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DRM on Movies from iTunes? Really

Wicked1

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
Ok, so I bought a few movies on iTunes, am I reading things right in this forum that Apple puts DRM on all downloaded iTunes movies? so they can not be played on anything but iTunes?

Just curious if this is the case because then I will stop buying content from iTunes, except music which is DRM Free?

I might have heard and read incorrectly this is why I am trying to confirm.
 
Yes

I'm pretty positive that is the case. You can only play movies on Apple products (apple tv, iOS and itunes for windows or mac). I bought an HD movie and it can only be projected to a second monitor if the monitor uses DisplayPort. Using the adapter to DVI won't work. It's kinda lame, but it makes sense; "sharing" the movie would be much too easy without DRM.
I've decided that I won't do iTunes movies because of it. I get the DVD and make a personal digital backup that is DRM free. Then I can play it wherever. To do this, check out handbrake: http://handbrake.fr/ (there are other programs as well, but I like this the best so far... free). Good luck! :)
 
Wicked1 said:
Ok, so I bought a few movies on iTunes, am I reading things right in this forum that Apple puts DRM on all downloaded iTunes movies? so they can not be played on anything but iTunes?

Just curious if this is the case because then I will stop buying content from iTunes, except music which is DRM Free?

I might have heard and read incorrectly this is why I am trying to confirm.
Click to expand...

You heard correctly, but good luck with the content you may get from Amazon or the Playstation network (to name a couple) as they all have the same retrictions, only playable on their own devices or devices they are associated with. Blame the studios.

Merkyworks said:
umm all iTunes media has DRM last time I checked
Click to expand...

umm you need to check more often. Music has been DRM free for 2 years now.
 
AdrianK said:
There are tools for cracking it, and I mean losslessly.
Click to expand...

For the mac there cant be more than 1 or 2. I personally use Noteburner, but (for me) it cannot do aac audio very well at all. The audio comes out distorted. I have found workarounds, but it is a hassle to say the least. Good thing I really don't purchase movies from iTunes all that often. It is really just the digital downloads I have that I am wanting to de-DRM.
 
Noteburner isn't lossless, it's basically screen capture and convert, and therefore basically sucks.
 
Songs do NOT have DRM anymore. Movies do. Know the MOVIE STUDIOS require it. As others have said, ANYWHERE you buy movies online will have DRM.

Thats how it is.
 
Last edited:
Pretty nearly all digital movies sold by anybody, anywhere, including DVDs and Bluerays, have DRM and will only play on dedicated equipment. There's nothing really different about Apple's movies.
 
lowonthe456 said:
Songs do NOT have DRM anymore. Movies do. Know the MOVIE STUDIOS require it. As others have said, ANYWHERE you buy movies online will have DRM.

Thats how it is.
Click to expand...

This a million times over.

Apple is NOT the ones who regulate DRM. They actually won a lawsuit or wrangled an agreement, I forget which allowing them to sell music DRM free, unfortunately the content owners of movies and TV shows do not allow that right now so that is why video is DRM'd.
 
I know this thread is old, but I'm surprised the movie/tv studios are still putting DRM on purchased video files. If they are concerned about the files leaking out online they aren't doing much about it because there is software to remove DRM from itunes files and they can be found all over the internet. Plus, most people will just download a Blu-ray rip for a movie because it's higher quality. The only people they end up hurting and inconveniencing in the end is legitimate paying customers. Meanwhile pirates just remove the DRM and can play it on any device for free. Legit customers have to pay and can only play it on the devices that company specifies. It's a lose-lose situation.
 
StinDaWg said:
I know this thread is old, but I'm surprised the movie/tv studios are still putting DRM on purchased video files. If they are concerned about the files leaking out online they aren't doing much about it because there is software to remove DRM from itunes files and they can be found all over the internet. Plus, most people will just download a Blu-ray rip for a movie because it's higher quality. The only people they end up hurting and inconveniencing in the end is legitimate paying customers. Meanwhile pirates just remove the DRM and can play it on any device for free. Legit customers have to pay and can only play it on the devices that company specifies. It's a lose-lose situation.
Click to expand...

Would you rather pay a $10,000 fine, or invest into a $99 Apple TV? Honestly, it's stupid that people would rather risk getting slammed for illegally obtained content, instead of doing what really needs to be done here.

The real reason of having DRM is to keep people from sharing within their group of friends. A lot of people let their intermediate friends share their Netflix account. A lot of people share their music.

"Sharing is caring" does not apply to the entertainment industry. You let it be done, and you lose revenue because then people will come up with a way to spread the costs among friends and family which easily can lose studios about $100 per movie within a group. College kids would just put it on a public server for the whole school to grab from, just like they did with their iTunes Library when people still bothered with them.
 
Jessica Lares said:
Would you rather pay a $10,000 fine, or invest into a $99 Apple TV? Honestly, it's stupid that people would rather risk getting slammed for illegally obtained content, instead of doing what really needs to be done here.
Click to expand...
The risk is so low it's not even worth discussing, especially if you stay off the more popular sites.

Even HBO says piracy only helps their business in the long run.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/03/31/hbo-thrones-piracy/

http://variety.com/2013/digital/new...of-thrones-is-better-than-an-emmy-1200575271/
 
StinDaWg said:
The risk is so low it's not even worth discussing,
Click to expand...

Tell that to the folks who've been slammed. Many did a whole bunch of illegal file sharing but there were several who didn't. The risk is there and given the ability to monitor stuff these days, the risk really isn't worth it here in the U.S.

Just buy the damn DVD and make a back-up. Problem solved.
 
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