Your accusations of "crippling" are not true: you're repeating allegations that were debunked. I appreciate that you're a trolling AC, but let's at least bash MS for their *real* problems rather than distracting people with false claims. It discredits the Cause, mon.
This will become more prominent in Windows XP, and seeing as how Microsoft has crippled the included MP3 Encoder (or perhaps removed it altogether)...
Not quite true... Microsoft Windows XP includes the standard MP3 Advanced Encoder, as has been the case ever since Windows 98. This isn't MS crippling MP3, it's how FhG/Thompson license the codec. As you mention yourself, the FhG Pro codec isn't exactly free...
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go read up on Secure Audio Path... they (MS) have thought about this too
M$ bashing here doesn't make sense... SoundRecorder still produces (stupid) WAV files, and WMP has always produced WMAs (when it's been able to produce anything). nothin' new.
Actually, bringing up MS is interesting in that MS is using AMG (AllMusic Guide) nowadays, and no longer using CDDB. Is MS the next to get sued? Would Roxio be able to use AMG as well and possibly avoid legal issues that way? I think there's some interesting questions here beyond CDDB vs freeDB...
There's many many patent issues involved in MPEG4, just as there are with MP3 ('cept worse in the case of MPEG4, I believe). ProjectMayo is probably the *really* wrong horse to back... MPEG4 is a patent minefield. Look into Tarkin or other "clean" codecs.
There's no attempt to stop MP3 files being produced on XP. This MP3 codec has been shipped with MS software since NetShow 2.0 almost 4 years ago. The only new thing in this article at all is that WMP8 may support ripping to MP3. Since the codec MS has licensed only goes to 56kbps... MS can only rip to 56kbps unless you upgrade codecs and set the new reg keys.
It all depends on the codec. The one MS has a license to redist ("l3codeca.acm") only encodes up to 56kbps. Other codecs support other rates. Regardless, this only affects WMP and any other app trying to use the MS-licensed FhG codec redisted in XP.
Not true. It will be just as convenient to make MP3s under XP. In fact, WMP will be able to encode to MP3, so it'll be even easier... 56kbps for free, more advanced rates if you want to pay someone for the more advanced codec.
This is the weirdest spin I've ever seen on MS actually working with a competing format. WSJ needs to get technical fact checkers...
The reason *why* MS is only offering 56kbps encoding is because it's abiding carefully by the terms of its license with Fraunhofer.
This isn't a technical limitation imposed by MS, 56kbps is simply all that the codec MS is licensed to distribute will encode at. If you have FhG's for-pay codec (which unlocks additional encoding capabilities), you can easily update the reg settings so that you have full encoding for that codec.
The article was written by someone clearly technically clueless. Nobody quoted or mentioned in the article (on the MS-bashing side) apparently understands the difference between the six different encoder licenses prooffered by FhG/Thomson. Having reviewed the licensing myself, the article is ludicrous.
That being said, reread the article, especially Fester's comments at the end... he's saying MP3 is old and not free, both of which are true statements.
$2.50 is a lot per copy of Windows. Go out and buy your own FhG Pro codec and plug it in - it works easily enough. MS isn't stopping this or doing anything limiting. The limiting factor here is FhG licensing.
MP3 is not free. Don't make the mistake of thinking it is. Look up the licensing terms for WMA and MP3 yourself and then make judgements/aspersions, but until then... find a different target to bash.;)
Take a step back... MS only has a license to the 56kbps MP3 encoder. Higher bitrate encoding would require a new more expensive license. If MS is going to pay money to license technology, shouldn't they first license CDDB usage, MPEG2 decoder redistribution, (insert your favorite cause here...), etc?
This isn't anything about MS limiting anything. If you set the reg keys, you can encode to any rate you want. They're set low to begin with because that's all that the codec XP ships with supports on the encode side. It's got full decode, though.
And hey, doesn't the fact that MS has to cough up $$ to license the FhG decoder debunk the theory that MP3 is "free"?;)
You're not paying attention... MS only has a license to redist "l3codeca.acm", the Advanced FHG MP3 codec. This only supports encoding up to 56kbps. If you want to encode at higher bitrates, you have to acquire a more costly version of the codec. This is a technical limitation imposed by the binary licensed from FhG, not any articially imposed MS licensing. And if you DO have an "l3codeca.acm" that supports over 56kbps, it's a warez/stolen version... the very filename for this codec indicates the encoding capabilities. Certain Pirates are numbskulls who don't understand how FhG registration works.
