I don't make a ton of online buys these days, but I just recently purchased something that is fairly new, and had a lot of hype behind it.
When I received my prop in the mail, I was given a link to the download. I go to the link, and there is no password, no need to login to the magic site where the link is hosted to prove I paid for said trick. When I questioned them, they basically blew it off by saying "People will simply share the password if one is required", which is the equivalent to leaving the keys in the ignition of your car, with the engine running and the door open, all because "thieves are going to steal anyway".

I am not going to mention the website in question, but they're a big one, and while bootleggers will get whatever they want, I find it pretty stupid of this company to simply offer an unsecured link. Making it easier than ever to give the secret away, and lessening the power of the effect in the process. Not to mention, I paid for the trick, and they're basically giving it away to anyone without a conscience.

What can we do about this type of stuff in this day and age? Anything?
I mean, at least the other site I use requires a login to see the products I've purchased, some of which are even tagged with your email or other identifier to discourage illegal sharing. Why don't they all do this with every download? It's not a huge undertaking to attach the customer # or name to their pdf/video in the form of a watermark.

I agree in regards to all this digital BS, it needs to stop. I am an old school magician of 42 years now, and I have an older PC and I have received links and so-called "downloadable instructions" before which did not work, and the sites no longer existed. Back in the old days we always got paper instructions or VHS and DVDS, and we bought mostly books and props. This is what I still buy mostly, very rarely do I ever get a download by itself, I only got some through promotions on Penguin which I am sure is the site you are talking about.

Today companies are getting lazy and greedier and no longer want to print instructions or make DVDS, everything is now "downloads" so they can make maximum profits and not ship anything unless necessary. This also kills the collector and resale value as not everyone uses computers or phones believe it or not, and when you provide links that do not work that is even worse.

Most of the videos on Penguin no longer work on my older PC now because of all their stupid changes catering towards phones, which I do not use. They had a great forum which was my first magic forum back in 2002, and now the new format is complete garbage. PO videos do not play now unless I download videos and use another player off the site, because Penguin likes to try and fix stuff that is not broken, and then actually makes it broken.

That is why I went from being one of their top 3 customers since 2002 to only ordering stuff once in a great while, and only props and printed material just like the old days which has never failed me once, and is mostly the only material any "real magician" would want. But we all know that they cater to "kids and beginners" who need quick gratification based on impulse buying, so they are trying to take advantage of that group by pushing non-stop downloads to them.

I will take the old brick and mortar shops still any day over this trash, and my books and props from 40 years ago still have not failed me yet, and there are no passwords to view my written instructions that I still have. But obviously professional magicians are not the target group anymore, curious beginners with no patience are. Yet we had to wait 6-8 weeks back in the day for a package to show up with no tracking. But I think that kind of patience builds character, professionalism, and respect unlike today's genre seeking only "secrets" and instant gratification.

That is also why why they are quick to reveal secrets on YouTube also, and also why you see many less working magicians these days, and magic shops barely existing because people got lazy and ruined it all once the internet took over. Same for all those stupid trash demos they do now, back in the day you got to see just the trick as it looked in the real world.

No long intros with some "David Blaine" wannabe walking down a street in a t-shirt and jeans with smoke in the background, no loud music, no deceptive and outright false marketing and cut-shots, and no girls screaming in empty parking lots, just the trick. Just like the Dick Stoner VHS tapes that I still have and cherish, and shows you exactly what you get without any deceptive BS and false advertising. Those were the good ole days.

For the record I am not talking about Penguin. At least Penguin protects some of their downloads (though it's a small percentage). I was referring to another large magic site which doesn't even require you to login to see the download.

Downloads being shared aside, I've not experienced any of the things you say with Penguin. The forums for purchased products aren't bad at all, because the only people discussing it are people who also own that product.
I've also never had any issues with their downloads. But if I've had your experience I'd probably have the same opinion on them. In my experience, they've been a lot better than the other site I'm talking about.

Well the new forum is still trash compared to the old days, and the older forum was a regular forum and easier to search and keep track of your posts etc. Also only you could see your PO posts on that one as well. I see no way to find my old posts on the new one and it does not even work anymore as far posting on my older PC which I use more than my newer one, and the newer versions of Windows are also trash and do not work with older games as they want you to buy all new ones so they can keep staying rich.

But the basic regular forum was much better so I have no idea why they changed it to this horrible format. Many others on here said the same thing. Acar even said the old forum would be back but that was a another lie, which would have been nice so that I could go back and search my old posts and others. But now all you see is whited out pages with no avatars, no profiles, no "my posts" or search options. Everything is all over the place randomly.

So yeah it is garbage. But at least I can still download the PO videos to view on another player. The main issue is also that they stop supporting older systems and you cannot "update your browser" anymore, and install all their so-called "security" BS so that is why nothing works, as they want you to just throw away your old system with 20 years worth of files on it and buy their latest products.

When ironically everything worked fine before, and then they also can spam you more and sell your info now. So yeah everything is getting worse not better. As one of Penguin's top customers since 2002 I have not had many issues with physical items, shipping, and paper instructions. So I still order those occasionally.

I was not lucky enough to experience the first Penguin forum, but I agree the layout is absolutely absurd. It's not something one thinks of when they think "community message board" by any means. It also restricts the amount of good information being shared because it gets lost in the mess.

I appreciate you responding to this post. It makes me feel at least a little bit better to know I'm not the only one getting fed up with the current state of magic affairs.