I suppose that if they only stop the lowest common denominator from doing the unauthorized copying its good enough for them.
This strongly suggests that the "protection" exists solely to undermine legitimate personal use. There is no possible anti-piracy use for preventing only half (?) of your users from format-shifting. They know as well as we do that there will be the same amount of internet piracy of the album whether it has this protection or not.
THEREFORE, it's time to entertain theories as to what their real motive is. The two that spring to mind are:
Marketing/Publicity - the album was probably mentioned in the article, and some people may not have so dutifully forgotten it on sight...just about anything that gets the name into our vision will make them more money.
Image of Authority - these schemes serve primarily to remind people, every time they use a product, that the originator of that product is, and always will be, its owner. You will use the product how they want it to be used, whether their demands make sense or not...you have no say, you accept their terms or you don't get your fix. Every bit of hassle they put you through only makes you more willing to accept this arrangement, so it is in the media trusts' best interest to create hassle for that purpose alone.
Ultimately they're clawing for all the mindshare they can get, because they only really exist as long as you believe in them.
Slashdot Mirror
This strongly suggests that the "protection" exists solely to undermine legitimate personal use. There is no possible anti-piracy use for preventing only half (?) of your users from format-shifting. They know as well as we do that there will be the same amount of internet piracy of the album whether it has this protection or not.
THEREFORE, it's time to entertain theories as to what their real motive is. The two that spring to mind are:
Ultimately they're clawing for all the mindshare they can get, because they only really exist as long as you believe in them.
*obligatory blue-screen-of-death joke*
to optimize routes in the whole world for ... business travelers.
</bad joke>
Yeah, though I'd hardly call that a decline. The markets have simply merged and become more popular than ever.
The iPod can display calendar and contact info. It has no input capability, which is what the parent wanted.
Machines make too many mistakes, so let's use...wait for it....HUMANS.
You guys crack me up.
Yes...any competent programmer would just will the machine not to have a hardware failure. We don't need no stinking redundancy.
Now I can rig a transmitter to detect commercials on my local radio stations, and override them with a blank signal. Everyone will love me!