Look up the facts. Microsoft has a license to the Advanced, not Pro, encoder. The Advanced encoder ONLY supports the bitrates supported within WMP at this time. No matter what you or MS would like to do, you can't make the Advanced encoder support Pro bitrates. The bitrates MS offers are the only bitrates that the Advanced codec supports. If you or MS want additional bitrates, you HAVE to get a new license ($$) for the new codec. MS has been shipping this codec since NetShow 2.0, when they first acquired the license.
You're really confused. The codec Microsoft has a license to ship only supports certain settings. The reg keys allow you to alert MS to the fact that you have a more capable codec. It's largely meant for OEMs, but you knowing it doesn't hurt either.
The MP3 codec is not free... MS ships what it has a license to ship. If Thomson/FhG want to give MS a license to ship the Pro encoder, I'm sure MS would be happy to. It's just not going to happen, so MS gets to make the best of it. Same with MPEG2...
What fight? It's just a hack. First DivX hacked the Microsoft MPEG4 codec and ripped off the FHG Pro codec, now they're trying to make money off of the MoMuSys MPEG4 ISO source code (also submitted by MS, I believe). The little guys *were* Vivo and VxTreme. Get excited for the "little guys" when DivX does some independent work, otherwise ignore the hackers and focus on 3ivx or Tarkin.
sigh... DivX *IS* Microsoft's codec. DivX 3.x is the hack of the Microsoft MPEG4 video codec, DivX 4.x last I checked was based off of the MoMuSys C++ source code MS submitted
The Adaptec CD-Burning plug-in installs itself as a filter for the device driver - additional code to be running in the driver stack. Whereas hot plugged devices load a *new* device driver, in the case of the CD-Burning plug-in installation and other driver filters, it's just additional code that needs to be run in addition to the currently loaded driver. Now, as I mentioned, you can tear down the driver stack on NT (TMK this is not possible on Win9x) if nobody is using that device at all and then you can rebuild it, but I'm not aware of any code in the real world that does this. And if that teardown fails because someone still has a handle open to the device - then it is again reboot time.
I've never seen this particular type of code in the wild, and I'd suspect that the people who wrote the Adaptec CD-Burning installer either weren't aware of how to do this or didn't have enough time to give this good code coverage.
I've heard from a very reliable source that any MS app that causes a reboot will get increasingly pointed reminders from increasingly upper management that Thou Shalt Not Reboot. I'd bet dollars to donuts that they figure out some way around this issue for v.next.
? You need to read the help file more carefully - or try doing it - : license migration isn't supported. Doing this won't work. It's obvious to anybody that license migration would be a fundamental hole in DRM, hence: not supported.
No need to get nit-picky: that's why I had used 'new' in quotes.
Whistler, yes. WinMe, yes(? I'll believe it when I see it). "Win9x" indicative of Win95/Win98 (all revisions), "NT" indicative of NT4/W2K: no.
Depending upon the level of kernel changes they made, it may be possible that they either throw out the WinMe work or add a 4th level of SAP that only works on Whistler. Proof will be in the puddin'.
WMA isn't necessarily content-protected: it's a choice you make when you encode the content. Anybody who's creating WMAs for "personal" use with Licensing/DRM turned on should get their head examined. WMP:Tools:Options:CD Audio, uncheck "Use Licensing". End of story for you. For people that want to turn it on and want copy protection on stuff *they* own the license to, that's their option.
You're trolling: if you don't install the Adaptec CD-Burning Plug-in, you don't reboot. It's called "device driver". You either have to completely tear down and rebuild the driver stack to insert it or you have to reboot the machine. There is NO other solution to this particular issue within Win32.
Your logic could as easily be applied to stores that implement anti-shoplifting technology...
The problem is that the people who want free music get in the way of people like me who have non-pop musical tastes and need not to have to haunt auction sites for years to track down elusive tracks. I'm all up for paying for music, because:
I'll get great hi-fidelity copies of the music
I'll have a better chance of getting those rare tracks
the artists get paid and will be more likely to continue to make more music for me
more tracks can be released because there's no longer any confinement to physical time-length limitations
The idea here is that there SHOULD be a music industry, and that all the jerks that would like to have the Art of Noise working at food kitchens alongside the music execs (don't forget: pirating hurts all parties who have a commercial interest) shouldn't spoil the digital music scene for the rest of us.
