I've known about this for over a month, but I couldn't even hint at it until today: I'm returning to Leverage later this season, as superhacker Cha0s. WIRED's Underwire talked to me a little bit about it, and broke the news earlier today.
I also wrote another column for Techland, about how I got screwed, again, by DRM (for the last time):
Everyone on Reddit has been talking about how great Matt Smith is, so last night, I decided to meet him. I felt a surge of excited anticipation as I woke up my iMac, made sure Rivet could see the /iTunes/TV Shows/ directory, and turned on my Xbox. I browsed to The Eleventh Hour, hit play β¦ and got an error message that the Xbox couldn't play back the protected format.
Son. Of. A. Bitch. Fucked by DRM, again.
So listen, I know that a non-zero number of you are laughing at me, and I realize that I should have thought about this ahead of time, but I want to use this as yet another example of DRM screwing an honest, paying customer, who could just as easily have gone to the seedy underbelly of the Internet to acquire these episodes without paying anything to BBC.
There has got to be a better way to balance the needs of consumers with the rights of creators to be compensated for their work. I don't know what it is, but I think it has to be a change in philosophy and thinking, because what the way they're doing it now just isn't working for anyone.
Not only that, but this sort of bullshit makes people wary of ANY electronic delivery, whether it works or not. Once a non-geek gets burned like that, they are done with DRM all around.
It is really sad that it’s come to something like this. That anyone who would rightfully pay for content might consider the illegal sources just to be able to watch it, because DRM stuff doesn’t work.
I hope you’re able to figure out how to watch them, because Reddit isn’t the only one who has been pleasantly and brilliantly surprised by Matt Smith. I love David Tennant and miss him terribly, but the transition from “my future husband” to “my additional future husband” has been a great one. I couldn’t have asked for a better Doctor.
Please, please, please, please tell me that Jonathan Frakes is directing the episode. Even ignoring the geekiness that is the two of you together, Frakes is overall one of my favorite TV directors out there.
I am regretting the decision to ditch cable more each day.
Leverage….another series I will have to look in to because you are in it. Hopefully it will be as awesome as Big Bang Theory is. I never watched Big Bang Theory until I found out you were in it. Same with The Guild. And since you have a track record of being in awesome shows, now I have to watch Leverage. π
I did exactly the same thing. As a Brit living in the USA, I turned to iTunes for my Doctor fix.
When it wouldn’t play on the Xbox, I went straight to Bittorrent and downloaded a DRM free copy.
Isn’t it nice that because I wanted to watch content I actually paid for on my TV instead of my monitor I had to resort to ‘piracy’?
Oh, and Matt Smith is an awesome Doctor. He’s not quite up there with Tennant or Tom Baker…but his Doctor is the perfect mix of new personality with just enough of a nod to his predecessors.
I went into it expecting to hate him (I thought he looked like a mixture of John Kerry and Herman Munster)…but by halfway through his first episode, I completely bought him as The Doctor.
My wife, on the other hand, will never forgive David Tennant for leaving.
Right there with you… I even pay my fiber coy for BBC America and the Doctor is only a week or two late there, but it’s not in HD and I can’t pay iTunes for it and be able to pump it through my PS3 to my TV. I figure grabbing a torrent of an mkv and watching in full screen glory in HD 5.1 glory makes me a pirate and all, but I already paid for it once and would happily pay again if I could get it the way I want it.
So yeah, I guess I do have an option, just not the one I want so I don’t have the case either of you do.
But still…
It is really frustrating that the stuff you would happily pay for is so hard to actually get your hands on and watch the way you want to watch it. At least now you’ll be able to watch it all on your iPod when you’re up! here! next! week!
Bee Tee Double-You, the Voodoo Doughnuts offer still stands–but in a much friendlier way than I came across on Twitter. 140 character limits are really not my friend sometimes. They make me sound like a cracked up cheerleader. π
I’m now even more excited for this new season of Leverage.
In this instance, DRM is as much about protecting brand loyalty than protecting the Intellectual Properties of the artists.
Hence, if you want to use a Mac + iTunes as your media hub….you will need to get an Apple TV device π
Using an xbox360 as a platform to *fully* enjoy your iTunes content via a Mac is never going to be a reality in anyones lifetime.
If you had a pc with iTunes and were using the xbox as a media center extender, that may work, but I don’t use iTunes so I cannot verify this for you.
