The Revolution Will Be Dugg

Did you miss it? Many people on the wrong side of the digital subdivision did – and even some who weren’t.

If you need to get up to speed, here’s the short version (find a long version here). Part of the reason the entertainment industry is pushing HD-DVD and/or Blu-ray discs to replace standard DVDs is that these new formats have encryption keys that severely restrict what the consumer can do with them – even more so than with DVDs. This “unbreakable” encryption was promptly hacked – as virtually every form of DRM is.

The Shot Heard Round the World came Tuesday, when the numeric code was posted to Digg.com, and promptly voted to the top of the lists. The AACS, which administered the code issued a cease and desist order. Digg complied, and the code was immediately reposted. As fast as posts were removed, new posts were added – sometimes faster. Eventually Digg bowed to the will of its subscribers and gave up trying to stop the tidal wave with a teaspoon.

Within a day the encryption code was all over the Internet. It was in subject lines of posts, Photoshopped into pictures, set to music, inserted in blogs and available just about everywhere.

While much virtual ink has already been spilled over what this means for DRM, I’d like to focus on the biggest picture.

The HD-DVD revolt was the greatest act of civil disobedience the world has seen.

There were so many posts – and not just at Digg – that it was simply impossible for the AAC to remove that hexadecimal code from the Internet.

Not everyone’s been paying attention, but we’ve been building towards this point for a while. The Bum Rush the Charts initiative did affect the iTunes music chart. The campaign to save Internet radio has spurred Congressional action. There’s been nothing like this before – but there will again.

When the online community vented their anger and frustration at the AACS, though, they displayed a magnitude of power not seen before – but I suspect one we’ll see again.

This time the spotlight was on something an industry wanted to remain hidden. What if next time it’s something a government wants to remain buried?

When the smoke cleared at Concord in 1775, things hadn’t changed that much. The map still showed 13 English colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America. Many living there still thought of themselves as English subjects, and a majority weren’t even aware of what had happened in Massachusetts. But the battle of Concord started a chain of events that changed everything in only six years.

Where will this act of international civil disobedience take us six years hence?

- Ralph

A milestone -- and our top five posts

Sometime this morning CE Conversations passed an important milestone. We've had over 10,000 views since Ken and I started this blog back in August. The counter down on the lower right counts direct hits to this site -- the number I'm referring to are visits to our Feedburner site, that creates our RSS feed.

Feedburner provides a variety of traffic stats, included one that tells us which posts are the most read. And so, to celebrate the passing of the 10,000 view mark, here's a rundown of our five most popular posts as determined by you, the reader.

5) Dust-catching DVDs (Ralph) -- an examination of the value of renting vs. owning media

4) Publishing Pariah (Ralph) -- the first installment of our posts about "White Lies"

3) "Better" Best Be Better (Ralph) -- a look at the urtext of the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war

2) Digital junk food (Ken) -- articulating the role of short-form video on the Internet

And the most popular post to date,

1) Who needs an iPhone, when.... (Ken) -- suggesting an alternative to the iPhone madness

Ken's two entries have more views combined then do my three, proving that you prefer quality to quantity. Congratulations, Ken!

- Ralph

A little clarification

Like Ken, I'm not that much concerned about Nestorianism. The Apostle's Creed sufficiently addresses the issue for me. 8-)

There's no question that the quest for profit drives the electronics business, as it does any business. Even at a little bitty company like DCD Records (basically, me) what happens or doesn't happen is influenced by profitability.

There are some real advantages to Blu-ray and HD DVD. Both of them can store an incredible amount of data. The added space makes higher resolution video possible, which is a plus for those with high-end audio/video systems. And recordable discs will be a boon to computer users and budding videographers working with laptops, among others.

I'm not knocking the new formats – just saying that the improvements over DVD aren't as apparent to the general public as some of the other format changes we've lived through.

- Ralph

Follow the money...

"War is hell, Mr. Thornhill, even when it's a cold one."

I'll agree with Ralph on most of his points about HD DVD and Blu-ray. To most Americans the discussion about the merits and future of these two formats is about as relevant as a discussion about Nestorianism (my apologies if that is relevant to you).

So what's driving electronics companies to jump on board and push a new technology, even when there's no (demonstrated) drum beat from the public for something better?

Well, there's profit of course. These days, you've got to have something new if you want to make money. When Joe Nascar can drive down to Walmart and pick up a DVD player for $26.43 (feeling more upscale? Go to Target), you can bet the profit margin is pretty slim.

Contrast the bargain-basement price of a DVD player with the cost of new HD DVD and Blu-ray players and you'll see numbers that will make the executives crack a smile. And then there's the new discs you'll want/need. Everybody's happy now.

If only most people cared. Well, that's what advertising's for, isn't it?

-Ken

"Better" Best Be Better

"not all of Ralph's examples are really format wars — many are just cases of a new and better technology taking over. There may be some resistance, but the benefits are obvious."

I'd like to respond to Ken's remarks. First off, all of my examples were of format wars – in some cases the new was backwards-compatible with the old, but more often it was an either/or choice.

Ken's second remark above contains the secret to winning a format war – the benefits have to be obvious.

I would add "to the average consumer." Advantages of a gramophone over a player piano: cheaper, more compact playback, wider selection of audio entertainment, less maintenance – obvious to the consumer. Advantages of DVD over VHS: cleaner picture, chapter access, no rewinding, more durable media, smaller packaging – obvious to the consumer.

While the current HD DVD/Blu-ray struggle has often been compared to the Betamax/VHS conflict, I think there's a fundamental difference. The advantage of having movies available on video tape was obvious – it was just a question of what kind of tape format was going to be used.

In the case of HD DVD/Blu-ray, the advantages aren't' so obvious. I'm not sure most consumers can actually see the incremental picture improvement of these hi-def formats over what they can currently get with their DVD players.

Even on an old TV with a cheap combo player, the differences between DVD and VHS are obvious. High-definition formats require a high quality display to see a perceptible difference. Folks abandoned their VHS players for DVD players because of a perceptible improvement in picture quality and convenience. The average consumer would be hard-pressed to see that same degree of change moving from DVD to either HD DVD or Blu-ray.

Until high-definition TVs becomes prevalent in American households, the HD DVD/Blu-ray conflict will remain a cold war.

- Ralph