Mac|Life DRM RSS Feed

Apple in Negotiations to Expand iTunes Plus Library

Danny Estrada — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:26:11 -0600

According to two music industry sources, Apple is in discussions with three top recording companies about having them follow EMI's example and offerings DRM-free songs. The talks are still in the early phases and no deals have been finalized, but it has been said that one of the record companies is close to finalizing a deal. Sony, we are looking in your direction. The interwebs have been swirling with rumors that Sony will begin to offer music without the digital rights management software, but they are still just rumors.

Last year Steve Jobs wrote an open letter explain that it was the recording companies that forced Apple to put DRM restrictions to their music sold on iTunes. If all the DRM restrictions are removed, you will no longer have to listen to your music only on your iPod or iPhone, you could finally stream you music and place it on other music players.

Talks with at least two labels have been taking place over the past few months, which means very little, unless Apple can get them agree to give them the rights to sell unprotected music. Some of the recording companies on Apples hit list consist of Universal, Warner, and Sony. These companies have started selling DRM free music through Amazon, Myspace, and Napster. Universal is expected to announce licensing to Microsoft for the Zune, so where is the love for Apple?

DRM is becoming a tricky issue, and we can only wait to see what the results of Apple's talks with the recording companies are.

Mini Display HDCP Infuriates Apple Faithful

John Pitko — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:11:20 -0600

"This content cannot be played because a display that is not authorized to play protected movies is connected."

A warning that's been popping up on new MacBook owners displays as they try to view their iTunes purchased movies through the new Mini Display Port to an external viewing device. Even users utilizing only licensed Apple products are still getting the notorious message.

The new Macbooks now ship with industry standard High Definition Content Protection (HDCP). HDCP is digital copy protection that prevents the copying of digital content. HDCP is implemented on Blu-ray players, HDTVs, HDMI notebooks and the AppleTV to keep content played on its intended device. While HDCP is possible with DVI, it seems that Apple only recently decided to add the copy protection protocol to its line of notebooks.

With the new copy protection in place, the Mac community is in an uproar. Apple has created an ecosystem in which everything "just works." This new form of DRM on the latest Macbooks thwarts that.

The Apple support forum is filled with irritated users who just want to watch their iTunes purchased videos on their Apple products. Apple has yet to release any info regarding this issue.

Via Cult of Mac

Open Source Protest to Invade the Apple Store

Roberto Baldwin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:30:51 -0500

Open-Source advocates, Defective By Design, are planning an in-store Apple protest.

The group is recruiting readers to book slots at their local Apple Store's Genius Bar to question the employees about Apple's policies concerning the iPhone development, DRM and Apple's use of proprietary standards.

We love open-source and DRM-free software and music as much as the next guy. It just seems that asking the Genius Bar employee about larger company policies is like asking the guy who pumps your gas why the price the oil is so high.