....but I'm pretty sure you can't do this with a stock WinXP installation either.....
My original point was that Mac OSX does ALL of these out of the box. No downloading or installation of software needed. Can all of the extra apps, drivers and firmware needed be gotten up and running without using some arcane typed commands? Apple offers the most COMPLETE computers you can get. Sure, you can get cheaper hardware and free software to run Linux on, but what you don't pay for with money, you pay for with time. For many, time is money and that's why they don't want a computer they first have to invest time into that they could more than make up for by earning real money during that time.
.....It's a hell of a lot cheaper, it's easier to install new software (with Debian apt), and there are free equivalents to most expensive applications, all downloadable and installable in the same way......
Cheaper, only if you are a geek or have free access to one. Otherwise it's very expensive in terms of frustration and bafflement. Can Linux or ALL of its applications be installed and maintained without EVER, even once having to deal with a command line? The threshold of technical skills need to install and keep Linux running is very much higher than what most people in the real world (outside of/.) have, are willing to take the time to learn or even want to learn. If there was as much to know about cars as one has to know to run and maintain Linux, there would be few cars on the road. It certainly takes more than average skills to run Linux, just as it takes more than average skills to safely fly a small Cessna single engine airplane than to drive a Honda. Anybody can learn to fly a Cessna, but most don't because Hondas are more useful for day to day transportation.
Handing out keys over the Internet works if most computes are connected thereto. That's why activation has worked for MSFT. If only say 25% of all computers were so connected, they'd need a lot of phone operators to give out keys. That would get expensive fast. It is not likely that every playback device, such as DVD players would be connected to the Internet in the foreseeable future, so such key distribution would not work.
As soon as the content creators learn, as they have in the past, that new tech means new opportunity to make $$$, DRM, just like software copy protection will die a quiet death and the DMCA with it. ITunes shows that millions of honest people are willing to pay a fair price for content that is accessible conveniently. The upcoming younger execs who will replace the old fogies now still running the music and movie business, will understand this and drop DRM entirely..
....I have this wonderful program call ProcessGuard that can prevent any non-authorized application from being executed...
So why does MSFT not include something like this as part of Windows? I think the word "malware" includes worms, viruses, trojans, spyware and any other unwanted programs that get executed by a computer. Social engineering can get any OS infected, because the insecurity is in the head of the user. Plugging a computer into the Internet, opening an e-mail or visiting a website is NOT social engineering and CAN be guarded against by good OS design. OSX certainly does a much better job here than Windows. OSX either requires a password or warns that a certain file is running as a program for the first time, giving the user a chance to kill it. No program should automatically open any file that can possible execute some code. Apple should change or better yet remove that from Safari. Setting the terminal program to only work for admin users would also help.
...There are a lot of devices out there without ANY Linux drivers.....
Exactly! There are over 40 million ipods sold. How many of them work with Linux. How many digital and video cameras can you plug into a Linux box and have them work right away, WITHOUT having to install extra software which may not exist? Once the pictures or videos have somehow gotten into the computer, can I edit them? What do I edit the video with and then burn a DVD? Can I plug in a Windows formatted USB or Firewire drive and read/write data? If I have a laptop, can I automatically connect to WiFi access points available in many places? How many printers work with Linux where the system recognizes the printer when I plug it in and asks if I want to use this as my default printer?
What advantage does Linux have if these things cannot be done without having a geek license? These are ALL things that Mac OSX does out of the box. Linux systems make wonderful servers in places where well trained IT people can set up and maintain them, but they are still light years away from where ordinary users can set up and install them for common desk top tasks.
...Samsung is probably hoping to be everyone's iPod replacement device in a year or two......
So you really think that users will throw away all the music they paid for from ITMS? Do you think that Apple will stand still until all the currently in use ipods wear out?
....For grandma, Windows is the superior operating system......
Until her computer becomes inoperable by the latest of the thousands of malwares circulating on the Internet. I have repaired many malware hosed Windows systems, but no Mac systems rendered inoperable by anything that came off the Internet.
Apple's iPod will play the only TRUE standard, the mp3 which has no DRM. Will the "playsforsure" services allow the burning of Cds, the way ITMS and iTunes does? If so, make a CD, and rip that to mp3 and copy to iPod. There, the ipod is now compatible with all other music services as well.
