Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Notability For iPad: Much More Than A Note Taking App from Ginger Labs, Inc, US$0.99
- Scosche’s RH656m Headphones With Microphone Are Wonderful from Scosche, US$129.99
- IPEVO’s Typi Folio Case & Keyboard for iPad is First-rate from IPEVO, US$79.99
- Scosche’s boomSTREAM BT Speaker: Features & Compromises from Scosche, US$99.95
- FX Photo Studio HD: iPad Painting of Effects Made Easy from MacPhun LLC, US1.99
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- Poe
Dropping like a bomb on some of the blah musical offerings of her contemporaries, Haunted was one of the best albums of 2000, obliterating the competition.
Ostensibly a tie-in to her brot
- Aretha Franklin
While she didn't always have the best taste in song selection, Aretha Franklin is a must-study for anyone with interest in the human voice. She has the kind of powerful, recklessly passionate deliv
- Brother Love
- Killer grooves, catchy riffs, edgy vocals with oh-so-just-right layered harmonies, and a drive that will move even YOU out of your chair, Brother Love's initial release is what rock and roll should be
- R.E.M.
- In the long series of R.E.M.'s evolution, this album (finally?) showcases their ability to capture on tape what had been happening in the live for years: heartfelt, sweat-filled performances that just
- Harvey Danger
The sophomore effort from Harvey Danger, I was really looking forward to this followup to "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" Unfortunately, "King James Version" failed to deliver any of the bri
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
News
RIAA to Apple: License FairPlay
Wednesday, February 7th, 2007 at 2:00 PM - by Jeff Gamet
The Recording Industry Association of America isn't exactly pleased with the open letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs denouncing digital rights management. Instead of removing copy protection from digital music downloads, as Mr. Jobs suggests, the RIAA is calling for Apple to open its FairPlay DRM to competitors, according to Forbes.
In the open letter posted on the Apple Inc. Web site, Mr. Jobs called DRM copy protection ineffectual, and said that Apple wraps songs sold at the iTunes Store with its FairPlay copy protection only to meet contractual obligations with the recording labels. He also claimed that Apple would remove its DRM in a "heartbeat" if it could.
RIAA chairman and chief executive, Mitch Bainwol, feels that Apple should instead open its FairPlay DRM to competitors so that all music services and media players could be compatible. "We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen," he said.
Other companies, including Napster and Microsoft, have a vested interest in seeing DRM stick around. Without it, there would be no way to manage music subscription services, and Microsoft's Zune wouldn't be able to embed self-destruct code into songs when they are "squirted" to other players.
Apple, however, has no interest in sharing its copy protection scheme. Mr. Jobs said that it would be extremely difficult to keep people from hacking the scheme if technical details were made available to any company that wanted it. Sharing FairPlay would make it less effective, and extremely difficult to coordinate update efforts between software and hardware manufacturers.
In the end, Apple's comments and the RIAA's response may amount to nothing more than posturing. So far, there is no indication that Apple will license or drop FairPlay, and the RIAA doesn't seem to be in a position yet to direct the future of digital rights management.
Recent Headlines
- Reading, Writing, & Saving the World
- Free Retro Gaming for iOS - Activision’s Kaboom!
- Apple Adds Chomp Bits to iOS 6 App Store Discovery
- Notability For iPad: Much More Than A Note Taking App
- Scosche’s RH656m Headphones With Microphone Are Wonderful
- Tim Cook & Larry Page Reportedly Discuss Patents
- Analysis: Amazon Kindle Fire Sold Out, Kindle Fire 2 Pic Leaked
Post Your Comments