JasonGalterio posted at 2:40PM Mon, 02 November 2015 - #4236546

I am trying to word this very carefully. My intention is not to flame bait or stir up another round of speculation. My only intention is to try and see what I am missing.

All the way through this winding discussion I have felt that I am missing a key bit of the equation. Things just don't add up without these details. And I am struggling to balance the equation.

1. DAZ Connect. Integrated into the system, provides store suggestions, allows items to be installed without using a secondary program. Items downloaded through DAZ Connect will have DRM incorporated because DAZ needs to protect its assets. Okay, no problem. On board so far.

2. DIM. Will still be supported. No fundamental changes to it. New items will still be available through DIM, just as they have in the past. While also being available through DAZ Connect. DIM items will not be encrypted. This is where my mental train leaves the tracks.

DAZ is obviously investing money into the DRM transition, but while leaving the same items non-DRMed. So then what is being gained for DAZ?

I don't want any wild speculation about subscriptions, etc. etc. I would like to have an official answer. I know that this isn't the official forum and the odds of their being an official answer here is low to zero. However those that can provide an official answer do read these posts. And I am hoping that this could be addressed somewhere.

I think balancing this equation would do a lot to assuage some of the panic. Personally I would accept an answer like "well, we were in here anyway, so we thought we'd do it at the same time."

I think the idea somewhere along the line is to put out some content in DRM form only. Clearly it completely defeats the purpose to put out both a DRM and non-DRM version of the same product. This thing is just Beta at this point though, so it's all a lot of speculation. Since what DAZ is really doing is protecting the PA's, I would have to guess that some PA's will opt for DRM and some will not. DIM will have to be supported for quite a while, to get rid of entirely they need to rewrite at least Bryce and Carrarra and possibly Hexagon. Then of course they sell items that are not used in the DAZ program itself.

I really think they have better options then putting DRM on the content itself if they want to protect content. Then again I think that putting DRM on entertainment items has never been shown to increase sales, and I am still waiting for a counter argument on that.