Apple scorns new "digital files play anywhere" standard, DECE
By Matt Jansen
Downloading video from the Internet has become the norm, especially with sites like Netflix and Hulu making it so easy. That has some industry players worried because they see the potential for DVD sales to plummet, creating an echo of the music industry crash. To combat that, a consortium of companies wants to make digital downloads of content playable on almost any device, but Apple wants no part of it.
Imagine that, with the largest piece of legal music downloads out there wrapped around its finger, and a large swath of users accessing its video downloads too, Apple doesn’t want to support the new Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE). Of course, if the consortium wanted to further develop and market fairplay, Apple would certainly be paying attention then.
But as it stands, Apple is in a unique position where it has endeared itself to the majority of consumers by providing music ownership for a low price that plays on a device with sprawling popularity, the iPod.
The video industry is realizing now how much power Apple has, and to re-establish the line of command, most major players are willing to stream their content to a variety of digital devices.
DECE promises to “let consumers buy movies and other digital content once and play them almost anywhere, on any type of device, without the onerous restrictions that have hobbled the growth of digital downloads,” according to Business Week.
Members of the consortium include Sony, Cisco Systems, Philips Electronics, Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard. Those founding members are working with all of the major Hollywood studios to make their standard a reality.
Microsoft tried a similar initiative a couple of years ago with its Playsforsure project, but that failed when the company’s own Zune players failed to adopt the standard.
The video industry is very focused on avoiding the disaster the music industry has encountered and it hopes that by making its content more open, consumers will be less tempted to pirate.
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Stumble It!
September 16th, 2008
Yet another DRM for everything atempt, failed once it will fail again, no sorprise Apple is not interested.
September 16th, 2008
Its all about the cash, if theres DRM, there will always be pirates, you cannot stop it. Pirates do not suffer, its the consumer, and these companies will pull anythign to milk them. Aarrr!