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Close: they know what the restrictions are right now. They don't know what the restrictions will be tomorrow or next year. Apple has, in fact, issued updates to iTunes to tighten the restrictions on music that had already been purchased, and they may very well do so again in the future.

Um, examples, please? Are you talking about things like being able to burn one playlist 7 consecutive times instead of 10? (Even though you can just make one change to the playlist, change it back, and then burn again?) Other than that, I am not aware of any changes that makes Apple's DRM more restrictive, unless you're talking about the waaaaay-old changes to iTunes that disabled the ability to do music sharing via IP (as opposed to only on your local subnet, the way it is now), which had nothing to do with DRM, or the syncing changes in iTunes 2.0, which again had nothing to with with DRM, or disallowing music from easily being downloaded by others (as opposed to streamed) via iTunes, which, again, had nothing to do with DRM.

As I said in another post, Apple has actually been making their DRM more lenient: you can now two-way sync any iPod with any iTunes libraries on computers that are authorized on the same iTunes account (and you can have up to five computers and an unlimited number of iPods, which is how it's always been). Previously, you could have an iPod associated with only one music library; now you can easily keep all libraries in sync across multiple computers and multiple iPods.

While your point stands in general with regard to DRM, Apple has not introduced any new restrictions that fundamentally limit what you can do, and instead has removed limitations that previously existed.

Microsoft has done precisely the opposite, even introducing a new music player that doesn't play its *own* ironically-branded PlaysForSure content. (And to others reading this, no it wasn't just a rumor or misunderstanding...Zune really won't play PlaysForSure content, and vice versa: http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/14/the-engadget-in terview-j-allard-microsoft-corporate-vice-presi/ )

Has anyone verified that? My understanding was that the whole "PlayForSure/Zune" thing was speculated on because MS didn't happen to mention WMV is a list of other supported file formats, but that WMV was the default anyway so didn't need to be explicitely mentioned so the speculation that Zune wouldn't support it was probably not true

Nope.

Stunningly, Zune will not play PlaysForSure content. Ironic, huh?

More here:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004910.php

And direct from Microsoft itself:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/14/the-engadget-in terview-j-allard-microsoft-corporate-vice-presi/

Conversely, Apple has actually been making their DRM more lenient: you can now two-way sync any iPod with any iTunes libraries on computers that are authorized on the same iTunes account (and you can have up to five computers and an unlimited number of iPods, which is how it's always been). Previously, you could have an iPod associated with only one music library; now you can easily keep all libraries in sync across multiple computers and multiple iPods.

Military grade encryption end-to-end is not available, and the US government won't allow it to be used anyway if they can at all prevent its use.

It is, and they can't

if anybody's doing the price squeezing, it's Apple, whose lowered iPod prices caught Microsoft off guard.

Apple has the established relationships with manufacturers and the cheaper contracts as a result, and they're not selling each iPod at a loss.

Gotta love it when trolls like the parent get modded up. Had the article mentioned trillions of write cycles, he'd be asking for quadrillions.

According to wikipedia:
"most commercially available flash products are guaranteed to withstand 1 million programming cycles" -- the days of 10,000 write-cycle devices are long over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory

Additionally, "Wear Leveling" spreads writes out over the whole of the device, greatly increasing MTBF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_levelling

If the state of flash was really so dismal, sony wouldn't be releasing a system with a solid state drive:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/26/sonys-vaio-ux-n ow-with-32gb-of-solid-state-disk/

Nor would these guys have any products at all:
http://www.solidaccess.com/

It's faster, quieter, hardier (you can drop it -- there are no moving parts), uses less power, and MTBF is comperable these days. Flash drives are viable alternatives to hard disks -- the main barrier at this point is price.

I would never have guessed.

...after reading this little story.

I have a battery from Sanyo, unfortunately, so no free, new battery for me :(

Sorry but I had to bust your balls on this one for the not-so-original idea.

...... Can be found here:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/27/viodentia-respo nds-to-microsoft-releases-fairuse4wm-1-3/

... but the Apple Store sure as heck did!