That's exactly the point of this. What if it was just as fast and in fact easier for you to buy the track than it was to hunt down a semi-corrupted poorly recorded copy of it on Gnutella?
What you're talking about is a common confusion: DRM and Windows Media files are two seperate things - you apply DRM to a WM file. Total Recorder and other current apps that take advantage of the non-secure audio paths do indeed provide a working solution for pirating current generation DRMd Windows Media files. (And for kilrogg, there are indeed wma2mp3 apps out there, if you look around.) The New New Thing here is the Secure Audio Path DRM level - files that won't be playable if you don't have a verifiably secure audio playback path. It'll likely still be the same old Windows Media file underneath, but only apps respecting the SAP/DRM security will be able to play back the files.
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Your accusations of "crippling" are not true: you're repeating allegations that were debunked. I appreciate that you're a trolling AC, but let's at least bash MS for their *real* problems rather than distracting people with false claims. It discredits the Cause, mon.
go read up on Secure Audio Path... they (MS) have thought about this too
M$ bashing here doesn't make sense... SoundRecorder still produces (stupid) WAV files, and WMP has always produced WMAs (when it's been able to produce anything). nothin' new.
Actually, bringing up MS is interesting in that MS is using AMG (AllMusic Guide) nowadays, and no longer using CDDB. Is MS the next to get sued? Would Roxio be able to use AMG as well and possibly avoid legal issues that way? I think there's some interesting questions here beyond CDDB vs freeDB...
There's no attempt to stop MP3 files being produced on XP. This MP3 codec has been shipped with MS software since NetShow 2.0 almost 4 years ago. The only new thing in this article at all is that WMP8 may support ripping to MP3. Since the codec MS has licensed only goes to 56kbps... MS can only rip to 56kbps unless you upgrade codecs and set the new reg keys.
It all depends on the codec. The one MS has a license to redist ("l3codeca.acm") only encodes up to 56kbps. Other codecs support other rates. Regardless, this only affects WMP and any other app trying to use the MS-licensed FhG codec redisted in XP.
This is the weirdest spin I've ever seen on MS actually working with a competing format. WSJ needs to get technical fact checkers...
This isn't a technical limitation imposed by MS, 56kbps is simply all that the codec MS is licensed to distribute will encode at. If you have FhG's for-pay codec (which unlocks additional encoding capabilities), you can easily update the reg settings so that you have full encoding for that codec.
That being said, reread the article, especially Fester's comments at the end... he's saying MP3 is old and not free, both of which are true statements.
$2.50 is a lot per copy of Windows. Go out and buy your own FhG Pro codec and plug it in - it works easily enough. MS isn't stopping this or doing anything limiting. The limiting factor here is FhG licensing.
MP3 is not free. Don't make the mistake of thinking it is. Look up the licensing terms for WMA and MP3 yourself and then make judgements/aspersions, but until then... find a different target to bash. ;)
This isn't anything about MS limiting anything. If you set the reg keys, you can encode to any rate you want. They're set low to begin with because that's all that the codec XP ships with supports on the encode side. It's got full decode, though.
And hey, doesn't the fact that MS has to cough up $$ to license the FhG decoder debunk the theory that MP3 is "free"? ;)
You're not paying attention... MS only has a license to redist "l3codeca.acm", the Advanced FHG MP3 codec. This only supports encoding up to 56kbps. If you want to encode at higher bitrates, you have to acquire a more costly version of the codec. This is a technical limitation imposed by the binary licensed from FhG, not any articially imposed MS licensing. And if you DO have an "l3codeca.acm" that supports over 56kbps, it's a warez/stolen version... the very filename for this codec indicates the encoding capabilities. Certain Pirates are numbskulls who don't understand how FhG registration works.
