DRM: How To Boil A Frog 484
symbolic writes "This article on the Register explains their experience with Creative's first attempt at supporting DRM, and also reviews a sneaky little technique for 'easing' DRM into peoples' lives via a free Costello preview CD. Two of the tracks are free from any DRM, but for the two that are DRM-enabled, you have to activate the right to listen to them (up to four times), by accessing a central server via the net. For those in the know, the doublespeak used to inform users of any actions they need to take to enable their DRM rights might be quite amusing. To wit: 'The content you are accessing requires an additional level of security. In order to play it, you will need to update your Digital Rights Management Installation.' Others, however, will think they're getting something, when they're actually having something taken away from them. It's a matter of time to see if consumers will flat-out reject this new 'enabling' technology, or let it seep into and infect their lives like the disease that it is."
Or (Score:5, Funny)
(Note to self: don't buy Creative. iPod works fine.)
Why Elvis? (Score:5, Interesting)
Now he's just a tool. And it is funny as well since his music isn't as important as it once was. He could USE some of the exposure P2P offered. Now he'll be known by the masses as the first person who's CD stopped playing after four times. (At least in the UK.)
"You better do what you've been told. You better listen to your Radio" - EC.
Or, in this case (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Or, in this case (Score:2, Interesting)
But they don't give you any choice
'cause they think that it's treason." - EC from "Radio Radio"
Re:Or, in this case (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why Elvis? (Score:4, Insightful)
For two generations at least the music industry has been selling rebellion. Throw off any restraint with regard to authority, parents, morality. They have been in a small way part of what has made North american society what it is.Rebellious, indifferent -- hostile towards authority.
Now they have to somehow try to live within the society they have created.
Very very funny.
Derek
Re:Why Elvis? (Score:2)
BTW does anybody know Rolling Stone, Cream, etc... take on DRM or do they not know about it yet?
Re:Why Elvis? (Score:2)
"I was seriously thinking about hiding the computer
when the switch broke 'cause its old.
Elvis, you're saying things I can hardly believe.
I really think its getting out of control..."
I could go on, but this is just rediculous. I'm gonna have a sore neck tomorrow from shaking my head in dismay all night.
Now the debate as to whether I want to drive all the way to Atlanta to see him in November
"They say you better listen to the voice of reason. They don't give you any choice 'cause they think that its treason." --Elvis Costello
Re:Why Elvis? (Score:3, Funny)
Because if we can't, I'd be reluctant to blame him...as an artist, I know firsthand how we have to give up many of our rights to our labels, studios, publishers, and the rest.
There's a good chance that Elvis is totally against this, but can't control what the label does with his music once he records it.
Re:Why Elvis? (Score:2)
Here's a reality check for ya - the way you dressed when you were a kid most likely looked just as silly.
Rights? (Score:3, Insightful)
Has this simple little fact gotten lost among all the complexities of the DRM stuff? So, tell me, where is the class-action lawsuit for consumers?
Damn, now I sound like a troll, oh well
Re:Rights? (Score:4, Interesting)
Fact: nothing requires that it be POSSIBLE for you to do so
Executive Summary is that if you can break the DRM, you can make a backup copy.
Of course, there's conflicting laws (copyright doctrine for years has permitted backups, but breaking the DRM probably counts as a DMCA violation). Which one will take precedence in court, should someone try to beat you up for breaking their DRM to make a backup copy, is left as an exercise for the reader.
Re:Rights? (Score:3, Interesting)
The best way to beat all of this is to buy *everything* proteted by DRM - and then return it when it dosn't work for you. That way the RIAA dosn't get to claim that theft is causing drops in sales - and the record companies get the message through thousands of expensive returns (and lost income) that the public just wont stand for people messing with their entertainment.
Damn... (Score:3, Funny)
Warning: Your music may be insecure. (Score:5, Funny)
Where have I seen this before? (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess it won't be too long before that mega-hit CD has a data track with an unreleased track that requires DRM in order to be played, enabling both the RIAA to get their control over hardware/software and MS to get Windows Media Player more entrenched.
I'd say who the losers are in this case, but we already know that by now.
Re:Where have I seen this before? (Score:4, Interesting)
If you read thru some of The Register's links from the parent article, you'll come to one that speaks of how M$ is positioning itself as the sole purveyor of digital content. I think they're right. The fallout from this is also why barring some radical departure from M$'s current course, XP (and NO service packs) is the LAST Windows version I'll ever use.
