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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.
If it's "copy protected", it's not a CD. Using the music industry's term is not the way to get non-geeks to understand the issue.
Let's come up with a name that reflects the true nature of these things, stick to it, and start using it.
This adds another (easier) loophole. Import to iTunes, export to whatever. Or, import to iPod, plug into line-in. The more complexity they add, the more holes there'll be for legitimate (using the term in its pre-DMCA/INDUCE-IICA sense, of course) use.
As much as I'm in favor of any "significant blow to Microsoft control", I won't support any attempt to replace Blue Book audio with any crippled format. I simply will not buy crippled "CDs"; I don't care how many different flavors of DRM are included for my convenience.
When all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
You will have to hold down the action button while loading the cd.
You can only be anti-competitive if you are a monopoly. Apple is not a monopoly and therefore cannot be anti-competitive.
Calling Apple anti-competitive in this area is like calling Sony anti-competitive because their mini-disc players do not support the industry standard 80cm Compact Disc.
seSales, Point of Sale software for OS X.
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.
Vultures: Dear Apple Computer. As you know we are the market leaders..blah blah..our products are used in..blah blah. We have an exciting proposition for you! We'd like you to make your products DO LESS, COST MORE, and BE MORE COMPLICATED! And in exchange for this awesome upgrade, we'll let you use our hip logo which means nothing to consumers!
The Steve: Let me get this straight. Our music player is #1. Our service is #1. We sold more units (100,000,000) in the past few months than you can conceive in one meeting without calling in your accountant. Customers are happy. Record labels are happy. *We're* happy (it's been 3 months since the financal press called us "beleagured").
We've found the right balance to keep the record companies happy. Record labels small and large are banging on our door. The few holdout artists are looking pretty silly.
After discussing this with the others we have come to the conclusion that you should go fuck yourself. Thanks.
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
PPC Processor market? Nope they are used in other machines
Notebooks? Nope other people make them
LCD Displays? Nope other people make them
Unix? Nope other versions exist
OS X? Nope, other operating systems run on PPC hardware
Tying everything together? Nope you are not required to use any one product with another.
Apple is NOT a monopoly. Unless you limit the definition of their market to some insane level, they cannot be called a monopoly in any shape or form. Even if we pretend for an instant that they are a monopoly -- just remember that being a monopoly is not illegal, abusing that status is.
Nice try though.
seSales, Point of Sale software for OS X.