Some have gotten APE files to play on other platforms. The problem with it is that while it's slightly more efficient than FLAC or ALAC, it's a bit slower. I'm sure patents might have been an issue too. Some of the super efficient lossless coders are a few percent more efficient, but dramatically slower (10x slower than ALAC/FLAC or worse).
The Apple-provided iTMS Link Maker has similar functionality. It's great for searching for music outside of iTunes or for linking to music you like. If they're offering this kind of stuff themselves, I'd imagine they wouldn't have a huge problem with others doing it too.
NTT may lead the world in WCDMA, but they're having a hell of a time competing with KDDA (the main Japanese 1x CDMA provider). The problem is is that even with a CDMA air protocol, there's dramatically more overhead in GSM.
In a free, non-controlled market, the only way WCDMA/UMTS can compete is through government-regulation, like, say, banning 1x CDMA providers. There's also a lot to be said for the fact that 3G CDMA like EV-DO and EV-DV have been shown to be faster than UMTS and friends. Combine this with the fact that the largest launch of EV-DO (Verizon's in the US) is likely only a few months away, and there is very little to no reason to suddenly do the European thing and ban CDMA because it's different.
No, it's absolutely about piracy. There are legal, Apple-approved ways to convert music purchased on iTMS to another format with no digital->analog->digital loss whatsoever. Here, check this code out (Might only only work on OS X):
Feel free to use this crap in your own code, BTW. Public domain.
Now, as you can see, Apple has gone out of their way to make it possible to convert from protected iTMS files in QuickTime-using programs to whatever other format (if you're licensed to play them, of course). About a dozen lines of code, and I haven't even start obfuscating it. In fact, if you install the Ogg Vorbis component for QuickTime, you can even replace the kQTFileTypeWave with 'OggS', and have a quick M4P->Ogg setup. You are, in fact licensed to do this. You can also use this ability to put M4P files in iMovie projects, or for iPhoto slideshows, or whatever. The CVS version of SlimServer, the software for the SlimMP3 and SqueezeBox even has support for playing M4P files. Legally. Functionally.
Now, someone decided that this wasn't enough. Why? The only likely explanation is that they wanted to be able to trade with other people. Any other use (fair format shifting) is considerably more easily accomplished with already extant tools.
This is unfortunately not really true. Just to quote your source,
What is the difference between a "professional" encoder or decoder product, and a "consumer" encoder or decoder product?
A professional product is purchased for commercial (i.e., revenue generating) purposes. A consumer product is purchased or made available for non-revenue generating purposes. Examples of professional products include broadcast encoders, and high-end audio or audio/video workstation applications. Professional products are typically used in a production environment or within the context of a backend distribution system. Examples of typical consumer products include jukebox products for creating a personal digital music library, portable digital music players, DVD/CD players, or television receivers.
Notice how they don't mention anything about the actual quality of the encoder? In fact, that's because there's no difference. The Pro/Consumer differentiation is a ploy they use to make commercial users pay more (perhaps because because they have the money to do so). You might notice that Microsoft does with with Student/Home versions of Office which cost 75% less than the business versions of the same code.
So Gabriel stops his music from getting on iTunes, with apparently little effect, as I can still find 8 of his albums. Then he launches his own Windows Media-based service. Then he starts a little music mafia- er, I mean, Union to get others to keep their music off iTunes. What a great deal...
Wait a minute. Before anyone else corrects you, I think I should.
Al Gore only said he took the initiative in creating the propulsion engine. And a very high up guy who once worked at JPL but now works as a stock option holder at a large defense contractor can back that up.
Frankly, we have much more distance to travel. If New York LA is the US equivilent to Bei Jing Shang Hai, that's 750 miles vs. 3000 miles. So, if airplanes average 500 miles/hour and a maglev averages 300, and even if we assume there is two hours of security related crap at a US airport, and even if we assume that there would be zero security time at a proposed US high-speed railport (there would be), let's see how long it would take.
Railway
Bei Jing Shang Hai: 2.5 Hours
New York LA: 10.0 Hours
Airplane
Bei Jing Shang Hai: 3.7 Hours
New York LA: 8.0 Hours
...and this is really biased towards the railway here (production maglevs are not supposed to get to 300 miles/hour, jets travel faster than 500 miles/hour all the time). Combine this with the fact that the US has essentially zero high-speed rail infrastructure, and the odds of seeing a high-speed rail in the states gets very very low for the foreseeable future.
Get Ogg support here. You won't be able to rip to it, but it should allow iTunes (actually, all QuickTime apps) to use Ogg Vorbis. Supports Ogg metadata, too.
Acxiom and its ilk usually store their databases in ridiculously freakin' huge mainframes which are often not even directly connected to the internet. It sounds to me like someone inside the company set up an FTP server, put part of the database into it, then gave the usernames/passwords out to a bunch of companies...such as the one our friend Baas worked for. All he would have had to do is ask a co-worker for the password.
Remember, clients of data companies basically just pay to buy a small part of the database.