Thanks for sharing
H
First, I am so happy that you will be returning to Leverage again. I loved the character of Chaos, and I really just enjoy watching you act. You have a great ability to bring a character to life, and I’m so happy you have the opportunites to do it more.
I too have serious issues with DRM. I’m tired of paying for shows, that I can’t watch anywhere but my laptop, case and point, The Guild. I bought The Guild seasons through iTunes, and when I went to play them on my TV, which is linked to my computer through my PS3, the format is not supported. Really? I did pay for them, I just want to watch them.
I understand the need for a creator to protect their work, but does it have to be at the cost of people who pay for it? I don’t know how, but there has to be a better way to do this without screwing over the little guy.
Only way for artists and content providers to win the war is to provide what we want in an easy to access format, with low entry barriers. This is one of the reasons why HULU and Netflix are so successful. I feel your pain. So much good TV on BBC and I can’t watch any of it with time or place shifting technologies without going through extreme measures. I’m all for legal methods. IF they get serious about it, I would be willing to give up my cable.
Only considering a mac mini so that I can itunes and boxee, plus having a browser all at the same time.
I just ran downstairs to tell my mom (who watches Leverage more than I do) how excited I am that your character is coming back; that is how excited I am!
When you do finally get to watch Matt Smith, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the season. I’m struggling with this season, but I think it has more to do with the writing than with Matt Smith as The Doctor. The only episodes I’ve really liked were the ones written by Moffatt. Maybe I’m just stuck in my ways.
Ugh, I’ve been there. Recently, I had to reformat my primary computer and had to go through the whole ordeal of moving my entire media library.
Unfortunately, upon getting my iTunes library readjusted to the newly reformatted (but still the same computer) I was informed that I had already authorized 5 out of 5 computers to use media purchased with my iTunes account. Because I had reformatted my computer (which had previously been my “1 of 5”), the iTunes system now viewed it as a brand-new computer, effectively locking me out of a few hundred dollars worth of my legally-purchased media.
And, of course, since iTunes doesn’t allow you to selectively de-authorize computers (such as my now-ex-girlfriend’s computer…), there’s only the option of Deauthorizing ALL which you can only do every 12 months (which, in another long story, it turns out I already had done a few months ago and was thus unable to at this current juncture).
The whole thing was a whole, terrible rigamarole that really irked me… thankfully, someone at Apple was kind enough to override the 12 months rule, so that was really nice to see someone being decidedly Not A Dickβ’.
I guess what I’m getting at here is I definitely know your pain, and I would gladly take up the anti-DRM banner with you in whatever battle must be fought.
Power to the people or something? π
Don’t bother purchasing an Apple TV to play the content you purchased – the Apple TV doesn’t play anything iTunes won’t play. iTunes plays very few formats, so it would be a complete waste of money. Just strip the DRM.
The present system must work for someone (probably a relatively few someones) or it wouldn’t continue to exist. Have a feeling this is an example of how technology is allowing the needs of the few to outweigh the needs of the many.
I for one certainly didn’t laugh at your plight, and certainly sympathize with your frustration at not being able to enjoy the latest season of Doctor Who.
Hopefully you will find a suitable solution to your Doctor dilemma. Maybe after the season ends this Saturday they will make it easier to obtain.
Congratulations on your Leverage return.
At a convention recently, I hosted a panel talking about the whole DRM fiasco and how it actually promotes piracy. Your situation is a prime example.
The best way to eliminate piracy is to make the product available to the masses – at a fair price – to be used as WE sit fit since we OWN the product. The TV and movie companies are all treating it as if we are just RENTING the product, and have restrictions for it’s use.
If their going to cry boo-hoo about all the pirate stuff out there, then they should realize that if they REALLY wanted the money from us, then they should make their wares available to us. If not, hell yeah – we’re gonna go elsewhere. If they’re not happy, too bad. You had your chance.
Did I spot a new spelling of Cha0s (with a zero instead of the o)? Various people, myself included, always wondered why a haxx0r like him wouldn’t use some altered handle.
Him (and you) coming back is great news. I’ve seen the first two eps of Season 3 and it’s off on a good start.
