The Joy of Sox, a blog run by Red Sox fan Allan Wood, explains how he spent $280.45 on MLB videos online, and now can't watch them because MLB has switched to a different DRM (Digital Rights Management) system. And no, he can't have his money back. [See update at end]
This sounds like an accidental screw-up, because video buyers should only have to go to the MLB site once to license their videos: after that, the licence should be stored on the local PC. (In which case, users wouldn't normally run into problems until they had a disk failure, changed their PC or whatever.)
However, it does show the problems that DRM can create, which is why some people (eg me) never buy any digital files encumbered with DRM.
Ars Technica has covered the story, and notes that people who bought videos from Google had problems after Google closed its video store. But Google eventually did the right thing and gave its customers refunds.
As Ars Technica also points out:
Last year, the US Copyright Office considered -- and then rejected -- an exception to the DMCA that would give consumers in this sort of predicament some recourse. Under the proposed exception, those stuck with busted DRM schemes would have had the right to bypass the DRM. As it stands instead, paying customers are at the whims of content providers and whatever DRM clearinghouse they happen to be using at the time. It's no wonder so many sports fan turn to BitTorrent for game footage.
It's a pity that the issue only seems to get real traction in the geekosphere. Look, this is now affecting MLB fans. Isn't it time for consumer watchdog groups to start some more serious campaigning?
Update: As brusselsaway has pointed out in a comment (for which many thanks), MLB seems to be backing down. Joy of Sox has taken part in a conference call with MLB, and he now says:
What I was told is this: Everyone who purchased a game download while MLB was on the old platform (prior to 2007) will be receiving an email (possibly within 48 hours) with a link that will allow the customer to re-download the game again -- for free.
