No High Definition iTunes Video for You

If you thought buying videos through the iTunes Store was the online equivalent of buying them on DVD or Blu-ray, think again. In a completely unexpected development, owners of the October 2008 MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air have discovered that the new Mini DisplayPort includes High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) – and this makes it […]

Is DRM in Mac OS X Anything to Fear?

2008: There’s been a huge buzz in the past week about an Apple patent application for “Run-Time Code Injection To Perform Checks”, which many liken to Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage program and speculate could result in Mac OS X and Apple apps including the kind of serialization and headaches that Windows users are familiar with.

Steve Jobs Stirs Up the DRM Hornet’s Nest

2007 – Steve Jobs spoke to the world last Tuesday about his outlook on digital music and what, if any, continued role DRM would have in the marketplace of digital music. While carefully worded – indeed no talk of DRM as it relates to video was broached – the written statement linked from the Apple […]

iPod Birthday Articles Foster DRM Confusion

2006 – I want to take time today to congratulate the iPod for its impressive five year run, which seems primed to continue well into the rapidly approaching holiday shopping season. I further want to detail those little tidbits that make the iPod very much a part of my daily dose of tech joy.

Myth Busting: Microsoft PlaysForSure Is Not Hardware Neutral

2006 – “The clueless shall inherit the earth, because there are so many of them.” The latest example of that truism comes from Mike Langberg in his Monday column in the Mercury News. In Apple’s iTunes Solo Act Is Getting Competition (free subscription required), he explains both the Windows monopoly monoculture and the closed iPod/iTMS system.

France and the End of DRM as We Know It

2006 – It seems that you can’t win for trying. Apple and Microsoft have each developed DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) technology that provides enough security for the recording industry to allow online music sales.

The Solution to Piracy Is Quality Content at Fair Prices

Charles W. Moore’s essay on copyright law (see Copyright Bullies May Win Some Battles but Must Lose Their War) raised a lot of good points about the way vested interests (such as the RIAA and MPAA) have changed the nature of copyright from something that serves the public interest into something that only serves publishers.

Apple Sued for Providing Integrated Music Solution

2005 – In a legal system with more than enough stupid lawsuits, Thomas Slattery’s suit against Apple is one of the dumbest. For those who haven’t been paying attention or believed this had to be from of The Onion or Weekly World News, the truth is that Slattery has initiated a class action suit against Apple, […]