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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.
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,
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.
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.
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