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.'"

Comments

Re:Boing Boing Unreliable

[sympathy]

By reading Boing Boing on a semi-regular basis and seeing how much of a rag they are. Why don't you blow Cory's dick a little harder?

Re:Places Apple still have DRM.

[Uberbah]

Seriously, encrypting firmware? How evil is that? How can apple apologists even try to justify that?

Because Apple doesn't advertise iPods as being open devices with open firmware? That all the system requirements specify iTunes, which specifies Max OS X or Windows? How can the Apple haters even whine about this?

If you want to buy an MP3 player and run Wankbox on it so you can play OggWankis files, then go ahead and buy one that supports it, and don't give Apple a cent of your money. It's a free country.

Re:Boing Boing Unreliable

[pesc]

Hmmm
According to the technical details you linked to it doesn't play standard DRM-free AAC files but it does play proprietary WMA files. And it requires Windows which I don't use.

Also, there is no mention on how it connects to my iTunes library? Can it sync automatically and update the smart playlists I use to load it with music I haven't listened to yet? Or do I have to go back to fully manual syncing/management?

I'm not so sure the Sansa player is superior...

Re:In the native Apple fanboi tongue (pretention):

[Lars T.]

So if you can't run iTunes on Linux, that means Linux is locking you in because you can't run all the software on it you want. Case closed.