EFF Releases Music DRM Guide 300
Chris Chiasson writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently created a plain English guide to several fair use restrictions that major online music services, such as Apple's iTunes, force on their customers via Digital Rights Management (DRM) laden music files and End User License Agreements (EULAs). An excerpt from the guide follows:
'Forget about breaking the DRM to make traditional uses like CD burning and so forth. Breaking the DRM or distributing the tools to break DRM may expose you to liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) even if you're not making any illegal uses.'
The EFF also lists four alternative music services which sell unrestricted files."
Missing from list (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Missing from list (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Missing from list (Score:2)
Thanks for the tip. This has some great classical music, right out of the gate! I'm downloading my first CD right now!
The site is: Magnatune! [magnatune.com] Even if you don't think their selection is good enough (translation, doesn't have Hilary, Britney, et. al.?), if you like sampling new artists, this is a good place to look, and I love the business model. As the parent posted, read the founder's philosophy and business model.
Re:Missing from list (Score:2, Interesting)
I've bought a few Magnatune albums and downloaded them as WAV files so that I can write them to CD, then compress them into OGG/Vorbis for local hard drive storage. Perfect.
emusic.com! (Score:2, Informative)
Best part? 192kbps+ MP3s! No protection! And even if you cancel your subscription...if your harddrive dies you can just sign up again (for as little as a month) and they'll let you re-download your whole library for free.
Granted, you lose some fidelity as it is MP3 and not CD-quality...and there are very few 'brand new' or 'popul
Audiojelly.com for dance music (Score:2)
http://www.audiojelly.com/ [audiojelly.com]
They offer downloads with no DRM in MP3 format, encoded at 192kbps and 320kbps. Charges are normally GBP 1.00 for 192kbps tracks and GBP 1.25 for 320kbps tracks.
Highly recommended.
Re:Lets see... (Score:4, Informative)
DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Get rid of Apple DRM on Linux [thnx to DVD Jon] (Score:5, Informative)
I found Jon L. Johansen's site and his two programs :
1. FairKeys - to get the keys from Apple's site
2. DeDRMS - uses the keys to DeDRM the files.
The site is here (no html hyperlink, copy and paste if you want):
nanocrew.net/?page_id=59
You also need to install mono for linux as the programs are in C#. After that just run with "mono programname options". No I can play my albums again. Thanks Jon!
Re:Get rid of Apple DRM on Linux [thnx to DVD Jon] (Score:3, Funny)
nanocrew.net/?page_id=59
WTF?! it took you longer to type that disclaimer than it would have to wrap the link in html tags. Here, I'll do it:
nanocrew.net/?page_id=59 [nanocrew.net]
Re:Get rid of Apple DRM on Linux [thnx to DVD Jon] (Score:3, Insightful)
You said WTF!?. The 'F' is that I didn't contact Jon to ask him if I can posting the link to his program in a slashdot post.
You might say "WTF!? You don't have to ask permission to link". I would respond that the 'F' is that it is not illegal to link to his site, but it is not very nice if he has to pay for the bandwidth. So by not providing a click-able link I thought I was making sure that only those who really want to get his program will get there as opposed to having tens of thousands of slash
Re:Get rid of Apple DRM on Linux [thnx to DVD Jon] (Score:3, Funny)
Forgive me, Jon
Re:Get rid of Apple DRM on Linux [thnx to DVD Jon] (Score:3, Insightful)
As many a slashdotted site will tell you, slashdot readers RTFA. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of slashdot commenters in general.
Re:Get rid of Apple DRM on Linux [thnx to DVD Jon] (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not a EULA gotcha, it's common sense.
If I buy a piece of software commonly known to be available for platforms X or Y and then decide later to switch to platform Z, I don't whine that the developer ripped me off because my X/Y software doesn't run on the Z it was never created to run on to begin with.
