Update: Malhavoc PDFs no longer available at RPGnow (merged)

[Painfully]

I think the biggest problem is that DRM doesn't add any value to a PDF product for the consumer. Nobody likes to be told they can't cut and paste their PDF. In fact, I would say it's a, "no sale" just based on principle, regardless of any desire I have to cut and paste.

With all due respect to Monte, and his immense effort to offer quality products as PDFs, I won't support any move towards DRM for as long as it limits or handicaps my ability to do what I want with a document.

 

[MacMathan]

Hmmm... I never had a problem with my experience at RPGNow and I do not like the current implementations of DRM I have seen.

Currently the sight is not correctly detecting my Adobe.

You have to register your copy of Adobe to use DRM, the first way Adobe pushes for you to do this is MS Passport (yeecch).

Additionally Adobe does not always have the best track record on their data gathering procedures being up front once you register.

Overall a real discouragement to use but of course if it is the only place I can get certain products then I will have to choose between not buying and putting up with it. I have always been a fan of Malhavocs PDF products so this would be a hard choice for me.

To really test the convenience of the new site I would say that the products should be left up on RPGNow also and see who provides the best value in PDFs and customer experience/service.

Of course DRM has never proven itself as "value additive" to a product to date so I guess they would have to stand on ease of use and customer service.

 

[Gez]

About the DRM thing, I think it may be the reason for the move. Sword&Sorcery's (and especially Malhavoc's) PDFs are the most pirated of the d20 industry.

(Of course, DRM is not the correct way to adress this problem, as it gives the incentive for people to get cracked versions that are easier to use, but that's a topic for another thread.)

 

[johnsemlak]

Currently the sight is not correctly detecting my Adobe.

I had the same thing happen, and as I posted above, I clicked a link Go ahead and activate anyway, and everything went fine.

 

[Yair]

I never registered my Adobe Reader (or most other programs). The mere thought of getting an MSPassport turns my stomach. But these are gut reactions, just personal feelings. Objectively, I am forced to say the deal sounds good: assuming your computer is online, purchasing a DRM file allows you to make reasonable use of it, which you can't (legally) get any other way.
The lack of copy-paste is annoying, but I have a feeling the publishers will succeed in relaxing it. Aside from that (and the occasional user with trobules using Adobe 6.0 or whatnot) I don't see any LOGICAL reason not to purchase from the new vendor.

Still, I wouldn't purchase from them. Not even the free trial - it isn't free at all, as it means I will need to enlist myself with Adobe/Microsoft, and support a monopoly, which for me is not worth it.

I wonder how many will refuse to purchase DRM files of new Malhavoc releases but would have purchased them from RPGNow. And I wonder how many would use software to crack the DRM or download illegal copies as a result of the DRM. I also wonder if this new scheme will really bring in the rest of the industry into the pdf market.
I guess I'll have to keep on wondering

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Any person who legally buys a product, typically wont go the extra length to crack the file.

Typically its those that never intend to buy the file to begin with that crack it.

They buy one file, and spend time to crack it, or copy it and reconstruct it so its a useable normal pdf. Its fun to them, its a challenge.

These security measures will do nothing, nothing in the longrun, to prevent piracy. Any and all software security can be hacked and cracked.

I applaud that people are trying to fight piracy. But the methods are ineffective and only hurt the consumer. Because the pirates will remove the security, while the consumer still suffers.

Also, it has a chance of driving honest consumers to become pirates themselves.

 

[talinthas]

Honestly, folks? this service just started. why not give it a month or so before we start lighting the torches?

 

[pogre]

Honestly, folks? this service just started. why not give it a month or so before we start lighting the torches?

I think most people are concerned about the format the site has chosen to offer its products in - it is entirely fair to be critical of that from the beginning. As for the slow site issues and prices - yes, I agree, give them time.

 

[wedgeski]

Whether we as consumers like it or not, piracy is the bogey-man of most industries which depend on copyright to make money. Solid DRM might actually *encourage* the bigger players to participate in the further growth of the PDF industry. I suggest everyone stops whining about it. And the first person that says they will rip-off a Malhavoc product to 'teach them a lesson' can go and stick their head in a furnace because no-one (I hope) will be fooled by their bull.

For the record, I think this will be a long-deserved wake-up call for RPGNow. They're great guys and I have had no problems with their service, but their web site is attrocious. As for DTRPG, I had no problems loading/using their site but the gaudy design doesn't, to me, show the class needed to deliver a knockout-blow to RPGN. Still, I suppose when you get the exclusive deals, you're under no obligation to provide any other incentives for use.

 

[Elephant]

About the DRM thing, I think it may be the reason for the move. Sword&Sorcery's (and especially Malhavoc's) PDFs are the most pirated of the d20 industry.

(Of course, DRM is not the correct way to adress this problem, as it gives the incentive for people to get cracked versions that are easier to use, but that's a topic for another thread.)

If I ever find myself wishing to buy Malhavoc pdfs, I will seek unrestricted ones from the peer-to-peer network of the month rather than deal with the lockdown that DriveThruRPG.com will impose on me. Beyond the annoyance of opening most links in new windows (Damnit, if I want a new window, I'll hit the command for one!), I'm not happy with the hoops involved in the process. Uninstall and reinstall the Acrobat reader? No thanks. Set up a special "DRM" account with Adobe or Microsoft? No thanks. Not be able to read my legally purchased possessions on whatever machine I want, whenever I want? No thanks.

Too many of my rights are denied by the use of this DRM package. Monte, I'll send you a check if I pirate your pdfs from kazaa, but I won't buy them from such an offensive and cumbersome site as drivethru. It's just not worth my money to buy such crippled books.