Heads-up: MLB downloaded games DRM scam

[twoBshorty]

Apparently, MLB changed their DRM platform this year, didn't tell anybody, and consequently anybody who bought a game before 2007 can't get the licensing to work in order to watch their own product, even though MLB's website claims you only have to download it once and it'll work forever. Yeah, not so much. People who complained about this were initially told they were SOL and there were no refunds; they would simply have to buy the games again. Which I'm not sure is even legal. How can you take away a product someone legally bought and make them buy it again? MLB just loves their fans.

Anyway, this issue has apparently been percolating for several months, as detailed by this blogger:

http://joyofsox.blogspot.com/2007/11/mlb-game-downloads-still-inaccessible.html

He started raising a huge stink about it yesterday and the news started spreading, as many customers (myself included, though I hadn't even bothered to check my downloaded games in awhile until I read about this) were out a not-insignificant sum of cash that was basically wasting space on their hard drives. It apparently spread to enough websites that MLB finally decided today to stop telling people they were out of luck and held a conference call with the blogger:

http://joyofsox.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-conference-call-with-mlb.html

The long and short of it is: if you downloaded games before 2007, look out for an e-mail from MLB. They are apparently going to send out a link to let you re-download everything on the new DRM platform for free.

I think the end result of this is going to be people realizing that those who bought games legally got screwed, so more people will get games illegally and MLB will once again shoot itself in the foot. But I'm amazed that one blogger was able to get this ball rolling. I want my games back!

[DrungoHazewood]

Which I'm not sure is even legal. How can you take away a product someone legally bought and make them buy it again? MLB just loves their fans.

Isn't that, more-or-less, the entire basis of the music industry? And for that matter, Hollywood? There have to be people who've bought albums and movies at least five or six times over just trying to keep ahead of format obsolescence and DRM restrictions.

The MLB case is especially harsh and ridiculous. Although I guess they haven't started suing their fans yet.

I'm convinced that in 10 or 15 years we'll look back at DRM like I look at those Commodore 64 copy-protection schemes that made your old 5.25" floppy drive make strange and unnatural noises and then die prematurely. The content providers will eventually get their aircraft carrier of an industry turned around, or they'll die.

[RShack]

Which I'm not sure is even legal. How can you take away a product someone legally bought and make them buy it again? MLB just loves their fans.

Isn't that, more-or-less, the entire basis of the music industry? And for that matter, Hollywood?

Exactly right. There was a time when neither Congress nor the Supreme Court would tolerate this crap. Both of them said, "Nope. Citizens have rights, fair is fair. If they bought something, they can make copies of it for their personal use. You can't interfere with that." Too bad it's not that way any more.

[DrungoHazewood]

Exactly right. There was a time when neither Congress nor the Supreme Court would tolerate this crap. Both of them said, "Nope. Citizens have rights, fair is fair. If they bought something, they can make copies of it for their personal use. You can't interfere with that." Too bad it's not that way any more.

I don't really think the gov't has to do anything. The market is sorting itself out nicely. The dinosaur industries are getting beat up something fierce, and they're slowly changing their ways. There's a reason eMusic is/was the #2 legal download site despite having no major label music - they sell everything sans DRM. A very large number of people just won't buy music that is shackled to one player/operating system and won't let them do what they want to do with it. So they've made the choice to spend their money on music that doesn't restrict them.

With Amazon, iTunes, and others selling tons of DRM-free tracks it's just a matter of time until the artists/labels/sites that still lock up their music will be bankrupt anachronisms.