Ok, for all those people who say this isnt possible..
Sony announced it is releasing its own PS1 Emulator for PSP by the end of this year, with a PSP firmware update. Prbly around PS3 launch time, along with the GPS and Camera.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/15/psp-gets-gps-an d-camera-add-ons-video-chat-and-voip-and-media/

Someone has been working on this homebrew version for a long time and decided to release it.

And to correct the people above me, YOU NO LONGER NEED GTA:LCS IN ORDER TO USE HOMEBREW ABOVE PSP VERSION 1.5. There is a new exploit that works all the way up to 2.71. No GTA Required.
http://www.pspupdates.com/ has all the information on the latest PSP stuffs.

...users of [firmware versions] 1.5 and above obviously requiring the eLoader exploit.

Nice apologist tract. Let's deconstruct this, shall we?

> I appreciate that MS rushed production to get it out a year earlier than the other systems, as I was jonesing for a new system. I also appreciate that this rush is what produced the defective hardware.

So, in other words, Micro$oft is at it again: they rush a product through production, get it to market before it's ready, and -- what a surprise! -- it's got nasty bugs in it. Summary: M$ fucks things up some more.

> Although the delay in compensation for repairs denotes a greedy attitude on the part of MS, I am not surprised.

At this point, I'd be amazed if *anyone* was surprised.

> Corporations do not exist to serve the public good, and if you find this objectionable, then please avail yourself of a microeconomics textbook. You can't expect good intentions from corporations (and from people in general). You should be satisfied that they do the right thing, even if for the wrong reasons.

Translation: what the corporations offer the public is all they deserve, and if they don't like it they can go fuck themselves. Wonder if this 'primeval_badger' character is a Republican or a Libertarian -- what's his view on public oversight or government regulation of business? That should be good for a cheap laugh....

> Having worked for several years, I understand how difficult it is to design products, let alone systems.

Then you understand the importance of "defensive design" and "quality control", right? Because M$ apparently doesn't, seeing that they repeatedly and consistently release products that are Not Ready For Prime Time. Hell, it's no wonder my first software engineering professor got so pissed off at fuckheads like this, for creating sloppy design and shoddy quality, that it made him "want to get a baseball bat and start bashing in heads."

> Put another way, would you rather wait an extra year for a rock-solid 360, or get one a year earlier, which will probably work fine

-- unless the power supply unit undergoes a meltdown, explodes and sets fire to the carpet, which burns down the house and potentially nearby houses as well. Think I'm being over the top? Remember that little fuss a short while ago over laptop batteries? You know ...over some of them EXPLODING?

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/22/another-thinkpa d-battery-explodes/

But hey, what's a few exploding laptops, right? I mean, the user escaped with only minor burns and a ruined LCD monitor (other than the laptop screen itself), plus the firefighters came in time, so he should count himself lucky! Hell, he's even got backups of his data, so he should be *satisfied* that things turned out the way they did!! /end sarcasm/

> MS is a decent corporation with decent products.

Ahem... You seem to have contradicted your earlier statement about the nature of corporate business. More importantly, it flies in the face of the public record:

http://www.microsuck.com/content/whatsbad.shtml

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Murphy/?p=640

http://www.inlumineconsulting.com:8080/website/msf t.shilling.html

> Don't criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes.

You forgot to add, "or unless you can outdo him."

Remember Bill Gates' infamous letter to the Homebrew Computer Club? The one in which he said to the club that "most of you steal your software"? What he neglected to mention in that letter was:

- Altair BASIC was released way behind schedule (dude, talk about foreshadowing!)
- Many Altair computer users had paid in advance for pre-ordered copies of Altair BASIC, yet had never received it
-

It's been reported (though not confirmed) that Toshiba makes the Zune hardware; that the first edition of the Zune is a rebranded Toshiba Gigabeat plus wifi plus ties to the Zune store.
See:
Zune revealed by FCC as "Toshiba 1089"
iPod Wars: Microsoft and Toshiba Team Up Against Apple

If so, then you're right that MS is using foreign labor. Though whether Toshiba uses sweatshops like Apple does is open to question.

It's called iTV. That's a codeword. we need to come up with a better name.

USB Turntable. Welcome to 2006.

"It's the warmth of vinyl, man! It's got a richer tone!" -- Trent Lane, Daria, "That Was Then, This Is Dumb."

