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Copy Protected CD Makers Attempt iPod Support
andrewdski writes "C|Net is reporting that both SunnComm International and Macrovision are courting Apple in an attempt to make their copy-protected CDs compatible with the iPod. This is being portrayed as a significant blow to Microsoft's control over digital rights technology." The iPod concerns were raised in a previous article.
Limited play compact disk. Let's call them LPCD. Old timers will groan, but it's better than nothing.
No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men.-Ronald Reagan
I don't think that Apple will have much interest in changing their DRM to accommodate the CD DRM companies since doing nothing will have the same effect.
There are two reasons Apple won't do this. 1) Economical. They'd rather sell the controlled music through the iTunes Music Store. 2) Usability. You know damn well Suncomm and Macrovision aren't going to label these things as protected unless they have to, and Apple doesn't want to deal with "Why can I burn songs from CD A but not B?".
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
Both Macrovision and Sunncom seem like their on a fishing expedition -- and C|net is playing along.
Apple declined comment and MSFT only says "we don't know what they're up to".
Apple doesn't want DRM anymore than the rest of us -- the first version of the iPod had none. And I'm sure they could really give a crap about physical media when their whole business model is based on networked media.
-ch
I can think of only three ways these companies can get their technology to work in an "iPod Nation":
+ Convince Apple to make iPods play WMV (fat chance)
+ Convince Apple to make iTunes burn protected AAC files only (no mp3 or unprotected AAC anymore. again, fat chance)
+ Convince Apple to kill off the iPod, hence making it a Windows Media Nation once again (better chance of this happening than the other two).
By complying with these companies, Apple gains nothing but may lose something. In fact, it can be argued that music CDs that do not work with iPods only encourages iTunes sales. I remember reading the customer reviews of Contraband on Amazon. 9 of the the 10 most helpful reviews rate the music as 1-star solely b/c of copy protection. But you can easily go online and buy that CD off of iTunes which, surprise, does work with your iPod.
Audio compression concerns aside, buying a music CD off of iTunes is a whole lot easier than buying it off of Amazon or even your local music store. CD protection schemes only drives iTunes ease of use into the consumer's head further.
Little Bricklets
Hey, what happened to all the customer reviews on Amazon for Contraband. A huge number of them gave it a bad rating because of the copy protection. But now ALL of these reviews have disappeared.
What happened? See for youself over Here
Little Bricklets
Nobody outside out of Slashdot (yes I know where we are) gives a crap about this.
geek: OMG! they violated the CD audio specs!!! LMAO!!
joe public: look, shiny disc music thingies!
If these things work in more CD players than not (let's all hope not), then the average comsumer will buy his music in the format offered by his local chain.
He also wouldn't care if it was riddled with spyware, studded with RFID tags and not offered under an Open Source license.
Beowulf is an unknown word to him. He cares not if it runs Linux. He is a sheep.
Why is this important? Because he is one of very, very many. And they dominate the culture, for the most part. Not the small stuff, but the big slow tectonic movements. It's their fault for Hootie & The Blowfish, the Macarena and the Atkins diet, for example. There's not much recourse against such a behemoth of a force.
So instead of telling me for the umpteenth time that something is technically, legally or morally wrong, remember you're preaching to the choir here and tell me what we can do about it instead.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
I have bought one copy-protected audio CD (Kraftwerk - Tour De France Sountracks) and it is a pain in the ass. It won't play in my iBook, and it won't play in 95% of computers I have put it in.
It comes with a Windows player installer that wants to copy multiple files to the HD, and a buggy Mac player that crashes my iBook in 9.2 and quits as soon as it is launched in Panther.
(It plays just like any other CD in my Sawtooth G4's stock DVD-ROM drive).
Don't these people realize that a lot of people nowadays use a computer instead of a standard CD player to listen to their music?
If I had an iPod and the iTunes Music Store was available in my country (Canada! cmon Apple!) , I would have bought the album online, paid less money, and I'd be able to listen to it anywhere.
Copy protection on audio CD's is far worse than Apple's DRM. If I were Apple I'd let the people doing the copy protection futz around trying to make their product actually work, while the iTMS model continues to gain momentum as a better way to buy music.