With movie studios and record labels worried about piracy, the solution is more constraints. As this open letter to Rhino shows, digital rights management is getting in the way of legitimate uses.
“She later went on to explain that I could burn the songs to a CD and listen to them in a regular CD player, but I would need an additional Windows based music player to listen to them on my computer. But either way, she suggested there was no way the files could be played on my iPod.
“I mean, could you imagine the consumer response if Coke could only be consumed from specific Coke-approved equipment, and then only in the specific ways that the folks at Coke wanted the product to be consumed. ‘Drinking Coke with fast food is no problem, but we must warn you that your license forbids the mixing of Coke with any alcoholic beverages…’”
A certain amount of theft is bound to happen. The solution is to fight back with simplicity. Make it easier to do the right thing than to steal. As Reemer put it, “create the path of least resistance for your customers.”
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March 28th, 2007 at 10:46 am
[...] If your site counts on contributions from visitors, you need to make it easy. Someone participating in discussion or adding their expertise is your equivalent of getting paid. If you’re looking to sell something, you’d want to make it easy to get paid, so of course you’d want to make it easy for someone to share. [...]
November 27th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
[...] Made to Stick lists some topics, then invites you to open the book to a page where you’ll find an example of the topic. Where I might read the jacket of most books and then put them down, this one dares you to investigate. It gives you a path of least resistance. [...]
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