Will Linux ever be a digital media platform?

[Donshyoku]

The one thing that has me turning back and back to Windows, if only temporarily, is the availability of digital media. While I do have a philosophical and consumer arguement against DRM-controlled media, I do find myself taking the hit.

For example, if I want to watch a movie... I can either go to the video store (about a 5 minute drive), get a DVD (if they have what I want in), and then drive back to watch it. Now, I have to take it back the next day.

With Windows (or even Apple to an extent), I can go to a plethora of sites (I have used Movielink in the past), download the film I want, watch it, and let it return itself by deleting it. It is quicker, more simple, and a guarunteed way to get the media.

A similar example exists for audio. I can go to one of twenty music stores, grab that song, and use it. Granted, I can't really "use" it for much unless I burn it to remove the DRM... but when I just want to load on a few new tunes for my afternoon run... it is a lot simpler than hunting down a CD in advance.

Sure, illegal media options exist, but I am not addressing that.

So, on Linux, will we ever get good support for media? Audio or video? Ultimately, it could be done, but question arises to if the major movie and music industry players are willing to support it.

As a consumer, I hope they come around... but I doubt they will for a long time yet.

[RavenOfOdin]

Its already happening, in a sense.

http://www.tivo.com/linux

[scxtt]

it's not w/in the scope of a "free" (as in no-cost) OS to provide you w/ "free" (as in no-cost) methods/tools to decode (or encode) media when you pay (even if you don't realize it) for the equivalent in an OS like Windows ...

and IMO, it's not logical to expect an OS like Ubuntu to start doing it out of the box - and remain "free" ...

[RavenOfOdin]

it's not w/in the scope of a "free" (as in no-cost) OS to provide you w/ "free" (as in no-cost)
methods/tools to decode (or encode) media when you pay (even if you don't realize it) for the equivalent in an OS like
Windows ...

Freedom based on cost isn't the issue.

[scxtt]

excuse me?

the 'companies' that provide these codecs aren't giving them away and won't provide them for a "free" OS ...

when you buy a video card and it comes w/ DVD decryption software (for Windows), you've paid for it as part of your hardware purchase ...

it's totally unrealistic to expect the Devs of an OS (such as Ubuntu) to provide this ...

as has been said before, get on hardware vendors - but stop bitching about audio/video support for an OS that doesn't cost you $$$ ... if you want such things (and you'll pay for them) take it up w/ the manufacturers ...

[prizrak]

I think you are looking at it the wrong way. Linux already has the support for all of the media stuff. The problem is the third parties not providing content in a format that it can understand. I started a DRM thread in the backyard and how it would be workable on Linux (it's basically a 100% hardware). There is no reason for Movielink not to cater to Linux customers, no one is stopping them from creating their own DRM'ed player, hell even our source is open so it should be damn simple to create one for Linux.

Also fewer people use computers for multimedia than you might think. All of the digital cable/satellite providers that I know off provide on demand movies/entertainment. As far as I can see they have just about everything including Barbie movies(I thought it was particularly odd). Only us geek types really use the computer for everything most people tend to watch stuff on TV. Audio is fairly simple too, UMS MP3 players are the best :)

[Donshyoku]

It's not necessarily a question as to if Linux is capable of being a media platform, but a question of if the community, consumer and manufacturer, want it to be as such and will choose to make it as such.

With Linux acceptance growing, especially in the governmental agencies... people are realizing that it exists. That is the first step. Most of my friends, very moderate geeks, know what Linux is or have heard of it. Once it begins to reach a mainstream market, which many distributions are finally focusing on, I think manufacturers and software developers will wake up and then choose to use Linux as it could be.

[prizrak]

It's not necessarily a question as to if Linux is capable of being a media platform, but a question of if the community, consumer and manufacturer, want it to be as such and will choose to make it as such.

With Linux acceptance growing, especially in the governmental agencies... people are realizing that it exists. That is the first step. Most of my friends, very moderate geeks, know what Linux is or have heard of it. Once it begins to reach a mainstream market, which many distributions are finally focusing on, I think manufacturers and software developers will wake up and then choose to use Linux as it could be.
If the ISV's wake up and start develop for Linux it will have the same support as Windows/OS X. Since as you said the problem is not in the OS but in the 3rd party support.

[Super King]

In short, Linux will never be a platform where people can purchase DRM'd media.

1)Microsoft has put tons of money and effort into their DRM - it's practically the only one used in every online music and video store (not counting Apple's Music store of course). "Linux" (that is, someone in the open-source community) would first have to build a sophisticated DRM solution from the ground up, no easy task.

2)Windows has about 95% of the market, a very larger target group for digital media companies to aim at.

3)Most/many Linux users prefer free, open source options and would not even sniff something that had DRM.

4)Most of these services aren't all that popular as it is just yet (Movielink, Napster, etc), and they would die much quicker on Linux.

[ubuntu_demon]

Will Linux ever be a digital media platform?
I voted : "Yes, in the next few years!" although I'm talking about open formats.

Sadly DRM,patents and copyright problems will be around for at least a couple of years IMHO.

[Donshyoku]

Will Linux ever be a digital media platform?
I voted : "Yes, in the next few years!" although I'm talking about open formats.

Sadly DRM,patents and copyright problems will be around for at least a couple of years IMHO.

I agree. For Linux to become a digital media platform, we don't necessarily have to adopt DRM. eMusic is the world's second largest online music store and it is DRM-free. I think people and industry will wake up and start using new formats and eventually eliminate the DRM constraints we have now.

Honestly, has DRM really stopped piracy? Most pirates I know are at it more than ever, if only out of spite.

[jonzep]

i have to doubt it will become a household brand like "windows" or "kleenex" but i'm certain that more and more devices will be running linux (cell phones, dvrs, fridges, toasters) it's whether or not the end user understands exactly what is powering their device that i'm questioning. products and brands like ubuntu have the unique ability of being able to change that by giving some focus to the marketing side of the coin as opposed to pure technical development.

[Christmas]

Too bad some "I don't know" option isn't available, that would fit my thoughts about this. It's hard to beat proprietary software and formats, and Linux has its own software model while proprietary formats have another one. Neither the first or the second can be banned, I tend to believe that the open formats are better than the closed ones (I recently converted some FLAC files to OGG at 192 kbps and the quality is just awesome! -- I can confirm that OGG is indeed better than MP3), but I don't think they will come to replace the proprietary ones. So maybe the situation will remain like it is today, poor support for proprietary formats, because they are widely used on Windows which has the majority of marketshare.

[Klaidas]

I know I will probably get flamed, but anyway...
Not, I don't think it will happen. At least in the next 5 years.
Just another linux being ready for the corporate deskpot myth :)