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DRM does not stop piracy. It's a complete waste of time.

Come on Jaques. It does help prevent it. Sure the Windows DRM has been cracked and there are pages and pages on the net that show you how to but it's not as simple as copying a DVD.

DivX DRM hasn't been cracked as of yet I believe.

I think as soon as you release a film or footage you are at the mercy of piracy, however we all still film and produce - as eduardo said, not everyone can do it, thankfully and there are thousands upon thousands of people out there that have no intention of doing it, buying it or encouraging it. More and more people are being caught and arrested, recently in the ETO magazine a report that ten swindon retailers were caught offering for sale hardcore dvds without a licence, it is not just the man in the pub, but the bloody shops who think they don't have to pay a fortune to their councils, sell dvds for a fiver and do very nicely with it - if there are people in the adult industry that are doing this, then they are just as bad as the illegal piracy pirates around us.

Rant over - must be pmt!!!!

Sorry probably worded that wrong. I should have said that DRM "limits" piracy and not prevent it.

The thing is that's it's easy to copy a DVD.

My father is isn't that computer literate but he can copy a DVD using Nero easily. It's that simple but he'd have no idea how to crack DRM and nor would most people.

The simple fact is that DRM won't stop the crime gangs who pirate but as I said it can help limit others from doing it.

You can't rent a DVD from a sex shop. Goods must be for full sale. It's part of the guidelines. Also Rented DVD's in Blockbuster are more expensive, For example if you wanted to rent the DVD's you have even if it was allowed you would be expected to pay the rights owner far more. Its around ?60 for a rental DVD or more I believe.

Phil McC

Why not set up a club on a monthly membership .... pay x-amount PM to rent x-amount off DVDs PM

Thats exactly what I was thinking Mick, having a yearly membership though, say ?10.00 then x-amount to rent, I am sure there is one shop in the UK doing it, and of course as was reported in the ETO there is one Blockbusters in the UK that has an R18 licence, so it must be able to be done.

I'd say that was great Shopgirl especially if you paid a better premium per unit for the priviilege. The aminstream dvd rentals like Block Busters do and this practice is strictly monitored by big companies

As usual its the producers who get shafted at ?4 per unit as the shops make 20 times that amount but I guess business is business.

Still, I cant blame you as other shops are doing exactly the same thing with exchanges but the customer always complains tio the producers as to why the costs are so high when the producer is at the lower end of the food chain.

Yep you guessed it. I'm none too keen but then I'm not a customer.

I have a feeling, as mentioned by Phil earlier, I will be unable to operate a rental policy, however, I am aware that other shops do, (I think this is done until they are caught out by their local council).

People say traffic/content are king of the net, well it is similar for the sex shop, you can keep your prices at ?20 per dvd and sell lets say 20 a week, or you can drop your price to ?15.00 (moving closer to the mainstream price of dvds) and sell 40, mathematically yes the shop would be better off, but do you take the chance and reduce the price and end up with the same amount of customers, you have the same overheads etc but have now just lowered your profit margin yourself, unfortunately, in retail there is never a guarantee.

On another point from OEJ - Everyone seems to blame the shops for the low prices, but have a think about some other people within the structure, it could be the big boys in the industry and the distributors that push the prices down for producers, not the small independents who continue to pay a decent price per unit, take for example the shop owners that have over 5 shops that sometimes will bully the distributors into reducing their price, in other words give me those 50 films at ?4.00 instead of ?8.00 for my shops or I will go somewhere else, of course the distributor will say yes.

This is, of course, why they have over 5 shops, their negotiating skills!!

I tend to type how I think so please excuse me if I have gone on and sound a little muddled, I know what I mean, I think, !confused!