Archive for August, 2008

It’s been 2 months since I am in Delhi & distances are quite long here, it’s hard to do all things at one time. 24 hours in a day seem less to me sometime. Why don’t we have 8 hrs for work, 8 hrs for our personal stuff, 8 hrs to sleep & 4 hrs for traveling from one place to other?

Life is following a static cycle but its good, what else will I do in my free time?? There is nothing much to do. Sometimes I feel bored on weekends. My roommates wait for weekend to finish their pending work, I don’t. I do what I have to do even if it is a weekday but due to all this I don’t have time for time pass. I get weekends but that is passed in doing pending work like shopping etc which means I work, work, work….which is what I hate. I like to work & I don’t sit Idle but I need breaks too. I like being social, meeting people, making friends but I am unable to due to all the work. This isn’t a problem with just me; everyone these days in a Metro City like Delhi has this problem. A person doesn’t know the other & doesn’t even give a damn about him. Lucknow was better, people were better there or maybe I have yet to understand Delhi people. Here, if someone doesn’t know you then talking to you is like a crime for them they don’t want to commit. I even had to initiate conversation with my neighbors here myself.

Entertainment is something everyone needs. For me it is more of a distraction then entertainment. When I am out of my home then either I am talking to a friend on phone or listening to Music as it keeps me distracted from rest of the world. After coming to Delhi only I have realized the worth of “Content on Demand”. I don’t watch TV as there are not many shows which I like so I don’t need a physical TV or DTH here. News I get from RSS feeds of Indiatimes.com or NDTV Delhi which I access in my K750i as well as my Dekstop so I don’t even need news paper, however I do watch some TV shows such as Heroes or House but like I said, I don’t have time to watch House every week on AXN at 11 PM as I have office next day. This is why I prefer IPTV or Internet based Distribution.

Everything is available on Torrents & considered piracy but I would actually like to pay for it if I get a proper distribution system via torrents. If the companies charge me Rs 200 monthly for a subscription based service like we have with DTH of a TV show in 720p HD resolution which should be about 500 MB then I would gladly pay for it because then I can download the Video file even when I am in the office & then watch it on weekend, in my phone or anywhere else as I “own” the file. I don’t mind them putting DRM on it as Piracy is wrong & it is something you realize when you are yourself making such broadcast content but implement the DRM in a better way. Microsoft has playforsure DRM which is available on a wide range of Devices due to which if you buy a song from a Playforsure service provider then you can be rest assured that it will play on any compatible device. I would urge other device manufacturer to provide support for playforsure or some other unified DRM system.

Today I bought a game from Nehru Place for Rs 120 & it is not working. Now, I am not going to go back to that shop keeper & fight him for Rs 120 but I paid him so I need service at least. Valve has been distributing games via Steam & those are original games tied to your account which means you can download & play the game at any computer provided you are logged in with your steam account. I just love this concept. I can simply download the game without thinking of all the hassle or running to the shopkeeper then praying that the game works. I am going to download the same game from Torrent but I am all in for legal digital distribution. Give me a proper & legal digital distribution system for games, videos & music & I am all in & will be the first one to opt for it. Since I like a mobile phone to do everything for me, including if possible, baking cookies once in a while. I have decided to buy Nokia N82 because with it I can download a whole 500 MB House Episode HD rip via torrent in the phone itself using SymTorrent or even Rapidshare & other such file sharing networks with an Unlimited EDGE connection from Idea for Rs 600 a month.

I have a computer which is my TV, Gaming Machine, Web browsing device, Bank & Finance management, account management, Media Center, Video Player, Music Player, Picture Organizer & Album etc etc etc. My Workstation is the center of all my digital needs. I use it for everything so why not enhance it further. Learn something from Microsoft, get your ass up & listen to the customer. We need one, yes just one DRM scheme out there compatible across all devices. You don’t want us to distribute our songs & videos to curb piracy, well….then lock the content with a Login Key. Like I should have one Windows Live ID which I can enter in my computer & it will play all my DRM based files in my computer, I should also be able to enter it in my Mobile Phone to play the same & I should be able to enter in a PMP like iRiver Clix using a software in the OS after which I can play the files in PMP too.

Some people don’t like DRM & in a way I find DRM restrictive too. There are two things a company can do now, either stop supporting any DRM & give content without DRM as today with torrents, DRM content isn’t making any money anyway or Provide a standard DRM scheme tied to one particular Login Account which is compatible across a long range of device out there.