.....DRM only needs to make the cost of bypassing it enough to deter a large portion......
Without the DMCA the cost of bypassing DRM is the cost of a quick download of the tool that anybody can use. Since the Internet is global, the DMCA doesn't really work anyway. All it means that you can't buy such a tools in your local software store if you live in the USA. If you send me a secret message (video or song) that you want me to be able to play, you also have to give me the key. It doesn't matter if the key is 16 bits long or 16000 bits. If you send the identical encrypted file to a million people you also have to include a million identical keys. Hiding the key in hardware is like putting in a safe. At some point the key has to come out and decrypt the message and the decrypted message can then be sent wherever the user wishes.
DRM is a bothersome encumbrance for honest people who wish to use the content they bought in fair use ways, other than what the content makers envisioned. The methods of DRM may be public, but the keys have to be unique and proprietary.
.....'viruses' these days are actually malware attached to emails.....
Except that opening the file on a Mac will not automatically install malware without asking for a password. All but totally stupid Mac users already know that opening a media file should not require for them to type a password. Turning of the Safari auto open capability and setting Mail to only display plain text messages makes opening mail and surfing the web much safer. None of our Mac users know the admin password and that gives another big boost in security over what Windows users have, many of which must run as admin.
....There is nothing to guarantee that Apple will continue their huge lead in the portable media device market, and everything to suggest their enormous profits are to be short lived......
Of course there are no guarantees, yet you and others nevertheless like to prognosticate. So here is my $.02 prediction. Apple will come out with an iPhone that'll combine the functions of an iPod, phone and a simple but useful web capable information manager. It will be integrated with their line of Macs. The Macs will have the roles of controller, interface to the Internet, Tivo like TV functions, as well as the traditional computer jobs. The profitable high end Macs will continue to serve the increasing number of people who also want to create and not just consume content.
I think that in the case of the iPod, there is more to it than dumb luck. It is the synergy between Ipod, iTunes and the ITMS as a complete, highly portable and easy to use personal music reproducing system that made it so successful. Apple is good at that sort of "do the whole job right" thing and will probably sell lots of new Intel based Macs. This will be especially true once Microsoft or someone else figures out how to get Windows running on these hot, well designed computers. Since it is highly unlikely that Apple will sell computers with Windows pre-installed, Microsoft will profit by selling many high profit retail copies of Windows to Mac buyers.
....Because Apple's online store is successful....
That means then that if someone is wildly successful, they automatically get hauled into court under anti-trust laws? Apple doesn't twist anyone's arm to buy iPods nor download songs. Apple owns 100% of the iTMS, the iTunes program and the exclusive right to make iPods, all as a system of interlocking parts. Should the government tell them that they have to divest themselves of one of these pieces? Even if they had 99.99% of the market in all of these, does that mean they should be hauled into court?
If Apple were not forced by the **AA companies to have some sort of DRM, there would not have been any. It is the DRM mandated and re-inforced by law (DMCA) by the content makers that prevents other download services from working with the iPod. If the DMCA were scrapped, other music stores would easily circumvent the DRM and also sell songs for the iPod and other manufacturers make music players that work with iTunes and the ITMS. In this case, our dear government actually guarantees a monopolistic lock-in and reduces consumer choice. The presence of DRM and the DMCA reduces the revenues of the very people that purchased them from our politicians.
....but you can always build or buy a PC with off the shelf parts if you want......
You can always build your own car from parts bought from the JC Whitney catalog. Most people will buy a ready made car and also a ready made computer. Modern cars and computers are more than just a thrown together collection of parts. A major reason why Apple's computers "just work"(tm) is that the whole SYSTEM, hardware and software are designed, built and tested as an integrated whole. In Windows systems, at least the manufacturer installs Windows and makes sure it at least boots. If you build your own hardware box, you may have to dork with it for a while until the software you're installing works correctly. That of course is fun for a lot of us here on/. and gives a feeling triumph and accomplishment over gremlins and the ever present activity of Murphy's Laws. Most people however don't have the expertise, the spare time to spend nor particularly enjoy wrestling with a computer that won't boot or otherwise misbehaves.
....Unfortunately, the inexpensive ones have all been in areas where the demand for software developers is rather low.....
