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ARCHIVE - Ratatouille may be the last DVD I buy for a long time

Archive: Thu Nov 8 15:55:44 2007
Title: Ratatouille may be the last DVD I buy for a long time
Mood: grumpy
Music: I Don't Feel Like Dancin-Scissor Sisters
So we go and buy the DVD of Ratatouille. Its a great movie and I was looking forward to it being in my collection.

One thing about my collection: Once I get a new disk, I routinely rip it and add it to my electronic library. This way the original DVD is not handled and damaged. Also the movie can be easily watched on my main TV (via AppleTV) or on our computers. I can also transfer it to our laptops so we can watch them on trips without worrying about damaging or losing the disks.

Despite what the movie industry might think, this is perfectly legal in the US.

But when I go to rip the disk, the system reports that the disk was deliberately manufactured with damaged sectors to prevent ripping.

So what did I do? Well, I went online and downloaded it.

So what was the result??
1) I was sold a deliberately damaged disk.

I was punished for being a paying customer. Next time I think about buying a movie, I'm going to think twice since I don't know if I want to be sold something that is defective by design.

2) I was prevented from making a legal backup copy.

Fair Use lets me make a personal copy of things like this, but I can't because the disk is broken.

3) The movie was still all over the P2P sharing scene.

If the disk was made broken to prevent "piracy", the attempt failed like it always does.

It will be a good day when the industry stops wasting money on plans that damage their own product and punishes their customers. Maybe when that day comes I'll consider buying another of their movies.

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