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The Madison Project: Inconvenience Vs. MP3s
twistedemotions points to this article in Sound & Vision magazine. The article reveals that "[t]he Madison Project is the code name for IBM's Electronic Music Management System (EMMS), a stealth initiative to deliver piracy-proof CD-quality music to consumers via the Internet." From the sound of it, Madison is pretty far from prime time -- beta testers interviewed were able to easily convert the nusic to listenable, no-longer-read-protected MP3s, and the prices as formulated so far are nothing to write home about unless you think $20 for a CD is a fair deal.
Apologies in advance for the preponderance of overly-claused sentences in the following.
When, exactly, did the content industry (by which I mean, of course, the typical entertainment media conglomerates, as well as other businesses/artists/providers who are happy to receive money for what may or may not be quality stuff) start treating their consumers as "the other side," waging a continuous and pointless war? When did every consumer become a potential lawbreaker - to the point where those who respect copyright laws and artists' rights (definitely not the same thing) are subject to restrictions, limitations, and other such rot as to keep them from becoming the "pirates" the industry is convinced they will be (or have the potential to be)?
An equity feminist would already tell you just what kind of damage the more shrill and less-sensible element of said cause has done to gender relations when it was extolled that all men were rapists or potential rapists. The content industry doesn't seem to have learned by example what happens when you blanket all members of a group (in this case, movie-goers and music fans) with a negative label. The cynic in me can't decide why they'd miss this - is it ignorance, or dismissal? Do they just not realize, or do they think that people will just keep buying what they have and not say a word to the contrary? (Looking at the Top 40 charts makes me think the latter.)
Making media harder to use and appreciate doesn't deter the small criminal element among consumers - hell, the article in question demonstrates that, as security goes, this ain't gonna do it, and common sense alone says that if you can burn it to an audio CD, you can rip it - and it just pisses off the mainstream listener/viewer. Make it harder to use, and those with a clue (however few that might be) will either make it easier to use, or find an alternative. The only thing the industry can hope to achieve is to kill promising technology and markets. (Consumer-use DAT, of course, being the perfect example.)
Madison, SDMI, CSS, et al are just plain bad ideas - at best, they frustrate and add to the cost (and price) without adding value, and at worst they drive away consumers.
Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
Encryption, copy protection, whatever are only good if both parties involved are concerned with security.
--I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else's fault.
it's been said over and over again, but if the music is able to get to the listener's ear, the user is able to copy it.
You've just found it... the next generation for secure digital music will get around this by preventing the user from hearing the music. Also, an RIAA representative has been quoted: "We are taking legal action against speaker manufacturers because there product it used for the sole purpous of allowing the consumers to hear music, which circumvents ou secure digital format, hence speakers are illegal under the DMCA."
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
It's been said over and over again, but if the music is able to get to the listener's ear, the user is able to copy it. I don't see how this could ever be gotten around.
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
Ah! but what if we have another law that prevents you from finding out how to make 'fair use' of the work that you have paid for (reverse engineering).. Catch 22 - It is legal for you to make 'fair use' of something, but not to discover the mechanism to do so?
when the record industry jumped on 'digital technology' in the form of CD's, and pumped their profits up, it of course did not guarantee that they would have access to said gravy train eternally.
air and light and time and space
Madison Project has been long over for some time. It ran in San Diego and some other areas. It wasn't a secret -- nor was it a success. It happened over a year ago.
Wow this is old.
I wanna know when we will see a madison project dedicated to DivX or some other MPEG-4 based codec.
-Davidu
# Hack the planet, it's important.
Actually, this is a pretty funny article -- especially toward the end where the author describes the way to cobble together your CD: download the music, buy the glossy liner paper, print it out, then burn the CD.
Yeah, a real riot. Let me at those albums. There's nothing I'd like better than to (a) spend more for an electronic download than the "physical" counterpart and (b) get to spend my time (which these days -- for most of all us, I'm sure -- is more valuable than these bozos at AlbumDirect realize) to put together the whole kit-and-kaboodle.
Lessee. First, I gotta download the songs.
I got a DSL modem -- 1.05/1.05M -- so, no, not too bad, but, ya know, 15 minutes is still 15 minutes.
Then I gotta print the liners on special paper? (No, you can use normal paper -- but, yeah, you gotta print the liner notes.) And, um, I get to burn the CD myself? The whole CD? No kidding? Lessee, I got a burner about a year old. Still takes around 15 minutes to burn the CD. (And if I get a coaster? Well, hell, just burn it again! CDs are cheap. My time is not cheap -- but CDs -- yeah 79 cents each, no prob.)
And then, when it's all done, I have, er, a custom CD that I burned and printed out the labels for and that, um, looks like I cobbled together myself. Yeah! That's sooooooo cool.
