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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

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple loves DRM, when it suits them.

Their OS has no DRM. Microsoft's is loaded down with license codes and activation rituals. Watch who you're blaming about loving DRM.

MS is irrelevant to Apple's readiness to use DRM when it suits them. This is a variation of the classic Tu quoque fallacy.

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

#262

Other people getting screwed: Custom IEM wearers. I had a $300 set of Alclair Audio IEMs made so I can use an in-ear audio system on stage while making live music. These use impressions that an audiologist takes of your ear canals for an _exact_ fit that completely seals your ear. There's not a snow-balls chance in hell I would have these be wireless, or a proprietary standard: 1) Latency. Anything over 2ms is not ac…

Although your points are completely valid for your demographic I think Apple's focus is on mass audience. Additionally, they have not yet announced the ipads and macbooks are divorcing with 3.5. So its possible you still have hope, just not on your iphone. Either way I feel your pain and hate this decision.

> Although your points are completely valid for your demographic I think Apple's focus is on mass audience.

How many times you can ignore 1% of your audience until you have none?

It is being interesting to watch and discover.

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

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new phone comes with the analog jack adaptor in the box. Assuming the electrical and A/D, D/A specs are not different than the previous built-in analog jack, nothing has changed apart from the hassle of a dongle.

Sure, but what percentage of iphone owners will lose this dongle? I imagine its a non-trivial number. Apple's famous markup means they created a new revenue source out of thin air with this decision. Certainly, Apple has an interest in making their phones as sleek as possible, but that decision is always tied to monetization concerns. I think its a little naive to ignore the added income Apple is going to enjoy here.

The dongle is $9. Considering typical Apple prices, that's not much. I doubt that will be a big new revenue stream for Apple.

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

#264
post #141

The lack of a headphone jack is simply yet another excellent reason not to buy an iPhone. What confuses me is why so many people continue to buy Apple products when they're overpriced, locked-down and treat developers like crap.

Because consumers don't care how developers are treated, nor do they care about walled gardens like we do.

They buy the iPhone because of the brand, or they use Android because that's the free phone that was available, or the one the Verizon store pushed.

Geeks like us spend a lot of energy projecting our beliefs onto an audience who simply does not care. I know I've gotten riled up about open standards and DRM and stuff like that; my non-geek friends just roll their eyes at me.

Maybe they do it because they don't care. Or maybe they do it because we geeks treat everything like a Chicken-Little sky-is-falling thing.

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

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rumour is, Amazon threatened to stop selling CDs for record companies who wouldn't let them sell DRM-free MP3 files. Certainly they used their massive sales presence to negotiate a deal with the record companies. I think that was the major tipping point for DRM on music. Apple followed after that.

I wish Amazon would take the same stand for ebooks.

My understanding, talking from a few folks who worked on that sort of thing, is that they tried. Of course this is all rumours and chit-chat, so I have no idea how true it is.

But the book publishers would apparently be happy for ebooks to go away, Amazon to stop selling books, and their higher margin deals with Borders to come back. So they called Amazon's bluff.

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

#266

1. Apple has already publicly stated this is not about DRM and, at least when it comes to music, they have been very anti-DRM for a long time. 2. Apple earbuds aren't the only one's you can use. There are lots of lightning compatible headphones and they've been around a while. 3. This is not 'The End of Headphones Jacks'. It's one phone manufacturer. Globally iPhone market share is less than 20% so if you want a head…

> Apple has already publicly stated this is not about DRM I'm not sure why anyone considers this relevant. It is not like apple is signing a contract which would allow us to sue them if they "change their minds".

Not only has Apple stated this isn't about DRM but throughout their recent history they've tended to back up their anti-DRM stance be getting the music labels to drop it at a time when that was pretty controversial. Any statement from them should hold some weight considering this whole debate is a conspiracy theory at best.

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

#267

This reads slightly hyperbolic. I suspect Apple will fight against DRM on music for quite some time having made the decision to remove it. In the past the Apple's designs needed to respect a vast pre-existing ecosystem of headphones, amps and assorted other audio gear. Dropping the socket largely takes them out of that ecosystem, but today the success and reach of their devices exerts pressure on that ecosystem to mo…

I thought they might be trying to get rid of the 3.5 mm jack to make a thinner phone but the 7 is the exact same size as the 6. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/apple-iphone-7-full-... Maybe this is an evolution to a super thin iPhone 8.

I'd heard that it caused camera interference, which I don't understand. But the more plausible thing I heard was that they needed some room for that new haptic thing they put under the home button.

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

#268
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Floppy disks, optical disks, ethernet were all replaced by unencumbered standards and they all lead to a superior experience (well, maybe not ethernet, but there are definitly advantages to wireless). If you're old enough to have used a floppy disk drive you do not miss them. Any time you introduce two way communication, you introduce the possibility of DRM, but that does not guarantee it. I can still use my HDMI wit…

>If you're old enough to have used a floppy disk drive you do not miss them. I am, and I do. Floppies were ubiquitous, durable, reusable, and cheap enough to give away. There's no replacement today - flash drives are the closest thing but when was the last time someone handed you one with no expectation of getting it back? Or bought a box of 50? Sneakernet became much less vibrant with the death of the floppy.

You can buy USB flash drives for $2. People don't refrain from handing over flash drives because they're expensive, they do it because they have a reasonable expectation that you're able to immediately copy the data, or that you can receive it over a network.

The death of the floppy didn't kill sneakernet, the rise of portable networked computing did.

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

#269
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are recording stuff from your iPhone using the 3.5mm jack you are already suboptimal perhaps even to the bluetooth. This isn't true at all, unless your hardware is legitimately bad. All but the worst cables and amplifier chains can carry a 20 kHz signal (again, we're talking audio here -- that's basically D/C to modern electronics) at better than the ~45dB signal/noise ratio needed by the ADC on the other si…

Interesting, the reverse is true in my car, which probably says more about the stock head unit than anything.

Cars are one of the worst environments for analog electronics due to massive interference from spark plugs (basically wide band RF emitters), along with bad power from the alternator and high currents through the chassis ground.

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

#270

1. Apple has already publicly stated this is not about DRM and, at least when it comes to music, they have been very anti-DRM for a long time. 2. Apple earbuds aren't the only one's you can use. There are lots of lightning compatible headphones and they've been around a while. 3. This is not 'The End of Headphones Jacks'. It's one phone manufacturer. Globally iPhone market share is less than 20% so if you want a head…

> Apple has already publicly stated this is not about DRM I'm not sure why anyone considers this relevant. It is not like apple is signing a contract which would allow us to sue them if they "change their minds".

If we ignore what they say, we can make up any conspiracy theory we like about them. Fun!
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