You’re going to enjoy Matt Smith as the Doctor. I wasn’t convinced (too young, too energetic and gung-ho, after Tennant I wanted to see an older, wiser, more brain than brawn Doctor) but he’s doing an excellent job. The writing is very strong as well and there have been various episodes that had me on the edge of my seat. Moffat is so much better than RTD.
DRM really annoys me, too, and I won’t buy anything that uses it. As soon as I’ve paid for something I should be able to use it when and how I want to. When I buy a physical book, I can read it wherever I want and I can lend it to friends or pass it on after I’m bored of it.
I’m in Canada. When we first got iTunes TV/Movies I was excited. I thought I could finally give up my torrenting ways and pay for my own private TV station. To test my theroy I downloaded a few free episodes/promos of things and ran headlong in to the exact same thing Wil just described.
Sure I could copy the file to the computer (not xbox) I had on my projector, but it wouldn’t play. Along with that grave annoyance, I was unable to download the series and sometimes movies I wanted to actually legitimately pay for. Back to torrents I went. And the occasional time I put a hard copy DVD in the drive, I’m reminded why I usually rip and divx all my movies. I bought the damn thing yet here are 19thousand minutes of anti piracy and copywrong ads, plus the every lovely unskipable “comeing soon” movies that have been out a decade by now.
And don’t even get me started with the whole Hulu thing.
omigawd you’re gonna be back on Leverage?!? i’m so stoked! i knew Cha0s would be back, lemme guess-he wants revenge? ha, epic!
There’s a very good example for your point:
Warren Ellis’ comic Freak Angels is being published in weekly episodes and after each volume is finished, it’s published in physical form. Those books have been selling like hot cakes because readers loved the online version so much they wanted one for their shelves, too.
I’ve read somewhere that other comic publishers are really pissed off with this development.
Wil, I really really hope you enjoy this series of Doctor Who. (I was a skeptic until about 10 minutes into The Eleventh Hour.)
What bothers me, isn’t just the personal inconvenience you, and me, and *we* suffer, trying to legitimately pay for and enjoy content. No, what bothers me is it’s another example of the entertainment industry as a whole, failing to adapt by serving the audience. There’s a concept that even if we pay for something, it isn’t really ours. iTunes or Amazon can rescind my purchase, w/o refunding my money – at any time. This, the fact that all content providers aren’t compatible with all hardware, *coughiTunescough* and the DRM issue are symptoms. Yeah, some people would rather steal than pay. That’s been true since the first person snuck into a movie theater, or shoplifted a 78 record. Most of us would rather pay for content we value. Most of us also object to being ripped off for that content when we do. If I could pay a la carte for cable channels, online and have access to streaming and credits for DL-able content, I would gladly do so. Same thing with record labels and movie studios.
Creators get screwed worst of all, in the tug of war between business behemoths and consumers.
That doesn’t serve anyone.
(PS: Congrats on the return to Leverage!) π
So… why for the last time?
How about a box on the income tax form that says send x% of my money to those artists that create things, and give me my tax deduction for it.
Like Aerynkelly above, I’m also not sold on this season yet – and moreso because of the writing than the new Doctor. Something’s just lacking for me. I like Matt Smith’s rendition a lot, even though my heart has not gotten over the demise of Ten. I <3 me some David Tennant.
I'm a new reader to your blog and intrigued by all this Leverage talk. Hm...
I’m so glad that you’re coming back to Leverage! It’s like your made of awesome these days. You’re putting your brand of fantastic in everything that I love: Leverage, Eureka, The Big Bang Theory and The Guild. Lovin’ it.
so last time you were here, i saw you but didnt say hi
told you, and you said, next time say hi
so, ill be on set monday, you? π
Glad you are back on Leverage and I hope Franks will be in the captainβs chair.
As for me, I’m not believing Smith as the Doctor. Not even a little. Wish I could. I love the show. Well, loved.
I wish all movies and TV shows would be funded like the indie movie The Tunnel. I don’t even know if it’s a good movie, I sent them a dollar just for the concept and to send a message to the world at large that there’s money in them there intertubes:
http://torrentfreak.com/the-tunnel-buy-a-frame-of-a-bittorrent-only-horror-movie-100617/
Dude, regarding Leverage, it was only a matter of (short) time!
Congratulations!
I started watching Leverage and BBT because you were on them. Now I’m a regular BBT watcher and an occasional Leverage watcher. I’d watch more leverage, but it’s always in conflict with something else on my DVR, and Netflix took season 2 off streaming, sadly…probably because of a pending DVD release or something.
