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The problem usually aren't vendors. The problem usually are rightsholders - the movie/TV series industry still didn't get the Spotify memo, and the console game industry... well it's hard to say they don't have a point insisting on serious DRM given how rampant piracy becomes once there's an easy-enough root method available.


This is an undersold part of the story

It's not only media companies with DRM

IoT integrations like Alexa come with numerous security requirements that are often good ideas in theory but lead to hacky workarounds to meet certification requirements


Is this the Spotify that is a broadly unprofitable business, which is why it's so desperate to enter into new ones, or the Spotify that has DRM?


Spotify made 1 billion $ of profit in 2024. Hard to call that unprofitable.

My point is, it (and Youtube) killed piracy for the most part when it comes to music. Trading CDs full of mp3s used to be a sport in school a decade or two ago, these days why would anyone even want to invest the time when Spotify has everything anyway at a price point school kids can afford it?

Netflix used to become the same thing for movies, but the greed of studios killed it and now it's more expensive to have the large stream services than cable TV.


> the movie/TV series industry still didn't get the Spotify memo

I'm not sure that's really a memo I'd like them to get. We don't need more subscription services where you don't get to own you content and everything can be taken away at any time.


The massive success of Steam points otherwise.


Steam is a very convenient and beloved marketplace but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a solid DRM and anti-cheat measures built in.


Steam's DRM is a joke. Removing it is as simple as replacing a library.

It also doesn't cause (intentional) incompatibility problems like HDMI DRM does.


In what way? Console makers wouldn't gain anything by weakening DRM and making devices rootable. It's not like they are making that much money from device sales.

Of course then you have MS which basically just turned XBox into a cheap but totally locked down gaming PC (since there are very few Xbox exclusives these days).




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