You started using the iTMS knowing full well you need iTu
Re:DRM (Score:2)
lawsuit = forced (Score:2)
They say it every press release it's to "encourage" *sound of a gun cocking* people to use itunes instead of p2p.
Don't mention CD's because theyre now increasingly and unpredictably DRM encumbered too.
Re:DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
People on the greater average do NOT know the limitations ahead of time nor what DRM is. Walk down a street or hall in your local mall and randomly ask people if they know what DRM is.
People who research and are aware what they are buying are the minority.
People who go buy the next new toy because it's the latest fad tech/music toy because so and so has it and now they must have it to keep up with the Jonses don't research and educate them selves. That's too much trouble, they just want it to fill like equals to everyone else who's gone out and bought it. It's more of a indirect peer presure sort of thing.
So please shutup and do trip down a flight of stairs so I and others don't have to read your ignorant words and so there is more oxygen for the rest of us. Your taking up space!
Re:DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
That said, I do permit myself to buy from the iTMS, since I gave it some consideration and decided the DRM implementation isn't too intrusive (for my own needs, anyway). I do support alternative, DRM-free services, though, and encourage others to do the same.
Re:DRM (Score:3, Insightful)
the geek population (and shame on them for buying DRM-crippled music when they should know better) that buys music online is a small fraction of the total number of purchasers.
so no, most people don't have any notion whatsoever of the artificial limitations imposed on them by the high priced music files.
You're not buying, you're renting. (Score:4, Insightful)
When you "buy" a DVD, you do not actual own the copy, you have merely purchased a long term rental. The rental agreement lets you play it at home for an indefinite period (basically as long as the current type of player is still produced and/or yours still works) - subject to certain restrictions on some titles (e.g. being forced to watch the previews).
Instead of breaking the law wherever feasible, I think our crowd would be much more successful helping to enforce it. If the EFF could bring suit simply to force media companies to stop calling what they do "selling copies", and call them "long term rentals" instead, then the market would take care of the rest. There would still be a market for long term rentals - but you would also be able to actually buy a copy for more money than a long term rental (probably something around what video rental stores pay for their copy).
The best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it vigorously.
Re:DRM (Score:3, Insightful)
If the media companies wanted the purchasers to know the limitations ahead of the purchase, then the media companies and the DRM companies would not go through so much marketing mumble-jumble in order to hide the fact that DRM is limiting the use of the media being purchased.
Forget about breaking the DRM (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah forget about trying to break the DRM in iTunes cos like... uhh. you don't need to, to burn CDs.
Re:Forget about breaking the DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
This is not a flame; this is simply why I won't buy something from a service encumbered by DRM restrictions.
Re:Forget about breaking the DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem is that the ones selling the DRM'd content make every effort to conceal the restrictions. That's why people don't know they're paying but not buying. People expect that when they pay for something, they can do whatever they want with it. Now, these music stores are not going to tell them up front that this assumption is very much not true for the music they "sell". The media are not publishing anything about it. So how is J. R. Person supposed to know?!
``While I'd never like to see DRM'd files as the sole distribution method as this is to open to proprietry player lock-in, I have zero objection to it as an alternative method of purchasing music.''
The problem is that DRM is slowly becoming the standard. Most of the large online music stores that used to sell MP3s have either quit or switched to DRM'd formats. DVDs have protection mechanisms on them. Even CDs are often crippled these days (intentionally fscked up so that CD-ROM drives will barf on them).
All of this is happening under the radar, where J. R. Person doesn't notice it. After all, it still plays on his CD player or Windows machine! And when I tell them, they don't care, or they think it's not gonna be that bad. But I'm afraid their favorite music and movies are only going to be available in a very restricted format in the not too distant future.
Of course, there will still be people publishing things in unrestricted format. I'm supporting these people even now, and steering clear of any materials that have restrictive DRM or even just proprietary formats. But that does exclude a lot of popular music, movies, sofware, and information.
