ray players for me, either. Stopped buying CDs, too, when they started experimenting with the early computer-speaker-blowing "copy protection" that corrupted the data and depended on the error correction on players to recover the music (and thus corrupted it when you got real errors from a dirty disk) and never really got back into purchasing new music after that.
Never actually MADE a backup copy. And never downloaded a "pirated" song or movie, either. I just don't buy encumbered stuff.
Instead I found other ways to amuse myself. (For instance: The amazing number and variety of animals outside the place on the high desert put on a continuous show that's quite entertaining - especially when I flush the well and create a puddle that draws them in from miles around. And there's lots of amusement on the net that is not "pirated" copyrighted content.)
Interestingly, I don't really miss the corporate "content". Either the quality took a nosedive around that time or the product stopped matching my (quite broad) tastes. (Though from what I hear of some local bands it's more the former than the latter.)
We all make our choices.
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Insightful)
I would rather use the device and medium of my choosing without dongles.
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Funny)
What would you do if your girlfriend came up to you with that preference?
Ask to watch.
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:5, Funny)
But would you publish it without DRM?
Parent
Re:terrible idea (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Betamax vs. VHS (Score:5, Insightful)
Blue Ray won't "win" the format wars until they sell more than standard def DVDs
Parent
Re:Betamax vs. VHS (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno. USB keys have a far superior form factor, and the installed players need only have a USB port and whatever processing is needed to actually view the movie.
You could have media players smaller than a Nintendo Wii, far better future compatibility (both the players and the disks are likely to be backwards compatible in a way that either could work with the other for quite some time)
The media is far less susceptible to scratching, impact, and even heat and chemicals: I've put USB sticks through the washer AND drier and what came out has worked perfectly for over five years.
It's also more portable. You can grab a handful of films and stick 'em in your back pocket before visiting friends (so they're also likely to be lost easily.. a big win for Hollywood!)
The only drawbacks are capacity at the moment (it's not anywhere near as cheap as optical disk. Although I wonder how expensive 30GB mask roms would be for a print run the size of a typical hollywood film (if anyone was making mask rom of anywhere near that size, that is)) and DRM: a usb stick can have active crypto circuitry, which really changes the game quite significantly.
Parent
USB scratch remover (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:One positive (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:correction (Score:5, Insightful)
The industry is looking to set a record on longest lived DRM scheme. Everyone has this already, so no one will need to crack it, and a presentation will go to a CEO somewhere about this new scheme that has not been broken in over a week.
Parent
Re:DRM? laughable (Score:5, Funny)
And this is why Windows is fine for nerds and hobbyists, but not ready for the mainstream desktop.
Parent
Re:HAHAHAHAHAHA! (Score:5, Insightful)
As I can't fathom cocaine users, I asked a crack whore why she thought the coke shooters running the movie studios would do this.
"Sure, I'll tell you, but it'll cost you twenty dollars".
"Twenty dollars??? Sorry, babe, I'll buy you a double cheeseburger at McDonalds, how's that?"
"OK, that'll do. See, they want this to FAIL and fail hard. They're doing this to prove that the concept is unworkable."
"Ok, I'll take you to McDonalds now."
"Man, I ain't goin' nowhere, I'm tweakin', dude. Just go get the burger, it's for my dog anyway, I'm not hungry. OK?"
Parent