http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,69917-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_8
Post-Christmas sales are a must for bargain hunters, but this year brings a new incentive to stock up on electronics: 2005 might be the last good year to get gizmos that aren't locked down.
As the music, television and movie industries move to make more media available online, they are also attempting to keep that content from showing up on peer-to-peer networks or being copied for friends.
They are looking to Congress for help.
Meanwhile, many consumer electronics firms are hobbling their own devices to protect themselves from potential lawsuits or, in the case of Apple, to make money from selling media to those who bought the company's hardware, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Fred von Lohmann.
"We've already seen early examples: ReplayTV was taken off the market after being sued by the television industry," von Lohmann said. "We have never seen a PVR that has offered the same features, like the ability to send shows from one machine to another, automatically delete commercials and a very large hard drive capacity."
Other examples of hobbled devices, past and future, include:
* Software updates to iTunes that take away features from earlier versions.
* CDs with digital rights management software designed to prevent consumers from playing CDs on their computers or from making a backup copy.
* Sony PSP firmware updates designed to block users from running homebrewed games and code on their PSP.
* Next-generation DVDs -- Blu-Ray and HD-DVD standards groups are in a copy-protection arms race to woo media companies to back their next-gen DVD tech over the other group's.
* Vista, Microsoft's long-delayed successor to XP, will lock down audio and video outputs to protect content and may stop playing media files if unauthorized software is installed.
* MP3-player software that prohibits transfer of files from a user's player to an office or second household computer.
The trend is likely to continue, given the power of big media companies and the relative lack of independent consumer electronics manufacturers, according to Joe Born, the CEO of Neuros Technology, a small consumer-electronics firm specializing in devices that users can tweak.
Neuros' newest product allows users to record video onto flash memory cards, such as Sony's Memory Stick, in order to transfer DVDs or television shows onto portable devices such as PDAs and the PlayStation Portable.
"Anything that can translate to a lack of control for big media is scary to them, and they are a litigious lot and use every branch of government to maintain their position," Born said. "The balance has largely shifted to big media because there are so few independent consumer electronics manufacturers -- everyone forgets that Sony was the defendant in Betamax (which said VCRs were legal) and was the plaintiff in Napster (which shut down the file-sharing company)."
The media industry's habit of suing the makers of consumer electronics such as the Rio, one of the first MP3 players, is short-sighted, according to Born. "It is easy to look back and say, 'Without the VCR, where would Hollywood be today?'" Born said. "But new technology is not always viewed rationally or with the long view."
The New Year will also herald the first new devices powered by Intel's ViiV (pronounced like five) technology, which the company hopes will usher in multimedia networked homes.
Intel says ViiV computers, which will be sold as traditional towers and later in sleeker forms, will seamlessly connect home and portable devices, so pictures on a wireless laptop could be viewed on the living room television and a digitally downloaded movie could be converted into the right format for viewing on a ViiV-certified portable video device.
Intel has gotten companies such as TiVo and Napster to sign on, in part by promising that the system will enforce whatever copy-protection rules are attached to digital content, according to Intel spokeswoman Kari Skoog.
"If there is DRM on a music CD that is put there by the content owner, will ViiV adhere to whatever those rules are? Yes," Skoog said. "If there is no DRM associated with the CD, will ViiV stick something additional on it? No."
Von Lohmann said users should be cautious about technology like ViiV and Windows Media Center. "Consumers need to ask themselves, 'Who are these features are being built for: me or Hollywood?'" von Lohmann said.
He recommends that consumers buy a digital TV tuner card now, before media companies convince Congress to reinstate the HD-TV Broadcast Flag, an anti-copying mandate from the FCC that was struck down by a federal judge in May.
Media companies are also targeting the so-called "analog hole," which is the analog output of a device that plays digital media. The output is of lower quality, but users can connect an analog or digital recording device to capture the signal and then transfer the files to another player, computer or friend.
Last Friday, the House Judiciary committee introduced a bill that would require all digital devices that can output to or record from the analog hole to adhere to two specific DRM signals.
Media companies also told Congress in November that they want new digital FM signals to include an anti-copying flag and that satellite radio companies should not be allowed to create portable players that can store gigs of content.
These efforts could backfire, according to Neuros' Born.
"The day that independent hackers are closed down from playing with their machines is the day we shut down a huge avenue of exploration that historically has created much of our technological innovations," Born said. "Innovation and invention aren't the domain of big institutions -- if you disallow people from hacking, it will be a big loss for everybody."
