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The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

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Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#31

Post by onli »

mead5432 wrote: post #20

I understand the argument that forcing content through a proprietary jack opens the door for controlling said content and has huge implications for hardware manufacturers and the way people use their stuff. What I am having a hard time understanding is why is that any different than the OS influencing what gets sent to the 3.5mm jack? It isn't like apps running in iOS had to interact with APIs to do all the other thi…

My understanding is that it is about what is the output. The 3.5mm jack outputs the regular audio data. You could just make it output encrypted data, but that is the same as removing it, all the headphones won't work. If you replace it with a proprietary system you can add in DRM, like not outputting anything if the connected device (which can be an adapter) is not certified. Everything has to get transformed into regular data at one point, but the content mafia is trying since many years to control as many parts of the system as possible. This is one further step.

I could be a bit off the mark here, not my area.

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#32

Post by javajosh »

Isn't this tacitly assuming that Apple will be able to single-handedly eliminate the headphone jack? I think it is quite likely that post-Jobs Apple has finally overstepped it's bounds, and despite it's good qualities the iPhone 7 will be a relative dud. In which case the iPhone 8 will (reluctantly) put the jack back.

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#34

Post by agentgt »

> Besides, with only Apple earbuds currently supporting the Lightning audio connection, the only way to connect an iPhone 7 to a recording or mixing device will be over the suboptimal Bluetooth connection or a dongle provided by Apple.

If you are recording stuff from your iPhone using the 3.5mm jack you are already suboptimal perhaps even to the bluetooth.

For one you are going through the iPhone DAC (luckily the iphone DACs are pretty descent) then through a generally crappy mini amplifier. If you are doing this you are expecting suboptimal or really don't care about the music quality. I'm not audiophile and hardly care about extreme music quality but If you are mixing/recording you shouldn't be adding artifacts.

If you do care about quality recording you either tranfer content off the iphone, bypass the phone jack (aka amplifier), or bypass even the DAC (and get a stream directly). There are several products that already do this on the market for the existing iPhone.

(It would be nice if some one would comment instead of downvoting. I don't know if my comment is inappropriate or factually wrong... or just in the way... seriously who records stuff off their iPhone? I'm not disagreeing with the intent of the article just that I doubt audio/music experts are going to be affected by this change)

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#35

Post by audunw »

I'm not convinced. The record industry has already given up on DRM except for streaming. A lot has to happen before DRM is applied to headphones.

Audio is not like video, where it's hard to get a decent copy from the screen. With audio you can always just hook up to the analog output to the speakers themselves and get a copy indistinguishable from the original

Fighting for DRM on headphones would be an uphill battle in so many ways, and I'm not sure the record industry is stupid enough to waste the effort. They've already seemed to learn what everyone know: piracy is solved by making the content easily, universally available at a reasonable price. Piracy is tedious. Just make a better service and the customers will come to you.

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#36

Post by calinet6 »

mbreese wrote: post #8
0x0 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the article mentions, it's probably super easy for iOS to refuse to route audio to the adapter if it so chooses, for example when playing certain "fairplay" encrypted content. How convenient.

Wouldn't it be just as easy to refuse to route to a physical audio jack as well? I don't see how the loss of the physical jack changes that scenario.

The difference is in how smart the jack can be. First, it's under legal/licensing restriction, which means you have to pay to play (ignore the adapter for now; it's inconvenient and can also be detected as a particular kind of 'unlicensed' device).

Second is the subtler stuff -- like how the jack can now communicate about the music and the device with the phone, so you really could do things like have exclusive Apple music releases only playable on Beats, or (behind the scenes) have a higher quality version play on your Beats than your other headphones, reinforcing the illusion that the new port and devices are "better" than the old analog one (which is impossible). Or have advertising play on radio, except on headphones that have paid a premium to be "ad-free."

It also opens up much more positive possibilities, like the phone knowing the frequency profile of the headphones that are plugged in and automatically using the right equalizer settings to make it sound great. Or, simply wireless devices being able to charge through the port when plugged in. Or having headphones with memory that can keep a few hours of music on them 'synced' by plugging in so you don't even need your iPhone to listen.

So all in all, it's a set of tradeoffs, giving up some freedom and simplicity, for the opportunity of more possibilities in the future. It's difficult to say exactly how it will be used, but the realist point of view is that it's all ending up as the same analog sound in the end; there's only so much that can be revolutionized. Time will tell.

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#37

Post by 0x0 »

nchelluri wrote: post #28
0x0 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It matters because the jack is no longer the default output device that customers expect to always work.

Maybe you can open my eyes a bit, because right now that seems like splitting hairs to me. One way or another, the audio is cut off. Just because it's another jack/plug customers won't be upset?

I think it's an easier "sell" to refuse third party headsets connecting through a legacy adapter, compared to refusing to use the bundled headsets that came in the box.

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#38

Post by the_other »

lucozade wrote: post #25
aikah wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

an OS cannot deny an analog jack. An OS can however deny an digital adapter.

iOS can refuse to play anything it fancies. If Apple wanted to add DRM it could have done it already (I thought it did once but took it off but I may be recalling incorrectly). I can't for the life of me see how this makes any difference. BTW I don't mean this as some sort of "Apple are too nice to do this" thing. TBH I think they don't enforce audio DRM largely because they wouldn't be the beneficiaries. If and when…

They limit their market to only those people who'll put up with DRMd music. I don't recall the dates of the decisions and changes too well but I'm pretty confident iTunes sales would have sky-rocketed some time AFTER the DRM came off.

Is the number of people who only buy music from iTunes really enough to keep iPhone where it is in the market?

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#39

Post by slicktux »

So, apple gets rid of the headphone jack and the fear of the END of headphone jacks propagates. . . This is somewhat depressing and frustrating; depressing because one companies' decision has the potential to influence other companies implementations that therefore will affect us all? Frustrating because homogenization is apparently that simple to implement? I guess this quote by who knows who is ever so true. . . "there is no profit in the current paradigm. . .you have to create problems to create profits", unfortunately.

Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM

#40

Post by icoder »

nlawalker wrote: post #9
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

This is the first time I've heard that argument. It's a good one.

You can't close the analog hole, though. As long as we're listening to music via physical speakers manipulating air pressure, there will always be an unencoded electrical audio signal somewhere in the system. Now, when we start getting DRM-enabled bone conductors implanted in our jaws...

Right! And this point is exactly why the comparison with video DRM in the article is a bit weak, because video will normally be split into a signal per pixel before becoming analog, making it impractical to access the full unencoded video signal.

This, plus the fact that most copyrighted audio will be playable and copyable through unprotected channels for a while (Spotify / YouTube on PC / Android) I don't think this move has anything to do with DRM.

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