Re:Forget about breaking the DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
The record companies have always been trying to force copy protection upon any medium. Any time a copying device gets on the market, they go wild! BTW, they force us to pay taxes on blank CDs because 'they are only used to copy music', but at the same time it remains illegal to copy them (totally ignoring the fact that I paid taxes to do so).
This DRM thing will not remain limited to those online songs, it will (try to) become a general 'feature', locking you down and threatening your electronic freedom.
Independent music recommendation services? (Score:5, Interesting)
What I'm looking for is a site where I can enter or select names of bands or songs that I like, and get independent music recommended to me. You like Alanis Morisette? Try Jen Pitch. That sort of thing. Does anybody know of such sites?
By the way: the example above is just an association I know from the top of my head; I'm not very much into the kind of music at all.
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:2)
Yes, I like that. You could kind of tell from my nick, couldn't you?
``simply the bands who upload their music suggest if you like XXX band, you'll probably like them.''
Probably it would be even better to let the users decide that, or even both. Just so bands don't go listen everything that vaguely sounds like them, just to get more people to try t
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:2)
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:5, Informative)
The Yahoo subscription service also has a neat feature where you can queue up songs which are similar to a song/album/artist and listen to those songs, plus at $60 a year it is a pretty cheap way to find new music. I wouldn't reccomend it for building a music library due to the subscriptionyness of it though.
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:2, Funny)
Ok, so I've had it with the musicians who have sold their souls to the corporations. With the advert of the Internet,
Freudian slip?
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:3, Funny)
Freudian slip?''
Absolutely! See, those Dvorak keyboards are good for something after all ('r' is right above 'n' on a Dvorak keyboard).
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:3, Informative)
If anyone's reading this and has a site that's not on the list send me an email (robert AT rmpmusic DOT com) and I'll add it to the list. Include your slashdot account URL and I'll link to it, too.
eMusic... (Score:2)
Re:Independent music recommendation services? (Score:3, Informative)
For example, WFMU has a nice playlist search [wfmu.org] where you can look for shows which have played certain artists. They also have all of their shows archived back to ~2000, so you can find a show that plays stuff that you like and listen to a few of the archives to see if they play anything else you like.
They also have a genre finder [wfmu.org] that allows you to search for shows by genre.
Derek Slater (Score:5, Interesting)
Oddly, I couldn't seem to find credits on that EFF page.
Re:Derek Slater (Score:2)
I guess you didn't bother to check the about page [harvard.edu] on his site.
Re:Derek Slater (Score:3, Informative)
"My name is Derek Slater. I'm 21, and I'm a senior at Harvard College. I'm also a fellow at the Berkman Center, working on the Digital Media Project. The last three summers, I've worked at the EFF, Creative Commons, and the Samuelson Clinic."
If that's not hard-working, I'd like to know what is.
It's a choice (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It's a choice (Score:2)
You wanna make a very expensive bet?
No? then stop talking like this.
It's a choice... but for how long? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, DRM can and will be cracked, but that's not what it's about. The iTunes DRM can be cracked, too. It provides a major inconvenience, many hurdles for us to jump over just to use something we already bought & payed for.
About DVD-A's encryption being cracked, it wasn't What happened was a patch was released for WinDVD to redirect the output to a file instead of a sound card. You can bet the RIAA is working on a way to neutralize this.
Re:It's a choice... but for how long? (Score:2)
But surely they don't have mandatory DRM schemes? The DVD video format specifies both an encryption and a region-coding scheme. You don't have to use either. Unless they're going to enforce some kind of mandatory restrictions on future formats (which seems kind of silly) then the same bands who choose to deliver DRM-free MP3s now will be able to sell yo
Overflow (Score:2)
Don't like software DRM? Don't buy from companies that use it in their software. Whoops, you've just been sent an important document in MS's latest AllYourRightsAreBe
Re:It's a choice... but for how long? (Score:2)
Re:It's a choice... but for how long? (Score:2)
Where were you when everyone started buying CSS region coded DVDs?
