Because there are very severe penalties for doing it over just file sharing. It's why the audiotron takes 45 minutes or more to scan a large music collection when it crashes, can't handle collections of more than 10K songs, and doesn't have sophisticated search capabilities or a decent web interface. All these things need a more powerful device.
Slim Devices pioneered the "thin client" approach, which solves all of these problems and furthermore, makes it possible to develop plugins, web skins, additional codecs, and so on.
Also consider the multi-room environment - why replicate music database information across more than one device? Centralizing this work at the server has so many advantages that the cost of a double-click to install software is really negligible.
Well I'm glad business is going great but do you really think that condoning Kazaa usage ("eMusic was a nice try - next time give it a shot with popular bands - they're all on Kazaa anyway, so what do you have to lose?) as you did in your original post is wise?
I'm not endorsing p2p by any means. I'm being pragmatic about what the RIAA is up against.
because of your implicit support for P2P applications.
I'm not saying anything nice/supportive of illegal sharing - where are you getting that?
If you can't deal with the facts, how can you expect to articulate a useful opinion on all of this?
How does DRM treat customers like criminals? I don't see how Apple's DRM infringes on my fair use. I have bought several albums from iTMS and have found their DRM very unintrusive. Copyright holders should be able to protect their copyright.
It treat's you like a prospective criminal. If you were an honest consumer, you wouldn't even think of playing that music on a non-apple product or sharing it with a friend. You'd just buy another copy!
Why treat your paying customers like (prospective) criminals, when the pirates will simply continue to use uncrippled formats?
25M sales is great for Apple; bad for music lovers. The fact that a million people or so have jumped on this new thing does not mean it's the future of music.
Total music sales will continue to slump, and piracy will continue to run rampant until the industry offers a legal alternative which is free of DRM and hardware/software lock-in. eMusic was a nice try - next time give it a shot with popular bands - they're all on Kazaa anyway, so what do you have to lose?
would think that it would be possible to add more data sharing between iTunes and the SlimServer app. Most of the iTunes data is stored in an XML file in \My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml. The SlimServer is open source, so if you reallywanted that feature you might be able to hack it in yourself.
What are you talking about? We already do this!
All your itunes music and playlists automagically appear on Squeezebox. Rip a new CD, boom it's there. We pick up changes in the iTunes XML database automatically.
P.S. - I'm not a big GPL supporter, The BSD License is more commercially acceptable.
You can be a fan of whatever you want, of course, but that's not a reasonable justification.
What's commercially acceptable about software that doesn't exist? The reason so much GPL software exists is because developers like the license. Not being a fan of the GPL because it doesn't allow businesses to get free code without so much as having to share their changes is pretty weak stance IMHO.
DRM only inconveniences those of us who pay for our music. The pirates will go on using uncrippled formats. DRM is precisely as effective for anti-piracy as the Evil Bit is for security.
It's not even about copy protection. It's about keeping us on the "new format treadmill", and locking us in to specific playback hardware/software.
Now, people like me who like iTMS and use it legitimately can't use it anymore. I'd call that a negative impact.
People like you who like iTMS need to see the bigger picture.
We want the RIAA to say "game over" to DRM. Then if they want to stay in business, they can offer their paying customers music in an un-crippled format that lets us play it however we want. Just like the pirates have.
By breaking the means the industry hopes to use to make their business viable you are only going to force them to cancel future projects which make music and other media easy for consumers to buy.
The RIAA has made music easier to buy but harder to use.
Any DRM at all makes the content less useful to a would-be purchaser than a pirated copy. We're doing them a favor by illustrating that all DRM can be circumvented. Once they accept this, they'll be able to conclude that selling non-DRMed content is the only way to go. And we'll all win because music will be easier to buy AND easier to use.
It simply can't GET any easier to pirate - what are they worried about? The cat's out of the bag folks.
What's interesting about this (from a fair use standpoint) is that it only lets you get the AAC data if you have a computer that will play the protected file. This means that you can now play the AAC files with non-Apple hardware/software.
However, it doesn't let you play someone else's DRMed.m4p files. They person who is licensed to play them would need to decripple the files first using this tool.
Therefore, it's questionable whether this is really circumventing a copy-protection mechanism, since this method only allows the "rightful licensee" to extract the AAC. If that's not fair use, then I don't know what is.
Re:Won't someone think of the bandwidth
on
Superball!
·
· Score: 1
No, much more - that largest file is half a terabyte!:)
The video is 1 minute and 18 seconds long.