Can M$ get in trouble? (Score:4, Insightful)
Doesn't this violate the Microsoft agreement? There has to be a way to take Windows Media Player off your computer. If I am correct, there should be a program to illimate the presence of Microsoft products (IE, and that sorts) from desktop/startup menu. The program should also illimate WMP from these areas as well. Does anyone know for sure if this breaks the Microsoft agreement?
UK Sunday Times newspaper unleashed a neat little trojan that'll upgrade you to Windows Media Player 9
I always thought trojans are bad. This is no exception. I wonder how long it will take McAfee and Norton to come out with a fix for this.
Re:Can M$ get in trouble? (Score:2)
Nope.. note your own words there - "from the desktop/startup menu". All that crap is still on the computer and waiting to jump at the first beck and call. The obvious icons are just removed to give 3rd party software a "chance".
Re:Can M$ get in trouble? (Score:2)
Trojans definitely have their uses!
Re:Can M$ get in trouble? (Score:2)
one patch [linux-iso.org] and another [freebsd.org]
Re:Can M$ get in trouble? (Score:4, Insightful)
Nope. The Microsoft/DOJ agreement is worthless. Microsoft agreed to give you a way to "hide" things like the Media Player. The exemptions relating to security and DRM leave holes big enough to drive Bill Gates' bank account through.
Even when something is "hidden" Microsoft can pretty much activate it at will. Click on a DRM file and Media Player jumps right out of hiding. View a
Lets have three cheers for the DOJ. Hip-hip horay! Hip-hip horay! Hip-hip horay! PTHBBBBBT!
-
and to think creative was becoming a good company (Score:2)
Re:and to think creative was becoming a good compa (Score:3, Informative)
I am not annoyed enough with Creative to get rid of my SBLives, and I'm surprised you are. I guess each of us has to decide where to draw the line.
steveha
Re:and to think creative was becoming a good compa (Score:2)
more than your dollars (Score:2)
"I think we should use gateway's and not HPs for the sales laptops. The HPs have DRM and we don't want sale's presentations getting locked into the laptop and not being able to be backed up".
The next time CL releases a sound card it will get trashed here. They will notice the negative reaction. No company likes terrible word of mouth.
Re:and to think creative was becoming a good compa (Score:2)
I had a Aureal 1 card (still do some ware) other then that neat 3d effect with only 2 speakers it was crap, but in only cost me like 15$
Buy-Bitch-Return (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, go to the review sites on the net and let this info be know about the Soundblaster Live. Amazon's a good place to start, I'm not up to date with all the current popular ones.
-Pete
Ehhh. I don't think this will work. (Score:2)
Re:Ehhh. I don't think this will work. (Score:2)
-Pete
Re:Ehhh. I don't think this will work. (Score:2)
Not to worry... yet (Score:2)
Re:Not to worry... yet (Score:3, Interesting)
Most commercial radio stations nowadays keep all their music stored in digital format on a gigantic hard drive somewhere. Now, I'm sure most radio conglomerates will receive non-DRM versions of this stuff, since they're getting paid to play it in the first place. A radio network could probably refuse to play a single if only a DRM version is available and the record label didn't want to shell out for DRM players for every Clear Channel radio station.
Re:Not to worry... yet (Score:2)
uhh, slightly OT (Score:3, Interesting)
cd? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't put it in my cd player and listen to it through real speakers? I can't listen to it in my car?
Ok, well. I dunno what that is, but its not an audio cd, and I don't know how much it costs, but even if its free, its useless to me. Thanks, but no thanks.
--sean
Don't Do Anything (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't hack DRM files
Don't pay for DRM files
Don't do anything with DRM files
As soon as it's known that DRM content doesn't make money it will tank faster than advertising CPMs.
Do nothing...and shout about it! (Score:3, Insightful)
It certainly works at the microcosm level -- check out the look on the store manager's face when you tell him, "See this money? I was going to spend all of that here today, but since you don't carry this band, and this band, and this band, I'm going to spend it down the street at the cool music store where they do, instead." (BTW, I learned this tactic from Jello Biafra, and it's quite effective, at least on the small scale. I notice that our local HMVs have started carrying the Dead Kennedys and TISM again...)
The problem with opt-out dollar voting is that unless you specifically make your targets aware that they're losing sales, they don't notice, or attribute it to the right cause.
