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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: 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.