>"Apple's attempt to quash an effort to help the latest iPods and iPhones >work with non-Apple software such as the Linux operating system is out of >line, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Tuesday."
1) Apple is asserting that the DMCA prohibits these programmers from even speaking about circumventing DRM. Note that this has been the policy on this list for a long time. Also, note that I think this stinks, but it is the law. Maybe this will change as so many demagogic grafters have been voted out of office. Have you put down your marker against the DMCA at ObamaCTO.org? If not, don't complain. 2) What Apple is doing really stinks. They are applying DRM to the entire song database, not to just individual songs whose owners require DRM. This is is far worse than just dissing Linux. Such DRM will prevent 3rd-party software from accessing the media files on the iPod. One big problem I have with this is that a DRMed iPod is no longer a good backup for the music you have on your hard drive. Several times I have helped recover music collections off of iPods. This will preven that. (Curiously, I see that iPod drives seem to fail less often than desktop disk drives.) It also has Apple applying DRM to any non-DRM content I put on such an iPod. I see this is a killer feature. I would not buy an iPod with such draconian DRM. While I do think that Apple should resist DRM more vigorously, their problem is a roadblock set up by the RIAA and MPAA and probably the NAB too. They won't let their content onto iPods unless Apple applies draconian DRM. So Apple can't move their media players to higher forms of content unless it applies the DRM they demand. If the sheeple continue to buy iPods, even after they have such DRM, then the RIAA and MPAA win. If DRMPod sales drop and competing player sales increase or sales of the first DRMPod models are poor then there will be counter pressure for Apple to do the right thing. I think there is a better chance of getting Apple to change course than there would be for most companies. A lot depends on what the sheeple do. I do not have a lot of faith in the sheeple. We can all help by getting the word out about the DRMPod. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