Time to do something good for humanity (Score:5, Interesting)
Instead of reading how fucked were going to be, it would be nice if we concentrated on what current efforts are being made to fight for our rights. If Slashdot is going to be posting Y.A.S.O.D.R.M.(yet another story on drm). Maybe they could actually do something positive and once a week post about the ongoing efforts to combat it. You know like "this week X happened", and have it be a ongoing thing.
I'm not really sure what page to link to, but someone out there must be organized. It would be great if every Friday their was some sort of update we could all follow along with.
Now I know some of you are saying Slashdot is a "news service" and shouldn't get involved. But gimma a break Slashdot is hardly unbiased and there is obviously no "journalism code" being followed. Amost every submission is heavily biased.
I dunno
Its just a suggestion, but if I had a website read by billions a visitors a day, I'd try to do some good. Are there other more worthy causes? Sure by far(AIDS,war,education etc), but this IS a tech news site and if there is even going to be opensource news to print about, things like DRM and Palladium need to be stopped now.
Re:Time to do something good for humanity (Score:3, Informative)
Buy a senator (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Time to do something good for humanity (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Time to do something good for humanity (Score:2)
There's no fight...just keep your money- that alone is more powerful than any law, and best of all, there aren't any loopholes.
Re:Time to do something good for humanity (Score:2)
There's much deep political organization that needs to take place. So far, there's no political powerhouses (read voting blocks and/or economic drivers) explicitly opposing DRM. In fact, as far as any of us can tell, DRM is great news for hardware and software manufacturers. We need to rustle up some of these, or at least a journalist-joltin spin. The times that consumer protection groups have won against business have almost always involved danger to something with more impact than people's "right" to listen to their CD's through their 48x cdrom.
Furthermore, almost nobody in this portion of the tech community is proposing solutions that will address people's legitimate concerns about control of their intellectual work - legitimate because there are real reasons for authors to have SOME control over their works in the digital medium. This is what we need to do - give people reasons to go with fair, open solutions for dissemination management rather than these monolithic ones.
time to stomp a troll. (Score:3, Informative)
No, it is not.
If Slashdot is going to be posting Y.A.S.O.D.R.M.(yet another story on drm). Maybe they could actually do something positive and once a week post about the ongoing efforts to combat it. You know like "this week X happened", and have it be a ongoing thing.
The fight begins with information. Slashdot has been great at documenting abuse and potential abuse. They have also been good enough to report news of those who are doing something besides reporting, and they make it all available at zero cost. What larger impact can anyone have besides telling everyone?
Now I know some of you are saying Slashdot is a "news service" and shouldn't get involved. But gimma a break Slashdot is hardly unbiased and there is obviously no "journalism code" being followed. Amost every submission is heavily biased.
Huh? what do you want to do besides complain about Slashdot? Why don't YOU start a group and then submit a story about it? Then you might end up with that site or even do some good.
That's true, thanks for caring, don't buy that shit.
Meanwhile, the press is completely unbiased... (Score:2, Insightful)
OK, I am against DRM too, and will never buy a system with Palladium in it or any DRM-{en|dis}abled media player, but this is ridiculous. If you're going to call it news, please report with some degree of objectivity. The "from the...dept" line is the place for editorial comments. In this case, not only is the title rather suggestive (appropriate, too, but not impartial), but the author goes out and says DRM IS A DISEASE. While I agree, not everyone does, and you will find that your journalism becomes stronger and less controversial/offensive if you smash something subtly (or not at all) instead of openly, especially when the facts speak for themselves.
Re:Meanwhile, the press is completely unbiased... (Score:5, Funny)
The government considers computers a weapon, and just like Gun Control Inc. wants to remove weapons from the hands of those who could use them to threaten the social order, the RIAA and MPAA are a harbingers of a larger picture... The disarmament of the public.
Those in power want to stay in power, and private ownership of high speed turing machines, and firearms, and many other things that are being lobbied against, are a threat that must be eliminated.
Re:Meanwhile, the press is completely unbiased... (Score:3, Funny)
A tool which may exist? (Score:3, Interesting)
That way it'd be real easy to prove that it wasn't a CD-Audio disc and return it.
Re:A tool which may exist? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A tool which may exist? (Score:2)
Yep. Stick it in your non-PC audio CD player and see if it plays correctly.