That was my first thought as well after reading the EFF article - just because the feature was absent from a PR document, does not mean that it will be absent from the device.

But this engadget interview with J Allard confirms it. They ask him about PlaysForSure three times, and each time he gives an explaination about why Zune will not support it.

Another interesting question that this brings up is if they will be licensing their Zune DRM to other players. If not, who wants to start placing bets on how long before the EU slams them with another antitrust lawsuit?

I suggest you read the interview with Allard closely. He specifically stresses the point that Zune and P4S are separate worlds, and while he would have had the opportunity to point out any interoperability options at various points in the interview, he doesn't do so. I find it hard to come to any other conclusion that the approaches are indeed incompatible.

So, read the full original interview, and look at the part where the interviewer ask Allard why the Zune don't support PlayForSure. Admire the answer.

Q: When PlaysForSure was introduced, the premise was, we make it simple so that you don't have to worry about whether your player works with the music you're purchasing...

A: That continues to be the premise for devices that are branded in that category, and we think that we've clearly done a lot in that program, where there's a lot of devices out there, there are a lot of services out there, there are a lot of partners, and there are a lot of satisfied customers. We like that program. We've also found that there's a category of customers that say, "Give me a brand experience, advertise it to me on television; I want to be part of the digital music revolution, and that solution [PlaysForSure] doesn't work for me." So they're two complementary solutions -- not everyones gonna want Zune and not everyone's gonna want PlaysForSure. They're different paths there, and we're okay with both of them.

"so we'll play AAC natively." Quote from J. Allard in Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/14/the-engadget-in terview-j-allard-microsoft-corporate-vice-presi/

Q. Where is Zune going to fit in with people's pre-existing media libraries? What is it going to support? What can we expect when we actually get a Zune and want to be able to use it with the media that we currently have?

A Lots of DVD ripping software out there that encodes to those formats, so the most popular formats out there, whether it's MPEG-4 or H.264, we'll support those.

Q When PlaysForSure was introduced, the premise was, we make it simple so that you don't have to worry about whether your player works with the music you're purchasing...

A. We've also found that there's a category of customers that say, "Give me a brand experience, advertise it to me on television; I want to be part of the digital music revolution, and that solution [PlaysForSure] doesn't work for me." So they're two complementary solutions -- not everyones gonna want Zune and not everyone's gonna want PlaysForSure. They're different paths there, and we're okay with both of them.

Extracts from The Engadget Interview: J Allard, Microsoft Corporate Vice President

And even though it may not be possible, these guys made 1.3 million pounds: http://www.engadget.com/2004/03/23/using-cellphone s-to-cheat-at-roulette/

I could say the opposite if I had more WMA+DRM media than AAC+DRM, although I would have better selection, since Microsoft is more openly licensing (read: 'is licensing') the WMA+DRM codecs than Apple is with AAC+DRM.

iTunes and the Fariplay DRM account for 80% of the legal music market. Microsoft's WMA DRM accounts for 20%...so yeah, you "could say the opposite if.." but that isn't FREAKING REALITY.

I'll ignor the FACT that Apple licensed Fairplay to Motorolla and just pretend I'm in your world.

Further, I don't see how you have more "selection" by having multiple stores with the same content. The iTunes store has over 3 million songs and thousands of exclusive tracks.

And finally, for the record, here is a list of supported file types:
iPod : AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV
Zune : MP3, AAC and WMA (unofficial)
Creative Zen W : MP3, WMA, WAV

You are an IDIOT tool. An Apple tool for sure. Lets take MS out of the picture for a sec. The Creative Zen had many things right better than the IPOD. The IPOD is very propietary. itunes fairplay media is proprietary crap. Kudos for MS to support so many open file types! If MS only supported WMA than I would agree with you, but thats not the case.

Okay troll, you need to take a look at the original context - The supproted file formats. While the Zune supports WMA and the iPod does not, the iPod supports Apple Lossless, Audible audio books, as well as Apple's Fairplay file types...and I contend that supporting the file type that 80% of legally downloaded music is in (Fairplay) is more important to the market than supporting the 20% (WMA).

Why you want to bring beleagured Creative into this is beyond me but we can scrap over them for a minutes too.

