Why did I love DeCSS? Here’s a hint: it’s NOT so that I could give all my friends a copy of [enter movie here]. I have a 2 year old. Do you know how quickly a 2 year old learns how to eject a DVD from the player? Have you ever seen what a 2 year old can do to a now-ejected DVD?
Having DRM on any of the products that I purchased only limit my ability to protect said investment. Sure, an 8-track/CD/DVD/Blue-Ray isn’t a Franklin “not-guaranteed-to-increase-in-value” Mint hand-painted plate set, but I don’t want to be forced to re-purchase “Finding Nemo” 8 times because my kid wants to take it to bed with him. [Yes, he does love the movie THAT much.]
Word.
But but but… that’s FAIR USE; what are you, some sort of communist?!? Think of all the starving industry executives who were counting on you buying all those extra copies! ;-)
Comment by Limulus — Monday, October 23, 2006 @ 6:27 pm
I’m sure they’ll find some other way to co-erce your child into spending your money…
Comment by gizo — Monday, October 23, 2006 @ 7:16 pm
Tell me about it… I am going to build a MythTV HTPC with the primary aim of ripping all the kids DVDs onto it purely to stop my cries of anguish whenever Nemo/Cinderella/Mulan gets scratched AGAIN…
Comment by Jim — Tuesday, October 24, 2006 @ 4:37 am
Someone needs to invent a DVD player that comes with those caddies, like early CD-ROM drives used, especially for parents.
Comment by mattl — Tuesday, October 24, 2006 @ 9:40 am
Blu-ray discs can apparently be scratched like hell and still play. They have a special coating on them. Even wire-wool cannot damage them by scratches I’ve read. Sounds kid-proof if you ask me. (Well, until they try and bend the darn things, that is.)
Comment by Chris Hester — Tuesday, October 24, 2006 @ 11:27 am
Sounds like someone needs to invent a child-lock button sequence that prevents the disc from being ejected.
P.S. now that he can eject stuff look forwards to finding food and miscellanea injected via the tray.
Comment by Al — Tuesday, October 24, 2006 @ 9:01 pm
A DVD player tray holds about 20 pennies. (And is worth less after that experiment.)
Comment by Mark W. — Tuesday, October 24, 2006 @ 11:00 pm
Could DeCSS make our children better human beings?
Children often assert their ownership over every toy, movie, and video game they come across. If one sibling plays with something belonging to another, a vicious struggle will follow. But what if their digital diversions weren’t in single-copy, physical form, if they existed in multiple copies or on the family network? Finding Nemo belongs to everyone; disagreeable children can watch the film in separate rooms at staggered times, never coming to blows over artificial scarcity.
Separate, personal viewings don’t do much for a child’s social development, but ultimately DeCSS pulls through by giving children one less thing to fight about. That’s world peace in the making.
Comment by Mike Mariano — Tuesday, October 24, 2006 @ 11:32 pm
A single disc dvd player holds ~5 discs and you will have to take the machine apart to eject them.
Comment by Sean R. — Wednesday, October 25, 2006 @ 7:26 am
Don’t forget that toddlers also consider the VCR slot to be an excellent hiding place for their favorite DVDs.
I found 2 lost DVDs that had been stuffed into our Sony VCR months ago, but they never interfered with using the tapes until the VCR was moved and the DVDs finally interfered with the tape mechanism, thus disclosing their presence in the wrong machine. ;-)
Comment by D Zurn — Wednesday, October 25, 2006 @ 2:42 pm
Since we’ve wandered completely off topic into the-things-kids-will-stuff-into-electronics…
I once found a box of raisins in the VCR.
A small box.
A small open box.
That was after finding over 20 pennies stuffed into the car’s cassette player. I was outside blissfully washing the car enjoying that fact that the kids were quietly entertaining themselves inside the car.
This was one of those early parenting lessons where you learn that “quiet” is more trouble than “not quiet”.
Comment by Joe — Friday, October 27, 2006 @ 11:25 pm
Couldn’t agree more. I have at least 3 console games which are now worthless, thanks to scratched and cracked discs.
Comment by Alok — Sunday, October 29, 2006 @ 7:13 pm
>Don’t forget that toddlers also consider the VCR slot to be an excellent hiding place for their favorite DVDs.
And sandwiches.
Comment by Daryl Oidy — Tuesday, October 31, 2006 @ 4:59 am
Don’t forget that toddlers also consider the VCR slot to be an excellent hiding place for their favorite DVDs.
And bananas. Seriously.
Comment by Dr. Bonzo — Tuesday, October 31, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
But the original Digg poster is wrong. You don’t need DeCSS to make a backup copy of a DVD to toddler-proof your Finding Nemo. All you have to do is make a copy of the DVD with a DL burner; now that DL blank are getting inexpensive, it’s easy and cheap. You only need DeCSS if you want to re-encode the video, for your iPod, or to fit on a single-layer DVD.
(I believe this same argument was used in the MPAA vs 2600 lawsuit: that keeping the CSS algorithm secret does NOT prevent copying of DVDs.)
Comment by Jim Thompson — Thursday, November 2, 2006 @ 1:25 pm