WMP8 and TotalRecorder (Score:5, Interesting)
The article is over-hyped (more than is usual for The Register) - it's not necessary to download WMP9beta to play the "limited" media files, it just offers you that as the default download if you're lacking WMP or are too far out-of-date.
On WinXP with the default version of WMP (8.1 or something like that), I had to go online and pick up a license file for each track (and fill in a form on a pop-up window for the first one, giving them a BS name and address). There was no super-clever Secure Audio Path stuff when playing back the files on WMP8 and it didn't seem to notice I was ripping the stream to disk with TotalRecorder [highcriteria.com] for later mp3-encoding!
(to their credit, the audio files on the CD are 192kbit WMA which does sound pretty damn good, even after MP3ing)
Re:WMP8 and TotalRecorder (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you are missing the point of the article, as the Slashdot title implies...
"How to boil a frog"...
You turn up the heat slowly.... of course. This time you had to do some annoying stuff, and fill in some bogus info on some forms. It's the "next time" we are worried about.
Re:WMP8 and TotalRecorder (Score:3, Funny)
Re:WMP8 and TotalRecorder (Score:2, Funny)
Didn't you mean to say "pretty damn good, even after OGGing"?
BURN THE HERETIC!
Disable digital out? (Score:2)
write to Costello (Score:2)
Last time I heard Costell was during an interview on Fresh Air on NPR.
if the protection is reasonable, where's the prob? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:if the protection is reasonable, where's the pr (Score:5, Insightful)
It is my artwork.
No, it's not. Many people had a hand in getting you where you are today. You would know nothing of music if it weren't for people who came before and paved the path. You'd know nothing of musical theory or composition if it weren't for you instructors, who got their knowledge from someone else. The sheet music you study, the instrument you play, and the songs you cover when you're learning, were all made by someone else. If it were illegal to cover a song without written permission, if it were illegal to "reverse engineer" a song, and play the melody on your guitar just by listening to it, just how far do you think you would have made it composing that 40 hour song? What you did was pull together all the knowledge you've gained from others' work, and with that knowledge, you were able to craft something of your own style. The song you made is not your creation, but rather the culmination of knowledge that came before you, guided by your hand. You don't live in vacuum. Physical property belongs to you, but ideas do not.
Re:if the protection is reasonable, where's the pr (Score:3, Insightful)
You couldn't be more wrong. The whole of commerce is comprised of commercial entities and the resources they consume (including their own skilled employees, financing, outside expertise, existing technology, research & development, etc.). Bottom line - whatever arrangement exists between an artist and any peripheral resources has nothing to do with the artist's relationship to you, as a consumer. An artist offering a finished work for purchase is no different than any other business transaction. You either accept the terms under which the artist's product is being offered, or you look for something more agreeable.
Secondly, a musical work is not an idea, it's an expression of an idea, and is therefore tangible in that it can be recorded onto a physical medium. It is this expression that is protected by copyright.
Finally, show me ONE THING having a method of implementation hasn't somehow been influenced by something before it. The evolution of anything, be it technology, art, or whatever, is really little more than the iterative refinement of methods and ideas that already exist.
One word on DRM and restricting use of multimedia (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:One word on DRM and restricting use of multimed (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't the point of DRM that you won't be able to play it 40 years from and will, therefore, have to purchase another copy?
Bah... (Score:2)
Marketing Spinsters... (Score:5, Interesting)
I was ready to go into "Yes, I agree, it's dumb-shit" mode, but the next thing he said shocked me:
"I read that it lets you send emails to people that they can't forward or copy. It's called Digital Rights Management."
I've since heard this exact same statement twice more from other, random people, among which, tech-oriented guys that should know better. Somehow, Microsoft marketing has somehow pushed DRM and Palladium as something that
Of course, I told him that how DRM really works, but on a larger scale, the huge "consumer backlash" I've been counting on to end all of these anti-consumer technologies just may be further off than anyone expected. It very well could end up as the next Macrovision: people will think "it's there because copying stuff is illegal, and only bad men want to copy stuff", even after they've bought their 2nd or 3rd copy of the same scratched CD.
The misinformation campaign is obviously deliberate, and real. And the worse part is, mindshare typically goes with the media, which just happens to be the rights-slayer this time.
