That is why you would want the file encoding systems to be a large
cluster of servers. With the encoding work distributed properly you
wouldn't even notice much of a lag.
On Dec 10, 2008, at 15:09, Brent Harding wrote:
Wouldn't we have to then wait for the files to be processed before
we downloaded them? I know some sites let you download zip files of
things you have in a cue, but it starts right away even though
they're not zipping as you add stuff.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jacob Schmude" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS
X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 7:40 AM
Subject: music formats (was Re: bluera)
No thanks, ogg/Vorbis isn't natively supported by enough devices.
Best bets at this point would be MP3 or AAC for compatibility with
the largest possible subset of devices, with WMA unfortunately
coming in a close third. There might be motivation to support ogg
if enough music stores started supporting it, but the ecosystem
generally works the other way around--the devices have to support
it first or there'd be no guaranteed proffit for the stores. There
are a few devices that support ogg, but not nearly enough--the
iRiver line comes to mind, as well as the stream, and some of the
Rio players (now defunct).
Perhaps a better solution would be to allow you to pick your
format/ bitrate at download time, and the store would have a
cluster of servers performing audio encodes. This would actually
be quite feasible, and would satisfy everyone equally. Further,
this could be expanded. If you buy music, you buy the right to
download that music. Need it in ogg, but you bought in mp3? No
problem, just redownload it, since you didn't actually buy the
files, you bought access to the music. This is similar to what
Audible does already, DRM aside, you can redownload any book you
bought any number of times and in any of their formats. I think
this would really work, but who knows if the major labels or music
stores would consider such an idea.
On Dec 10, 2008, at 08:24, David Poehlman wrote:
ogg!
On Dec 9, 2008, at 11:12 PM, Chris Blouch wrote:
Now if the studios would just do MP3s for all music from all
download services.
CB
Dan wrote:
Hello,
Also, in the US, Walmart has MP3 music at 256 bit with no DRM
and it's really nice.
Dan
On Dec 9, 2008, at 3:01 PM, Jacob Schmude wrote:
Of course, that's ridiculous. Basically, I'm breaking the law by
turning my own, legally purchased, DVD disks into iPod-format
files. Well, I've only got this to say to that: too darn bad :).
I bought them, I'm not going to buy it again just to have it
in another format. Of course that's just one of the ridiculous
cases for the DMCA.
As far as HDCP goes, you won't escape it for long. Even on
iTunes, some of the HD video already has a similar scheme known
as DPCP. This only affects newer Macbooks and Macbook Pros at
the moment, as this is an encryption method for the new display
port (DVI and Mini DVI aren't affected). Basically, both the
display port and your monitor need to support DPCP, it is
similar in concept to HDCP. Failure to support DPCP on your
monitor gives an error message, saying this display is not
authorized to play this content. Completely ridiculous,
naturally, how many people are going to want to buy a new
monitor just to watch their movies-- movies, I might add, that
they have already purchased before this display port was
introduced?
I don't get it, I really don't. The only thing these
restrictive DRM schemes do is drive customers away, in many
cases to pirated versions that have been cleaned of these
restrictions. They are penalizing those who are legally buying
content, and letting the piraters off the hook. It seems the
movie industry wants to take up where the music industry left
off, most record labels have gotten it into their heads that
DRM causes more problems than it solves, and we now have stores
like Amazon MP3 and iTunes Plus is growing as well. I don't
mind basic DRM, iTunes's fair play is fair enough: up to five
machines authorized to play the content, and you have control
over those authorizations at any time. This digital signal
encryption for video, I think, is going to push a lot of people
over the edge--I do understand what they're attempting to do,
but I think in trying to close one hole they're ripping an even
larger one. That, plus Blue Ray's capability to phone home and
lock the disk to one player only will hopefully cause an anti-
DRM backlash if this "feature" actually goes into widespread
use. Fortunately as of yet it doesn't seem to have done so.
Ok, done ranting :).
On Dec 9, 2008, at 17:39, Chris Blouch wrote:
From what I've read there is a whole encryption chain from the
player up to and including the output device (known as HDCP).
So if your TV doesn't support DRM or your player software or
whatever you get a downsampled version of the video or no
video at all. This is rather onerous and Apple has rejected
the scheme so far. Windows Vista has embraced it so it must be
bad. I've also read that the BlueRay encryption, like DVD
encryption, was very weak and is already cracked. Also like
DVDs, in the US at least, the mere act of breaking the
encryption is illegal so avoiding all the silliness is not
possible without breaking the law. Apple is probably banking
that digital download via iTunes (or NetFlix or BlockBuster)
will be the new delivery platform of choice and this whole
bits on a disk with DRM distribution channel can just die
under the weight of its own torturous red tape. Some links for
your enjoyment:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/23/blu-ray_drm_cracked/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCP
http://techdirt.com/articles/20081030/1954252694.shtml
CB
Jacob Schmude wrote:
Not as stock, and I'm not sure if there are any blue ray
players for OS X at the moment. You could use an external
drive, but you'd still need a program capable of decrypting
and playing the video. Apple isn't embrasing blue ray yet,
and I don't blame them for holding out at the moment. You're
not going to find any open source blue ray movie players yet
either, as the DRM and encryption hasn't yet been cracked...
and blue ray sure has a lot of DRM, I'd venture to say a
ridiculous amount though not all movies use all of it.
There are some blue ray burners that are OS X compatible
though they're not cheap, but as far as I know there's no way
to actually play a blue ray movie.
On Dec 5, 2008, at 18:13, Will Lomas wrote:
hi can the macbooks play blueray dvd's
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