17-06-2005 05:29									#1
	Sony-BMG's new CDs compatible with all digital audio players...except iPods Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

All because Apple is a tw*t and not supporting WMA on the iPod, even though they're paying MS a license for it for iTunes.

http://news.com.com/Sony+BMG+hinder...ml?tag=nefd.hed

quote: Sony BMG hinders pirates with protected CD Published: June 16, 2005, 11:51 AM PDT By Reuters TrackBack Print E-mail TalkBack Sony BMG, the world's second-largest music company, is rolling out CDs with new technology that serves as a "speed bump" to hinder people who want to make illicit copies. Users will be allowed to make three additional CD copies for their own use and store the music files on their computer in a protected format from Microsoft. Sony BMG's new copy-protection effort comes with at least one downside: PC users are unable to transfer the songs to Apple Computer's popular iPod portable music player because Apple has declined to make its software compatible with Microsoft's Windows Media digital-rights management (DRM) system. The copy-protection technology is also far from ironclad. Apple Macintosh users currently face no restrictions at all. What's more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a "back door" measure on how to work around the copy protection. A UK firm called First4Internet, which created the technology, said the primary goal is not to prevent copies of the songs from ending up on illicit, peer-to-peer file-trading networks, which the industry blames for million of dollars in lost sales. Instead, it aims to dissuade people from burning unlimited CD copies in what is sometimes called "schoolyard piracy." The slow road to Windows XP Google readying Web-only video search High-stakes start-ups Microsoft looks to extinguish LAMP Microsoft meets the hackers Your ISP as Net watchdog Open-source maneuvers Previous Next "This technology is a speed bump. It's trying to dissuade the average consumer from making as many copies as they like," said First4Internet Chief Executive Mathew Gilliat-Smith. "You're not going to stop tracks getting on P2P sites," he added. "It's designed to stop casual piracy...it's not saying you'll stop people from doing it, but it makes people stop and think." Sony BMG also uses a separate copy-protection technology from Sunncomm Technologies. Previous copy-protected CD schemes have been quickly defeated, including one instance in which computer users cracked Sony's "Key2Audio" technology by scribbling on a disc with a felt-tip marker. Some 2 million of the CDs using the First4Internet protection have been sold since March in the United States. Gilliat-Smith said a version of the copy-protection technology that works with Macs is on the way and that the music companies are in talks with Apple about iPod compatibility. "The whole industry is in discussions with Apple, and we hope to have a solution soon," he said. Sony BMG is a joint venture between Japan's Sony Corp. and Germany's Bertelsmann.

Apple.
Sony.

	17-06-2005 05:31									#2
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Apple Macintosh users currently face no restrictions at all. What's more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a "back door" measure on how to work around the copy protection.

Suits me. I guess they just want to stop the riff raff.

	17-06-2005 05:33									#3
	Full PM-box? Change here!

There likely isn't a large enough market for them to make software to restrict its use MacOS X.

Same reason there's no real MacOS X viruses, too.

	17-06-2005 05:34									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

Damn, Sony really does have a knack for making its technological standards irrelevant, doesn't it?

	17-06-2005 06:44									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Just another reason not to buy an Ipod.

In any event Sony chose WMA files because that's what most people use. It would have been nice to support other file formats but if you're only going to support one then Microsoft's WMA is the leader by a wide margin.

In any event Sony is screwing itself here. They're once again trying to control how people use music they've already bought so I predict users will not accept their standard.

	17-06-2005 06:55									#6
	Got spare money?

quote: What's more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a "back door" measure on how to work around the copy protection.

Great stuff