Re:Marketing Spinsters... (Score:2)
Re:Marketing Spinsters... (Score:4, Insightful)
You really should remind these people that there is no free lunch - they will get, they'll also give. Palladium all on it's own will not discriminate who can use the technology to protect whatever digital things they want. Criminals would have thier e-mails protected just like any upstanding citizen, (Hope Dad's not a Soprano type
If they then counter "Well the government/FBI/SomeAuthority will have the keys...", you can explain that Pd isn't much good to begin with then. This isn't FUD, it's truth. It's also a way to show that Pd isn't "good", it's just technology which can only be alligned to the purpose of it's user - which is where the good or evil truly lies.
Sometimes file copying is good. Where and when this is true takes good, running wetware to figure out properly.
Soko
What if DRM won't let you DELETE content?? (Score:3, Interesting)
What an opportunity for entrapment -- just email the victim some kiddie porn (or whatever) that's rigged so DRM won't let him delete it, then call the cops.
I know this sounds farfetched, but what if DRM eventually incorportates a no-delete/no-format feature (which would probably require hardware involvement) that could be used to *prevent* people [think corporations and mobsters] from deleting "evidence"?? A handy tool for catching Bad Guys, but how far would YOU trust it in the hands of certain law enforcement agencies??
Yeah, the cops could just as well have used a data recovery agency, but this is SO much easier, can be inspected on the spot, and besides, the perp *might* be a terrorist!
I think you can see where my train of paranoid extrapolation is headed. I hope I'm suffering from an overactive imagination.
How to boil a frog (really) (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyway what the story title is suggesting is that we're like the frogs, DRM is like hot water. To get us used to DRM (and eventually "killed" by it) they (yeah it's always them) have to introduce DRM slowly so you get used to it, then they add more DRM, then you get used to that, it's a cycle that ends only after it's too late and DRM is everywhere.
By the way, check google for "How to boil a frog" and you'll find where I got my information from (should be the first result.)
FYI: WHQL, WDM audio drivers, and DRM. (Score:5, Informative)
So not only Creative is involved here. They are merely herded along this path by MS via the leash of WHQL. Don't have DRM kernel mode components on your system? You sure about that? Do you have WHQL (signed) audio drivers for WinXP? Yes? Then DRM has infected your system.
Just thought you might be interested.
This reminds me of Hard Drive legislation (Score:2)
This is no different but not legislated, fortunately. It merely means I won't be buying a Creative card when I upgrade.
I strongly suggest you archive some of Creative's current drivers (without the protection enabled) if you plan on using this card in Windows in the future.
You get what you pay for... (Score:5, Insightful)
The law is slow, deliberate and generally fails the consumer. However, with the marketplace, consumer demand could easily spell the demise of DRM without having to grease one legislator's palms. Fast. Look at DiVX. If no one buys it, no one will want to make it.
Maybe I am hopeful, but I don't think the generic consumer is going to think, "Hey! Great! The DVDs and CDs I am buying are protected by DRM. They only work at my house so my pesky friends can't steal them!". Nothing that DRM does benefits the consumer except for the pesky friend problem. Consumers want better, bigger, faster. Not complicated, rigid and limited.
Re:You get what you pay for... (Score:2, Insightful)
The problem is that there are many customers out there who may be purchasing their very first CD. They could be teenagers, or maybe not. But as new customers they will simply accept this as the-way-things-are, because they will never anything different. I don't know statistics here, but I'm guessing there are probably less than 20% of music/tech types who even follow this stuff. I've asked dozens of people about DRM and the DMCA, and have even managed to get a few to understand, but basically most folks don't realize this is happening and don't know what it is. Microsoft and the other DRM camps are counting on this customer ignorance to push this through quickly before the rest of the world figures how badly they are getting screwed. People that are new to the market will never know of a free net, of a time when you purchased it and it was yours to keep, and they may never find out there was a time when it was different.
Er... how are they having something taken away... (Score:2)
RMN
~~~
This takes time when you're done... (Score:2)
When there's mindless stuff like this been going on for over 10 years... well....
who knows?
Field Test: Creative Audigy (Score:2, Informative)
Funnily enough, PlayCenter, a Microsoft DRM supported audio player has a large button that says "Rip This CD" and allows you to rip directly to MP3 (up to 320kbps). Your other choice for format is (surprise, surprise) WMA, but there's a checkbox that just says "DRM" next to to. According to the help file "Click the DRM option if you wish to restrict the transfer of the audio file. Protected WMA files cannot be transferred to other systems." I'm not sure how/if this works as I don't use WMA (or PlayCenter, for that matter) but it seems odd the for such a pro-DRM player you have the choice not to enable it in their integrated ripping program.
