mp3 player
DVD Jon to play fair with Apple's DRM?
Submitted by libervisco on Fri, 2006-10-06 23:36. apple drm dvd jon fairplay ipod mp3 playerFamous for his reverse engineering, an author of the DeCSS content de-scrambling software "DVD Jon" is playing a slightly different tune now. Rather than working against DRM as he has been known to do, he is now apparently experimenting with the idea of using DRM to his and supposedly customers advantage. He has reverse engineered Apple FairPlay, a DRM technology which makes sure that only Apple's files can play on an iPod, and instead of offering it to the public as it was his usual practice before, he is offering to license it to would be Apple competitors so that they can make their files play on an iPod.
Sounds like a noble kind of business. Or does it? Alex Curtis from Public Knowledge apparently agrees. He believes it is good thing because it is a chance to open up more competition to iTunes. It would make it possible for people to order music not only from iTunes, but some other alternative stores to play on their iPods. However, I would hesitate to give it my blessing just yet. One thing that seems to be overlooked is the fact that this could actually help *increase* the popularity of iPods which is an Apple product and potentially even contribute to its monopoly over portable music players even if temporarily cutting the monopoly on iPod compatible music stores. Curtis suggested that what DVD Jon is doing is not illegal as others have done it under the reverse engineering / interoperability provisions of the DMCA. I have to be suspicious in that regard. As one commentator on gigaom put it; "If the Apple patent lawyers did their job right, they would have covered any and every reverse engineering angle.." There is no guarantee that Apple wont at least *try* to litigate against him or companies deploying his DRM and maybe even succeed. What would be the end result of that? An increased popularity of iPods and still not much competition in the field of iPod compatible music stores.
Sounds like a noble kind of business. Or does it? Alex Curtis from Public Knowledge apparently agrees. He believes it is good thing because it is a chance to open up more competition to iTunes. It would make it possible for people to order music not only from iTunes, but some other alternative stores to play on their iPods. However, I would hesitate to give it my blessing just yet. One thing that seems to be overlooked is the fact that this could actually help *increase* the popularity of iPods which is an Apple product and potentially even contribute to its monopoly over portable music players even if temporarily cutting the monopoly on iPod compatible music stores. Curtis suggested that what DVD Jon is doing is not illegal as others have done it under the reverse engineering / interoperability provisions of the DMCA. I have to be suspicious in that regard. As one commentator on gigaom put it; "If the Apple patent lawyers did their job right, they would have covered any and every reverse engineering angle.." There is no guarantee that Apple wont at least *try* to litigate against him or companies deploying his DRM and maybe even succeed. What would be the end result of that? An increased popularity of iPods and still not much competition in the field of iPod compatible music stores.