Worst case (Score:2)
Sure, eventually 'unencumbered' devices will fade into a distant memory, but it gives us a few more decades of 'freedom' at least.
And yes, i also realize that the hard core among us will *always* get around these silly limitations, but the common man wont have a chance in hell in another 10 years..
Re:It's a choice (Score:2, Insightful)
No, it's not a choice. It stopped being a choice when they passed the DMCA.
"If I don't want DRM, I will buy from someplace that doesn't use it, buy the CD (assuming it isn't broken), or not buy it at all."
What, then, will you do when everything is distributed via DRM?
I'll tell you: you'll either 1) Buy things with DRM and basically live a rental-based existence where you cannot create without purchasing a "distribution license," 2) Become a felon for buying things with DRM then breaking it
Re:Apple Cheats (Score:3, Informative)
DRM does indeed suck, and open standards are good, but in all fairness, the EFF article there is misleading or wrong on at least a couple points with regard to iTunes purchases:
For one thing, check out this paragraph from TFA:
Bad reporting (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bad reporting (Score:5, Insightful)
If they were attempting to provide complete details on how iTunes works, then yes, things like the number of authorizable computers would have been important to have. But since they were only trying to show how the consumer can have a purchased product taken away from them, the example they provided was sufficient.
Re:Bad reporting (Score:2)
Re:Bad reporting (Score:2)
Infinitely many. I can rip it and put copies on as many of my computers as I want for my own personal use.
Not really (Score:2)
Fair use not protected by law? (Score:4, Interesting)
So, does that mean fair use is not protected by law in the USA? I'm pretty sure that where I live, fair use is allowed even if the EULA forbids it or the technology prevents it. You can reverse-engineer the technology (a right protected by law), and an EULA that restricts your rights too far is not valid, even if you signed it.
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:2)
(Again, I am thankful I am Canadian.)
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:2)
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:3, Interesting)
That seems to me to prevent people from voluntarily entering into binding contracts, and as such is a government interference in freedom and commerce.
I, for one, don't want to government walking around declaring contracts I've made with another party as void because something is "too far." What if I sell my house to someone, and then the government comes back and says I charged too much (even though the person agreed to pay th
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:2)
I don't know about selling houses, but I'm pretty sure the government restricts the rent you can charge where I live (which is not the US).
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:3, Informative)
- Non-compete employment clauses aren't valid in California.
- You can't sign yourself into slavery.
- Homeowner's association contract clauses that prohibit small satellite dish antennas are all invalid.
- Attempts to put an EULA on a paper book are null and void.
- There are very specific rules on how the interest and payments section on a loan are to be worded and formatted
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:2)
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:3, Informative)
Also, fair use is not a license, it's a defense in court. But by the time you actually win, you've already paid $100,000+ in legal fees, so you lose anyway.
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:2)
Again, that's in the US. In the EU, it's customary to make the losing party pay the court costs and (reasonable) lawyer fees.
Also, it seems to me that most countries that have civil law (most countries in the EU, but not the UK), it's a lot clearer what's allowed and what isn't. Precedent still plays a role, but I sometimes get the impression that pr
Re:Fair use not protected by law? (Score:3, Informative)
It's protected to the degree the law protects it. And in the USA (and many other nations now), "fair use" has been greatly limited.
You can reverse-engineer the technology (a right protected by law), and an EULA that restricts your rights too far is not valid, even if you signed it.
The DCMA is a law, not a EULA. It modifies previous copyright law, so things that you used to be able to do under "fair use" provisions, you can't do anymore. Elect
preaching to the choir, blah blah (Score:5, Insightful)
the EFF need to get their guides printed onto paper and distributed to the public, buses, trains, in the street , through doors, offices, trams, subways, parking lots, schools , youth clubs, community centers
otherwise nothing will change, we (technologists/gurus/nerds etc) all know the ramifications of DRM and the threat it poses to society, but society doesnt know or even care about what they dont understand sick profiteers are trying to do
educate people, lots of them, quickly, using traditional methods, because this inteweb is not the answer to this problem
Re:preaching to the choir, blah blah (Score:2, Interesting)
IMO pushing for national culture freedom laws is the most promising approach. In other words, culture needs to be published using open standards.