The Zen has followed the iPod step for step. You can point out that the Zen has a radio and the iPod has a radio accessory if you want, but I contend that I didn't buy a $300 music player to listen to Clear Channel's Britany Spears crap. Further, how convenient is it to manage a music collection of several thousand songs without the benefit of the click wheel? I couldn't imagine trying to get to "R.E.M" when starting in the "A's" with Microsoft or Creative's traditional up/down click keys (The Zune's keypad is circular, but it it still and up/down/left/right pad, not a scroll wheel).

And so what the hell is so bad about an iPod or that it supports proprietary DRM? It doesn't make you convert MP3's to play on it. What the hell is Microsoft's DRM? It is proprietary too. Oh, you mean that Apple doesn't license Fairplay? Well then how in the hell is Motorolla selling cell phones that play Apple's Fairplay DRM protected songs? Certainly it couldn't be a license agreement could it?

And finally, for the record, here is a list of supported file types:
iPod: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV
Zune: MP3, AAC and WMA (unofficial)
Creative Zen W: MP3, WMA, WAV

Who the hell is incompatible now?

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/09/gefen-rolls-out -4x1-8x1-1080p-capable-dvi-switchers/

For the record - a quick skate around google found this list of supported 'add-ons'....

Cars!

Umbrellas!

Underwear!

Warships!

Dildos! (SFW)

When the Zune get's its own warship extension, then i'll start believing it has a chance.

Also, Microsoft's reputation to the public at large, seems to encompass little more than "The company that make my computer crash", whereas Apple actually have a well-earned consumer-friendly image about them. Maybe this will change, but I just can't see it right now.

Engadget recently interviewed an MS Corporate VP regarding the Zune and how Microsoft explains the lack of supporting "Plays For Sure". The resulting statements from this Microsoft Exec are truly worrisome:

Full Article Here"

E: "PlaysForSure was the thrust of Microsoft's strategy until the announcement of the Zune. How does PlaysForSure fit into Microsoft's strategy going forward?"
MS: "...There's another class of consumers that just want to get digital media, and they just want to be able to go to one store and have it all..."
E: "Wasn't that the point of PlaysForSure?"
MS: "...Zune says there is no choice; you get a Zune device, you hook it up to the Zune service, and it just works."

Yikes! I thought the iPod was evil because Apple didn't give me a choice...now it seems no choice is just what the doctor ordered! How stupid does Microsoft think we are?

All these comments, and not a single mention of the USB Ghost Detector/Radar.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/04/02/usb-ghost-detec tor/

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20060712/the-usb-gh ost-radar/

Adding a USB plug would have made it much larger, which is probably why they didn't want to add a built-in USB plug

Some SD memory cards (like this Sandisk one) have a built-in USB connector, so in terms of size it's not like they couldn't have done it with the new Shuffle

Granted, this could be an easily breakable part...

I also have 2 tivos with lifetime service
...
Now with the series 3 you have a monthly fee

Both discs have the same approximate capacity.

Eh? Blu-ray is 50G, while HD-DVD is 30G (double sided, in both cases). In other words, Blu-ray currently holds 67% more data than HD-DVD.

The theoretical limits are 200G vs 60G respectively (see here).

Patched, and then broken again...

The reason is Fairuse4WM version 1.2 gets around the microsoft patch. http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/02/fairuse4wm-peep s-stay-one-step-ahead-of-microsoft

All we need now is either a drive that can read both HD-DVD and BluRay

Engadget does not provide a link to QTFairUse6, and neither will we.

Actually, it seems the lawyers and marketing people at Apple are too busy doing stuff like forcing, and paying, people to not use the word 'pod' in their products ... whether they are Mac or iPod related, or not.

http://portablevideo.engadget.com/2006/09/04/apple -pays-woman-to-de-pod-her-product/

"hey took WAY too long to get to market. If the players had been available somewhere around 2000 to 2003[...]"

