Microsoft Preps 'Janus' Music Copy-Prevention Scheme 466
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft is expected to unveil copy-protection software this summer that will for the first time give portable digital music players access to rented tunes from all-you-can-eat subscription services -- a development that some industry executives believe will shake up the online music business." Janus is the Roman god of doorways, gates, passages, preventing people from copying music, etc.
Serious question (Score:5, Interesting)
Dammit (Score:2, Interesting)
Reminds me of something else... (Score:5, Interesting)
The only downer is the fact that if you lose the licenses you're screwed.
Also worked on my MP3-player so I can take the song running.
The interesting note is I charged the song. So it ended up being 99c. This was the only charge for the month on my credit card. However, my balance for the month was zero! Wal-Mart had given me a 'Small Balance Credit' which I assume is that it's probably less of a loss (99c) then some transaction fee (several dollors) from the credit card company.
So I guess you get twelve free songs a year if you handle this correctly!
I don't want to rent...I want to OWN.
Yep, I dub the effort MSMusIVX!! (Score:5, Interesting)
TV subscriptions are one thing because most shows are transient, and you can record forever the ones you like. But a music subscription offers no similar benefits, only an ongoing cost and limitations on use (can you burn real CD's with a subscription service?)
What the hell... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, I can see rented videos...But rented music? Who the heck rents music?
Little digital audio player with Microsoft 'Janus' technology.... Meet my digital-in connector =D
(or if they don't have digital out (which sucks and I wouldn't buy it anyway) then analog-in works fine too...)
Hundreds of thousands of songs! For 10$! Can't beat the price. W00t!
These guys are REALLY really dumb.
Re:Are they kidding? (Score:2, Interesting)
I've already hacked it. (Score:4, Interesting)
Step 2) Put rented song on mp3 player.
Step 3) Go to Radio $hack, buy an adapter cable to connected mp3 output back into PC.
Step 4) Record song from Sound Card's 'Line In' using a high-quality program like Goldwave [goldwave.com].
Step 5) Enjoy all the choonz you want for $10 / month.
Digital Music Library (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Are they kidding? (Score:2, Interesting)
If the clock's fast, people will bitch about not getting what they're paying for, and they'll switch to a different service.
If the clock's slow, the provider's will feel cheated, and may likely switch to a different service.
Oh, and as MS DRM becomes more pervasive, we're bound to see some sort of antitrust court action. (I guess the biggest question right now is will it be in one year or five?)
Re:Are they kidding? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I've already hacked it. (Score:2, Interesting)
If better sounding is a 100% perfect reproduction of sound, digital is "better".
If better sounding is a warmer, more alive sound (with a dramatically higher noise floor), then records are "better".
Just as a solid-state amp is best for playing music and a tube amp is best for creating music. Jon Lord's magnificent playing just wouldn't sound as good if it was originally created with a solid-state amp and some digital effects, would it? But on the other hand, why introduce even more distortion by playing it back through a tube amp?
In short:
Digital for reproduction, analogue for athmosphere
Stop the bashing; this is a great idea! (Score:4, Interesting)
Are you kidding me? You're going to give me anytime, anywhere access to over 400,000 songs for $10/month, and you complain? Man, I wish Apple would do this, because I would certainly pay for the service to use with my iPod. These subscriptions are marginally useful to a small group of people in their current form (work on CPU only). Give me a $10 subscription that I can use on my iPod, and I'll sign up tomorrow.
Who cares if it's DRM. It's a great value, and the type of service we've all been anticipating for many years. I hope Apple beats 'em to the punch!
Re:Are they kidding? (Score:4, Interesting)
This is the name of a Roman god - with Indo/Aryan origins. Interestingly, Janus was - literally - "two-faced".
TWO-FACED: Dictionary Entry and Meaning
Pronunciation: 'too`feyst
WordNet Dictionary
Definition: [adj] having two faces--one looking to the future and one to the past; "Janus the two-faced god"
[adj] marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another;
"she was a deceitful scheming little thing"- Israel Zangwill;
"a double-dealing double agent";
"a double-faced infernal traitor and schemer"- W.M.Thackeray
Synonyms: ambidextrous, deceitful, dishonest, dishonorable, double-dealing, double-faced, double-tongued, duplicitous, faced, Janus-faced
Re:Serious question (Score:4, Interesting)
A useful crack would be to strip the DRM off of someone else's files that you had downloaded. This only allows you to go through a lot of effort in order to distribute the files you obtained legally in the first place. It's not really useful enough to say that iTune's DRM has been "cracked."
I've got an easier crack; burn the tracks to cd and play those in another computer. Or if you want to get fancy, capture the stream from CoreAudio with something like Audio Hijack. These only lose you quality if you feel like reencoding them in something else lossy.