Hi Folks,
I've heard from reasonably reliable sources that NetMD will *not*
support audio upload from MD to PC (what has looked like upload so far
has just been "check-in"). So, I'm considering petitioning Sony to add
the feature. Before doing so, I think it's wise to hash things out and
see if we can settle on just what such a petition should be about.
Here are a few ideas, feel free to comment on what interests you, or
add new ones.
1) Are the copyright/DRM ("digital rights management") issues so
glaring that it is hubris to imagine consumers could get Sony to
change the status quo (bear in mind that direct ATRAC download
looked similarly bleak until NetMD was announced).
Or is there actually any problem at all? If NetMD upload allowed
you to easily make MP3 files of MD tracks, would it offer anything
we didn't have today? (We can already make MP3 files directly from
CD tracks). What is it that makes NetMD upload a rights management
issue?
2) Do we even need NetMD upload? Though musicians and field recordists
would certainly love it, would mainstream MDers use it? And digital
upload is already possible using an optical-out MD deck and
optical-in soundcard. However this is expensive, allows real-time
transfer only, and requires a user to push "RECORD" and "PLAY"
simultaneously (pretty clunky in the Wired Age).
3) Assuming it's a "must have" feature (and I think* it is) how should
the copyright issue be handled? Here are possible approaches:
a) Why any copyright restrictions? You can upload digitally from MD
to PC today (albeit slowly), what are the grounds for further
limitations? (Note: Upload to PC was not envisioned when SCMS
was established, and PCs are not SCMS compliant. The existing
upload path to PC can be seen as outside of AHRA protected
practice).
b) Only allow NetMD upload for audio tracks recorded from line or
microphone sources, i.e. those with SCMS-penultimate
status. Assuming this were allowed:
i. the MD track would be deleted after upload, or,
ii. the MD track could only be uploaded 3 times (quasi
check-out like) or,
iii. leave the MD track alone (it's my own audio dammit!)
c) Once the audio is uploaded, is it now "open" audio, or is it
encrypted/locked and allowed to be played only on your PC? If
locked, the upload feature is worthless, because the whole point
is to be able to use the uploaded audio freely, e.g. emailing it
to a radio station, creating a CD of it, etc.
But what about the ability to send ATRAC files to others, is
that a requirement too? What if conversion to MP3 or some other
open format was necessary in order to share audio files? (Sony
has to date never allowed ATRAC data to exist outside of the MD
firewall).
Perhaps it would be fair to allow almost anything to be done
with uploaded ATRAC data other than for it to be copied verbatim
onto a new MD. This would disable indefinite generations of
copying that SCMS was designed to prevent.
4) What is the political angle? Are consumers being hamstrung by
Recording Industry fears and greed? Should we be demanding this
capability as a "right"? NetMD's USB interface leaves absolutely no
technical hurdles in the way of implementing the upload feature, it
has really come down to an issue of the rights and privileges of
the consumer versus those of the recording industry and their
artists.
Your thoughts?
Rick
* One of my reasons for wanting it is philosophical: The portable MD
recorder is *the perfect* digital field recording unit. Because it's
digital, it begs to offer a seamless conveyance of its recordings
back to a PC. Denying users this capability relegates Minidisc to a
broken, crippled existence in the digitally networked world.
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