MLB's Latest Efforts To Screw Fans: All That Content You Bought? Gone, Thanks To DRM Change
from the swing-and-a-miss dept
It's really amazing how far Major League Baseball goes towards pissing off its fans. From trying to limit fantasy sports by insisting that MLB owns facts, to deleting fan websites, to trying to stop fans from using a Sling Box to watch games, to the ridiculous blackout policies that stop fans from watching games, to the decision last year to prevent certain TV providers from showing Major League Baseball, it just seems like the sports actively tries to antagonize some of its biggest fans. The latest may be the most ridiculous. MLB.com was certainly a pioneer in offering video online, including the ability to purchase and download videos of games. Like so many content companies, MLB.com falsely believed that it needed to wrap the content in copy protection software. However, as read tijir alerts us to, the DRM that MLB chose involved having the content always check in with an MLB.com server to make sure it could be played. That's just dandy... until MLB.com changes its DRM provider and takes down the old authorization server. At that point all of the content everyone had purchased becomes totally useless. True to its fan-unfriendly nature, MLB.com's response has basically been "tough cookies." Specifically, a representative from MLB.com claims that since the products were "one-time sales" there are no refunds. Of course, if they were one-time sales... then why do they need to get approval from MLB.com every time they want to play? They're clearly not one-time sales. The sale was for a service -- which included regular authorization to play the content. MLB has now failed to live up to their end of the deal and should provide at least some kind of refund.
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MLB has a lot of money
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Re: MLB has a lot of money
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Re: Re: MLB has a lot of money
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You know you're a fan when
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Re: You know you're a fan when
No sh!t.
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Stopped watching baseball after the strike of 94
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Easy fix
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The Further Incredulous Adventures of Brainless B
As long as Brainless Bud is calling the shots, continue to expect more utter stupidity.
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There's still such a thing a baseball
Between steroids, Bonds and DRM why would I want to.
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There's still such a thing a baseball
Between steroids, Bonds and DRM why would I want to.
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MLB moving on thin ice.
sure it was perhaps not the wisest thing for folks to "trust" MLB and buy its' DRM'd content
however
they did and that's the point - they held up their end of the deal by paying up and agreeing to abide by the idiotic drm rules. why should MLB get a pass and not have to continue to hold up their end of the deal and provide said content ?
A fat class action lawsuit might go a long way to waking up the bozos in mlb.
....
but somehow, I doubt it ...
*sigh.*
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Re: MLB moving on thin ice.
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As for the poster above who accidently said "crook" when he meant lawyer...so if anyone does anything to you, the first person you will run to won't be a "crook" to defend your rights?
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blaaah
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the true american pastime
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The fools that pay for DRM'd stuff deserve what th
The fools that pay for DRM'd stuff deserve what they get and are too stupid to notice that they got F**** anyway
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Baseball
Used to watch baseball on TV. Even went and bought tickets for the kids and drove to Atlanta to the stadium to watch (and buy snacks and souvenirs) in person.
Until they went on strike.
Never watched a game since. Don't even know who the teams are today.
Like they say, "fool me once...."
Thanks Big baseball for showing me your colors more than a decade ago; you saved me a lot of money.
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Not the only place this happens
I was at a restaurant yesterday, which i visit often. And because there was a misunderstanding last time and i got a beef soup instead of lamb, this time they offered me a nice salad for my meal free of charge.
This is even a really cheap restaurant, and if they make much more than around 2$ off me every time i come, then that would surprise me.
If they where owned by MLB, the chef would come out personally , take a dump in my soup, and still smile.
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Funny...
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DRM Is Worse than You Think
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NY Times Article - Nov. 7, 2007
While this could be considered a "success" since MLB will now provide an "upgrade", it nevertheless points to continued ongoing efforts by corporations to use underhanded tactics to screw their customers. Fortunately, the web, through forums such as this, allows customers to quickly protest.
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