Video and the web go together like oil and water. Users want simple, accessible video on all their devices. Providers want.. well, money, lots of it, and historically they’ve been unwilling to budge.
Well, the working group determined to create a consumer-friendly media network finally has a name and a logo. The name is UltraViolet, and the group, comprised of big names such as Microsoft, TimeWarner, Sony and Intel are hoping that by 2011 their product will be on computers and in living rooms around the world.
The group, also known as the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (or DECE) is missing two important players. Apple and Disney is creating its own content DRM system called Keychest.
It’s been said before, and I feel almost redundant saying it once more, but apparently it’s necessary: DRM systems by their very nature are bound to fail. Customers do not want DRM, which alone is enough to doom it for certain, but even if they could be persuaded to overlook the downsides of DRM, there is no system that would guarantee protection of audio or video files.
These groups should save their time, energy and money and simply drop the price of content to a more affordable cost. The one thing guaranteed to reduce piracy is making it simply not worth the time for the average consumer.