Software is one of these commodities that can be shipped with little cost in money or time. Maybe some software businesses would hire someone for less in exchange for letting them live in an area where there still is affordable housing and other lower living expenses. In our area a number of writers are able to send their product to their publishers electronically. A good software producer ought to be able to live almost anywhere a fast, reliable broadband connection to the Internet is available.
There are programs that remove the DRM, and leave the file in plain AAC format. However, the decrypted file still contains your Apple ID information. As long as you keep these files to yourself, the purpose for which the DRM exists in the first place will have been served. You will then be able to back up and move these files around freely on all your devices that can play or transmit them. If nobody made their music available illegally on the Internet, for anybody and everybody to copy, DRM would never have come into being.
....I think your wrong. This is the same type of arguement that people used regarding CD sales and Napster back in the day.....
The convenience factor and the fact that users can buy only the songs they really like is the big advantage that downloads really have over CD purchases. Not having to go to a store and getting a huge selection are other good reasons.
This is what made the late Napster and now iTunes such a success. Eventually, (maybe 10 to 20 years) DRM will be a distantly remembered nightmare. Content makers have always first desperately fought new technology until they figured out how to use it to make lots of money. Name just ONE sound related technological invention from Edison's wax cylinders onward, that the established music businesses did NOT oppose at first. Software makers, especially those making shareware, have mostly figured out that draconian copy protection not only doesn't work, but it is detrimental to their bottom line in the long run. Although there are many thieves, most people are honest. Just as most people stop at the cash register, before leaving a store with merchandise, so too most people will pay for intellectual goods. When content providers make their stuff available in ways and in quality that the consumers want, at reasonable prices, DRM will fade away as an unnecessary cost of doing business.
.....But 20 years from now........ the content industry will have learned that DRM doesn't really get them much but costs a lot in terms of customer satisfaction. DRM will be non-existent by then. The content industry fought bitterly against new technology in the past, but eventually figured out how to adjust their business models and make huge profits from the very technology they opposed at first. What evidence do you have that this will not be this way again?
....to upgrade their music libraries from cassettes to CDs, they did it because they wanted better sound quality. Soon enough, iTunes AACs will be superceded with something worthy of a switch, and we'll all buy our libraries again......
The upgrade from cassettes to CDs was driven more by convenience and the fact that CDs don't wear with use. This is what makes iTunes, the ITMS and the ipod popular. The sound quality is good enough, for all but the dyed in the wool audio fanatic. Having your entire music collection in your pocket is very compelling and is worth the slight loss in quality. The new SACD or audio on DVD has never gotten off the ground, because the better quality is never noticed with 99.99% of consumer playback equipment. The inherent nature of digital signals is that they can be transmitted and copied forever without loss. This has meant the end of re-purchasing the same old content over and over again as was needed in the old analog days. To counteract this natural property of digital recording, an artificial thing called DRM was invented. Once content makers figure out that this copy-ability is not really as much of a threat to their bottom line as they first imagined, DRM will die a natural death. This may take another five or ten years, but it will come.
.....however I think everyone understands Apple's decision to go with an audio format that would support a DRM....
It was the record companies that insisted on Apple providing DRM on the ITMS. It is the integration of ITMS, the iPod and iTunes that made Apple successful. If the RIAA would allow Apple to drop the DRM today, the number of iPods sold would not diminish, but likely increase since then other music services would be accessible to the millions of ipod owners. Apple makes most of its money on ipods, not the ITMS and certainly not iTunes, which it gives away for free. The number of songs sold by the ITMS would also not decrease significantly if DRM were done away with. Most people are honest and will pay for a valuable commodity. Sales may even increase because many DRM haters may then also buy music.
This only true from any given playlist. You can make a new playlist and do another 5 CDs. Besides, who other than a pirate would want to do this? You can also copy any of these CDs as often as you wish.
....Now, as far as I know, only the solution to the first problem skirts around the law.....
If you are going to break the law, then why not do it all the way? Download an (illegal) DVD decryption program from a site outside of the reach of the US stupid studio purchased DMCA law. After that, your legally purchased video content can be dealt with as you wish. You can then play it from the hard disk, put it on an iPod or burn a DVD to play in your old DVD player and put the original in a safe place. Just don't provide copies for others because then you hurt the creative people who made the movie.