Yahoo Music Store changed my life... (Score:2)
DRM Circumvention (Score:2)
Re:DRM Circumvention (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:DRM Circumvention (Score:3, Interesting)
Incorrect, Hymn at worst in a grey area (Score:3, Informative)
That is why Hymn still stands out in the open (relativley), while WMV crackers are more low-profile.
That is the difference, the Apple tools leans toward the side of Fair Use (legally at least) while the WIndows Media breakers looks much more like pure copyright bypass mechanisms as defined by the DMCA.
Consider that the fi
Fair and unbiased (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow. Sounds like a balanced, fair, and unbiased review of the issues to me.
Re:Fair and unbiased (Score:2, Informative)
Some words may appear to intentionally attack, but let's consider the ramifications of the words you chose.
(Sidenote: Merriam-Webster is my source)
Good. (Score:4, Insightful)
However, I'm pretty cynical, so I instead expect laws to change to make restricted media the norm.
Wow... (Score:3, Insightful)
Force onto their customer? They held me up at gunpoint so I had no choice but to buy from the iTMS? If you buy music from iTunes, you're going to have DRM'ed files. Don't like it? Don't buy it.
It's not like music isn't available from other sources (both brick and mortar and online). But remember, those "easily" converted music CDs are starting to include DRM mechanisms as well.
Almost (Score:2)
"Force onto their customer? They held me up at gunpoint so I had no choice but to buy from the iTMS?"
Almost. They trick you into buying music, thinking the DRM is just a technical restriction. And then they make decrypting your own data illegal with laws like DMCA. That's where the gunpoint comes in. Does it really matter if they force you to cede control of your own computer by law bef
DRMed CDs (Score:3, Funny)
But remember, those "easily" converted music CDs are starting to include DRM mechanisms as well.
What follows is most of a post I sent to a mailing list not long ago about copy protected CDs, and what (if anything) you can do about it:
The only real answer is to stop buying, and let the record stores and production companies know why you've stopped buying.
I actually had a fairly amusing experience not too long ago along these lines. I was at the mall waiting for my wife to finish looking for somethin
Its not Digital Rights Management (Score:4, Informative)
I say... (Score:2)
Re:I say... (Score:2)
enough iTunes bashing (Score:4, Informative)
how many of these articles come out and say iTunes is bad because it has DRM and DRM prevents you from burning CDs (but failing to mention that iTunes does not do this).
and adding misinformation such as this-
"Restricts back-up copies: Song can only be copied to 5 computers"
You can copy iTunes song to a billion computers if you want but you can only play them on 5 computers at a time. It should be noted that with a CD you can only legally use one copy at a time (first sale doctrine says you have a license for ONE COPY). In this instance iTunes actually expands the rights of its users.
PS changing the number of times IN A ROW one can burn a PLAYLIST is a nonissue - if your making more than 7 copys of a song your not backing up your pirating. and if you really need to have 60 copies just recreate the playlist and start over.
Re:enough iTunes bashing (Score:2)
Its a shame (Score:2)
THIS JUST IN: (Score:5, Insightful)
The EFF says:
"EFF is a nonprofit group of passionate people -- lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries -- working to protect your digital rights."
But buried in the source to this very article is the following secret code:
License rdf:about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by
requires rdf:resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribut
permits rdf:resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduc
permits rdf:resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribu
permits rdf:resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Derivati
prohibits rdf:resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Commerci
requires rdf:resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"
This "code" restricts your rights to use the article. Even worse, each article might have a different license! Future articles might change their license at any time!
