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TiVo-like Application for XM Radio Under Fire
Strudelkugel writes "USA Today reports: 'Catching Blondie's reunion tour broadcast at 4 in the morning wasn't an option for XM satellite radio subscriber and single father Scott MacLean. "I was missing concerts that were being broadcasted when I was asleep or out," he said. So the 35-year-old computer programmer from Ottawa, Ontario, wrote a piece of software that let him record the show directly onto his PC hard drive while he snoozed.' As expected, the lawyers are coming out. Seems like a good idea, though. This capability might actually entice me to get an XM radio."
with a line in to the mac and AudioHijack Pro. You set a time and it records. I'm sure you don't need to write your own special software.
It also looks like Slashdot is a little behind on this news, it's been discussed since Tuesday on the XM developer's forum http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=27670.
One interesting post by the developer indicates that he has purged purchaser's personal information from his database:
As there has been some concern about contact information held by me, I have changed my database so that the only information stored is the issued key number. Email addresses and any other identifying information about purchasers is discarded immediately after the credit card validation process has completed.
The key number is derived from a one-way hash using your radio ID and some other internal information. It will work only with your radio, however no information (including the radio ID) can be derived from it.
A: They can't legally sell the XM service into Canada because their channels don't have anywhere close to meeting the CanCon the CRTC would impose on them. They'll likely never even bother to seek permission.
B: XM's satellite signals are aimed towards the USA because, well, nearly all signal they send outside of the US borders would be a total waste of energy. They could legally paint all of Canada with signal with a broad beam that also hits part of the USA thanks to the "we'll tolerate each other's signal splashes" deal between the nations, but since they'll never be allowed to openly sell up there, they might as well direct their signal to where paying customers actually will be.
It hardly seems worth it; I have Sirius, and despite fanatics from both XM and Sirius, the sound is not even close to CD quality. Its better than FM in dynamic range, but inferior to FM because it suffers from a signficant amount of digital artifacts.
These are not important in a car, but don't stand up to any kind of critical listening.
Its a tempest in a teapot.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
the Recording Industry Association of America said his organization had not reviewed the software
Interestingly, the programmer is from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Out of the RIAA's jurisdiction.
Trolling is a art,
Just remember that sometimes good does triumph over evil. Someday, if we have the will to keep on fighting we will beat the DMCA and the RIAA as well. They have the money but we outnumber them. Wasn't it Stalin that said that Quantity has a Quality of its own? Of course our side happens to have the quality advantage as well when it comes to having more bright folks who can reverse engineer whatever crap they throw at us next.
But to fight them long term we have to make the politicians who give us crap like the DMCA fear us more than they want to make the MPAA/RIAA happy. As things stand BOTH major political power structures are against us. The Democrats supported DMCA, the Sonny Bono extension, etc because they depend on cold cash from the Hollywood left. The Republicans went right along because they like busineses like Time Warner and News Corp and the cash they pony up. Neither sees us as either a voting or donor block important enough to bother listening to.
Democrat delenda est
What really doesn't make sense about this is that I have hardware that does this already. DISH Network broadcasts Sirius satellite radio along with all of the other music channels. And there's no problem with recording it on my DISH PVR. So I suppose XM is probably just upset because they didn't think of it first.
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unless the entire premise of Sony vs Universal is overturned by another supreme court ruling (which would be a travesty)
I agree it would be a travesty, but there is a very real risk of it happening. There are quite a few people who want to do exactly that, including several congressmen and even the head of the US copyright office. Sickening.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
You're right. We don't have the RIAA in Canada. Instead, we've got the CRIA! (Canadian Recording Industry Association)
I'm sure they'd love to sue the pants off Scott MacLean too, fortunately our judicial system is a little more sane.
The stuff the RIAA gets away with in the US just wouldn't fly in Canada.
-kidlinux.
(And no, that's not an XM antenna on the roof of my car... :P )
I think there is actually a mod out there to add either a coaxial or optical connector to your XM, though i think someone might have already posted about that...
Why Wouldn't XM radio love this feature... think about how many people will sign up with hopes to record. XM IS NOT TRYING TO SHUT THIS GUY DOWN... they sent the letter under direction of the RIAA. QUOTE FROM XMFAN.COM: "$20 says XM doesn't give a sh*t. They have to put on the corporate defensive smiley, however. It's the RIAA that would be muscling this. XM isn't gonna fight the RIAA... 70 channels of XM's content depend on them. " Deep down they love the idea, and want people to spend the subscription fee to have XM Radio. But due to fears of the RIAA (on which they rely on A LOT of their programming) and the hell they've already been through from the NAB, they have to remain on their side. If they fought the RIAA, the RIAA would pull their licensing of the music that XM Plays (and they control a LOT of music!), so XM really doesn't have a choice but to "pretend" to be against this device. From a business standpoint, it's great for getting in new subscribers.
Common law always wins over individual licenses.
Disclaimer: IANAL
Yeah, that's awful. It's a damn shame when people are able to enjoy what they buy, especially if YOU think the quality is too shabby for your discerning tastes.
In the area of digital satellite/cable, unless you're willing to pay through the nose in terms of money and space for a big dish, NTSC MPEG-2 is the best you can get (I consider HDTV a very separate category, especially since it's still not even nearly the majority of available programming). If a few artifacts are the price to be paid for having a couple hundred channels, that's just the way it goes.
Further, it's not a matter of the "average American" - and, wow, you sure make that seem like an insult - not being able to tell the difference. On a decent TV. I expect most CAN tell the difference between a good DVD and the same content on digital cable/satellite. It's a matter of WHAT IS AVAILABLE and WHAT IS COST-EFFECTIVE. It would be great to have the original, pure NTSC analog signal coming through with no interference, but that's just not practical for the vast majority of TV viewers.
As a side note, I would mention that part of the artifacting problem is indeed increased MPEG-2 compression, but another part is the fact that the signals are being encoded in real-time. DirecTV, Comcast, Dish Network, etc. don't get all the programming a couple weeks in advance, encode it and then broadcast it on the appropriate days. The signals arrive in their native form from the content providers and are encoded on the fly for distribution (or, for analog cable/VHF/UHF, just retransmitted) within seconds - this is the biggest reason for the very artifacts you describe in busy CG video and jump cuts (Homicide: Life on the Street was very difficult for me to watch on two different Dish Network stations - Lifetime and CourtTV - due to their very liberal use of handheld cameras). The quality of these signals is inevitably going to be lower than DVD quality, and this is magnified when dealing with an NTSC tape source as opposed to the HD masters from which most movie DVDs are derived.
Of course, if the FCC has their way, eventually there will be no such thing as live TV anywhere and they can put every channel on a five- to ten-minute delay. It would be a shame in free speech terms (I consider all FCC forays into this area direct violations of the 1st amendment, myself) but it would probably allow for better MPEG encoding.
I will RTFA, I will RTFA, I will RTFA...
/. blurb?
But TFA is in USA Today. Who'd think there was any more information than the