Financial Times on Apple/Real/DMCA Morass

drpickett writes "The Financial Times are carrying an editorial by James Boyle concerning the nascent battle between Apple and Real. Good comments on the DMCA issues. Article sort of portrays Apple as a bunch of close-system types who got the 5% market share that they deserve for shunning interoperability. No mention is made of Real as the poster child for closed formats and cheap spyware tactics." And no mention noting what Real and Apple are really fighting over: who gets to profit from the destruction of the users' freedom.

Comments

Pudge?!

[krel]

And no mention noting what Real and Apple are really fighting over: who gets to profit from the destruction of the users' freedom.

Ah come on now, that's kind of unfair, isn't it?

Re:Pudge?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah come on now, that's kind of unfair, isn't it?

It's worse than unfair. It's the sort of gross, intentional mischaracterization that makes Slashdot look to outsiders like a pack of rabid dogs.

I fully understand why folks get all up in arms about DRM. There are certainly issues of monopoly, consumer protection, fair use, and fair trade to deal with. But know this: You do not have a constitutional right to use someone else's work however you like. In fact, the creator/owner of a work has a constitutional right to do whatever the hell they want with it. The sooner we all grok that, the sooner we can have an intelligent discussion on the subject.

If I write a song, I have every right to charge $100 for giving you the right to listen to it. Indeed, I have every right to charge you $100 for the right to listen to it just once! You have exactly the same rights regarding any song you might create. We each also have the right to protect our own works against copyright infringement. Importantly, protecting our own works (via commercial license, GPL, Doberman Pinscher, or electric fence) does not destroy a right or freedom that anyone else enjoyed.

This is an important thing for the FOSS community to understand deeply, because we generally release stuff under the GPL or similar license, and we fully expect people to abide by that license. The GPL's teeth come from our legal IP infrastructure. To reject the notion of the legitimacy of intellectual property is to reject the foundation of the GPL.

Apple and Real are fighting because Real has just peed in Apple's very nice, private, swimming pool.

Re:Pudge?!

[patheticloser]

Actually, we do have fair use rights that pertain to songs you might create, even if you'd like to charge us $100 for one listening (hypothetically, of course). The battleground is where the lines are drawn and where your copyright ends and my fair use rights begin.

For example, if you charge me $100 to listen to your song once, but then I parody your song, that is my fair use right, and you should not be able to drag me to court to use your song in this way without payment.

As far as Apple pissing on Real, let's not forget that iTunes and iPod can play non-DRM content like mp3, so it is disingenuous for Real to complain too loudly that Apple's system is closed.

Re:Why can't people see what Real is really trying

[jht]

I figure it this way: If Real wants to put their music on the iPod, they're free to sell their songs in one of two formats that are guaranteed compatible:

- Unprotected MP3 files
- Unprotected AAC files

All Real has to do is that simple action, and not only will the songs transfer just fine, but users could even use iTunes to manage them! How transparent is that?

What? You say Real wants to just wrap their DRM with Apple's DRM? Oh well, never mind. Screw them.

Apple's built a closed ecosystem, but one that supports both major consumer desktop platforms, and can support externally-created files. So I really don't see a problem here. If you want to have totally unencumbered files, you can either buy CDs and rip them (because all the iTunes encoders are DRM-free), or buy them online from Apple - if you choose to do that, though, you pay a little less and get DRM-encumbered tracks that are not quite as good as a real CD would provide.

Of course, then you can run those tracks through Hymn, but that's besides the point.

Re:Freedom?

[GeorgeH]

How about freedom to do whatever I damn well please within the law with the things I buy? How about the freedom to legally convert songs from the iTunes Music Store into a format that a non-Apple MP3 player can play? How about the freedom to sell music I bought the way I could with a CD (after all, they can limit the distribution through DRM to prevent me from playing the song once I sold it)?

Re:Why can't people see what Real is really trying

[chia_monkey]

And what excatly does Apple get back in return? Has Real made any effort to make Apple's job easier? If Real wants to open the iPod to their format, then they can pay Apple to do so, or offer up the engineering hours to keep everything working.

Exactly. I find it quite ironic that Real is so hell-bent on saying "open up". Just like they were so open with RealPlayer. "Got a Mac? Want to watch video? Wait...you want us to be compatible with QuickTime? Screw you." But now that the tables have turned and Apple has a commanding market share, Real cries "foul".

What exactly is positive about it?

[Paradox]

Nobody thinks that Real is defending anything but its own interest. Nevertheless, despite that greedy motivation, what they are doing here is positive.

What exactly is positive? Real isn't campaigning to open the format. They're campaigning for their corporation to be let in on a slice of the pie.

I wonder how they will look like in the future when they will sue some hacker's ass because they have broken their stream format to make a free player (as in speech).

Umm... why do they need to do any such thing? You could open "Lispy-named's Music Store" right now. You could put MP3s and AACs on there.

The DRM only gets put on for purchased music. It is not intrisic to the iPod. The iPod is already open to competition. Feel free to make a service that sells music for it.

What's happening here is that Real wants to force Apple to support Real's DRM and proprietarty format. No one in the open source world stands to gain anything from this.