....Consumers may not like the new discs, but when they can't get their latest serving of the latest Hollywood tripe on DVD anymore, they'll be lining up at Best Buy.....
Maybe not! The may get hacked players or download the hacked movies from the net. The existence of laws have never stopped people from getting what they want. The DMCA may bite the dust under the onslaught of irate voters descending on their congress critters.
Tying each disk to one player will kill the rental business, which is a considerable source of income for the studios. The adoption of HD will be even slower than digital TV as a whole. The FCC had to extend the death of analog TV once already and may have to do it again as the new deadline nears. Even if a 45 in TV costs only $100 more than a 27" one, many will not buy the bigger one because their living space will not easily accommodate such a big screen monster. HD makes no discernible difference on the smaller screen from ordinary DVDs or TV programs.
....then a Mini or the PowerBook G4s just were not gaming computers...
A high powered, expensive general purpose computer is a huge waste of money for playing games. I told our teenager that I'll buy him a new x-box360 plus one game of his choice if he brings home a "boring" report card of all "A"s. He is working very hard for this. The x-box, together with the Mac Mini is still a cheaper and better solution than an expensive, high performance PC which includes of course a top notch video card. Also, other members of the household can use the mini to surf the net while he plays on the x-box.
.....and if you say "Games", you shouldn't be buying a Mini in the first place....
We bought a mini for our teenager's school work and he has a few older games such as Myth, Battlefield 1942, Sims, Starcraft, Rainbow Six and the Age of Empires series. He doesn't complain too much about how well they play. The certainly work better than they did on the old purple iMac.
....The next time they buy a computer, I am installing linux on it....
It's wonderful for your family that they have such a great computer expert like you at their beck and call. What about all the families that don't have a built in IT person to get them out of the inevitable jams they get into. For them it's either a cheap Dell with Windows or a Mac Mini. If money is really tight, a working CRT monitor can be gotten used for very little or even for free. A Mac mini is definitely a better system for anyone who doesn't have a smart computer guru like you in the family.
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....but I'm pretty sure you can't do this with a stock WinXP installation either.....
My original point was that Mac OSX does ALL of these out of the box. No downloading or installation of software needed. Can all of the extra apps, drivers and firmware needed be gotten up and running without using some arcane typed commands? Apple offers the most COMPLETE computers you can get. Sure, you can get cheaper hardware and free software to run Linux on, but what you don't pay for with money, you pay for with time. For many, time is money and that's why they don't want a computer they first have to invest time into that they could more than make up for by earning real money during that time.
.....It's a hell of a lot cheaper, it's easier to install new software (with Debian apt), and there are free equivalents to most expensive applications, all downloadable and installable in the same way......
/.) have, are willing to take the time to learn or even want to learn. If there was as much to know about cars as one has to know to run and maintain Linux, there would be few cars on the road. It certainly takes more than average skills to run Linux, just as it takes more than average skills to safely fly a small Cessna single engine airplane than to drive a Honda. Anybody can learn to fly a Cessna, but most don't because Hondas are more useful for day to day transportation.
Cheaper, only if you are a geek or have free access to one. Otherwise it's very expensive in terms of frustration and bafflement. Can Linux or ALL of its applications be installed and maintained without EVER, even once having to deal with a command line? The threshold of technical skills need to install and keep Linux running is very much higher than what most people in the real world (outside of
.....but network permissions management........
Handing out keys over the Internet works if most computes are connected thereto. That's why activation has worked for MSFT. If only say 25% of all computers were so connected, they'd need a lot of phone operators to give out keys. That would get expensive fast. It is not likely that every playback device, such as DVD players would be connected to the Internet in the foreseeable future, so such key distribution would not work.
As soon as the content creators learn, as they have in the past, that new tech means new opportunity to make $$$, DRM, just like software copy protection will die a quiet death and the DMCA with it. ITunes shows that millions of honest people are willing to pay a fair price for content that is accessible conveniently. The upcoming younger execs who will replace the old fogies now still running the music and movie business, will understand this and drop DRM entirely..
....I have this wonderful program call ProcessGuard that can prevent any non-authorized application from being executed...
