Those of us with TiVo Series 2 know that one of its many delights is the "TiVo to Go" feature via which you can record something on one TiVo and, assuming you're properly networked, transfer it to another TiVo or to your computer. This is more than a convenience of being able to watch a recording where you want to watch it. If two shows I want to view are on at the same time, I can record one on my office TiVo (where I watch most programs) and the other on the TiVo in my TV room downstairs. Then I can transfer the show from the downstairs TiVo upstairs. Neat. Tidy. Handy.
One snag in all this has been that if you transfer a TiVo recording to your computer, it's there in an encoded proprietary format — a filename that instead of ending in ".avi" or ".mpeg" or some other common format, ends in ".tivo" — which means you can't easily edit it or burn it to a DVD (without special software they sell) or upload it to the 'net. TiVo instituted this because they were afraid of lawsuits from networks and movie producers even though there are plenty of ways to configure a computer to record shows off the air without this kind of encoding.
There have been a couple of different methods to get around this restriction, the easiest of which was a piece of free software called DirectShow Dump. It works decently with most recordings but occasionally encounters something it cannot parse or process. Now, someone has made things simpler. The Digital Rights Management (DRM) feature of .tivo files has been cracked and the software to do it is widely available for no cost. That version, by the way, is rather clumsy to use but it does "decode" the structure of the .tivo files for all to see, so we'll probably see a handier utility program any day now.
I think this matters beyond the fact that some of us will now have an easier time doing whatever we want to do with shows we record on our Series 2 TiVo machines. Many years ago, when the Betamax was the format of choice for almost everyone practicing home video (largely because VHS and DVD hadn't been invented), there was a lawsuit. A group of major studios headed by Disney and Universal sued Sony — this was before Sony was a major studio — demanding that the Betamax be redesigned to prevent people from taping copyrighted shows off the air. It seems silly now but in the early days of home video, no one quite knew where it would or could all lead…no one but the judge who presided in that case. He said, and this is a paraphrase but it's close, "It's silly to insist they invent a way to jam the process because two days later, someone else will invent a way to unjam the jam." That's pretty much the way it's gone.
Those who traffic in intellectual property — books, TV shows, movies, music, etc. — have sometimes harbored fantasies that technology could restrict the copying and circulation of their wares, enabling them to set up a lucrative per-use (or per-user) licensing fee. If it ever works that way, it doesn't work for long. Not as long as there's a widespread desire to unjam the jam.
I'm not saying this is good or bad because for me, it's both. I'd love it if shows I've written could not be copied or illegally downloaded or otherwise obtained without each consumer coughing up a fee. That would translate to more cash for Mark. On the other hand, I like the idea that if I buy a DVD, I can copy it so I can have one copy in my downstairs library, another in my upstairs DVD carousel and maybe another stashed away as a backup. When I buy a CD, I often dub off the cuts I like to CD compilations I can play in my car. It's all legal and I think it's ethical…but there's no way I can have both my wishes at the same time. If I have the power to copy a DVD or CD for myself, I have the power to copy it for someone else. Like I said, it's not good or bad. It's just the way it is. Copy protection is like those speed bumps they're putting on my street. They slow people down but they don't stop anyone…and I doubt they ever will for long.