Hopefully it comes back to netflix soon so I can catch up on the rest of Season 2 b efore Season 3 starts.
Awesome! Can’t wait to see Cha0s again. Great article as well. I also pay for movies, tv shows and music because I also work for a living and it is the way I was raised. It is always the good who suffer for the bad but we also don’t have to look over our shoulders! Have a Great night. Deb
Huge gratz on Leverage!
All this recurring Wil on really good shows, now leads me to this question: is it time for one of your own?
Much like Family Guy listed all the shows that failed while they were off-air, I could go through all the “celebrities” that got their own show that have been canceled because they sucked farts out of dead cows. But I won’t, I’ll only ask this: when will Wil get his chance?
I think, with a solid cast around you, you could carry a show. In fact, I think you could carry a show that was about your life. You and Anne, and the kids, and the pets, the struggles and successes with acting and writing and the internet. You trying to change the world one geek at a time.
I’d watch.
…
Oh, wait… I’m already watching.
See?
I too am completely sick of being screwed by DRM.
I regularly buy music, tv shows, and movies from Apple… Im wondering why!
My friends download this stuff for free and have an easy enjoyable experience where as I land up unable to listen to/view the media I buy regularly, and when I try to get help from apple (insert company X here) you can barely contact them, and if your lucky get a response like – please back up your 1TB media library to CD’s (thats 1400+ CD’s or equiv DVD’s) and reinstall iTunes…
Man these media providers need to get their technology sorted out or im giving up on doing the right thing!
I’d rather spend the money buying the music on vynil and recording it to iTunes (or whatever) myself…
Option 1: No DRM and most of your content is copied illegally because it is easy. You perceive lost sales.
Option 2: Bad DRM and most of your content is copied illegally because it is easier.
Option 3: Good DRM. I don’t think this exists and isn’t really an option.
So a content publisher can lose sales to dishonest people if they don’t have DRM or they can lose sales to dishonest and honest people if they have DRM. The choice seems clear to me, but maybe I’ve played enough poker to fold away illusory opportunity.
It reminds me of beginning poker players who stay in the pot with a losing hand because they’ve already put so much in and don’t want to give up the minute chance they will win it back.
It makes me wonder how these people got to be decision makers at these corporations.
Also, while I realize this is probably salt in the wounds, and I apologize in advance, the new Doctor Who episodes are also available through the Zune marketplace built into the Xbox.
Sadly, this wouldn’t let you watch the show on your iPod or your Macbook if you were so inclined to do so.
One last thing: You *might* be able to find software that would make your Macbook act as a media center. The XBox might be able to stream the video from your Macbook that way. I have no idea how the DRM would interact with that though. I give it a 75% chance of the DRM preventing it from playing.
A quick web search revealed these products that I know nothing about other than what I just read:
http://www.nullriver.com/products/connect360
I also saw a post that said the Zune client can act as a streaming host for the Mac. I can’t determine if there is a Zune client for Mac. I don’t know if the DRM would let the Zune client play the iTunes purchased videos.
Scratch the streaming idea I guess:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2007/05/stream-your-itunes-library-to-an-xbox-360.ars
”
What’s cool is that the software even offers automatic transcoding of music and video formats so that you will be able to watch your content through the 360. The only thing that kinda’ sucks about it (and it’s not so much the software’s fault as it is Apple and DRM’s fault) is that you won’t be able to watch and/or listen to any of your purchased songs or videos, due to the FairPlay restrictions on those files. At this time, the Apple TV (or a Mac hooked up to the TV) is still the only way you can watch those particular files on your television.”
“It is really sad that it’s come to something like this.”
But it HASN’T “come to” something like this. It has been like this for many years. Back in the early 90s, I worked for an engineering consulting company and we used specialty, niche software, which was often expensive and often created by university grad students. Much of it used some kind of copy protection (DRM), and EACH of those programs — every one that used DRM — FAILED at some point, usually when it was critical to completing a project on time. And almost invariably the copy protection system accused us of violating the terms of service.
EACH of them, without exception. And worse, when we called the authors for support to fix the problem, we were often greeted with “I use a state-of-the-art copy protection system. If it says you are trying to cheat, you are trying to cheat. Goodbye.”