So why does MSFT not include something like this as part of Windows? I think the word "malware" includes worms, viruses, trojans, spyware and any other unwanted programs that get executed by a computer. Social engineering can get any OS infected, because the insecurity is in the head of the user. Plugging a computer into the Internet, opening an e-mail or visiting a website is NOT social engineering and CAN be guarded against by good OS design. OSX certainly does a much better job here than Windows. OSX either requires a password or warns that a certain file is running as a program for the first time, giving the user a chance to kill it. No program should automatically open any file that can possible execute some code. Apple should change or better yet remove that from Safari. Setting the terminal program to only work for admin users would also help.
...There are a lot of devices out there without ANY Linux drivers.....
Exactly! There are over 40 million ipods sold. How many of them work with Linux. How many digital and video cameras can you plug into a Linux box and have them work right away, WITHOUT having to install extra software which may not exist? Once the pictures or videos have somehow gotten into the computer, can I edit them? What do I edit the video with and then burn a DVD? Can I plug in a Windows formatted USB or Firewire drive and read/write data? If I have a laptop, can I automatically connect to WiFi access points available in many places? How many printers work with Linux where the system recognizes the printer when I plug it in and asks if I want to use this as my default printer?
What advantage does Linux have if these things cannot be done without having a geek license? These are ALL things that Mac OSX does out of the box. Linux systems make wonderful servers in places where well trained IT people can set up and maintain them, but they are still light years away from where ordinary users can set up and install them for common desk top tasks.
...Samsung is probably hoping to be everyone's iPod replacement device in a year or two......
So you really think that users will throw away all the music they paid for from ITMS? Do you think that Apple will stand still until all the currently in use ipods wear out?
....For grandma, Windows is the superior operating system. .....
Until her computer becomes inoperable by the latest of the thousands of malwares circulating on the Internet. I have repaired many malware hosed Windows systems, but no Mac systems rendered inoperable by anything that came off the Internet.
Apple's iPod will play the only TRUE standard, the mp3 which has no DRM. Will the "playsforsure" services allow the burning of Cds, the way ITMS and iTunes does? If so, make a CD, and rip that to mp3 and copy to iPod. There, the ipod is now compatible with all other music services as well.
.....DRM only needs to make the cost of bypassing it enough to deter a large portion ......
Without the DMCA the cost of bypassing DRM is the cost of a quick download of the tool that anybody can use. Since the Internet is global, the DMCA doesn't really work anyway. All it means that you can't buy such a tools in your local software store if you live in the USA. If you send me a secret message (video or song) that you want me to be able to play, you also have to give me the key. It doesn't matter if the key is 16 bits long or 16000 bits. If you send the identical encrypted file to a million people you also have to include a million identical keys. Hiding the key in hardware is like putting in a safe. At some point the key has to come out and decrypt the message and the decrypted message can then be sent wherever the user wishes.
DRM is a bothersome encumbrance for honest people who wish to use the content they bought in fair use ways, other than what the content makers envisioned. The methods of DRM may be public, but the keys have to be unique and proprietary.
.....'viruses' these days are actually malware attached to emails.....
Except that opening the file on a Mac will not automatically install malware without asking for a password. All but totally stupid Mac users already know that opening a media file should not require for them to type a password. Turning of the Safari auto open capability and setting Mail to only display plain text messages makes opening mail and surfing the web much safer. None of our Mac users know the admin password and that gives another big boost in security over what Windows users have, many of which must run as admin.
....There is nothing to guarantee that Apple will continue their huge lead in the portable media device market, and everything to suggest their enormous profits are to be short lived......
Of course there are no guarantees, yet you and others nevertheless like to prognosticate. So here is my $.02 prediction. Apple will come out with an iPhone that'll combine the functions of an iPod, phone and a simple but useful web capable information manager. It will be integrated with their line of Macs. The Macs will have the roles of controller, interface to the Internet, Tivo like TV functions, as well as the traditional computer jobs. The profitable high end Macs will continue to serve the increasing number of people who also want to create and not just consume content.
....Sometimes a firm can get lucky,....
I think that in the case of the iPod, there is more to it than dumb luck. It is the synergy between Ipod, iTunes and the ITMS as a complete, highly portable and easy to use personal music reproducing system that made it so successful. Apple is good at that sort of "do the whole job right" thing and will probably sell lots of new Intel based Macs. This will be especially true once Microsoft or someone else figures out how to get Windows running on these hot, well designed computers. Since it is highly unlikely that Apple will sell computers with Windows pre-installed, Microsoft will profit by selling many high profit retail copies of Windows to Mac buyers.
