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Okay. We've got encrypted content unlocking after some period of time (currently 12 months.) People are missing something....
How can we tell when it is time?
Nowhere on the product pages is the 'release date' shown. 12 months later, 15 months later, 24 months later.....how will you know (unless you write down and store it in a notebook when each and every encrypted product is released) if it's supposed to have been re-released as decrypted?
Maybe by accident, maybe not, but some might not 'change' to decrypted content when they are 'supposed' to. And how can you say otherwise, without that information? Especially after a full year.....3-6 months, maybe, you might remember.....
The store page needs to be updated to show the release date for EACH and EVERY product anyway. It also should have an icon on the display (like the DO and PC+ icons) that shows it is encrypted Connect-only. This needs to be done ASAP, as encrypted content is already being released.
As an aside about older content, I picked up Sea Life 1 with REALLY old stuff (14+ years, apparently?). And the octopus, alone, is amazing -- tentacles look high quality, very posable. The texture maps are a bit low resolution (~2k), but the zones are intelligently laid out (skin, eyes, suckers).
A lot of old stuff can be really really good.
To start with, during the previous thread all we had to look forward to was an ever increasing section of permanently DRM hobbled content and having to hope that the authentication system would always work if we bothered with it at all. Now we have a public statement from a DAZ representative that the DRM will be removed from products a year after their release. Is this ideal to me? No, I'd prefer the DRM gone entirely. But this is a compromise that has DAZ assuming more of the risk in this matter instead of leaving it mostly on customers.
Also it gives DAZ a reasonable test period for DRM. Are they going to keep it if it destroys their sales during the year the content is locked? I'm still not paying for encrypted content and I'm just getting encrypted freebies to download a year later, but at least I have some assurance that in a year I'll be able to get a clean version of the product. Others will likely do similar and DAZ will see that in the numbers. Maybe they'll reduce the encrypted period, maybe they'll decide it was a mistake and scrap the DRM. Given that they've decided to offer a way to get the products without encryption (if one has patience), surely we can give them time to see what the DRM does to their sales figures.
I don't think this is the final word on the matter, but I do think it's about as far as we can go in the forum.
edit: removed quoted comment
You can find out the release date by looking at the readme in the DAZ Wiki. If you use DIM this is trivial, just click the little i button for the relevant item in your DIM list. Naturally for DAZ Connect items, they will not be in DIM so this is not possible (unless there is a easy way to navigate to the readme in DS 4.9, anyone know?), however you do know the sku, so just substitute the appropriate sku number for the XXXX in the link below
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/XXXX/start
Um, what if you haven't bought it yet? Is there anyway to find the relevant page from your wishlist or a product page?
Edit: Ah, so you can just hack a URL to get there.....why not just post that on the product page (since the SKU is already there?)
I agree, a link to the readme from the store page would make a lot of sense, I do not know why they do not supply this.
Duh, thanks for the reminder about Daz Wiki. So the Octopus was released 2000-05-31 . Cool. ;)
It's kind of critical now. Knowing the release date easily (through a link on the product page, if not displaying it directly) for encrypted content so you know precisely when it will be available unencrypted, is a major consideration for many people in purchasing a product.
Furthermore, if they decide to have varying decryption release periods (something a PA might want, or for different things....say DO's get 6 months, PC+ gets 3 months, everything else is 12 months unless the PA specifies otherwise) you'd want to know the date at which it becomes unencrypted. So having both pieces of info on the product page would be kind of important.....
IMO waiting 365 days to get content MAKES US LOSERS. If you personally don't mind that, wait 365 to get/use all those goodies they gave you. You'll change your tune faster than you can say "My bad."
Even before all this DRM stuff started, knowing the release date was pretty important, since the 30% new discount normally lasts for 2 weeks after release, and items stops being new after 60 days, thus becoming available for the bigger discounts.
When it's freebies, I don't care that I have to wait to use them. I just won't pay for things I have to wait on. A year later when they're unencrypted, maybe I'll buy them if I still want them. Just means the store loses out on some impulse shopping.
This isn't some competition or MMO where we absolutely must buy all the newest gear to remain competitive or anything. If anything I might need comes out, there's usually all kinds of alternatives.
Knowing the freebies will decrypt is a plus, and I can still avoid purchasing DRM content or e.g. like the detective bundle, decide that if it's at a signifcantly reduced cost, go for it. It's not perfect, but it's better than being encrypted forever.
