Comments on: Apple to Mac owners: throw away your monitor if Hollywood says so

By: El Mariachi

El Mariachi — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Alternate headline:

Apple encourages users to slap some sense into the content producers it’s had to partner with.

That’s better.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to make the media companies realize that DRM technologies don’t work?

By: padster123

padster123 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@ #17 – that’s probably more like it.

Though then again, I’m still trying to work out how to get my 3 year old Macbook Pro DVD drive to be multiregion

By: hbl

hbl — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

You know what? Screw it, I’m gonna start reading books.

By: error404

error404 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I am not a fan of the PC, I use them I own them, I don’t like em.

I HATE Macs.

By: adonai

adonai — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Someone poke DVD Jon & get him to put out a program which removes the DRM. Problem solved :)

By: monstrinho_do_biscoito

monstrinho_do_biscoito — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

another reason to use pirated software and downloaded movies.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lets face it..
The once valued consumer is now seen as a criminal.

We’re told to care, we’re told to pay, we’re told to buy the right equipment and players, and still.. movies aren’t getting any better.

By: MarkHB

MarkHB — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve just hugged my Dell 30″ and told it I love it very much. I have also petted all my PCs and told them they’re good girls, and that despite the Amiga 4000 that sneers at them from the end desk, that I love them.

Have you cuddled a quad-core today?

By: failix

failix — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Some people here don’t seem to realize that it’s not about MAC vs PC, it’s all about OpenSource vs proprietary source! And don’t tell me stuff like “oh but linux is so hard and complicated and you need to be a complete geek to understand it etc…”.
It’s simply not true anymore, the ninetees are over! Linux (or FreeBSD and others) brings three major advantages: constant evolution, constant freedom, and you actually control your own hardware and software… not the other way around.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

All this will do is promote piracy. These companies are full of idiots.

By: tehownt

tehownt — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m surprised nobody mentionned this yet, but this is where you really see the advantage of running an open source OS, where the HDCP requirements that the OS has to implement can be removed anytime by anyone, thus protecting your fullly programable computer from becoming a scripted recording industry end-user media-playing device.

This might sound a bit extreme, but as always with technology:
Either you control it and decide what it can do or others will decide what you can do with it.

By: kobrakai

kobrakai — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Score one more for the pirates

By: Darran Edmundson

Darran Edmundson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@ #6 teknokracy wrote, “And, when is the last time any of you bought a Mac which didn’t have a built in display?”

We’re about to purchase 7 MacPros to drive 14 52″ NEC monitors. Do we need to be concerned that the Quicktime libraries might refuse to play our HD content (films that we’ve commissioned and own the copyright on)?

By: jolon

jolon — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

News like this will help PirateBay in their quest for a world record, so maybe Apple just has a soft spot for Swedes.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/pirate-bay-seek.html

By: Andrew W

Andrew W — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What all you guys saying “move to linux” are missing is that these requirements are part of a process that leads to all software or hardware that can copy things or display things needing to be blessed by some governmental body. Linux is already on unsteady footing under many copyright laws (such as the DMCA). Responding to these things by moving to linux will make you a criminal, if it doesn’t already.

Besides: how do you legitimately get high-def content onto your linux box? Can’t rip the disc without circumventing copy protection. No online stores will sell it to you, or have clients that run under linux. Congrats — I mean YARR — you’re already a pirate.

By: Zac

Zac — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you think this is a ridiculously bad business choice on Apple’s part then you need to let them know. Apple has always been fairly responsible when it comes to DRM, but this is completely unacceptable. They are putting their customers second to Big Content, and the only way they’ll stop is if we let them know how bad a decision it was for them.

Everyone, go to this feedback page and let them know what you think about their new HDCP support:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbook.html

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@#28:

If they’re calling you a pirate, why not be one?

By: urshrew

urshrew — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hah. I can see the new Mac/PC commercial:

Mac: (looking at PC staring intently at his monitor) I see you’re watching a movie over there on a new monitor.

