News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

September 15, 2008

video

New consortium is a confederacy of DECEs

Posted Sep. 15, ’08, 10:14 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Video

dece2.jpgThe media companies have seen the future, and it is this: that one day there will be a way to disseminate digital video files that will play on any screen or device that a user happens to own. They’ve teamed up with the likes of Microsoft, Best Buy, Philips, Sony, Intel, and a host of other technology companies that are clearly media-playing leaders to create—drumroll, please—the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem.

Headed up by Sony CTO Mitch Singer, DECE (seriously, DECE? Personally, we were lobbying for the Digital Organization of Universal Common Hardware Ecosystems, but that’s just ‘cause we call ‘em like we see ‘em) should allow you to buy a media file once and then watch it anywhere. Revolutionary. If only there were some sort of disc you could put a file on to watch it on any hardware…

We haven’t gotten to my favorite part of this idea yet. You may notice a conspicuous absence from the list of involved companies above. And frankly, DECE needs Apple a lot more than Apple needs DECE. Apple already lets you watch a movie on your computer, iPod, and TV. Granted, you need to have bought into the Apple ecosystem, but with the lion’s share of the portable media device market, they’ve already got the installed base to make this work. Without them, DECE is going to end up in the same digital graveyard as the rest of these alliances, initiatives, and consortiums.

Look, guys, I hate to burst your bubble—wait, who am I kidding? I love bursting bubbles!—but you’re a just a wee bit behind the times here. We already have a way to get digital movies that we can play on any device. It’s called Bit Torrent.


1 Comments

krye said:

Another way to get everything to work any any device is getting rid of DRM. Done.

September 15, 2008 10:23 AM

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