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Movie Piracy 'Alternative' UltraViolet is Shutting Down - TorrentFreak
When UltraViolet was first launched eight years ago, it was portrayed as a convenient alternative to piracy.
The cloud-based service, backed by major Hollywood studios, allows users to store digital copies of purchased films and TV-shows, which they can then easily access on various platforms and devices.
In the years that followed UltraViolet amassed over 30 million users, but in recent times things went downhill. The number of supported retailers slowly started to drop and this week parent organization DECE threw in the towel, Variety reports.
According to the official announcement, the planned closure on July 31 was triggered by “market factors” including the rise of new platforms.
“In the years since UltraViolet's launch, we've seen the emergence of services that provide expanded options for content collection and management independent of UltraViolet. This and other market factors have led to the decision to discontinue UltraViolet,” the statement reads.
[...] The good news is that in ‘most’ cases, users can still redeem their UltraViolet codes through the retailers which are still operating. This includes VUDU, Kaleidescape, and Sony Pictures.
“In most cases, we anticipate very little impact,” DECE notes. “While there could be some disruption, we do not anticipate this on a broad scale and are working diligently to minimize and avoid such instances.”
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday February 04 2019, @02:15PM (7 children)
From TFA: "the digital ownership caveats are in no way limited to UltraViolet. Any digital media platform can ultimately go out of business. Or just as bad, depending on the rights, a movie could simply disappear from your library"
Of course, they could just sell you a copy without DRM, so that you could make your own backup. Like most music today - seems to be working just fine.
Alternatively, they could also take the Steam approach. I've never checked whether or not the games have DRM, but I'm betting they do. And I don't particularly care, because Steam "just works" - even on Linux - and one-click installs really do make for a better experience.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 04 2019, @02:49PM
Re: Steam - it's about the prices...
And, there's the thing. If renting an older movie in streaming format was something like $0.99 for a 72 hour license or somesuch, I'd be cool with that. Pony up and watch it at your own pace - if life gets in the way just pick it up in a day or two. Even better if the license doesn't expire until you've watched it - 72 hour right to rewind/replay per chapter after the first viewing.
As it is, Moana is $27 to buy on DVD - get a life Disney, this is my home, my AV equipment, my popcorn maker, I am not paying "night on the town experience" prices for some background noise that keeps the kids mildly entertained.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rigrig on Monday February 04 2019, @03:31PM (5 children)
How is that different? When Steam goes out of business, "your" games will stop working.
I agree that Steam is very convenient, and I use it quite a lot.
But I base the amount I'm willing to pay for games on my expectation that they will keep working for about a year (with anything after that as a nice bonus). Which is quite a bit less that games from e.g. GOG, where I get to keep my own backup which will still work after they disappear.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by ledow on Monday February 04 2019, @05:04PM
Steam's DRM is non-intrusive.
Steam's DRM can be removed or not applied to any titles (many games don't utilise it at all).
Steam's DRM works offline for up to 30 days.
Steam allows you to take backups of games (hence you would in theory only need to remove the DRM should Steam go bankrupt and you'd still have a copy of all your games/movies available to you to do that too, not so Ultraviolet).
Steam's DRM has a "promise" (as much as that might not be binding) that you'd still be entitled to download what you bought if they did ever go bankrupt (but, again, nothing to stop you doing that now).
Steam's DRM has been working for 15+ years without fail.
They literally out-performed the entirety of Hollywood in terms of providing a service that would allow all the above, while keeping the money rolling in (in the billions), even when taking only a percentage, with happy consumers.
And Steam was really not much more than a side-project to distributing Half Life 2 without having to produce physical media, single-handedly proving that not only was it possible, or even viable, but actually profitable overnight.
If you don't think Steam is vastly different to UV, you honestly haven't used either in earnest.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:25PM (3 children)
I don't expect my entire Steam collection to go poof overnight. I would expect any bankruptcy proceedings or the like, would allow me perpetual access to the content. That being said, I usually buy a second copy on GOG, if/when it becomes available. At least for the stuff I actually care about. Then there's games like Terraria, where I've only spent $15 or so on it and I kinda feel bad about it. Since, I got a stupendous deal for a 4-pack at $10 on Steam and then bought it again on GOG for $5 or so. I have well over 1k hours on that game. It's a true gem and produced by independent developers. Back on track, I don't mind paying reasonable amounts of money for good games, but I do expect to not need to keep purchasing it over and over. GOG's policy is clear-cut and very customer friendly. It's why I love them to death. Steam on the other hand is more like, if I was a prince in the 16th century and married for convenience / politics. It could possibly end up being a good thing, but in the end you might still end up fighting some bloody war anyway. Right now, it's still convenient.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by rigrig on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:45PM (2 children)
You mean you'd expect a bankrupt company to pay developers to neuter their DRM, while ramping up server capacity to serve all customers who suddenly realize they all need to download all their games?
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:22PM (1 child)
No, I would expect for Steam, to have planned enough in advance to not screw over millions of people. Can't necessarily say the same thing for a service like Netflix, because you're literally paying a monthly fee for service. Whereas an entity like Steam, should be big enough, and their model is more like iTunes going belly up. You'd expect to have access to your iTunes content you purchased in perpetuity. Now, I highly doubt, they have that in their contract. Which is why I rely on GOG to be my game archive and not Steam. Yet somehow I'd still be quite unhappy, if Steam went bankrupt and took all my content with it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by DeVilla on Wednesday February 06 2019, @07:55PM
Well, that's pretty much what happened to Desura. That's happening to UV now. Happened to several online music stores. You think Steam is to big too fail? It won't ever become MySpace?