But wait! It wasn't really cheap because it cost more than the "physical" CD!
Oh yeah. Great idea.
Come on you dumbass suit-wearing, cellphone talking, consult-the-business-model, Viper driving, 30-something, "Hey, Bob, look at us: we're executives!" weenies: no one is gonna buy your idea! No one is going to buy your idea!
It's like going to a restaurant -- Benihana, whatever those places are called that force you to stand in line with a bunch of dirty-fingernailed, snivelling little shits who touch the glass and then cough all over the green peppers and water chestnuts -- and pay *them* for the privilage of making your own food. What a great idea! (Executive-speak: "Well, friend, you have to understand. We're not selling the product as much we're selling the experience. We feel that customers appreciate the fact that they're in charge of their own product, er, dinner and that they've been given the ability to tinker and tailor with the food to create a singularly satisfying, one of a kind dining experience. If you'd like, I can give you a prospectus describing Benihana's philosophy and perhaps you'll appreciate why we are able to set ourselves apart from the competition.)
Analogue to digital conversion is inherently a simple process which doesn't require extreme device linearity, and producing an ADC with a precision much greater than that used in CD and DVD recording is no problem at all. Comparatively speaking, high precision DACs are much more difficult to manufacture, yet despite that, 20-bit stereo DACs now cost just a couple of dollars.
What this adds up to is no light at the end of the tunnel for the RIAA and the MPAA at all, because even if they succeed in making their digital media uncrackable, people will still be able to redigitize it, and without appreciable loss of quality. The march of technology is utterly against them. Sorry.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
I like ConceptJunkie's reponse: "Evil. Stupid".
But in answer to your question about when they started seeing the consumer as the enemy - 'twas always thus. Taxes on the sale of blank "music" CD-R media extended to blank "data" CD-R media are nothing more than extensions of the taxes on blank cassette tapes. Ditto the hamstrings on DAT that prevented it from being a commercial medium.
They've always regarded the customer as little more than a sheep to be sheared, a fool to be parted with our money. Ditto the bands who actually produce the content they resell.
Make no mistake - the consumer has always been a dupe in their eyes. Only recently, now that we have the power to force a change their business model, have we gone from "harmless dupe" to "enemy".
But they've never had anything more than contempt for us. The only thing that's changed recently is that the veil's been ripped away, and we can see them for what they really are.
Of course, the thing is that all those digitized media streams are encrypted until the last possible instant. The only place an analog signal exists is on the short epoxy-bound length of wire inside each loudspeaker cabinet. (For video, it's all digital until you get to the LCD electronics or the amplifiers on the tube.) Well that's no problem, you say, because you can always just hack into the cabinets. Just watch out for the DMCA enforcement squad.
For your protection, of course, your Media Control Center will automatically reject any media that's not digitally certified as being Genuine Digital Stuff. Sure, this means you won't be able to make your own recordings without paying to become an Official Genuine Digital Stuff producer (which obligates you to sign this very reasonable contractual agreement), but it's worth it to make sure we don't have to worry about pirates, terrorists, and drug pushers.
Will there be resistance to throwing away all that investment in old CD's and expensive stereo systems? Sure, but over the span of twenty years the vast bulk of the consumer population will replace equipment anyway. And the new Genuine Digital Stuff is so cool!
While everybody's strutting around talking about how awful it is that the RIAA or MPAA "just doesn't get it", what we really should be worrying about is the day that they DO get it: they'll realize that their wildest dreams are finally possible. They'll realize that through the combination of new technology and new laws, the content industry can have complete control over how its content is consumed. No more "piracy". No more skipping-over-commercials. Want to make a party tape? Sure, but by the way we're going to sell space on your tape to some advertisers. It's a sure bet that lots of smart people in the industry have figured all this out already. They just need a way to get the ball rolling.
I'll stop now because I'm depressing myself.
We've been seeing too many under-researched articles on Slashdot recently. Sloppy work at the Geek Compound. Go read some Journalism 101 books, guys. Linking to someone else's article is not journalism.
And eat the garbage that I feed you,
Until the day that we don't need you,
Don't call for help, no one will heed you.
Your mind is totally controlled,
It has been stuffed into our mold,
And you Will Do As You Are Told,
Until the rights to you are sold.
Surpisingly perceptive man, 20 or so years before the whole flap. I wonder what he'd have thought of MP3's.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Hey now.. Lets give this thing a chance.. I mean really, who wouldn't pay even a little more per CD if it meant they were also having all their rights to fair use simply and painlessly removed? Come on guys.. the record industry is really suffering these days because of digital technology.. Its getting hard for a record company executive to put food on the table and a roof over their families heads..
air and light and time and space
Music is watermarked for that user (s device?), who has filled out name and address details correctly for music company.