Real does not get it

[Tjp($)pjT]

Instead of cracking Apple's DRM, Real could have just made a plug-in to iTunes that allowed Real content to be played in iTunes and allowed it to be converted (not sure that is able to be disallowed, but can be limited). That way you'd buy a song from Real's music store (and you can extend iTunes to allow access through iTunes, or do a standalone app) and you'd be able to download directly into iTunes and play Real's DRM'ed songs. Just like WMA can be played now. (Unprotected only as MS won't turn over its DRM keys either and can't be bothered to write a simple plugin for software from Apple.) Then allow the conversion to MP3 or AAC and you are off and running. Very cool would be if apple included the ability to convert to AAC with their DRM, but alas. Then it could play on the iPod. Does Real give away their DRM format? Does M$? No. Why should Apple. Any music service could provide the means to secure the purchased audio and allow conversion at point of use, just like Apple does. And then they'd play on the iPod as well.

It would, I repeat, be wonderful for Apple to include the ability to recode into AAC with DRM directly from iTunes. That would resolve all those issues for Real and MS directly removing their remaining excuses for their apologists. If Apple needs help with this feature, contact me and we'll do it for you. Same for Real. Same results, only legal w/o violating the DMCA.

Re:Why can't people see what Real is really trying

[Richard_at_work]

Basically what the Harmony system does is convert the Real media files to AAC (unprotected) and insert them into the Ipods database. That isnt the issue here. What IS at issue is the insertion into the Ipods database. If Real were to make their downloads AAC, then you would have no reason to use their software on the PC, and their install base goes down. THATS the real battle going on here, Real want Realplayer installed everywhere, and they see Ipod compatability as a way to do it.

Author misses the point.

[catwh0re]

After reading the article, I feel the author had missed the point on why there is a problem at all.
From his perspective it's just about apple clamping out another provider from supplying DRM songs.
Missing entirely on why people purchase iPods over competitor products. Likewise, why they purchase simple across the board DRM from iTMS, instead of more complicated, often per-song DRM from competitors.

Now follow that with the fact that Apple has an obligation to the record companies, probably promising sales to allow the 99c licensing price, this can't be threatened by 3rd parties trying to bolster their own market share, Apple have to answer to record companies, and must from that already defend their strategy to them. (Real, despite selling the same product, have made no attempt to allow iTMS's greater library of music to play on their players. -That- would be more choice.)

Probably the most important topic which the author missed was that Apple under no circumstance should be looking through their products to 'keep open' the technological backdoor that Real has made into the iPod. Apple should not have to engineer it's constantly updating firmware to support a 3rd party who reveals no details on how they broke into the iPod (other than "using publicy available information").
My point being, when the iPod gets updated (and future versions which already come with new firmware), Apple may even without deliberate direction 'break' the hack which Real has engineered to let their DRM'd songs play on the iPod.

Real has placed itself in a dangerous position of defensive catch up, if i purchased discount songs from Real (Something I can't do on my mac computers as Real's service is Windows only, Real vs Choice.) and my iPod would play them for a short while until i updated my iPod (to do things like work with a belkin photo reader or Voice recorder, or the new one-click shuffle feature), then I'm going to be angry with Real for providing a poor avenue to get their music on the iPod, not for Apple for continuing their product developement.

Real would always be playing catch up, with every round of iterations invalidating the previous round of music downloaded. No one is going to throw away their iPod and buy a portable real player, simply because it plays $10 worth of real's music.

In short the iPod presents enough choice for consumers, it plays raw audio in AIFF or WAV format and DRMless MP3 music files, if any of these competitors were worth their salt, they'd produce a DRM free file which the iPod would happily play. As well as most other players, with exception to Sony's offering which only plays ATRAC.)

Re:Boyle's piece is a must-read for the fanboy set

[HebrewToYou]

Read the article.

The author had no idea why Apple wants to keep Real from overiding the proper method for loading music on to the iPod: iTunes. The author kept using poor examples -- such as razor blades -- to explain something that is more directly correlated to a void warranty.

Apple wants the iPod to work, so they design the iTunes MS to provide legal and copyright-protected music to iPod users. Real come along and says "We can load songs on the iPod, too -- only without Apple's permission."

So what happens when Apple wants to change their software architecture? Are they responsible for the Real music 'breaking?' Of course not! Real is responsible, but I bet you wont hear THEM saying that.

This author is off his rocker. No wonder he teaches at Duke...

Re:Boyle's piece is a must-read for the fanboy set

[Zhe Mappel]

I see how confused you are. Let me help.

Boyle's use of razor blades isn't an "example." It's an analogy. He's showing how absurd it is for a razor manufacturer to say to a generic razor blade supplier, "Your blades rip off my razor because you figured out how the razor works!" Boyle expects you to substitute Apple and Real for the respective parties; it isn't asking much.

And you kind of need to do that to understand the issue here, my friend. This isn't about "Apple wanting the iPod to work." That banality can be said about any manufacturer and its product. Obviously it's the burden of any third-party supplier to ensure compatibility. To make it harder, proprietary means are often used to lock others out, but only recently have we seen the malicious use of the DMCA to stop competition.

No, the issue here is the foolish extraneous restraints on trade that are foisted on the marketplace by the DMCA, which might allow Apple to sue Real. Those restraints pretend that there's extra legal protection owed to makers of mp3 players, printers, and other tech that razor makers don't deserve. But that's plainly nuts: it's a perversion of the free market, which depends on interoperability. And it's allowing Apple to wield the DMCA like a club.

That's a metaphorical club. But you knew that. The smart money on this one--for consumers, for society--is to stop backing the bullies with clubs.