Mass manufacturing the blue laser required by both systems wasn't available in '02-'03 time span. In fact, recent reports of a blue laser shortage may limit Blu-ray and HD-DVD manufacturing for the near future. Also, the adoption of HDTV back in '02 was very slim - who would have bought that high definition content? One could argue they're still too early to be pushing HD media sales... --M

I wonder how cost-effective at this point it would be to simply store DVDs lock stock and barrel on drive arrays and view them on HTPCs. I want the best possible image and all menus and features of DVD, not just rips.

And I also wonder if the Sony XL1B2 Firewire changer is fully-supported in Linux? Cuz this would be a no-brainer sale for me if I could hook it up to a Myth box...

But Bush invented the iPod, so would Gore have to pay him royalties from the lockbox?

32G and 16G units are also available.

You can buy 64 gigs now:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/29/buslinks-64gb-u sb-2-0-flash-drive-pro-2-series/

Which should be enough for most...

BUSLink has had a 64GB drive for sale since march this year. Anyhow, imagine how you feel when you find out you lost your house keys, your coffee machine key AND five grand worth' of solid-state memory in one fell swoop ! Great idea, I'm having three.

The idea that Microsoft is even close to Nintendo on this is purest fantasy.

The XBox 360 has a DVD instead of an HD-DVD drive for one and exactly one reason: Because they decided to ship in 2005 instead of 2006. Microsoft is almost as big a bunch of media-control freaks as Sony, it's just that both their successes and their failures on that front have been less flashy.

I'm not even going to read the article, because the summary tells me that the article is crap.

Here's why: there's a difference between an operating system, and an operating environment. Back in the old days, for example, Windows ran on top of DOS. DOS was the Disk Operating System, and Windows was the operating environment which made it easier to work within that operating system. Adaptive environments have already been attempted with minimal success (read all the other comments about personalized menus). It's very difficult for a computer to "know" what you want it to do at all times, since all it does is compute. It reacts to input, period. Without input, without stimulus, it is able to accomplish nothing.

I suppose that one example of not interrupting you with email is novel, but how would you propose to accomplish this? How does your computer know which emails you do and don't want to be interrupted with, without you telling it? You might want your old college buddy's mail to pop up, no matter how waist-deep in code you are, but if the lady in HR bothers you about your direct deposit one more time, you might snap. How does your computer know that? Without the long, drawn-out process of programming (or "teaching" or whatever you want to call it) the computer, the computer won't intrinsically know how to respond to various conditions. Without explicitly telling it "I don't want to be interrupted unless it's bob" then the computer will never know.

Admittedly, having additional keyboard buttons to conveniently toggle email alert functionality would be a step in the right direction, as I don't think anybody wants to press Contrl+Alt+Shift+NOMAIL at the same time. Email alerts, being global things, should have the innate functionality to be turned on or off globally, whether you're in a full-screen command line or you're browsing the web. Adding more keys to the keyboard may seem a little intimidating, but wouldn't everyone like it if they had some keys on their keyboard that they instantly knew the functionality of? How about a toggle column down the left side, to toggle email alerts, IM alerts, and so on? Move away from the generic "function keys" and move towards "functionality keys." Maybe this would be a decent use for the new Optimus keypad.

I'm just rambling now, but my point is this: There's a difference between an operating environment and an operating system. KDE and Gnome are open-source operating environments which can be altered in any way anyone sees fit. Knock yourself out.

You can do this today, in the US, using the HTC Wizard (aka Cingular 8125) and a SIP-enabled softphone like SJPhone. This app is pretty demanding of the Wizard, but the newer phones (TyTN, Artemis, etc.) should be able to handle it no problem.

Here's a link from 2004 about how to do something similar.

They've already written a follow-up: An open letter to Microsoft: Why you shouldn't kill FairUse4WM.

This whole thing reminds me of Cory Doctorow's DRM and MSFT: A Product No Customer Wants.

Perhaps also of interest, engadget's open letter to microsoft on why they shouldn't kill FairUseWM.

A couple of Austrian artists are way ahead of you.

Working link.
They had a few download links for a day or so as well. I do know the program works. I wonder how long it will be until Microsoft fixes it? More importantly, can they make it stop working without making people install an update?

"I have PDF and print versions of many technically references. The PDFs get opened first at which point the paper is usually only for browsing."

You can read them using this device.

BTW ST:NG solved the OP's problem by making the readers common enough that one could have several.