M$'s new catch for their media player

[rabbit]

I'm going to laugh when Maccers start getting virii cause they don't have anti-virus because they think "I'm on a Mac" and then their computer explodes.

[Newby]

They may have antitrust, but it won't be that big a problem if they include other media players but the iPod. If it's just exclusively their media player I could see it, but they could support a bunch of crappy media players and just not support the iPod.

I don't quite understand how antitrust works, but eh? I mean, it's their product, they can do what the fuck they want with it. If they don't support the iPod, it's because the iPod has virtually no documentation (that I know of) so how could M$ support it? Reverse engineer it? That's illegal.

As for vendor lock-in, Microsoft has basically done that already with Windows. Corporations really don't want to switch over to Unix because the API is so totally different that it would cost a bundle of money to migrate their programs over. And the Unix/Linux's are so fragmented over so many distros that they're all different in some way (libraries, headers, etc.) whereas Windows is centralized, so Unix -> Windows (what my dad does for a living) is simple versus Windows -> Unix, which is a lot more difficult. M$ also provides tech support for 10 years on their products, where in Linux you're forced to use the internet to search for answers.

God damnit, I butchered the topic again? :|

[Warrior]

You make good points on Linux/Unix vs Windows lock ins.
I also agree with the poor iPod doc thing, perhaps they could just open up an extensible format or something if they really wanted.

In the end, all MS would need to do is remove DRM to own iTunes. I dont see that happening either though .

[Newby]

DRM would not be enough really; it ain't that big an issue for the average home/corporate user. Its benefits (preventing piracy, pissing off pirates and your above-average home user) outweigh its detriments.

Plus DRM is easy enough to remove if you're determined. The rather simple method: Burn to a CD-RW, rip as mp3 in 128kbps (since it has no quality anyway), and you're good. Blank the CD-RW, and you're rockin'.

[rabbit]

You don't even need to do that.  Do a virtual mount+burn+rip.  No CD's wasted, DRM removed.

[deadly7]

DRM would not be enough really; it ain't that big an issue for the average home/corporate user. Its benefits (preventing piracy, pissing off pirates and your above-average home user) outweigh its detriments.

Plus DRM is easy enough to remove if you're determined. The rather simple method: Burn to a CD-RW, rip as mp3 in 128kbps (since it has no quality anyway), and you're good. Blank the CD-RW, and you're rockin'.

Or just decode to WAV and then encode to MP3 at whatever bitrate you want.

[Newby]

DRM would not be enough really; it ain't that big an issue for the average home/corporate user. Its benefits (preventing piracy, pissing off pirates and your above-average home user) outweigh its detriments.

Plus DRM is easy enough to remove if you're determined. The rather simple method: Burn to a CD-RW, rip as mp3 in 128kbps (since it has no quality anyway), and you're good. Blank the CD-RW, and you're rockin'.

Or just decode to WAV and then encode to MP3 at whatever bitrate you want.

IIRC you can't.

rabbit: I wish (wish) I knew how to do that. How do you do that? My dad could have saved a bolt load of CD-R's if he knew how... now all those CDs have bad music on them!

And the reason I specified CD-RW is so that you didn't waste any CDs.

[Hitmen]

Or just decode to WAV and then encode to MP3 at whatever bitrate you want.

Unless it's in a lossless format I wouldn't waste the space encoding it to anything at a higher bitrate than it was at. That would just be wasting hard drive space.

[deadly7]

DRM would not be enough really; it ain't that big an issue for the average home/corporate user. Its benefits (preventing piracy, pissing off pirates and your above-average home user) outweigh its detriments.

Plus DRM is easy enough to remove if you're determined. The rather simple method: Burn to a CD-RW, rip as mp3 in 128kbps (since it has no quality anyway), and you're good. Blank the CD-RW, and you're rockin'.

Or just decode to WAV and then encode to MP3 at whatever bitrate you want.

IIRC you can't.

rabbit: I wish (wish) I knew how to do that. How do you do that? My dad could have saved a bolt load of CD-R's if he knew how... now all those CDs have bad music on them!

And the reason I specified CD-RW is so that you didn't waste any CDs.

No.. I've taken music from people who downloaded it off of iTunes (mp3 files) and re-ripped it without burning.  I <3 my AltoMP3 Maker program.

[rabbit]

DRM would not be enough really; it ain't that big an issue for the average home/corporate user. Its benefits (preventing piracy, pissing off pirates and your above-average home user) outweigh its detriments.

Plus DRM is easy enough to remove if you're determined. The rather simple method: Burn to a CD-RW, rip as mp3 in 128kbps (since it has no quality anyway), and you're good. Blank the CD-RW, and you're rockin'.

Or just decode to WAV and then encode to MP3 at whatever bitrate you want.

IIRC you can't.

rabbit: I wish (wish) I knew how to do that. How do you do that? My dad could have saved a bolt load of CD-R's if he knew how... now all those CDs have bad music on them!

And the reason I specified CD-RW is so that you didn't waste any CDs.

I read about it somewhere.  It's got something to do with getting an ISO of a blank CD-R (okay?) and mounting it on Alcohol 120%, and then burning.  I tried, but it wouldn't let me burn to the virtual, which leads me to believe it was A) a crack/mod or B) fake.  Either way, interesting proposition.

[Newby]

No.. I've taken music from people who downloaded it off of iTunes (mp3 files) and re-ripped it without burning.  I <3 my AltoMP3 Maker program.

The problem with your statement is that iTunes downloads are.m4p files. Not .mp3. You can't really protect an .mp3 file just short of encrypting the filesystem that it's on, which is practically useless for protection anyway.

I read about it somewhere.  It's got something to do with getting an ISO of a blank CD-R (okay?) and mounting it on Alcohol 120%, and then burning.  I tried, but it wouldn't let me burn to the virtual, which leads me to believe it was A) a crack/mod or B) fake.  Either way, interesting proposition.

IIRC, the virtual drives are just DVD/CD-R, not -RW. Even if they were CD-RW, you would have to specify a location to write all the new data (said "ISO of a blank CD-R"), and since the ISO already has data on it (700 mb of crap) it would be confused as to how exactly it is going to fit 700mb of data on a CD that is already 700mb...

At least, that's how I've seen it thus far.

[deadly7]

No.. I've taken music from people who downloaded it off of iTunes (mp3 files) and re-ripped it without burning.  I <3 my AltoMP3 Maker program.

The problem with your statement is that iTunes downloads are.m4p files. Not .mp3. You can't really protect an .mp3 file just short of encrypting the filesystem that it's on, which is practically useless for protection anyway.

I read about it somewhere.  It's got something to do with getting an ISO of a blank CD-R (okay?) and mounting it on Alcohol 120%, and then burning.  I tried, but it wouldn't let me burn to the virtual, which leads me to believe it was A) a crack/mod or B) fake.  Either way, interesting proposition.

IIRC, the virtual drives are just DVD/CD-R, not -RW. Even if they were CD-RW, you would have to specify a location to write all the new data (said "ISO of a blank CD-R"), and since the ISO already has data on it (700 mb of crap) it would be confused as to how exactly it is going to fit 700mb of data on a CD that is already 700mb...

At least, that's how I've seen it thus far.

Hm.  I thought they naturally came off of iTunes as protected MP3's (I've encountered some before.. you have no idea how annoying it is when you're trying to edit an ID3 tag and it just won't edit).  I guess the person I got the music from already changed it to MP3 for me.