That was in like 1992. Almost 20 years ago. It has changed… how? Please explain.
And if it hasn’t changed (and it hasn’t), WHY?
You’ll go to the trenches over Matt Smith hey :).
I agree that he is a good doctor, I just think he’ll become a great doctor when the writing improves (I suspect 2nd season will be even better).
Three words: Neil Fucking Gaiman. :o)
As much as I loved Tennant, Matt Smith had me sold on him as the new Doctor by the end of “The Eleventh Hour.” I’ve also found this season with Smith to be a big improvement over last year’s specials, which I didn’t really enjoy. Sure there have been a couple of not-so-great episodes, but even “Victory of the Daleks” had its moments. I’d much rather watch it again than “Waters of Mars.”
The issue Stirpicus brought up is exactly why I don’t like iTunes. I’d much rather just buy my music in a basic mp3 format from Amazon and not worry about what happens if I have to reformat my hard drive or buy a new computer.
Wow. Everything is connected and the Internet really is a small place. I grew up watching TNG, and I didn’t even hate Wesley (I do usually refer to him as “alt dot Wesley Crusher dot die die die” but that’s only because I find the concept of that much hate for a fictional character quite funny). Trek was a huge part of my life, though since that time I’ve drifted from fandom to fandom, only landing at Doctor Who in 2008. And falling hard for it. Now, through an unrelated route (@paulandstorm, in fact, a friend taught me how their music was awesome) I suddenly end up here, not only finding Wil Wheaton again, but finding out he’s a huge Doctor Who fan, too!
Like many others, I utterly adore David Tennant (he made me fall in love with the show), but I had no trouble at all accepting Matt Smith. He’s marvellously eccentric and alien, much more so than Tennant. The only problem I have with him is that he’s practically the same age as me, making my own life seem somewhat unspectacular in comparison… But yes, the new series is quite good; I’m anxiously awaiting the finale tomorrow, as last week saw what is possibly the most evil cliffhanger in television history!
tl;dr version: some coincidences are amazing, and so is Doctor Who.
my brother and I reckon that david tennent is one of the finest actors of his generation, everything he has done has been brilliant. last year the BBC showed the RSC’s modern dress hamlet which starred both david tennant and patrick stewart which was outstanding, if you can i would reccommend that you see it.
so we were both a uncertain about matt smith, but he has been good, i haven’t missed david tennant at all.
SpiritMuse is right about last weeks cliffhanger, i cannot wait until tommorow.
So on this vein, I decide to watch Big Bang cause of Wil’s first appearance. I figured I would watch from the beginning on the internet. I mean, most shows are there. I have to watch the commercials but that is ok. What do I find? No Big Bang. I either pirate or buy DVD’s. Now I really don’t want to clutter my house with DVDs of TV shows. I want to watch them once and that is that. So I “learned” how to use bit torrent and downloaded them. (yep, Big Bang was the thing to force me to use bit torrent for the first time) Maybe Wil can do a blog about this question? Why can I record Big Bang on my DVR and skip all the commercials, but the producers, in their “wisdom”? Won’t let me watch it on the internet where I would have to watch the commercials?? Where they can get much better viewer data also??
Just in case you haven’t heard:
Leverage: The RPG.
The Quickstart Job is available for currently next to nothing on RPGNow.com.
The system uses a multitude of dice but it should be rather easy to adopt it to FATE (which I’d think would be very fitting indeed) or other systems.
By the way, once you bittorrent working episodes of Matt Smith Dr. Who (like a normal geek), the show gets lots better after a few episodes, so don’t get discouraged if it has that not-so-fresh feeling at first. I don’t know if it just took me a while to get used to the new loony style of Matt Smith, but I really started liking the show starting with the new weeping angels episode (actually scary, not for little kids). Every episode starting with that has been great so far with interesting, (relatively) logical, and sometimes genuinely surprising episodes.
Perhaps using one of the many Linux kernels and subsequent software might help you play formats without a hitch. When I was a Winblows user the Winblows Media Player would not play DVD’s from certain regions. With Linux, it was no longer an issue. Mind you, I had other issues like ‘how do I work this OS’ but I can play anything. Screw Mac OS! Mind you, XBOX Media Player aka XBMC is opensource and also quite cool to use. Where possible, don’t use proprietary.