Also, how do we reckon this would affect motherboard-integrated soundcards. Can MediaPlayer disable the SPDIF coming from it...do ANY motherboard sound solutions support this now?
Re:Field Test: Creative Audigy (Score:2)
Microsoft/Intel DRM: CDS (Score:4, Funny)
Now that I can actually see happening. How far will we be from this in just a few years?
sorry creative... (Score:3, Insightful)
Now they have DRM devices... Will all of them follow suit? Turtle beach? will they fold? how about the 90,000,000,000,000,000 Korean and chineese and other eastern country manufacturers making the knockoffs? will they all comply? I highly doubt it.
So the only way to make this DRM stuff work is to either force all manufacturers to comply and design it in, or to make the non compliant cards illegal.. which will increase the sales of them 10 fold, encourage the kiddies out there that can easily outwit college graduates with masters and doctorates and either design a hardware hack or a software crack, or some simply elegant workaround that will put the genius designers to shame (sharpie marker anyone?)
I am both entertained and appaled at the new era we are beginning... entertained that it is finally proven that the brightest and best people by definition of the large piles of money you have are easily defeated and smacked squarely in the face by children and yound adults. BrRAVO! As I am appaled at the unadultered Greed driving every aspect of industry...
Intellectual property, anyone who is for it is a greedy self serving bastard that more than likely really isnt creative in the first place. 95% of everything you have and use is based on someone elses IDEA! just because you though up something does not make it your property... where would we be if the current levels of stupidity were running rampant 100 years ago? we would all be driving only FORD cars and trucks, buying anything from outside the USA would be illegal and you would have to watch only one TV channel, one radio station, you would only be able to buy an IBM pc, and own a Zenith Television while listening to your RCA records.. Phillips CD's? Banned as they infringe on RCA's INtellectual property of recording audio on disc shaped objects.
programmers, your software is not innovative nor special in any way... 90 people did it before you and 90 more will do it after you. Musicians... let's see something origional.... I dare you... and Movies or photography? Oh come on nothing has been origional for 100 years.
and now we are going to be thrust into the largest black period of creativity all because of some narrow minded dimwits should have been beaten more as children because they cant grasp the idea of sharing....
I am tired of hearing the 3 year olds screaming "GIMMIE! MINE! MINE! MINE!"
boiling frogs? (Score:4, Funny)
"Boil a Frog" (Score:2)
Tricking people into enabling DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
I think this language is very deceptive. By claiming to "protect you" and by claiming they are enabling "additional security", they're implying that you will receive some sort of benefit. What benefit is that, exactly?
This giant PITA scenario illustrates why DRM without force of law is destined to fail: Any solution that requires an end user to think along the lines of an IT department in order to work will not be acecpted by Joe Blow or his family.
Joe isn't going to get the concept of "digital certificates" that allow him to play his media files, and won't remember to backup his licenses.
Instead of starting over, re-ripping everything again (hopefully not in WMA) they're going to look for a way around it, and his 10 year old will know where to download the player software that breaks it, and the port to block to keep it from tattling to Microsoft.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that this does suck but it isn't the end of the world. What we need to concentrate on is defeating the laws that will ban non DRM media players.
As long as we can access non-DRM media players, we are still free. I for one think we should continue to fight like hell to stay that way.
The non-limited-edition release was garbled, too (Score:2)
This may be entirely coincidental, but the copy of When I Was Cruel that I purchased (sic) in its first week of release refused to play well in my recent-vintage Mac G4 tower. The first two songs sounded as though they'd been recorded using the same deck used to record the Watergate tapes [grolier.com], and the rest had mysteriously long bits drop out suddenly. Nowhere did the package or disk itself state that whether it was copy-protected in any way. So did I return it as defective? Nah, 'cause I was too lazy--and it's not such a great album that I absolutely, positively need to have MP3 copies of it for my own use. Sic transeunt iura digitalia.
Speaking of Rights & the Frog Farm ... (Score:2)
Ver 1.7 seems to be the latest.
http://www.nettrash.com/users/frogfarm/fffaq.html [nettrash.com]
DANGER GOOD CITIZENS! (Score:2, Funny)
http://jeff.whoark.org/images/drmpropaganda.jpg [whoark.org]
Elvis Quote (Score:3, Interesting)
-Elvis Costello, 2002
The man plainly does not get it.
