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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 1594257" data-attributes="member: 63">This is my first step into this discussion.It seems to me that the main draw of this DRM is that it reduces 'casual piracy'.  The sort of thing where a DM sends a copy of a pdf to a player, so the player can use the information in it.  Heck, I'll admit that I did that with Monte Cook's Mindscapes -- one of the players wanted a psion, I didn't feel like printing out the whole book, so I sent my friend a copy.  The next day he bought his own copy.  Good man, my friend.This is also similar to my freshman year of college, when I used Napster to download all the mp3s of songs I had on CDs back home, that I'd forgotten.  I also used Napster to get copies of songs on CDs my brother owned.  I mean, I love U2, but I wasn't going to buy my own copy of all of the music while I was still living in the same house as my brother.  Now, though, that I have a job, I intend to get all the music that I used to listen to all the time.  I think this was technically illegal, and if not for Napster I probably would've bought the U2 CDs myself.  In this instance, casual piracy did cost the record company money.DRM also stops what I'll call 'active amateur piracy.'  This is like my freshman year of college, when I used Napster to get the All You Can't Leave Behind music from U2's new album, and when I collected various greatest hits that I'd always heard on the radio, and when I got the entire BBC radio play of Lord of the Rings to refresh myself in preparation of the rumored movie.  This was illegal, and if Napster hadn't been around, I would not have worried.  I wouldn't have cared enough about this stuff to pay any money for it.  In this instance, my active amateur piracy didn't hurt the record company.  I was just sampling, getting a few things I already knew I liked, but that I wasn't gung-ho about enough to actually pay for.DRM does not stop 'active professional piracy.'  This is like my acquaintance Arick, who, even though he's rich and becoming a doctor, he likes making money on the side from piracy.  He started out just selling fansubbed copies of anime that had not yet been released in the US, but then he moved up to selling DVDs of the Lord of the Rings (copied from review material that had been sent to Oscar academy judges), burning copies of X-Box games, and getting a collection of pretty much every movie that came out in the past 3 years the moment they hit DVD.  He was able to get most of this stuff off the internet easily, but even without filesharing networks, he could've just as easily found other methods of getting what he wanted.  It would probably be VHS's instead of DVDs, or he might've had to find special warez-esque sites, but he'd still be pirating.  He doesn't respect artists, and just wants stuff, so he'll take what he wants, even if it's a little harder.DRM also seems like it's a pain for people who aren't completely wired into the internet.From the looks of it, compared to normal pdfs, DRM does nothing except annoy legitimate consumers and provide false comfort for producers.  The only actual benefit I see is that it discourages casual copying and sharing among friends, but this could be discouraged just as easily by having the digital store having a clear reminder policy of what is fair use.  Heck, if we consider that most gaming groups will have a PHB for each player, but that each other book is just owned by the DM and shared, really, DRM is less useful than both pdfs and normal books.What's the appeal, if someone could remind me, please?</blockquote>

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