The facts: you read it, they still own it. Sounds like 1984? Read on.
Additional EFF article restrictions:
- Prohibits commercial re-use or re-mixing into a new article.
- Requires that the license and copyright be reproduced with the article.
- Requires that you credit the copyright holder and/or author.
Other articles using this same "licensing" could be even more restrictive!
Looking for alternatives? Here are some sites that don't use restrictive "copyright" and "licensing".
- Project Gutenberg http://promo.net/pg/ [promo.net]
- Public Domain Music http://www.pdinfo.com/ [pdinfo.com]
Re:THIS JUST IN: (Score:2)
Re:THIS JUST IN: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:THIS JUST IN: (Score:3, Interesting)
Let us say you really enjoy listening to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. They have an upcoming show. You show up with a rack of recording equipment, saying that you truly enjoy listening to them and want to record it for your own enjoyment. The symphony members themselves say no, and kick you out to the sidewalk
DRM forks pop music (Score:3, Informative)
The non-DRM and pre-DRM (albums released before the widespread implementation of unbreakable DRM on CDs) will not appeal to the DRM crowd because it will have a 'old' or 'amateur' character to it.
DRM music will not appeal to the sharers because it will be too expensive to buy and it will seem 'plastic' or 'corporate'.
This split may develop not unlike the traditional splits in American pop music along racial and class lines. In the 20th century musical trends would all eventually cross lines and there would be the occasional crossover recording between black pop music (originally called "Rhythm'n'Blues" in order to allow the records to be sold in white stores in the days of racial segregation) and middle-class white "Top40" music. This probably won't happen as much in the coming music legality segregation era (where people who trade the non-DRM music can and will be put in prison for their activities).
The file sharers won't associate with the corporate poppers because they won't be able to trust that the more monied people who can afford to buy the DRM recordings won't turn them into the Copyright police for a reward. (Or to keep themselves out of prison if they get offered a '3 years or 3 names' deal should they get caught doing their own file sharing.) The file sharers will make much effort to keep their own culture (their own 'illegal' recordings) secret. That would be completely opposite of the situation today, where everyone tries to make others aware of especially interesting recordings.
The file share community in the future will have many of their favorite recordings come from albums that were released on CD in years before unbreakable DRM when it was easy to convert CDs to MP3s and distribute them. They (the file sharers) will not be engrossed in the current corporate pop culture trends. This will become one of the ways that the copyright police (or bounty hunters) will identify file sharers. They won't know who the latest corporate pop stars are. They have a parallel culture that will have been defined as illegal, and therefore kept secret.
Needless to say, the entertainment corporations will covertly allow the illegal 'parallel' file sharing culture to remain in place because whenever a recording appears that is good enough to crossover to the corporate culture, it can be released without paying any royalities to the musicians. This would be similar in manner to the way that record companies in the 1950's and 1960's would pay black entertainers next to nothing for the rights to their recordings and then collect millions of dollars for decades from record sales and broadcast fees.
I'm rather intrigued that no one is exploring the consequences that the coming unbreakable DRM will have on popular culture.
Copy-friendly DVD format article on K5 (Score:2)
How to kill DRM (Score:3, Insightful)
Like all brain-damaged products, the way to kill DRM is not to buy it. If the manufacturers can't make any money with it, they will drop it. That's how business works.
Sadly, few people have any idea of what's going on. I rmember trying to explain the Dmitry Sklyarov case to somebody and failing miserably.
I have several CDs that claim to be copy protected, but this seems to range from nasty warnings only, to CDs that refuse to play on windows boxes unless you play them with their player. My Linux boxes play them without comment.
Only one copy-protected CD (Face A Face B by Axelle Red) in my collection is in any way difficult to play - on my portable CD player, where it plays the first few seconds of each track, over and over. My car CD player plays it without comment, and my Linux boxes play it and will rip tracks from it until the cows come home.