12 FPS 240x180 with standard quality sound (2.32 megabytes) 15 FPS 720x480 with high quality sound (139,918.96 megabytes) 30 FPS 720x480 with high quality sound (297,950.89 megabytes) Extremely nice 30 FPS 720x480 with premium quality sound (423,545.4 megabytes - can be choppy on slow computers)
Disclaimer: I'm the guy who wrote the squeezebox firmware.
There are truth to both sidss regarding the audio support.
Think about it this way - does your sound card support Vorbis? Does your TV support Hi-8? You have to think about things a little differently here - your files are not stored on squeezebox; they're streamed from your computer. So if the squeezebox supports raw PCM, you can decode whatever format you want and just send it.
I tried one of the slimdevices previously using their 30 day money back guarantee and found that their unit caused to much RF interference - diagonal lines on my TV.
This was indeed an issue with early SLIMP3 models. I designed SLIMP3 in my garage with almost no money - certainly not enough to afford proper RF testing and design consulting. Sometimes a garage project just gets big....
We did it right with squeezebox though. It is fully compliant with CE, FCC, and Canadian class B requirements and is very quiet. Furthermore, if you use the optical connection, you have total isolation.
Squeezebox actually has a painted finish - the case is polycarbonate, but it has a "soft-touch" surface. It's actually sexier in person than the slimp3.
Slashdot Mirror
Tell that to iTunes
Uhhh... precisely my point?
Having software (iTunes) running server-side relieves the client of having to figure out what's over there.
why do all these players need extra software?
Because there are very severe penalties for doing it over just file sharing. It's why the audiotron takes 45 minutes or more to scan a large music collection when it crashes, can't handle collections of more than 10K songs, and doesn't have sophisticated search capabilities or a decent web interface. All these things need a more powerful device.
Slim Devices pioneered the "thin client" approach, which solves all of these problems and furthermore, makes it possible to develop plugins, web skins, additional codecs, and so on.
Also consider the multi-room environment - why replicate music database information across more than one device? Centralizing this work at the server has so many advantages that the cost of a double-click to install software is really negligible.
This is explained here
Well I'm glad business is going great but do you really think that condoning Kazaa usage ("eMusic was a nice try - next time give it a shot with popular bands - they're all on Kazaa anyway, so what do you have to lose?) as you did in your original post is wise?
I'm not endorsing p2p by any means. I'm being pragmatic about what the RIAA is up against.
because of your implicit support for P2P applications.
I'm not saying anything nice/supportive of illegal sharing - where are you getting that?
If you can't deal with the facts, how can you expect to articulate a useful opinion on all of this?
or are you just upset that it doesn't work with your mp3 player and you are afraid that closed DMR standards would put you out of business?
No, business is going great - Slim Devices has always opposed DRM, and our customers generally appreciate that.
I'm bitching only as a music enthusiast.
How does DRM treat customers like criminals? I don't see how Apple's DRM infringes on my fair use. I have bought several albums from iTMS and have found their DRM very unintrusive. Copyright holders should be able to protect their copyright.
It treat's you like a prospective criminal. If you were an honest consumer, you wouldn't even think of playing that music on a non-apple product or sharing it with a friend. You'd just buy another copy!
Why treat your paying customers like (prospective) criminals, when the pirates will simply continue to use uncrippled formats?
25M sales is great for Apple; bad for music lovers. The fact that a million people or so have jumped on this new thing does not mean it's the future of music.
Total music sales will continue to slump, and piracy will continue to run rampant until the industry offers a legal alternative which is free of DRM and hardware/software lock-in. eMusic was a nice try - next time give it a shot with popular bands - they're all on Kazaa anyway, so what do you have to lose?
You forgot to mention one thing:
Complete and utter digust with the music industry's attitude towards us, their paying customers.
I have not bought a CD in many years, not for lack of money, disinterest in music, or pirated alternatives.
I simply will not pay money for a product which doesn't work as advertised or limits my choice of playback devices.
I've amassed enough of a collection legally over the years that I don't give a flying fuck about buying any more right now.
GlooLabs HomePod Of course, it's currently vaporware, as it was originally supposed to be ready last March and it's not available yet,
:)
Ordered one in January.... still waiting.
would think that it would be possible to add more data sharing between iTunes and the SlimServer app. Most of the iTunes data is stored in an XML file in \My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml. The SlimServer is open source, so if you reallywanted that feature you might be able to hack it in yourself.
What are you talking about? We already do this!
All your itunes music and playlists automagically appear on Squeezebox. Rip a new CD, boom it's there. We pick up changes in the iTunes XML database automatically.
Speaking of transmitting, has anyone been able to download their SlimServer? I always get dumped out to their homepage.