Whenever I rip a CD, I encode it into mathematically loseless MP3s
Uhm...no you don't. The MP3 format doesn't allow for it. Maybe if you used FLAC or MonkeyAudio, but the MP3 format specifies maximum audio frame sizes that make lossless MP3 and impossibility.
I re-encoded the trailer, maintaining the psycho-high resolution, and cutting off about 30 meg into MPEG-4-ish video that plays in VideoLAN, Mplayer, Xine...all that good stuff. If anyone is interested, look on OpenFT for a file named "Matrix_Reloaded_Trailer.3ivx.mov". It's 70,079,498 bytes. I really didn't want to go through the hassle of setting up a BitTorrent tracker. Someone drop me a line if they want to provide a tracker.
Cool trailer, anyhow. Notice the lack of film artifacts, clear evidence of a digital movie camera.
I've heard that you can take a Tyan Tiger MP mobo and smack two Durons in it for a pretty killer, low-cost SMP rig, while the Celeron is SMP-locked, so this is not possible. Has anyone tried this, successfully?
Well, since we can't attack Afghanistan in through normal methods (http://slashdot.org/articles/01/09/22/228250.shtm l), I bet NASA's trying to use Deep Space 1 to direct the comet towards Afghanistan! Think about it...it would take out all those pesky caves....
I don't know if anyone has tried it, but running the Windows version of VirtualPC from Connectix to run Linux has actually proved to be quite a bit better than the other way around...for me anyway...http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc4w.h tml
Yes, I know exactly what everyone is thinking. Intel is runing their FUD engine at full steam to make sure everyone uses their expensive chipset/RDRAM setup.
But, as someone whose last three out of four computers (and probably next one) have been AMD Athl/Dur-on computers, let me just give a slightly different twist on this. I have had HUGE problems with VIA chipsets, on both AMD and Intel platforms. Quite frankly, they are just not quality products. They have ridiculously bad USB support, sub-par stability, and tons of other little things that drive me NUTS.
I would also like to point out that unlike many other chipset makers, VIA specifically optimizes their chipsets' drivers for Microsoft OS use. Generally speaking, this means that you always have to use the absolute latest Linux kernel in order for even somewhat good chipset support.
Given VIA's track record, Intel's advice seems completely logical: VIA cares more about getting a chipset out than making sure it's a quality product.
In other words, if you're in the market for a P4/DDR combo, I implore you to wait for Intel, SiS, or ALi to release their chipsets, as VIA's track record (particularly in new techologies) is...less than great.
Hrm...So, everyone except Nick Petreley said that NCs wouldn't succeed. They didn't.
When it comes to successful ideas in computing, who should we turn to? Nick Petreley, of course.
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Some have gotten APE files to play on other platforms. The problem with it is that while it's slightly more efficient than FLAC or ALAC, it's a bit slower. I'm sure patents might have been an issue too. Some of the super efficient lossless coders are a few percent more efficient, but dramatically slower (10x slower than ALAC/FLAC or worse).
The Apple-provided iTMS Link Maker has similar functionality. It's great for searching for music outside of iTunes or for linking to music you like. If they're offering this kind of stuff themselves, I'd imagine they wouldn't have a huge problem with others doing it too.
NTT may lead the world in WCDMA, but they're having a hell of a time competing with KDDA (the main Japanese 1x CDMA provider). The problem is is that even with a CDMA air protocol, there's dramatically more overhead in GSM.
In a free, non-controlled market, the only way WCDMA/UMTS can compete is through government-regulation, like, say, banning 1x CDMA providers. There's also a lot to be said for the fact that 3G CDMA like EV-DO and EV-DV have been shown to be faster than UMTS and friends. Combine this with the fact that the largest launch of EV-DO (Verizon's in the US) is likely only a few months away, and there is very little to no reason to suddenly do the European thing and ban CDMA because it's different.
Firstly, you can use GCC on Windows. Secondly, playfair doesn't work on anything that QuickTime doesn't.
Now, as you can see, Apple has gone out of their way to make it possible to convert from protected iTMS files in QuickTime-using programs to whatever other format (if you're licensed to play them, of course). About a dozen lines of code, and I haven't even start obfuscating it. In fact, if you install the Ogg Vorbis component for QuickTime, you can even replace the kQTFileTypeWave with 'OggS', and have a quick M4P->Ogg setup. You are, in fact licensed to do this. You can also use this ability to put M4P files in iMovie projects, or for iPhoto slideshows, or whatever. The CVS version of SlimServer, the software for the SlimMP3 and SqueezeBox even has support for playing M4P files. Legally. Functionally. Now, someone decided that this wasn't enough. Why? The only likely explanation is that they wanted to be able to trade with other people. Any other use (fair format shifting) is considerably more easily accomplished with already extant tools.
That already happened when Adobe killed Premiere for Mac. This more like "Adobe After Effects (of not being able to keep a product alive)".
...I saw your throat moving...
This is unfortunately not really true. Just to quote your source,
What is the difference between a "professional" encoder or decoder product, and a "consumer" encoder or decoder product?