Post-Christmas sales are a must for bargain hunters, but this year brings a new incentive to stock up on electronics: 2005 might be the last good year to get gizmos that aren't locked down.
As the music, television and movie industries move to make more media available online, they are also attempting to keep that content from showing up on peer-to-peer networks or being copied for friends.
They are looking to Congress for help.
Meanwhile, many consumer electronics firms are hobbling their own devices to protect themselves from potential lawsuits or, in the case of Apple, to make money from selling media to those who bought the company's hardware, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Fred von Lohmann.
"We've already seen early examples: ReplayTV was taken off the market after being sued by the television industry," von Lohmann said. "We have never seen a PVR that has offered the same features, like the ability to send shows from one machine to another, automatically delete commercials and a very large hard drive capacity."
Other examples of hobbled devices, past and future, include:
* Software updates to iTunes that take away features from earlier versions.
* CDs with digital rights management software designed to prevent consumers from playing CDs on their computers or from making a backup copy.
* Sony PSP firmware updates designed to block users from running homebrewed games and code on their PSP.
* Next-generation DVDs -- Blu-Ray and HD-DVD standards groups are in a copy-protection arms race to woo media companies to back their next-gen DVD tech over the other group's.
* Vista, Microsoft's long-delayed successor to XP, will lock down audio and video outputs to protect content and may stop playing media files if unauthorized software is installed.
* MP3-player software that prohibits transfer of files from a user's player to an office or second household computer.
The trend is likely to continue, given the power of big media companies and the relative lack of independent consumer electronics manufacturers, according to Joe Born, the CEO of Neuros Technology, a small consumer-electronics firm specializing in devices that users can tweak.
Neuros' newest product allows users to record video onto flash memory cards, such as Sony's Memory Stick, in order to transfer DVDs or television shows onto portable devices such as PDAs and the PlayStation Portable.
"Anything that can translate to a lack of control for big media is scary to them, and they are a litigious lot and use every branch of government to maintain their position," Born said. "The balance has largely shifted to big media because there are so few independent consumer electronics manufacturers -- everyone forgets that Sony was the defendant in Betamax (which said VCRs were legal) and was the plaintiff in Napster (which shut down the file-sharing company)."
The media industry's habit of suing the makers of consumer electronics such as the Rio, one of the first MP3 players, is short-sighted, according to Born. "It is easy to look back and say, 'Without the VCR, where would Hollywood be today?'" Born said. "But new technology is not always viewed rationally or with the long view."
The New Year will also herald the first new devices powered by Intel's ViiV (pronounced like five) technology, which the company hopes will usher in multimedia networked homes.
Intel says ViiV computers, which will be sold as traditional towers and later in sleeker forms, will seamlessly connect home and portable devices, so pictures on a wireless laptop could be viewed on the living room television and a digitally downloaded movie could be converted into the right format for viewing on a ViiV-certified portable video device.
Intel has gotten companies such as TiVo and Napster to sign on, in part by promising that the system will enforce whatever copy-protection rules are attached to digital content, according to Intel spokeswoman Kari Skoog.
"If there is DRM on a music CD that is put there by the content owner, will ViiV adhere to whatever those rules are? Yes," Skoog said. "If there is no DRM associated with the CD, will ViiV stick something additional on it? No."
Von Lohmann said users should be cautious about technology like ViiV and Windows Media Center. "Consumers need to ask themselves, 'Who are these features are being built for: me or Hollywood?'" von Lohmann said.
He recommends that consumers buy a digital TV tuner card now, before media companies convince Congress to reinstate the HD-TV Broadcast Flag, an anti-copying mandate from the FCC that was struck down by a federal judge in May.
Media companies are also targeting the so-called "analog hole," which is the analog output of a device that plays digital media. The output is of lower quality, but users can connect an analog or digital recording device to capture the signal and then transfer the files to another player, computer or friend.
Last Friday, the House Judiciary committee introduced a bill that would require all digital devices that can output to or record from the analog hole to adhere to two specific DRM signals.
Media companies also told Congress in November that they want new digital FM signals to include an anti-copying flag and that satellite radio companies should not be allowed to create portable players that can store gigs of content.
These efforts could backfire, according to Neuros' Born.
"The day that independent hackers are closed down from playing with their machines is the day we shut down a huge avenue of exploration that historically has created much of our technological innovations," Born said. "Innovation and invention aren't the domain of big institutions -- if you disallow people from hacking, it will be a big loss for everybody."