Yeah, I will not buy any encrypted content, I will wait the year before buying. Maybe a vendor elsewhere will get smart, and do their own version of every single encrypted item and clean up on selling to people like me. Daz releases encrypted trenchoat, so they make an unencrypted one and sell it to us a month later. I buy that, don't need the one here it when it becomes unlocked in a year. Would be a pretty smart move lol.
Thanks DAZ, and big thanks to Will, for coming to a compromise.
I still don't like DRM products but waiting for a year is OK for me.
They're going to need to test the 'automatically decrypt in a period of time'.....so unless they want a bug that they won't even remember how it got there a year from now, they'll have to test using a much shorter time period. So having the capability to do multiple different time periods for encryption seems like a no-brainer. And they'll want to test it thoroughly, since if they don't, they'll end up with another huge s**tstorm in the forums, bad publicity, etc., just like they did with the initial encryption disclosure.
I'd hope we'll see some encrypted freebies with 1 week to 1 month 'encrypted periods', so they can properly test it....once they have the actual mechanisms in place.
If they are making it available for DIM after a year, wouldn't DIM tell you when you have downloads available? (Talking freebies)
And for anything that has a price, I would only buy if it is DIM available at the time I want it. Not gonna bother wish listing something for a year. I probably wouldn't even want it then.
I'm the same way. I think it would be nice to have the wishlist show for each encrypted product a small text like "This product will be unencrypted in X days/weeks/months" for those still waiting, and a "This product was unencrypted on X date" for those that have gone past that date.
That way, we don't even have to go look at their product pages, hack the readme page URL to find the release date, and then (assuming it isn't a different time period than 12 months) add that, then subtract the difference from release to now, just to find out how much longer we have to wait......
I appreciate the compromise on the encryption, and that Daz listened to, and found a way to implement a really good idea. For those of us that still have issues because they can't/won't/don't want to use Connect, we shall await the new development.
Now we need to convince Will to speak for updating Hex :)
Seriously though, while I've not yet used the connect thing at all, I was on the fence about it as I've had a lot of hard times in my life and internet wasn't always a guaranteed thing. So even now with everything I get for my computer, I try to always have some local way of installing my stuff. This even goes for games. I try to stay away from Steam because "what if one day I can't afford internet? or maybe Steam goes out of business..."
And then there's the people who are on limited or regulated internet where they only have so much usage. Anyways, I think this was a very good move for Daz :)
Ah, well, it's a start, but it still means that encrypted content may only be useful outside DS after a year's waiting (I'm thinking about the pc+freebies and items, which are most likely candidates for encryption... and BTW, those freebies are not really free, but paid for in advance through the membership fee.)
That's assuming you refuse to use Connect at all. I figure if the sale is good I'll bite, and if I want to use it I will and hopefully I'll be able to find it.
Actually, I'd figure the freebies are the least likely candidates for encryption. The only reason we have the friday encrypted freebies is so that people can test the encrypted content without paying money for something. They are completely unrelated to the PC+ freebies. The one PC+ freebie (Toll Booth)that showed as encrypted was listed that way by mistake and immediately corrected. Those that downloaded it while it was supposedly encrypted reported getting normal unencrypted files. The two friday encrypted freebies required no purchase or membership.
Kaot: I'd love an updated Hexagon. I haven't bought it for a host of reasons, but I'd love an easy modeler that was easily accessible by DS. I just... not going to buy something that's buggy and outdated.
So we got a solution. Thank you, timmins.william, that was a case of having the right idea at the right time. I will gladly wait for things to become unencrypted.
By the way, if I buy one, wait a year without downloading (still using 4.8 with every intention of continuing), will the product appear in Download Manager after the end of the waiting period?
Yes, after the year you can get it through DIM or your Product Library.
Exactly. No Connect, no 4.9
I am one of the folks who had custom categories butchered by 4.9. Mine was fine for THREE DAYS then a jumbled mess. Use 4.9? NO WAY.
So, Daz has been mute on how they are going to mark all these when the time is up. We shouldn't have to check the release date- thousands of people going to ReadMe's is just plain stupid. They came up with this one year plan, so how ARE we going to know when something becomes un-encrypted? I don't want forum members' speculations, I want an answer from a Daz Employee. Thanks in advance.
As an aside, yes - right-click should give a More Info... command which will open the readme in DS.
Those who purchase will prsumably sdee them pop-up as an update in Smart Content>Products, if they connect to the store. Since DIM support is going to be added the installers type list on the product page will change.