p2pnet - rss feed: Has the RIAA penetrated Dell?
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG their RIAA believe they can do pretty much anything they want in America,
And they’re correct.
Need an industry friendly bill passed by the US legislature?
No worries.
Want to portray your customers as criminals and thieves in the mainstream media?
No sooner said than done.
But are they now also able to muscle computer manufacturers such as Dell into disabling software?
‘… that slimy, fishy vibe’
Prebuilt computers are, “potentially becoming nothing more than an advertising platform for big time brands and a way for highly influential organizations to impose their will on the unaware masses,” says Chad Lakkis on Ripten.
For ‘highly influential organizations’ read the RIAA, and for ‘impose their will,’ read ‘Bend Over Dude, You’re Getting A Dell,’ the title of Lakkis’ post.
Apparently, “the lack of a sound card Stereo Mix recording option is to blame - and numerous forum threads have suggested that the RIAA has put pressure on laptop manufacturers like Dell, Gateway and Pac Bell to remove it,” says Gizmodo, going on, “Naturally, random forum threads do not confirm RIAA involvement with Stereo Mix as a fact —- but it does have that slimy, fishy vibe we have come to expect from them.”
It do, don’t it.
But let’s not be too quick to credit the RIAA with being able to do more than use court systems originally designed to protect people to frighten little girls and harass university students.
No doubt the RIAA would dearly love to be able to order manufacturers around in much the same way they do politicians and some elements of the media.
But in our humble opinion, the likelihood of it actually being able to do that is slim. It’d inevitably get caught and the fall-out would be huge.
Having said that, however, there’s no honour among thieves.
Clarification needed
Meanwhile, in an update, “A Dell Community Ambassador has responded to this post in the comments section below stating that the outbound links in this article are specific to laptops (as was the issue I was having),” writes Lakkis.
Says ChrisBatDell >>>
Hello Chad:
My name is Chris and I’m a Community Ambassador for Dell computers.
You didn’t state in your post, but the links you forwarded to indicated you were dealing with a laptop with Windows XP.
If this is the case, our Sigmatel R171789.exe XP drivers unlock the ‘Stereo Mix’ feature. Refer to the following link:
Please let me know if you have any additional questions regarding this feature.
Lakkis does, and he posts >>>
The fact that your company now has a link to rectify the issue is great, however from what I have read this link does not work for all Dell computers that have had this feature disabled.
Furthermore, simply providing a link does not explain why the feature was disabled in the first place.
Any clarification you would be willing to offer would be much appreciated.
No clarification has so far been forthcoming, as far as we can see.
Stay tuned.
.
.Stumble It!
Ripten - Bend Over Dude, You’re Getting A Dell, July 7, 2008
Gizmodo - The RIAA May Be Forcing Laptop Manufactuers to Disable Stereo Mix Recording, July 7, 2008
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July 9th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
One quote is missing in this article from the original post, “Bend Over Dude, You’re Getting A Dell”:
One blogger explained that he contacted Dell seeking a solution for his stereo mix woes, and they offered him one — for a $99 fee.
“Since my desktop is new, I decided to contact Dell. After a long online chat and a phone call, Dell told me they had the solution, but if I wanted to know it would cost me $99.00.”
So that we are all clear, the evidence points to Dell appeasing the RIAA by disabling hardware, only to have their customer service reps turn around and offer a solution to their consumers that reverses the alteration they made in the first place at a premium price. I am no rocket scientist, but that sure as fuck sounds fishy to me.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
” offer a solution to their consumers that reverses the alteration they made in the first place at a premium price. I am no rocket scientist, but that sure as fuck sounds fishy to me. ”
Yup, sounds like a ‘tax’ that will go to the RIAA labels for the priviledge of using the stereo mix feature.
Funny how this feature is also used by many non-affiliated musicians and composers to create their
own, original works, which ultinately compete with the RIAA members ,,,, more on that
here ……
AzOz Eliminating the Competition, by George Ziemann
http://www.azoz.com/newsarchive/2008/07/mixout.html
July 9th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
The RIAA gets 90% of the fee
July 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
don’t pay $90!
the technology for defeating is much cheaper!
less then 2 euro!
http://www.amazon.de/Kabel-Audio-Klinke-3-5-St/dp/B000L0X6KU/ref=pd_sbs_ce_njs_1
what’s next? will RIAA forbit cabels or demand a 10000% tax on them payable to “starving artists”?
July 9th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Simple don’t buy dell or anybody who employs these tactics. I will never recommend them to anybody again, ever.
July 9th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Why don’t people just build their own pc’s? Atleast you know what you’re getting. I’ve never and never will by a branded pc..
July 9th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Agreed, building your own pc these days is the only viable option. If you get a pre-built from companies such as dell etc, you are likely to end up with crappy hardware and an OS full of trial and adware junk. Not to mention that you can built it yourself with superior hardware at a lower price. Furthermore, if you are linux inclined, you can then say with certainty that the hardware will work correctly with your desired distribution.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Oh, and you avoid the M$ tax
July 10th, 2008 at 4:32 am
I’m sure there’s an easy way to fix this.
Well, easy for me, cough, but I never generally branded computers and if I have to, off goes the whole OS
first and foremost
Even Sony Vaio laptops are loaded with ad/crapware from the purchase point.
I’m fed up being asked to look at peoples newly store bought machines that are the latest and
high spec ultra beasts, but are running 40-50+ background services and take about 5 minutes to boot.
It can take at least and hour of my time (I might send an invoice to the manufacturer next time, cheap at £120 p/h)
to remove all this needless gunk and it’s not just the additional garbage (like antivirus software that is worse for
the machine than catching a virus) it’s also massively bloated drivers with no easy way to disable unwanted features.
The real bast4rd companies also have removed uninstall options for the ‘bonus’ software and their ‘recovery’ disks
have the rubbish integrated, thereby rendering the OS license you additionally paid for pretty useless.
Skype is another POS.
Why does it need to gobble up 70MB of system memory just to wait for a call?
It’s either very crap/sloppy programmers or there is some dubious code piled in there.
You don’t really need a 2-4GB RAM machine to run 99% of software and Operating Systems, but if
you insist on blindly using a store bought machine and software, it might not be enough.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:03 am
If there is a true connection then Dell might be hit with some sort of anti-trust suit. Furthermore, those who have had to pay again for what they have bought (the exe file) should consider putting it on the p2p nets. I know I would if I were screwed by Dell this way. But, then again, I don’t buy Dell - DUDE!