Saw this yesterday.
Silverlight is designed for delivery of cross-platform, cross-browser media experiences inside a Web browser. It is expected that Netflix members who watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their computers will enjoy a faster, easier connection and a more robust viewing experience with Silverlight, due to the quality built directly into the player. Among the viewing enhancements with the new player is a breakthrough in timeline navigation that vastly improves the use of fast-forwarding and rewinding. The new Netflix player takes advantage of PlayReady DRM, which is built into Silverlight, for the playback of protected content on both Windows-based PCs and on Macs. That had not been possible with previous generation technologies.
Honesly, at this point, does anybody care?
I tried using Silverlight during the Olympics like most of you did I’m sure. And it was a poor experience. I’m sure a big part of that was because of NBC and the Olympic commitee, but it was still a poor experience.
I’m no DRM expert, but why can’t they do it like Hulu? Hulu offers movies that play in a flash player. Is piracy so bad they the studios are concerned someone will steal the stream? Or somehow get access to the server where the files are located and download them? Honestly?
I can get my music DRM free from Amazon. How much longer until I get big label video content the same way?
I’m not currently a netflix subscriber. Cuts had to be made. This isn’t anything that is going to make me jump back to being a customer any sooner, if at all.
Over at Arstechnica today…
As if DRM needed more of a hint to get its coat and leave, Amazon is set to announce a promotional giveaway of one billion MP3s during next year’s Super Bowl. Billboard was first to note that this announcement signals an all-out offensive on DRM, which is made even more powerful by parallel pressures brought by Wal-Mart. In a bid for more of the digital download space, the brick-and-mortar retailer heavyweight has reportedly given an ultimatum to some of the largest record labels, including Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, to provide more of their respective music catalogs in MP3 format (that is, without DRM) next year.
Reading on you will learn that both Amazon and Walmart have been making big pushes for DRM-free music. This is a good thing.
I’m already checking out the Amazon Store for songs more than iTunes. Heck, I just found a big pile of Christmas music over there for free! Yes, no charge, free (as in beer), non-DRM’d chunks of Holiday cheer.
Now, if only the TV studios (::cough::NBC::cough::) would figure out that DRM is bad, we might actually get someplace. It did warm the cockles to see NBC evicted from the ITMS. Serves ‘em right. Now I’m hearing good things about Hulu. Anyone try it yet?
