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Update — No DRM In New iPod Shuffle
An anonymous reader writes "BoingBoing Gadgets has updated their story from yesterday on DRM contained in the new iPod Shuffle. (We also discussed this rumor last week.) It's a false alarm. There is a chip in the headphone controls but it is just an encoder chip. There is no DRM and no reason to believe that third party headphones wouldn't work with the new Shuffle. (Apple would still prefer you to license the encoder under the Made for iPod program, but with no DRM, there is no DMCA risk to a manufacturer reverse engineering it.) The money quote: 'For the record, we do not believe that the new iPod headphones with in-line remote use DRM that affects audio playback in any way.'"
Those of us who know what they are doing would take the specs everytime over "made for X".
Then again those of us who know what they are doing would never buy apple hardware.
Yes, that's right, because your sony remote works with your iRiver player... wait... no. Bottom line â" 3.5mm jack carries audio, on the iPod and all other devices with in-headphone remotes it still carries audio. There is no standard, and has never been a standard for transmitting control signals back to the player though, and apple is doing no differently from any other company in creating a remote control standard. The difference is, Apple has a good track history of letting 3rd parties build the remotes.
When a market leader pulls this crap, others do too and pretty soon all the MP3 players you can buy have this "feature".
Wake up already, "other vendors" have been doing this since 1990. Headphone cable remotes have existed for many many many years.
There's no vendor lock in going on here, just yet another way of connecting a remote control to a device, which hundreds of manufacturers have been doing for many years.
Apple (going on their track record) even have the decency to let 3rd parties build the remotes, something which can't be said for most other vendors.
Let me correct that: Shuffle: no remote, plug in headphones, turn on, listen to music.
Problem: all your rhetorical masturbation can't mask your blathering stupidity. As evidenced by...
Well played sir, putting the word "wank" in your sentence sure annulled the fact that IT IS PRETTY DAMN EVIL TO INTENTIONALLY GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO SABOTAGE PEOPLE WHO JUST WANT THEIR HARDWARE TO PLAY NICE WITH THEIR SOFTWARE.
And what about the firmware encryption prevents the iTouch or iPhone from "playing nice" with iTunes, exactly? Jack and shit, and Jack left town.
Moran.
That's because your shitty OggWank player doesn't have a standardized remote control. Maybe if the makers of shitty OggWank players could get their collective heads out of their collective asses...
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Yes, I do.
You are entirely missing the point of the design: It is designed so that you can stuff it in a pocket and forget about it. The controls on the cord are far easier to reach than digging out the player. That is the whole point.