Just lower the price and dont be a pain

I was standing outside my office building yesterday when a guy approached me and asked if he could borrow a light. Of course he could. So we started chatting. He noticed my badge and asked what I do at my company. Then I asked him what he did.

"I work with the Motion Picture Association."

"Really? What specifically on?"

"Oh, technology project mostly."

"What? Like DRM?"

With a sly grin..."Yes, mostly."

"Oh well...."

"What?"

"No, just that I've read quite a bit happening in the news about DRM and all its exponents and all those who decry it."

"You mean people like Apple?"

"Well, not just Apple. There a lot happening in the digital media universe."

"So what's your position? I'd like to hear your ideas on this."

"I think the amount of money music and movie companies are making is not helping the common man. If they keep the prices of CDs and DVDs this high, and then enforce DRM, they leave little choice for a lot of people to go for pirated stuff which is way cheaper without any loss of quality. If they make CDs and DVDs affordable, I'm sure most people will not mind paying a little bit extra to get the real thing."

"But the pirates are getting it down to 50 cents. How can the industry fight that other than DRM?"

"DRM is just another system of control. Every time there is such a system, people will find a way around the system to break it or beat it. But the cost incurred for putting the system in place is bourne by genuine buyers like me, not the pirates. They continue to break the system."

"So what do you suggest? I am interested in hearing your ideas."

"Lower the price and get out of the way! Make CDs and DVDs affordable enough for people to not want to go the other way. It's difficult for the common buyer to see that the people who created the song / movie are not getting their just rewards after seeing fat contracts for singers and huge revenues for movie companies. There will always be rouge people who will pirate no matter how cheap. For them, no cost is lower than free. But that's not the masses."

"And what of DRM?"

"Take it off. You should not stop me from moving my music from my computer to my ipods...yes I do have multiple ipods. Neither should you stop me from ripping my DVDs so that I can put them in my digital library. Get the system of control out and you will see a reduction in piracy. Having more cops on the street does not mean a safer society. Neither does having more guns in the average household. As we know it means exactly the opposite."

"Interesting idea...well, I've gotta run. It was nice talking to you."

No wonder he had to run. The MPAA has the most to lose if DRM is taken away.