Slashdot Mirror
Tiny, Secure Music/Data CDs Due in the Fall
An anonymous reader submitted a story about a new recordable disc the size of a quarter, that holds about the same amount of data as a CD. Of course its an intermediate step before we
simply stream all audio from the net, but the RIAA sure is making that
obvious last step a royal pain.
Hi! This is the Sig, blatantly attached to the end of this comment.
-- ER, listening to his new, kick-ass MD player as he posts this
Surely something so simple could be easily cracked.
To me, if it's encrypted, cracking it is far from "simple". If you're a crypto expert, then yeah, you can reverse engineer it perhaps, but Joe Linux (me) won't be cracking this anytime soon.
I mean, SDMI was a huge failure, how can they expect these not to be?
I think you have it backwards. If I put out a product that was a "huge failure", I would improve upon that product and re-release it, which is what seems to be happening in this instance.
RIAA is pissed, and they probably made a helluva scheme this time.
Well, Sami, enjoy your new format.
I'm not in need of a new format.
Actually, I kinda like the idea of 500M of rewritable storage in the palm of my hand, but not at the cost of the DRM garbage you wanna cripple it with.
Ummm...I don't want to "simply stream all audio data off the net". I want my audio data here in my hands (or in my drawer, or on my harddisk). That's the whole point of this whole Napster thing (which I'm pretty sure you've heard about, since it's all we talk about anymore). It isn't about "We want to be able to download"--it's about "We want to be able to do what we want with the stuff we own (which includes downloading)".
I mean, what if www.riaa.com started offering downloadable SDMI (or similarly encrypted) music files tomorrow provided that you could only listen to the stream, not save it or time-shift it or anything. Thanks but no thanks. I don't want a specific medium, I want a choice of mediums.
--
324006
Mini-discs died a pretty miserable death, and the continued failure of people to adopt any of the other recordable mediums suggest that we're pretty content with CD's for the time being. I think that there is a sort of law of diminishing returns with size, and anything smaller than a CD doesn't appeal to many people.
Any new medium must offer something substantial for it to be adopted. In the case of CD's it was quality of music. For MP3's it was transferability and effective HD storage. What new quality is offered by these disks that doesn't already exist in another form? Are CD's at 4.75 inches in diameter and negligable thickness really that inconvenient?
The next wave in media will most likely be based not on size but on durability. This is the one area where all current forms of storage are severly lacking.
(Donning asbestos long johns...)
This is another example of technological measures to enforce copy right, which will inevitably lead to somebody cracking the technological means, lawsuits, destitute geeks, and wealthy lawyers.
We need to know (in the US at least) What is fair use.
OK, this thing is definitely going to keep me from extracting small portions of a cd for purposes of review, etc. which has always been upheld as fair use. The RIAA is almost cetainly not afraid of me doing this, they're afraid of me Napstering albums. But they feel they have to do something.
OK, its time for Orrin Hatch to carry out his threat and ask the Congress to define "Fair Use".
What would this do for Us ?
1. Buisiness owners who depend on production of copyrighted material would KNOW what can and can't be done. Technological measures which prevent legal fair use would *NOT* be protected.
2. Buisinesses would LIKE this. All buisinessmen LOVE determinism, all they really want is to know what they can and can't do... and then beat up competitors for the can't.
3. We would love this. We would know what we CAN do, and would have a legal leg to stand on, as opposed to having some ignorant judge use an undefined concept like fair use is now to uphold what he sees as "pirates" against a "legitimate" buisiness.
Technological means of copy control are going to be upheld by the courts until such time as the courts have SOMETHING codified to look at (that's what they like). An incontrovertible definition of fair use would provide this.
-- Rich
Free your mind and your Ass will follow -- George Clinton
A quarter is a denomination of US money. It is valued at US$0.25. It is a round metallic coin of measurements: 24.26mm (diameter) x 1.75mm (thickness) and weighs 5.670 g. It has a reeded (ridged) edge with 119 reeds. The front has a embossed picture of the first US president, George Washington. The back has a embossed picture of an eagle (the US symbol for freedom).
t ion=coin_specifications.
Info on other US coins can be found here: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/index.cfm?ac
This is hardly new news. The company is DataPlay. There was an article in Slashdot about them and their technology a few weeks back.
Uh, MiniDisc?
'"It's time to do something new, something smaller, better and more versatile."'
Uh, MiniDisc again?
Nothing quite like conveniently forgetting something for marketing purposes.
Asikaa
Asikaa
Come in, twenty-seventy-seventy, your time is up.