Audio News for March 21, 2008

Avoiding DRM Problems – Many experts in the area of music downloading fear that Digital Rights Management (DRM) of every type is causing more and more inconvenience and frustration as more people try to play and or copy music they have legally paid for online and find that they cannot. A knowledgeable expert on the subject, Greg Havenga – who has worked for Harman International and a subsidiary of Escient – advises not to buy any downloaded music that has DRM on it. “Buy everything you can second hand, and now’s a good time to fill your back catalog from used music stores. Be sure to fanatically support artists who release their own non-DRM music, and eventually the big guys will have to give in.”

Wireless Solution from Your PC to Your Home Audio System – Many people are using Apple’s AirPort Express to stream synchronized music thru their homes, saving a bundle over custom whole-home systems. The problem is that it uses AirTunes protocol, which works only with music you have in iTunes. Airfoil, from Rogue Amoeba, makes it possible to stream audio from any application on Macs or PCs to AirPort Express base stations or AppleTVs. Version 3.1 even handles video and it’s only $25 for Mac OS X and a version for Windows is also available. For the cost of a used Mac mini, two Airport Express base stations, some in-ceiling speakers and Airfoil, one user constructed a synchronized whole-home audio system controlled from his phone.

Recording Industry vs. The People – is a web site with a clear step-by-step explanation of how the current litigation process of the four major record companies via the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) works.  The RIAA continues to pursue tens of thousands of extortionate lawsuits against ordinary working people and their children in an effort to redefine copyright law.  Many of the defendants have never even used a computer, or have never engaged in peer-to-peer file sharing, and often actual illegal downloading never took place.  Most are students, with no assets to pay the stiff fines. The result is to spread fear and attempt to regain monies from the public to cover RIAA losses from reduced music sales due to downloading.  The intent is to monopolize their control of digital music.

The questionable use of ex parte orders is central to the RIAA’s effort. Ex parte means that only one side in a litigation has communicated to the Court, without the knowledge of the other parties to the suit.  The American system of justice is supposed to be based on an open system in which both sides can communicate with the Court.  The RIAA asks the courts to grant an ex parte order to subpoena the subscriber lists from a suspected ISP.  That is how they get the names and addresses to send out the individual lawsuits, which previously had been “John Does” in the initial lawsuit filed.  These have been routinely granted in the U.S., but both Canada and the Netherlands found the RIAA’s investigation too flimsy to warrant invasion of subscriber privacy.  Recording Industry vs The People