Just as music was ready to flow freely from iTunes, with all of the DRM stripped away (and offering suckers who already had DRM-coded files to pay extra to free them), entertainment companies now want to add the thorny little copy protections to movies/DVD’s, presumably so they don’t have to go through the same headaches they did with… iTunes and Apple!
So far, the sheer size of movie files has stopped them from being as easily and readily traded as music has been online but as technology catches up and faster connections are offered to consumers, the gate-keepers realize that this is gonna become a big problem. The question is, will DRM help these companies lock in consumers and make them buy the movies through Apple or other online services?
The answer is that if movies are locked down in stupid, confusing, frustrating ways (the way way that digital music has been), consumers are going to find non-sanctioned ways to get the goodies. Given the entertainment industry’s track record in the digital age, we can count on them to keep doing the wrong thing and provide good cautionary examples for future generations.