DRM summary article
 

This article summarizes known information about Apple's digital rights management:


"iTunes Music Store Digital Rights Summary"

http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/...29195456.shtml

www.macrumors.com

bassi,

good links.

the most interesting item i found is from an apple document:

"Initializing the drive will not deauthorize the computer. If you will be initializing the drive, deauthorize the computer first, then initialize the drive."

aside from trying to figure out the relationship between those 2 sentences, it seems to indicate no keys are stored on the hard drive.

so either keys are stored in NVRAM, or nothing is stored on the user's computer. if nothing is stored on the user's computer, how could this all work?

To answer my previous question:

"AACs you rip from CD yourself (via iTunes) have no restrictions." - www.macrumors.com

petey,

You are off track again. A computer is computer, NOT a hard drive (obviously).

Apple specified it is possible to authorize 3 COMPUTERS, not hard drives.

There are quite a few ways to implement this mechanism, time will tell which technique Apple employed.

perhaps...
 

- apple keeps the MAC addresses of your 3 authorized machines on its servers.

- if you initialize yr harddrive and try to play an M4P, yr computer contacts apple servers and redownloads a working key to yr harddrive by verifying the MAC address.

if this is true, it would mean you would lose an authorization if yr machine exploded or was lost.

petey,

I missed that one [hard drive initialisation]. Maybe it is the MAC address rather than the confusing scheme I dreamt up. Sharp people those Apple folks.

So the question is, can it be spoofed? Check out this search. Doesn't look secure to me.

my two cents is it seems like quality is great enough for headphone listening off your computer while you're working, even if it does not pass muster for the godzilla-level audiophile.

I also made an allowable Music CD from the newly downloaded Sheryl Crow album and in my car with a standard CD player, the sound quality is just fine.
I suspect with extremely high-end systems you might be able to detect differences, but for general bebopping, I've not been able to note any significant lossyness.

additionally, for some reason, i've found that setting itunes4 equalizers to "vocal booster" seems better for some reason than the "rock" setting I used to have itunes3 on.

just as a caveat, we should probably limit our discussion to what is actual allowable usage of the downloaded files. ;)

I'm not into downloading at all regardless of the source i have to rip my own music from originals that i own.... I've tried to do some searching but there are too many biased meaning on the net to get straight answers can someone please give me a good sound MP3 to AAC lesson... How does a 128 AAC really stack up against an MP3 at lets say 192 where i used to keep them? I spent the last two days re-ripping my cd's to this format wanting to save space cause my iPod was just way to full...

Rod76, there's a discussion and link to a comparison here

Thanks but this article which i spent a bit of time siffting through yesterday bugs me.... Too many opions not enough hard facts and data... Precicly the biased stuff i had already encountered.... Seems at the root of this discusion people know that this is a PC/Apple thing so they take pot shots at AAC and cry cause Ogg is not where they think it should be...

Rod76,

apple is claiming 128AAC is as good as 160CBR MP3.

this seems reasonable to me, as CBR produces generally lousy results with MP3.

(FWIW, i encode most MP3's at 160VBR, with the stuff i listen to most often at 192VBR.)

Actually it's not a PC/Mac thing. From the GUI you can use Vorbis Rage and Ogg Drop. The AAC format allows the use of *DRM* with no hangups. That's fine. I would like to see adoption of the Ogg format as a choice, maybe in 3-6 months with 10.3.

Ogg is a little smaller than MP3 at equivalent bitrates and the *quality* is good. Subjective of course.

If all else fails, try making your own tests and comparisons, and let your own ears be the judge.

lerkfish,

rock eq usually boosts highs and lows. compression artifacts are more present there, so it can sound worse.

vocal eq boosts the midrange, where most of the "information" exists (because our brains adapted to frequencies of human speech) so sometimes bad recordings sound better or more "clear".

audio encoding algorithms try to balance the job of reducing file size while preserving the most important information, but that varies a lot depending on the source material and other factors.

UN-Fairplay
 

I hope everyone is aware that the record companies already receive money from most sales of blank consumer audio cassette tapes and blank audio CD-R media.

This is supposedly to offset losses from illegal copying, but it is quite a scam- because you pay the money no matter how you use the blank media.

Re: Re: Re: what is this world coming too?
 

Best not to sweat the small stuff.

But there was a confusion in your question.

Merv doubted a certain CLAIM (of yours) to veracity. You asked him the question: What VERACITY (of mine) he doubted--not the question: What claim (of mine) to veracity he doubted.

Merv could not be expected to respond "I doubted the following veracity of yours, which is ....", for then he would be conceding your point as true and also saying that he doubted it.

Small stuff. But on this, Merv was clear-headed.

no, itMS does _not_ have the song, "She's got freckles on her, but..."

i am depressed.


thanx, Roy!

[oops, nevermind]

Very interesting, Roy.

veracity is a noun, as in person, place or thing.

exactly what "fred anderson" are you doubting?

exactly what "siberia" are you doubting?

exactly what "toaster" are you doubting?

mervTormel,

better get that anti-depressant dosage figured out, man! (not trying to be offensive, just basing recommendation on your remark that you are depressed.)

your last post is anything but clear-headed.