Digital-Lifestyles

Copy Protection

  • Apple User Copy Protection Fury

    Apple User Copy Protection FuryIt’s looking like Apple has built copy protection into their new laptops, without bothering to tell prospective purchasers about it.

    The currently Apple-faithful who have bought the new laptops, including the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, are finding that if they try to play films – that they have legitimately rented through Apple iTunes Store – through a non-HDCP external screen or projector are begin met with a message “This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorised to play protected movies is connected.”

    Not surprisingly this has angered them a great deal – and quite rightly in our view.

    Given how Apple go to a great of effort in launching their products to the world, we think it’s pretty disingenuous not to mention that the laptops that are being bought have High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) built into them.

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  • RealDVD Brings Lawsuit From Hollywood

    RealDVD Brings Lawsuit From HollywoodA strong sense of Deja Vu is flowing thick around the Digital-Lifestyles offices today as we hear that ‘Hollywood’ is to take legal action against Real Network for their DVD copying software, RealDVD.

    Five years ago last month, the collected legal might of the Hollywood studios took a disliking to 321 Studios as they too had the temerity to create and sell software that allowed people to copy their DVDs.

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  • NDS: Permira To Take It Private

    NDS: Permira To Take It PrivateNDS, a DRM, PVR and interactive TV company, will be taken private, away from its current public listed status.

    News Corporation currently owns approximately 72% of the equity and a stunning 96% of the voting power of NDS through its ownership of 100% of the outstanding Series B shares.

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  • Microsoft DRM: A Blunt Knife

    Microsoft DRM: A Blunt KnifeWhat a blunt knife Microsoft’s DRM is. We don’t know if you’ve noticed before, but some time in the last, Microsoft made change to their Media Player, stopping screen grabs of videos that are playing.

    Clearly Microsoft thought this would be something that would appeal to content owners in fear of their work being taken without payment – even if it was only a single frame of it.

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  • Adobe Media Player Launched

    Adobe Media Player LaunchedAdobe have launched a stand-alone Media Player (AMP).

    Using Adobe Air, the AMP plays back high quality video both on PCs and Apple computers at standard def and 1080p.

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  • iPlayer iPhone Hacked AGAIN

    iPlayer iPhone Hacked AGAINJust when the BBC were pleased to tell everyone that they’d fixed the hole in their iPhone iPlayer service that let people download TV programmes without DRM – the very next day, the originator of the hack, Paul Battley, produced an update to get around the BBC’s fix, re-opening the whole.

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  • Macrovision Buying Gemstar-TV Guide

    Macrovision Buying Gemstar-TV GuideMacrovision, content protection company, has agreed to purchase TV listing company, Gemstar-TV Guide International in a cash and stock transaction with a value of approximately $2.8 billion.
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  • Gigabyte Announces M704 UMPC

    Gigabyte Announces M704 UMPCSporting rather pleasing modern silver lines with a black edge, Gigabyte’s new M704 is the latest addition to the growing mob of Ultra Mobile PCs (‘UMPC’) being foisted on the public by a host of manufacturers.
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  • Wal-Mart Launches DRM-Free MP3 Download Service

    Wal-Mart Launches DRM-Free MP3 Download ServiceRetail titans Wal-Mart have started offering digital music downloads on its Web site free of the copy-protection technology inflicted on most MP3 web sites.

    Boasting thousands of albums and songs from major record labels like Universal and EMI Group, Wal-Mart’s service will let users download tracks free of any digital rights management.
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  • Nokia Sign Up for Microsoft PlayReady DRM

    Nokia To Support PlayReady DRMNokia has signed a deal with Microsoft to put PlayReady on some of their handsets.

    Nokia say that they “plan to support PlayReady across a range of S60 and Series 40 devices starting in 2008.”
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