I've never bought a DRMed tune from an online vendor, and never will. If enough people did this, all this nonsense would come to an end. When the marketplace speaks, business has no choice but to listen.
...laura
Half truths about iTMS (Score:3)
Restricts back-up copies: Song can only be copied to 5 computers
False. Songs can only be authorized for playback on up to 5 computers but you can make as many backups as you like.
Restricts converting to other formats: Songs only sold in AAC with Apple DRM
False. You have been given the right to burn and export songs for personal use.
Limits portable player compatibility: iPod and other Apple devices only
Partially true, however, you can burn and rip for personal use.
No remixing: Cannot edit, excerpt, or otherwise sample songs
False. You can do all of those things for personal use. I've done so many times with iMovie and iDVD. It is no different than the rights you get with CDs unless you explicitly purchase as commercial license for a recording.
Here are the terms of service [apple.com].
Re:They missed one more (Score:2)
Re:They missed one more (Score:3, Informative)
Creative Labs Zen Micro
Dell DJ 20GB (Gen 2)
Dell DJ 30GB
Dell Pocket DJ
RCA Lyra RD2762
RCA Lyra RD2765
Audiovox SMT 5600 Smartphone
Creative Labs Zen Portable Media Center
iRiver H10
iRiver H320
iRiver H340
iRiver Portable Media Center-120
Samsung YH-999 Portable Media Center
Creative Labs NOMAD MuVo series
Creative Labs NOMAD MuVo series
Creative Zen Touch
irock 800 series
RCA Lyra 1021/1071
RCA Lyra 2010/2011/2012
Rio Cali ser
Re:They missed one more (Score:2)
Re:Take it on the other side. (Score:2)
You wait, soon what you say will be bogus, then DRM is pushed down our throats.
But that is what you get when comparing apples and pears.
Re:Take it on the other side. (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree that no one is *forcing* anyone to use the DRM'd music, but the way things are going, we will have no choice but to use DRM'd music and video.
Big Tobacco is completely different. Tobacco is addicting (rather nicotine in Tobacco is addicting) and once you're hooked it's hard to be unhooked. Of course, no one forced you to get hooked in the first place other than yourself. But the point is once you're on cigarettes, it's hard to get off of them.
DRM is no such thing. It is not a product and it isn't something that consumers would want at all. I don't like Apple's DRM because I'd like to store my music in a format that I like and not be restricted by it. I don't 'illegally' share it or anything like that. I use the JHymn software to remove the FairPlay DRM from it. Doesn't really hurt much, it's my Fair Use right to do so. The courts have determined that.
The problem with DRM is that companies will soon impose it on us. If you have been following the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray wars at all, you will know that the two camps are trying to say that they have *better* DRM than the other, stating that their format is effectively more DRM'd than the other. Microshaft has stated that in Vista, it will be handling media files much differently from how they are handled today. This will limit users' fair use rights. DRM is going to be imposed on us. It is not like tobacco which is only imposed on us if we use tobacco products or live with those who do.
The time has come to make a choice. Do we want software that, while preserving the 'rights' of select few (mainly the RIAA and the Five labels), arguably infringes upon our rights as users and as consumers? The US Constitution, Article I, Section 8 Clause 8 enumerates that Congress has the right "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" This is the legal stem of copyright. In the words of (former) Surpreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor:
Copyright is not an end for artists, it is an end for the immortalism of art and science.Re:Take it on the other side. (Score:2)
Easy (Score:2)
All you need is a cassette recorder and a cable. Use the cable to pipe the output from your computer to the input on your cassette recorder, hit 'record' on the recorder and 'play' on your computer.
A $5 portable cassette player and some headphones and you're set to listen to the audiobooks wherever you go.
Yes, it's not the highest quality audio, but it should be more than sufficient for an audiobook - even if you turn around and rip it from the tape to an mp3 file it should still be fine.
Any bets on h
Re:Lossless? (Score:2)