....Because Apple's online store is successful....
That means then that if someone is wildly successful, they automatically get hauled into court under anti-trust laws? Apple doesn't twist anyone's arm to buy iPods nor download songs. Apple owns 100% of the iTMS, the iTunes program and the exclusive right to make iPods, all as a system of interlocking parts. Should the government tell them that they have to divest themselves of one of these pieces? Even if they had 99.99% of the market in all of these, does that mean they should be hauled into court?
If Apple were not forced by the **AA companies to have some sort of DRM, there would not have been any. It is the DRM mandated and re-inforced by law (DMCA) by the content makers that prevents other download services from working with the iPod. If the DMCA were scrapped, other music stores would easily circumvent the DRM and also sell songs for the iPod and other manufacturers make music players that work with iTunes and the ITMS. In this case, our dear government actually guarantees a monopolistic lock-in and reduces consumer choice. The presence of DRM and the DMCA reduces the revenues of the very people that purchased them from our politicians.
....but you can always build or buy a PC with off the shelf parts if you want......
/. and gives a feeling triumph and accomplishment over gremlins and the ever present activity of Murphy's Laws. Most people however don't have the expertise, the spare time to spend nor particularly enjoy wrestling with a computer that won't boot or otherwise misbehaves.
You can always build your own car from parts bought from the JC Whitney catalog. Most people will buy a ready made car and also a ready made computer. Modern cars and computers are more than just a thrown together collection of parts. A major reason why Apple's computers "just work"(tm) is that the whole SYSTEM, hardware and software are designed, built and tested as an integrated whole. In Windows systems, at least the manufacturer installs Windows and makes sure it at least boots. If you build your own hardware box, you may have to dork with it for a while until the software you're installing works correctly. That of course is fun for a lot of us here on
....Unfortunately, the inexpensive ones have all been in areas where the demand for software developers is rather low.....
Software is one of these commodities that can be shipped with little cost in money or time. Maybe some software businesses would hire someone for less in exchange for letting them live in an area where there still is affordable housing and other lower living expenses. In our area a number of writers are able to send their product to their publishers electronically. A good software producer ought to be able to live almost anywhere a fast, reliable broadband connection to the Internet is available.
....Once decrypted, any iTMS song plays fine....
There are programs that remove the DRM, and leave the file in plain AAC format. However, the decrypted file still contains your Apple ID information. As long as you keep these files to yourself, the purpose for which the DRM exists in the first place will have been served. You will then be able to back up and move these files around freely on all your devices that can play or transmit them. If nobody made their music available illegally on the Internet, for anybody and everybody to copy, DRM would never have come into being.
....I think your wrong. This is the same type of arguement that people used regarding CD sales and Napster back in the day.....
The convenience factor and the fact that users can buy only the songs they really like is the big advantage that downloads really have over CD purchases. Not having to go to a store and getting a huge selection are other good reasons.
This is what made the late Napster and now iTunes such a success. Eventually, (maybe 10 to 20 years) DRM will be a distantly remembered nightmare. Content makers have always first desperately fought new technology until they figured out how to use it to make lots of money. Name just ONE sound related technological invention from Edison's wax cylinders onward, that the established music businesses did NOT oppose at first. Software makers, especially those making shareware, have mostly figured out that draconian copy protection not only doesn't work, but it is detrimental to their bottom line in the long run. Although there are many thieves, most people are honest. Just as most people stop at the cash register, before leaving a store with merchandise, so too most people will pay for intellectual goods. When content providers make their stuff available in ways and in quality that the consumers want, at reasonable prices, DRM will fade away as an unnecessary cost of doing business.
.....But 20 years from now.... .... the content industry will have learned that DRM doesn't really get them much but costs a lot in terms of customer satisfaction. DRM will be non-existent by then. The content industry fought bitterly against new technology in the past, but eventually figured out how to adjust their business models and make huge profits from the very technology they opposed at first. What evidence do you have that this will not be this way again?