(http://www.dotmusic.com/interviews/April2002/i
This Will Make More and More People Switch... (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been using DOS/Windows ever since 1992 or so when I was 12. Before that I used Apple II's. Right now I'm using Win2K because like a lot of people I've just sort of followed the Microsoft upgrade path since then. Windows has done what I've needed it to do, I feel comfortable with it, and I've never had to pay for it, so I've never been forced out of my comfort zone with it.
I've just never seen a big enough payoff to switch to another operating system. I'm a professional computer programmer, I build my own boxes, and I've even installed Linux on a couple of them, so it's not like there's technical hurdles to running another OS.
The point is that Windows has been Good Enough (tm) for me, and that there are literally millions and millions of people who continue to use Windows for just the reasons I outlined.
But now, as Windows gets more and more shitty baggage like this, it stops being good enough. It's actively becoming an obstacle to the things I want to do. I've already given up on PC gaming, because the technical troubles are such bullshit that I'd rather play on a console. The last two games I bought recommended that I "buy a new CDROM drive" as a solution to my problems running the game due to their copy-protection schemes. And this is on top of the typical driver-related and other compatibility issues that have plagued PC gaming since Day One.
Now, Microsoft is trying to pollute the user experience even further with this DRM stuff. It turns me off even more. I think Win2K is the last version of Windows I'll be using. Linux and/or OSX is next for me. It's funny, proponents and developers of non-Windows OS's have been frantically trying to promote and improve their products in order to get users to switch... but the real key for a lot of people might be once Microsoft actively starts taking *away* things that users take for granted.
Thoughts, and a letter to Creative labs (Score:4, Interesting)
To make my position clear, I just sent the following letter to Creative Labs:
---
I am currently the owner of a SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold, and have been very happy with its performance. I am in the process of purchasing a new computer, and am trying to decide what sound card to get. I just read the story at http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27232.html
If your cards do contain DRM, I would like to express my distaste that you have included such restrictions without clearly notifying the consumer of their presence, and state that I will no longer purchase your products as a result, and will recommend that my friends do the same.
---
Why not take a few minutes to send a similar letter? I sent mine to sales@soundblaster.com, but I have no idea whether its valid or not - they don't list many email addresses on their website. Perhaps a followup poster can find a more appropriate address?
DRM like DIVX (Score:3, Insightful)
DRM is sort of like that. People are gonna get mad... "Why can't I open this stupid file?" Et cetera. And guess what? 99% of the pirates out there are tech-savvy users who know that there are other choices around, like that thing called Linux, and they'll switch from Windows to Linux in a second if it means they can watch the pirated version of whatever for free. And you know what? There won't be any difficulty in obtaining audio, video, pictures or whatever you want. If you can display it on a screen, or play it through speakers, you can record it in whatever format you want. All it takes is for one person in the entire world to do this for a song or movie or whatever and it's out there. DRM is not going to work because it's just plain stupid. We still need to fight, but not against Microsoft. They'll realize the errors of their ways when they're cashing their welfare checks a few years from now. We need to fight against the laws that have already been passed, and those that will be passed, that make copyright, patents and trademark last virtually forever. The limits should be returned to their original values, so that a reasonable number of years after something is published, it becomes public domain so that knowledge and ideas and whatnot in this country can flourish. Not the crap that's going on right now, where the huge crush everybody else, and therefore, widely-used software sucks, because it doesn't have to work properly, and movies suck, because nobody needs to make them intellectually stimulating, etc.
Here's why TCPA/Palladium will never work (Score:3, Insightful)
- DiVX. Same idea. They made it as conveinent as possible. You had to dialin once in awhile to verify/bill or your crap stopped working. They wanted a pay per play. And what did people do?
/me plays the AOL "Goodbye" sound.
- Bible Beaters. The "666, mark of the beast" crowd, and the "this is the beginning of concentration camps and serial numbers on the forehead" crowd that showed up at the Pentium serial debacle have yet to make their appearance. They will, and it will be felt.
/me plays the AOL "Goodbye" sound.
- No Working Examples. I can think of no other real examples of a vendor selling a product successfully to the masses for years, then turning around one day and completely handtieing the enduser, stalking the enduser, monitoring the enduser, etc, that continued to make the same, or more money.
