p2p news / p2pnet: Under the They Never Learn category, "EMI Group record label said music from its copy-protected CDs will soon play on Apple Computer’s iPod digital music players, but the iPod maker disagrees," says ZDNet News.

For "copy protected" read DRM (Digital Restrictions Management). But the real issue isn’t whether or not EMI tracks will play on iTunes, it’s that DRM is being used at all.

Ask Sony BMG.

"EMI’s upcoming copy-protected CDs, which will use technology from Macrovision, and will at last be compatible with iPods, a change nearly a year in the making, the label said," states the story.

"Apple is nearly finished with the technical work necessary to enable consumers to transfer music from content-protected discs to their iPods," the label said in a statement detailing its copy-protection plans. "This is an important step for EMI and Apple, but even more so for music consumers who will soon be able to legitimately port music from protected discs they own to the iPod."

But Apple doesn’t see it like that.

"The information EMI provided regarding iTunes and iPod compatibility with Macrovision’s technology is not true and we have no idea why EMI made this statement," Apple said in a statement.

Well, Apple, EMI and Vivendi Universal, Warner Music and, of course, Sony BMG, the three other members of Organized Music, do kind of make things up as they go along.

Even in the light of the Sony BMG DRM spyware PR disaster, "EMI and Sony BMG each have committed to sharply increasing the number of CDs that are protected with technology that limits the number and type of copies that can be made," says ZDNet. "Each label has been experimenting with different varieties of this technology for several years, in the United States and overseas."

But, "EMI has been quick to distinguish its plans from Sony’s First 4 Internet discs. It is adopting copy-protection tools from Macrovision, which do not install hidden files on PCs and do not download any software without consumers’ permission, the label says."

Like it makes a difference.

DRM is DRM under any name, and under any name, it’s a violation of customer rights.

===============

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi

Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.

See:-
ZDNet News - iPods to support copy-protected CDs?, November 17, 2005
Sony BMG - The real p2p pirates and thieves, November 18, 2005
originally discovered - Malware tech for all ; ), November 15, 2005

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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