PC: Oh no, same monitor, new computer. Wanna borrow my copy of Taxi Driver? I just downloaded it today.

Mac: Uh, in a bit, I’m waiting for my new monitor to arrive to satisfy Itune’s HDCP requirements.

(awkward silence)

PC: When’s it coming?

Mac: Next week.

PC: Ah…

(cue music)

By: a_user

a_user — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

incidentally – it’s not just computers – I’ve had Blu-ray disks from my local rental shop that refuse to recognise my 5 month old HD tv.

$1k more for the same hardware, a ‘Pretty Buttons!’ operating system, and so little control over the thing that it’s a wonder they let you use it at all!

So like dude you totally overspent on that Ferrari thing, like my Maruti costs $2,500 and it’s got 4 doors man!

By: mdh

mdh — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The eyepatch is uncomfortable, but the parrot is great company, YARRRRRR.

By: Piers W

Piers W — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@18 padster123

Have you tried VLC player -

http://www.videolan.org

It doesn’t care about DVD regions, works on pre-intel Macs and it’s open source.

By: Frank W

Frank W — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@ #59:

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to make the media companies realize that DRM technologies don’t work?

The power of the purse. If you ever spent any money on DRM’d content, you’re already suckered.

By: Roger Strong

Roger Strong — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve already been ripped off by HDCP.

A couple years ago I bought an HP HD-DVD Media Center PC. It came with a wonderful 24″ widescreen monitor with more than 1080 resolution. It even came with an HD movie.

I’ve never been able to watch that movie – the monitor didn’t support HDCP. At least the video cards supports it; it turns out that many of the video cards sold as HDCP compliant are not.

The DRM won’t let me transfer to movie to another format in the event that HD-DVD was no longer supported. But that would never happen, would it?

HDCP is a monument to the saying that nothing is illegal if 50 business people agree on it.

By: KeithIrwin

KeithIrwin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Darran, that’s a very good question to ask. However, you should probably ask Apple rather than us. I know about as much about HDCP as anyone, but I can’t answer that question. It’s really up to the particular’s of Apple’s software choices.

By: Frank W

Frank W — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This will last as long as it will take some fourteen-year-old unsung hero to come up with a fix. Say, a week?

By: Roger Strong

Roger Strong — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

For those saying that they’ll simply avoid DRM and systems using it, a quote by Leon Trotsky comes to mind; “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”

While it’s currently possible rip a Blu-Ray disk, it’s undeniably far harder then it was with DVDs. The DRM side is learning too. And they can revoke the crypto keys for current hardware and software when something more secure is released.

No doubt this can be used to protect ebooks too, with an HDCP-compliant display required.

The recording industry has already lobbied to have music players support *only* DRM’d formats. With video having standardized on one DRM scheme (AACS/HDCP), and with that scheme now supported by Apple and iTunes, taking away the non-DRM option for the average person is a lot closer to reality for video.

By: a_user

a_user — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

man you gotta love the whole PC vs Mac thing right? Would you give credence to anyone who would try to face off any 4 wheel passenger vehicle with a proprietary brand of 4 wheel passenger vehicle based on the biggest number of whatever they can produce?

As to the DRM thing what do you all think the push for new video formats was all about? This is where the industry is headed – they can’t control what happens to the media so they bottle neck the hardware then use legal pressure to force everyone to conform to its use.

It’s pretty similar to 19th century anti-poaching laws in the UK which allowed land owners to kill or maim anyone trespassing on their land.

By: Bloodboiler

Bloodboiler — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nice way to increase monitor sales. If this wasn’t about making monitors obsolete faster, there would be a way to upgrade the monitor firmware every time DRM gets messed with. But if that was possible, someone would hack the firmware to accept everything.

By: jeshii

jeshii — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

But this only applies to playing the DRM’d files from the iTunes store, right? If you are a good little pirate and stayed away from that DRM bag of hurt, you would be fine, right?