/me plays the AOL "Goodbye" sound.
- The Lawndart Example. Lawndarts were extremely popular at one time. They were dangerous, but everyone had some. They sold quite well Im sure. For outside reasons of safety, the manufacturor of lawn darts was forced to change their product to a more hand-tying, watered down version. They made Nerf and plastic lawn darts as replacements. Same product sort of, but less effective as the original. Now how many people own the Nerf lawndarts? No one?
/me plays the AOL "Goodbye" sound.
- Hacker Challenge. All of this, if enabled somehow will amount to the biggest hacker/cracker challenge on the face of the earth. And I have faith in them. I expect a WindowsXP.2004.FritzChipEMU-hacked.RiSE to be quite popular.
/me plays the AOL "Goodbye" sound.
All this boils down to a picture where this crap is halfass tried, and for every $1 they extort from a naieve person who forks over another $600 for a copy of Photoshop to work from home, they'll lose $2 to crackers, disenfrancheised customers, people who've lost interest in having to work to listen to the latest N*Sync DRM CD, and privacy fanatics who won't go near it. And what happens when things lose money in America?Re:hmmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
it actually shows the opposite of the frog boiling
myth. makes sense, really. if you put a frog
in boiling water, it will be severely injured
right away and probably won't be able to jump out.
Whereas a frog in cold water will get bored and
jump out before long.
from the article...
How did our expert interpret this triumph of science? "There are certain cases where gradual change is almost preferred," Hofman commented. "The change myth assumes a very narrow view of people. If frogs can do it, people definitely can."
I wonder if the same applies to people and DRM
software??
3. PROFIT! (Score:2, Informative)
Well.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Now not only is it illegal to try to find ways around it, (or "circumvent access control measures") but it's even illegal to TALK about a way to get around it that someone ELSE found. And heaven forbid you post a web link to their work....
Re:DRM is the slavery of today qjkx (Score:5, Funny)
Or you could just not install the software, you knob.
Yeah that's really racist (Score:3, Funny)
You're so right. That's exactly how slavery got started. First, the [caucasian-american] landowners would be like "Hey [Booker], would you mind getting me a [malt beverage], as long as you're up?" And of course, the [locationally-challenged african-american] people were kind and good-hearted, so they'd be like "[I gleefully acquiesce]!" But then [caucasian-americans] got too used to the idea. Pretty soon, they wouldn't even ask, they'd go "I'm thirrrrsty, hint hint," and their [locationally-challenged african-american] friends would go "Yeah, yeah, I'll get you a [malt beverage]." Before long, they were allowed to [wet-noodle lash] them and [have lain with] their [mutually-agreed-to-upon life partners]. So beware! If we don't nip this in the bud, soon your [mutually-agreed-to-upon life partner] will be ripe with the [love] child of a Microsoft exec, and you'll be singing [a popular work song] as you program in his cubicle farms.
Or you could just not install the software, you [frame-challenged door].
Re:If there is a Linux version, I'm OK (Score:2)
I dont know if the crossover plugin works with DRM or not
Re:If there is a Linux version, I'm OK (Score:3, Interesting)
Here you have to be really sneaky and be able to be able to forge talking with the servers.
Wouldn't be a bad idea to ask everybody who got the CD to run a tcpdump capture of all trafic to/from the authentication server, their UID, and other such information. That way we could start reverse-engineering immediately without having to actually prod at the server.
--Knots;
Re:You guys suck! (Score:2)
ROFL!
Morons!!
Re:DivX? (Score:3, Insightful)
What happened to those players?
DIVX(TM) (please note the capitalization) was pulled in summer of 1999 by Circuit City after it was deemed to be an utter failure, having lost millions of dollars during its two-year life.
A search on Google [google.com] will bring up a myriad of useful links. It was sort of a nebulous form of DRM, but it went nowhere - why the hell would people want to pay for something again after they own it?
Frankly, I see the DRM enhancements coming about failing miserably for the simple reason it's being developed for and by...well, management - they have such high hopes that their product will be given to people who will respect it, and forget history. Copy Protection to this day doesn't work, why should DRM?
Re:So what's to prevent me from... (Score:3, Interesting)
What's stopping you is the fact that Sound Recorder is limited to thirty seconds of recording. Total Recorder [highcriteria.com], however, will fit the bill nicely. :-)
Re:Prices (Score:4, Insightful)