Try again in one hour. I had to turn off downloads temporarily because we only have a 10Mbps connection.
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375 ...
:)
If gzip (lameness filter) had found a way to compress that by better than 25.5:1, I'd have been mightily impressed.
P.S. - I'm not a big GPL supporter, The BSD License is more commercially acceptable.
You can be a fan of whatever you want, of course, but that's not a reasonable justification.
What's commercially acceptable about software that doesn't exist? The reason so much GPL software exists is because developers like the license. Not being a fan of the GPL because it doesn't allow businesses to get free code without so much as having to share their changes is pretty weak stance IMHO.
D R M only inconveniences those of us who pay for our music. The pirates will go on using uncrippled formats. DRM is precisely as effective for anti-piracy as the Evil Bit is for security.
It's not even about copy protection. It's about keeping us on the "new format treadmill", and locking us in to specific playback hardware/software.
Don't be fooled. Take a stand!
Now, people like me who like iTMS and use it legitimately can't use it anymore. I'd call that a negative impact.
People like you who like iTMS need to see the bigger picture.
We want the RIAA to say "game over" to DRM. Then if they want to stay in business, they can offer their paying customers music in an un-crippled format that lets us play it however we want. Just like the pirates have.
the point is that the Apple DRM is not a 100% lockdown, but it makes piracy a bit of a hassle
It makes piracy a hassle for whom? Certainly not the pirates. They'll just go on sharing perfectly unenecrypted files.
DRM only inconveniences the people who are paying for their music.
By breaking the means the industry hopes to use to make their business viable you are only going to force them to cancel future projects which make music and other media easy for consumers to buy.
The RIAA has made music easier to buy but harder to use.
Any DRM at all makes the content less useful to a would-be purchaser than a pirated copy. We're doing them a favor by illustrating that all DRM can be circumvented. Once they accept this, they'll be able to conclude that selling non-DRMed content is the only way to go. And we'll all win because music will be easier to buy AND easier to use.
It simply can't GET any easier to pirate - what are they worried about? The cat's out of the bag folks.
This is not using the "analog hole", nor is it capturing PCM data destined for the sound card.
He is extracting the AAC data (before decompression) as it flows through quicktime. This is lossless, and this is new!
It is not re-encoding. This is extracting the unencrypted AAC data as it passed through quicktime. It's lossless.
Not quite as nice as actually breaking the encryption, but that'll happen soon I'm sure.
What's interesting about this (from a fair use standpoint) is that it only lets you get the AAC data if you have a computer that will play the protected file. This means that you can now play the AAC files with non-Apple hardware/software.
.m4p files. They person who is licensed to play them would need to decripple the files first using this tool.
However, it doesn't let you play someone else's DRMed
Therefore, it's questionable whether this is really circumventing a copy-protection mechanism, since this method only allows the "rightful licensee" to extract the AAC. If that's not fair use, then I don't know what is.
No, much more - that largest file is half a terabyte! :)
The video is 1 minute and 18 seconds long.
12 FPS 240x180 with standard quality sound (2.32 megabytes)
15 FPS 720x480 with high quality sound (139,918.96 megabytes)
30 FPS 720x480 with high quality sound (297,950.89 megabytes)
Extremely nice 30 FPS 720x480 with premium quality sound (423,545.4 megabytes - can be choppy on slow computers)
Soon we'll all be jacking into each other's squeezeboxes.
Disclaimer: I'm the guy who wrote the squeezebox firmware.
There are truth to both sidss regarding the audio support.
Think about it this way - does your sound card support Vorbis? Does your TV support Hi-8? You have to think about things a little differently here - your files are not stored on squeezebox; they're streamed from your computer. So if the squeezebox supports raw PCM, you can decode whatever format you want and just send it.
I tried one of the slimdevices previously using their 30 day money back guarantee and found that their unit caused to much RF interference - diagonal lines on my TV.
This was indeed an issue with early SLIMP3 models. I designed SLIMP3 in my garage with almost no money - certainly not enough to afford proper RF testing and design consulting. Sometimes a garage project just gets big....
We did it right with squeezebox though. It is fully compliant with CE, FCC, and Canadian class B requirements and is very quiet. Furthermore, if you use the optical connection, you have total isolation.
You are mistaken.
Squeezebox supports (uncompressed) PCM passthrough. WAV, AIFF, Ogg, and Flac are all supported, can all be played now without transcoding.
In fact, it is trivially simple to hook just about any codec you want into the server now.
Squeezebox actually has a painted finish - the case is polycarbonate, but it has a "soft-touch" surface. It's actually sexier in person than the slimp3.