A professional product is purchased for commercial (i.e., revenue generating) purposes. A consumer product is purchased or made available for non-revenue generating purposes. Examples of professional products include broadcast encoders, and high-end audio or audio/video workstation applications. Professional products are typically used in a production environment or within the context of a backend distribution system. Examples of typical consumer products include jukebox products for creating a personal digital music library, portable digital music players, DVD/CD players, or television receivers.
Notice how they don't mention anything about the actual quality of the encoder? In fact, that's because there's no difference. The Pro/Consumer differentiation is a ploy they use to make commercial users pay more (perhaps because because they have the money to do so). You might notice that Microsoft does with with Student/Home versions of Office which cost 75% less than the business versions of the same code.
So Gabriel stops his music from getting on iTunes, with apparently little effect, as I can still find 8 of his albums. Then he launches his own Windows Media-based service. Then he starts a little music mafia- er, I mean, Union to get others to keep their music off iTunes. What a great deal...
Wait a minute. Before anyone else corrects you, I think I should.
Al Gore only said he took the initiative in creating the propulsion engine. And a very high up guy who once worked at JPL but now works as a stock option holder at a large defense contractor can back that up.
Frankly, we have much more distance to travel. If New York LA is the US equivilent to Bei Jing Shang Hai, that's 750 miles vs. 3000 miles. So, if airplanes average 500 miles/hour and a maglev averages 300, and even if we assume there is two hours of security related crap at a US airport, and even if we assume that there would be zero security time at a proposed US high-speed railport (there would be), let's see how long it would take.
Railway
Bei Jing Shang Hai: 2.5 Hours
New York LA: 10.0 Hours
Airplane
Bei Jing Shang Hai: 3.7 Hours
New York LA: 8.0 Hours
...and this is really biased towards the railway here (production maglevs are not supposed to get to 300 miles/hour, jets travel faster than 500 miles/hour all the time). Combine this with the fact that the US has essentially zero high-speed rail infrastructure, and the odds of seeing a high-speed rail in the states gets very very low for the foreseeable future.
Get Ogg support here. You won't be able to rip to it, but it should allow iTunes (actually, all QuickTime apps) to use Ogg Vorbis. Supports Ogg metadata, too.
Acxiom and its ilk usually store their databases in ridiculously freakin' huge mainframes which are often not even directly connected to the internet. It sounds to me like someone inside the company set up an FTP server, put part of the database into it, then gave the usernames/passwords out to a bunch of companies...such as the one our friend Baas worked for. All he would have had to do is ask a co-worker for the password.
Remember, clients of data companies basically just pay to buy a small part of the database.
Whenever I rip a CD, I encode it into mathematically loseless MP3s Uhm...no you don't. The MP3 format doesn't allow for it. Maybe if you used FLAC or MonkeyAudio, but the MP3 format specifies maximum audio frame sizes that make lossless MP3 and impossibility.
I re-encoded the trailer, maintaining the psycho-high resolution, and cutting off about 30 meg into MPEG-4-ish video that plays in VideoLAN, Mplayer, Xine...all that good stuff. If anyone is interested, look on OpenFT for a file named "Matrix_Reloaded_Trailer.3ivx.mov". It's 70,079,498 bytes. I really didn't want to go through the hassle of setting up a BitTorrent tracker. Someone drop me a line if they want to provide a tracker.
Cool trailer, anyhow. Notice the lack of film artifacts, clear evidence of a digital movie camera.
I've heard that you can take a Tyan Tiger MP mobo and smack two Durons in it for a pretty killer, low-cost SMP rig, while the Celeron is SMP-locked, so this is not possible. Has anyone tried this, successfully?
Well, since we can't attack Afghanistan in through normal methods (http://slashdot.org/articles/01/09/22/228250.shtm l), I bet NASA's trying to use Deep Space 1 to direct the comet towards Afghanistan! Think about it...it would take out all those pesky caves....
I don't know if anyone has tried it, but running the Windows version of VirtualPC from Connectix to run Linux has actually proved to be quite a bit better than the other way around...for me anyway...http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc4w.h tml
Yes, I know exactly what everyone is thinking. Intel is runing their FUD engine at full steam to make sure everyone uses their expensive chipset/RDRAM setup.
But, as someone whose last three out of four computers (and probably next one) have been AMD Athl/Dur-on computers, let me just give a slightly different twist on this. I have had HUGE problems with VIA chipsets, on both AMD and Intel platforms. Quite frankly, they are just not quality products. They have ridiculously bad USB support, sub-par stability, and tons of other little things that drive me NUTS.
I would also like to point out that unlike many other chipset makers, VIA specifically optimizes their chipsets' drivers for Microsoft OS use. Generally speaking, this means that you always have to use the absolute latest Linux kernel in order for even somewhat good chipset support.
Given VIA's track record, Intel's advice seems completely logical: VIA cares more about getting a chipset out than making sure it's a quality product.
In other words, if you're in the market for a P4/DDR combo, I implore you to wait for Intel, SiS, or ALi to release their chipsets, as VIA's track record (particularly in new techologies) is...less than great.
Hrm...So, everyone except Nick Petreley said that NCs wouldn't succeed. They didn't.
When it comes to successful ideas in computing, who should we turn to? Nick Petreley, of course.