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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

#331

Post by brokenmachine »

cr1895 wrote: post #86
aroman wrote: post #50

> 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-...

You can also output digital audio to USB through Apple's Camera Connect Kit, which allows you to use an external DAC/amp for whatever headphones you want.

I wonder how long Apple will allow that loophole to exist...

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

#332

Post by brokenmachine »

djrogers wrote: post #292
catdog wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most other manufacturers in contrast to Apple do not only sell these overpriced "flagship devices" which few people really need these days but also offer devices in a more reasonable price range. The biggest problem is that others often copy stupid or customer unfriendly decisions Apple makes, leading to a lot less choice if you want to avoid it.

> Most other manufacturers in contrast to Apple do not only sell these overpriced "flagship devices" which few people really need these days but also offer devices in a more reasonable price range. Like the 5 lines of iPhone that Apple offers[1]? [1] http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/

Spoilt for choice!! Five overpriced options to choose from!

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

#333

Post by brokenmachine »

X86BSD wrote: post #143

Interesting. All the whining and crying over a stupid headphone jack. It's almost like the complainers had their genitalia caught in their zippers. Why is everyone cooking up all these reasons for Apple nuking the stereo jack? Apple told you the reason. Where is all the distrust coming from that the complainers don't buy that reason? Space in that phone is at a premium. And nothing they said about the headphone jack…

The headphone jack is not obsolete. Apple has proved this by including the adapter. If it was really a revolution in amazing tech, they wouldn't have included the adapter because the consumers would be throwing their existing headphones away and flocking to the amazing quality air buds.

I have a few pairs of good headphones, and I'd be willing to bet that you cannot compare the quality of those sure-to-be-crap air buds to good IEMs or good wired headphones.

I'm not going to eschew the many good headphone manufacturers out there to be locked in to whatever beats poser garbage Apple decides to license its stupid DRM-locked wireless tech to.

I'm not shocked or alarmed, I just won't be buying an iphone 7.

> Apple told you the reason.

What reason did they give?

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

#334

Post by brokenmachine »

sneak wrote: post #319
sangnoir wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The same applies to Lightning-connected DACs. You might believe that there is something special about an internally connected DAC versus an externally connected DAC, but "just works" is not a point of difference. They both need to work in order to achieve their purpose Internal DAC has only 1 piece of information: a device has been connected to the jack. A lightning jack has access to way more information: like the…

Your argument would be valid if it didn't ship with a free included "analog hole" dongle.

Apple included that only to test the waters and possibly later revoke the "analog hole".

If they were really being "courageous" about removing the headphone jack, they would have shipped it without the adapter and not made one available.

The people who think that just because they included an adapter, there won't be DRM, need to remember that from now on any service played on an iphone can decide whether or not to enable analog output, or even have a different output over analog. Cue the services that have decided not to work on analog, and paid ad-free audio.

You'd have to be very naive to not be worried about this in my opinion. calinet6 wrote a great comment about it in the comments here.

It will happen.

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

#335

Post by brokenmachine »

otterley wrote: post #313
CaptSpify wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, why should we assume that a company that has a history of making unnecessarily proprietary equipment would do so again in the future? that'd be absurd, right?

The argument I am disputing is that Apple is removing possibilities and connection adapters, not adding them.

They could certainly disable it with an update.

"Look at all these new great features you get with this update! Oh, btw your old, obsolete headphone jack won't work with this version anymore... but look at all these new great features! It's entirely your decision, but don't you want all these great new features? Oh btw, here's a voucher for a discount on these awesome new air bud 2's!!"

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

#337

Post by ChickeNES »

cmdrfred wrote: post #303
bitwize wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"ports older than USB" meant serial and, later, ethernet. My new-issue Dell work laptop lacks an optical drive and Ethernet. My dad just bought an even beefier Dell laptop and the first thing he asked was "where's the DVD drive?" Dell offered to send him a free external USB optical drive, but told him that internal optical drives were simply not an option on that make of laptop.

Did Apple ever offer a laptop with a serial port?

Every Apple laptop prior to the Powerbook G3 Lombard, released in 1998, had serial port(s).

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

#338

Post by vacri »

astrodust wrote: post #295
jshevek wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Define "suits them" then. Microsoft locks down everything, even the computer itself with Secure Boot. Apple does no such thing. If you want to run OS X/macOS on your own hardware it's doable. The only trick is finding drivers, not cracking DRM or license protection. If you want to run another OS on your Mac you might need to fiddle with the EFI settings and/or update that with an EFI mod tool to make it more compatib…

> Apple does no such thing.

Apples to oranges. OSX only runs on apple computers - you 'pay' for OSX when you buy the hardware. However, MS has to sell the software itself. You also downplay the magnitude of the problem "finding drivers".

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

#339

Post by vacri »

wfo wrote: post #139
rimantas wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many times will it take you forgetting your dongle > to just pony up and buy the apple approved headphones? Uhm, Apple headphones are right there in the box. You get them with your iPhone.

I didn't know that, but that actually makes my case stronger.

I thought you needed a bumper to make your case stronger?

:)

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

#340

Post by arpa »

wfo wrote: post #80
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…

Apple has been very good at predicting (or perhaps directly causing) the demise of certain technologies: the disk drive, the CD drive, the ethernet port. They removed them much to the chagrin of many a loyal customer, and a few years later they nearly ceased to exist across the entire industry (we're still waiting on the ethernet port to go away but give it time). How many times will it take you forgetting your dongl…

Oh yeah, ethernet port will go away. Fat chance.
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