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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

#41

Post by electic »

The real issue here is this might be anti-competitive, and go as far as being an anti-trust issue. Apple can now limit who makes headphones for the iPhone and the ones that are "allowed" could end up seeing their headphones far more expensive than the Apple and Beats brands. This is all because 3rd party brands will have to pay licensing fees to Apple to use the port. So we could end up seeing headphones that are 20%+ more expensive compared to Apple or Beats headphone units.

Sounds anti-competitive to me....

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

#42

Post by taeric »

audunw wrote: post #35

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…

I would not be so quick to assume they have "given up." Merely that they have so far not had large success.

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

#43

Post by aikah »

zepto wrote: post #16
aikah wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not true. The os switches off the analog jack when the internal speaker is used or when sound is routed to a Bluetooth headphone or speaker. Clearly the OS can deny an analog jack.

my point is, an os can check whether an analog jack is authorized to work or not, an analog jack is an analog jack. On the other hand, a DRM system can be implemented with any digital accessory.

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

#44

Post by TD-Linux »

audunw wrote: post #35

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…

The movie industry has not given up, and videos also produce audio.

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

#45

Post by FreeFull »

TD-Linux wrote: post #44
audunw wrote: post #35

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…

The movie industry has not given up, and videos also produce audio.

In fact, you're not even allowed to press Bluray video discs commercially without using Bluray's DRM

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

#46

Post by Anechoic »

electic wrote: post #41

The real issue here is this might be anti-competitive, and go as far as being an anti-trust issue. Apple can now limit who makes headphones for the iPhone and the ones that are "allowed" could end up seeing their headphones far more expensive than the Apple and Beats brands. This is all because 3rd party brands will have to pay licensing fees to Apple to use the port. So we could end up seeing headphones that are 20%…

I might buy the argument if Apple didn't include an adapter with the phone.

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

#47

Post by lucozade »

the_other wrote: post #38
lucozade wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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

I'm going to take a punt and suggest that the answer is no. Why do I think that? Because Apple haven't restricted music to DRM only.

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

#48

Post by electic »

Anechoic wrote: post #46
electic wrote: post #41

The real issue here is this might be anti-competitive, and go as far as being an anti-trust issue. Apple can now limit who makes headphones for the iPhone and the ones that are "allowed" could end up seeing their headphones far more expensive than the Apple and Beats brands. This is all because 3rd party brands will have to pay licensing fees to Apple to use the port. So we could end up seeing headphones that are 20%…

I might buy the argument if Apple didn't include an adapter with the phone.

Which is a hassle. If you are making headphones now in 2016 and beyond, you are going to have to deal with the lightening port to be competitive in the iPhone accessory market.

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

#49

Post by gpvos »

audunw wrote: post #35

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…

>I'm not sure the record industry is stupid enough to waste the effort.

The record industry has made so many stupid attempts at DRM, I don't think anyone has been able to keep count.

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

#50

Post by aroman »

> Besides, with only Apple earbuds currently supporting the Lightning audio connection

This is just factually incorrect.

Even before today's announcement lightning headphones have been available from multiple independent headphone makers, including Bose and Phillips[0].

https://www.google.com/amp/www.mirror.co.uk/tech/dont-panic-...

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