If I had moderator access, I'd be torn whether to mark your comment as funny or insightful, since your sarcasm ("there's no way it can fail!") is both.
Please provide the RIAA with your name, physical address and email address below:
Mr. U. Suck
1234 Fuck The Recording Industry Drive
Suite B-1TE-ME
Chicago, IL 60619
email: throw-away-account@someip.com
I'm sure you and others have thougth up equally, if not more, create responses to expeditions fishing for personal invitation, but if not, I cordially invite you to make use of the above on any RIAA/MPAA questionaire or registration form. I certainly plan to.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
All these companies are only wasting time and money trying to prevent the inevitable. I'm not going to argue ethics here, because frankly it doesn't make a difference whether people think they're in the right or not, copying music. The fact is that the music only has to be converted once, and then copied as many times as neccesary to destroy any such "inconvenience" scheme the Corps come up with. Even if it involves a padded box containing a speaker and a microphone, once 1 decent copy is made, it's over.
The only way they will win is by providing a superior product, that has value added for purchasing the physical medium. And as copying becomes easier and easier, their job of keeping us entertained and making money will neccesarily get more and more competitive. Either way, it's still the only win-win situation in the foreseable future.
Fist Prost
"We're talking about a planet of helpdesks."
Fist Prost
"We're talking about a planet of helpdesks."
-Jaron Lanier
We don't want your DRM-hobbled music in the presence of unprotected alternatives.
We won't buy your DRM-hobbled crap in the presence of unprotected alternatives.
OK, says RIAA, we'll take away all the unprotected alternatives, releasing music only in watermarked, protected formats, and we'll badger the hardware companies to self-destruct any device that doesn't comply. (What, you mean you didn't want to throw out your entire CD collection and buy it all over again?)
Fuck 'em.
When consumers are presented with the choice between SDMI and rolling around in a pool of freshly spat-up cat vomit, the choice is remarkably easy. Not only is the pool of half-digested Friskies and mouse-heads less offensive, it is also delightfully warm.
This has been proven for WMA (unf*ck.exe) and ASF (ASFRecorder), and it is soon to be proven for SDMI. Remember that WMA was hacked only one day after it was announced. Its popularity fell off due to its lackluster spectrum response level. ASF wasn't bad (of course, that's because it was secured MPEG-4 and not one of Microsoft's own proprietary formats), but we have yet to see SDMI cracked for free.
Hackers have proven that even "licensed hardware" is not free from their wrath (CueCat!). I think that these capitalist Orwellians have a serious case of HDFB (head detached from body).
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Scarily (is this a word?), this is possible, in some respect:
.mil and .gov sites (whether or not such proposals have been followed through is up in the air).
/. several weeks back. That of non-linearity of air, and other interfaces (such as using an ultrasound/microwave carrier frequency for the audio, then the carrier is filtered from the signal via normal acoustic means for ultrasonic, and via neural activity for microwave). The patents are all out there, just look.
http://www.raven1.net/index.html
Admittedly, this site seems like one big rant and raving of a loon - but look into "voice to skull" technology - dig deep enough, and you WILL find proposals for such experimentation, at
Many of these devices rely on technology similar to the "personal dance floor" stuff that was posted here on
Crazy shit, I know - but it seems real enough...
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
We justify piracy these days when it only hurts Sony Records or Warner Brothers, but what's going to happen when those companies disappear, and the artists deal directly with the public? Are we suddenly going to give up our WE DESERVE FREE INFORMATION and I'D RATHER GET IT FROM NAPSTER selfishness?
Sure--today, record companies are the ones getting the profits, and I say, screw 'em. But imagine an ideal world, where an artist gets every penny of profit from their work. Why would they bother to record a song, if as soon as they release a single copy it's immediately pirated and distributed worldwide for free, in a form absolutely indistinguishable from the original? How is that artist going to be able to make any money? Rely on the charity of those who feel like donating a few cents because they liked their album?
Sure, I don't like the current financial scheme of the record labels. But the technology we're talking about here prevents ANYONE from making money from art. Famous quote and hacker philosophy: INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE. Hey, folks, ART IS INFORMATION. And FREE ART is crappy art, because there's no profit motive in it, and the worthwhile would-be artists are off doing something which allows them to put food on the table.
We'd better come up with SOME way of rewarding and reimbursing artists, or we're going to pirate art right out of our society.
I thought I had heard of this stuff before. Based on non viable economics and the ease with which the resulting CDs can be ripped (no surprise there), I suspect this project is already dead. And 5:1 compression? It is to laugh.
A cautionary tale for technology companies: entering into content protection projects has proven to this point to be a total waste of time, money, and opportunity. Not to mention what is does for your karma.
I wrote parts of this stuff