Tag archive for DRM

The plus side to Amazon’s attempts to differentiate ebook hardware and content is being able to read content on more than one device.  However, when one arm of the company is pushing customers to buy more Kindle hardware, and the other has cautious publishers insisting on layers of DRM, confusion is bound to happen.  According [...]

Amazon have begun to implement a remote kill-switch that removes text-to-speech functionality from their Kindle ebook reader.  A byproduct of the Author’s Guild TTS controversy, the system allows publishers to disable text-to-speech on a title by title basis; as of this week, TTS has been removed from over 40 works including five of the top ten [...]

There aren’t a whole lot of music websites out there, especially to compete with the big dogs like iTunes, but now there’s even one less. SpiralFrog decided to close their doors yesterday after struggling to make ends meet in this economy.

After speculation that Apple was using the new iPod shuffle 4GB to launch an “authentication chip” which only licensed headphones would offer, Apple themselves and a number of third-party accessory manufacturers have spoken up about the smallest iPod’s hardware.  V-moda, Monster Cable and Scosche have all described it as a “control chip”, which uses the microphone [...]

For something so small, the new iPod shuffle 3G is causing a whole lot of commotion.  Argument around Apple’s tiniest PMP is centering on the control system, which has been shifted from the body of the shuffle itself to an in-line pod in the headphones.   Now there’s talk of an “authentication chip” buried inside the shuffle [...]

Uh-oh. A lot of gamers are going to be unhappy about this. It seems Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC will be outfitted with DRM, specifically SecuROM, which recently made news just a bit ago when it was discovered it was included in the Spore title.

Apples decision to go with Mini DisplayPort on their new MacBook and MacBook Pro machines, and not include the adapters free, initially frustrated many whose existing monitors simply lacked the connection.  Now there’s a whole new level of annoyance, as it becomes clear that Apple have made use of HDCP (High-Definition Content Protection) which renders any [...]

Thanks to Microsoft, Netflix subscribers can now access Watch Instantly service via MS’s Silverlight technology on their Intel –based Macs. The company has a growing library of 12,000 movies and episodes of TV shows available for its unlimited plans customers to stream online, but were limited to PC users due to lack of supports from [...]

Walmart has backtracked on its decision to shut down the DRM servers authenticating music tracks purchased from its MP3 Downloads store.  In a message sent to service users, Walmart cites “feedback from our customers” as the motivation for the turnaround, having announced last month that it would take the systems offline as it transitioned to [...]

RealNetworks launched their RealDVD software today and just one hour after it was made available, the company filed a lawsuit against Hollywood movie studios and the DVD Copy Control Association in a preemptive move to ensure the software does not violate any DVD copy agreements.