Look up the facts. Microsoft has a license to the Advanced, not Pro, encoder. The Advanced encoder ONLY supports the bitrates supported within WMP at this time. No matter what you or MS would like to do, you can't make the Advanced encoder support Pro bitrates. The bitrates MS offers are the only bitrates that the Advanced codec supports. If you or MS want additional bitrates, you HAVE to get a new license ($$) for the new codec. MS has been shipping this codec since NetShow 2.0, when they first acquired the license.
You're really confused. The codec Microsoft has a license to ship only supports certain settings. The reg keys allow you to alert MS to the fact that you have a more capable codec. It's largely meant for OEMs, but you knowing it doesn't hurt either. The MP3 codec is not free... MS ships what it has a license to ship. If Thomson/FhG want to give MS a license to ship the Pro encoder, I'm sure MS would be happy to. It's just not going to happen, so MS gets to make the best of it. Same with MPEG2...
What fight? It's just a hack. First DivX hacked the Microsoft MPEG4 codec and ripped off the FHG Pro codec, now they're trying to make money off of the MoMuSys MPEG4 ISO source code (also submitted by MS, I believe). The little guys *were* Vivo and VxTreme. Get excited for the "little guys" when DivX does some independent work, otherwise ignore the hackers and focus on 3ivx or Tarkin.
sigh... DivX *IS* Microsoft's codec. DivX 3.x is the hack of the Microsoft MPEG4 video codec, DivX 4.x last I checked was based off of the MoMuSys C++ source code MS submitted
I've never seen this particular type of code in the wild, and I'd suspect that the people who wrote the Adaptec CD-Burning installer either weren't aware of how to do this or didn't have enough time to give this good code coverage.
I've heard from a very reliable source that any MS app that causes a reboot will get increasingly pointed reminders from increasingly upper management that Thou Shalt Not Reboot. I'd bet dollars to donuts that they figure out some way around this issue for v.next.
? You need to read the help file more carefully - or try doing it - : license migration isn't supported. Doing this won't work. It's obvious to anybody that license migration would be a fundamental hole in DRM, hence: not supported.
Whistler, yes. WinMe, yes(? I'll believe it when I see it). "Win9x" indicative of Win95/Win98 (all revisions), "NT" indicative of NT4/W2K: no.
Depending upon the level of kernel changes they made, it may be possible that they either throw out the WinMe work or add a 4th level of SAP that only works on Whistler. Proof will be in the puddin'.
WMA isn't necessarily content-protected: it's a choice you make when you encode the content. Anybody who's creating WMAs for "personal" use with Licensing/DRM turned on should get their head examined. WMP:Tools:Options:CD Audio, uncheck "Use Licensing". End of story for you. For people that want to turn it on and want copy protection on stuff *they* own the license to, that's their option.
Read the article: it's a kernel-level change 'new' to Whistler. It's not *going* to run on Win9x.
You're trolling: if you don't install the Adaptec CD-Burning Plug-in, you don't reboot. It's called "device driver". You either have to completely tear down and rebuild the driver stack to insert it or you have to reboot the machine. There is NO other solution to this particular issue within Win32.
The problem is that the people who want free music get in the way of people like me who have non-pop musical tastes and need not to have to haunt auction sites for years to track down elusive tracks. I'm all up for paying for music, because:
- I'll get great hi-fidelity copies of the music
- I'll have a better chance of getting those rare tracks
- the artists get paid and will be more likely to continue to make more music for me
- more tracks can be released because there's no longer any confinement to physical time-length limitations
The idea here is that there SHOULD be a music industry, and that all the jerks that would like to have the Art of Noise working at food kitchens alongside the music execs (don't forget: pirating hurts all parties who have a commercial interest) shouldn't spoil the digital music scene for the rest of us.That's exactly the point of this. What if it was just as fast and in fact easier for you to buy the track than it was to hunt down a semi-corrupted poorly recorded copy of it on Gnutella?
What you're talking about is a common confusion: DRM and Windows Media files are two seperate things - you apply DRM to a WM file. Total Recorder and other current apps that take advantage of the non-secure audio paths do indeed provide a working solution for pirating current generation DRMd Windows Media files. (And for kilrogg, there are indeed wma2mp3 apps out there, if you look around.) The New New Thing here is the Secure Audio Path DRM level - files that won't be playable if you don't have a verifiably secure audio playback path. It'll likely still be the same old Windows Media file underneath, but only apps respecting the SAP/DRM security will be able to play back the files.