....to upgrade their music libraries from cassettes to CDs, they did it because they wanted better sound quality. Soon enough, iTunes AACs will be superceded with something worthy of a switch, and we'll all buy our libraries again......
The upgrade from cassettes to CDs was driven more by convenience and the fact that CDs don't wear with use. This is what makes iTunes, the ITMS and the ipod popular. The sound quality is good enough, for all but the dyed in the wool audio fanatic. Having your entire music collection in your pocket is very compelling and is worth the slight loss in quality. The new SACD or audio on DVD has never gotten off the ground, because the better quality is never noticed with 99.99% of consumer playback equipment. The inherent nature of digital signals is that they can be transmitted and copied forever without loss. This has meant the end of re-purchasing the same old content over and over again as was needed in the old analog days. To counteract this natural property of digital recording, an artificial thing called DRM was invented. Once content makers figure out that this copy-ability is not really as much of a threat to their bottom line as they first imagined, DRM will die a natural death. This may take another five or ten years, but it will come.
.....however I think everyone understands Apple's decision to go with an audio format that would support a DRM....
It was the record companies that insisted on Apple providing DRM on the ITMS. It is the integration of ITMS, the iPod and iTunes that made Apple successful. If the RIAA would allow Apple to drop the DRM today, the number of iPods sold would not diminish, but likely increase since then other music services would be accessible to the millions of ipod owners. Apple makes most of its money on ipods, not the ITMS and certainly not iTunes, which it gives away for free. The number of songs sold by the ITMS would also not decrease significantly if DRM were done away with. Most people are honest and will pay for a valuable commodity. Sales may even increase because many DRM haters may then also buy music.
......itunes 6 only allows you to burn 5 CDs....
This only true from any given playlist. You can make a new playlist and do another 5 CDs. Besides, who other than a pirate would want to do this? You can also copy any of these CDs as often as you wish.
....Now, as far as I know, only the solution to the first problem skirts around the law.....
If you are going to break the law, then why not do it all the way? Download an (illegal) DVD decryption program from a site outside of the reach of the US stupid studio purchased DMCA law. After that, your legally purchased video content can be dealt with as you wish. You can then play it from the hard disk, put it on an iPod or burn a DVD to play in your old DVD player and put the original in a safe place. Just don't provide copies for others because then you hurt the creative people who made the movie.
....Consumers may not like the new discs, but when they can't get their latest serving of the latest Hollywood tripe on DVD anymore, they'll be lining up at Best Buy.....
Maybe not! The may get hacked players or download the hacked movies from the net. The existence of laws have never stopped people from getting what they want. The DMCA may bite the dust under the onslaught of irate voters descending on their congress critters.
Tying each disk to one player will kill the rental business, which is a considerable source of income for the studios. The adoption of HD will be even slower than digital TV as a whole. The FCC had to extend the death of analog TV once already and may have to do it again as the new deadline nears. Even if a 45 in TV costs only $100 more than a 27" one, many will not buy the bigger one because their living space will not easily accommodate such a big screen monster. HD makes no discernible difference on the smaller screen from ordinary DVDs or TV programs.
....then a Mini or the PowerBook G4s just were not gaming computers...
A high powered, expensive general purpose computer is a huge waste of money for playing games. I told our teenager that I'll buy him a new x-box360 plus one game of his choice if he brings home a "boring" report card of all "A"s. He is working very hard for this. The x-box, together with the Mac Mini is still a cheaper and better solution than an expensive, high performance PC which includes of course a top notch video card. Also, other members of the household can use the mini to surf the net while he plays on the x-box.
.....and if you say "Games", you shouldn't be buying a Mini in the first place....
We bought a mini for our teenager's school work and he has a few older games such as Myth, Battlefield 1942, Sims, Starcraft, Rainbow Six and the Age of Empires series. He doesn't complain too much about how well they play. The certainly work better than they did on the old purple iMac.
....The next time they buy a computer, I am installing linux on it....
It's wonderful for your family that they have such a great computer expert like you at their beck and call. What about all the families that don't have a built in IT person to get them out of the inevitable jams they get into. For them it's either a cheap Dell with Windows or a Mac Mini. If money is really tight, a working CRT monitor can be gotten used for very little or even for free. A Mac mini is definitely a better system for anyone who doesn't have a smart computer guru like you in the family.