eMax Net, Inc., a minority owned subsidiary of eMax Corporation, today announced its eMax Software Group division has completed in-house testing and analysis of Microsoft Corporation’s Windows Media Player security methods in support of the company’s full commitment to artist’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) and has found Media Player to be wholly inadequate for its purposes. In tests conducted on both stand-alone applications and several well known Internet-based media distribution sites the company has been able to easily duplicate “protected” music and media content producing freely distributable, anonymous, unsecured copies with minimal effort and little more than the bundled multimedia applications typically provided with most popular audio cards and systems.
At the core of EMAXNET’s eMax Music division business plan is the development of a secure audio-video content distribution system fully recognizing and protecting artist’s rights. Internet piracy is an entirely non-trivial concern for which, half-solutions are unacceptable both to individual artists and the industry. EMAXNET’s absolute commitment to its anti-piracy position and the rights of all artists to have access to the marketplace and to be fairly compensated for their work product demands a media distribution platform that ensures meaningful protection of the rights of all parties in the equity chain and full accountability for the illegal duplication and distribution of copyrighted digital media.
eMax Music intends to directly compete with on-line services such as Real Networks RealOne Rhapsody and Apple’s iTunes leveraging the value of its existing inventory of artists, music and video rights with its industry connections and insight to present a unique consumer entertainment system providing access to the marketplace for all artists past, present and future along with assurance of consumer value and artist compensation packages unparalleled in the industry together with a unique anti-piracy DRM solution representing meaningful accountability for unauthorized media duplication and distribution.
eMax Software Group is developing an Internet-based audio-video entertainment platform beginning with the accounting and e-commerce infrastructure Computer Decisions International will bring to EMAXNET and culminating in a proprietary front-end delivery platform and anti-piracy solution it hopes to base in part on the Divine Logic technology licensed from ReDOX Technology Corp. eMax Software Group is internally designing and developing the associated network infrastructure and supporting applications anticipating integration into EMAXNET broadcasting activities and deployment by eMax Music in Q4 of 2004.
More info here.
“…has found Media Player to be wholly inadequate for its purposes…”
Better late than never
When will companies start similar statements about Windoz!?
Errr, has anyone seen a press-release cramming more buzzwords into an announcement that they’re going to be jumping on the bandwagon? So this lot want to join the game late, want to use their own proprietary system and want to start in Q4???? All I can say is good luck. They’ll need it!
What is the value of this article? eMax is announcing that they are going to be a direct competitor while at the same time trashing their competition. Hardly unbiased. Don’t get me wrong, I am no fan of M$/wmp but this is not newsworthy.
zac
I noticed that they didn’t say anything directly bad about Fairplay DRM. Since Apple is the current leader in the market I think this is highly significant and a sign that Fairplay DRM was not found wanting. Anything to further discredit MWA and Microsoft will only further AAC/Fairplay in becoming the undisputed standard. These guys coming into the race with their own format might be kinda like Ross Perot or Ralph Nader entering a presidential race. They could act as a spoiler against ol’ number 2 Micro$oft.
Perhaps I’m missing something (I didn’t read whatever was at the link), but I can reproduce DRM’d tracks from the iTMS as DRM-less tracks using Audio HiJack. Is this different than what they are talking about? Maybe they are referring to making an EXACT copy. Anyone that knows please elaborate.
Wow! Snappy copy writing there, huh?
Seriously, though. If these people keep allowing their lawyers to write their press releases for them, they aren’t going to reach many music lovers.
LOL KennyLucius.
As TommyBoy points out, the DRM on protected AACs can be stripped. If eMax wanted to criticize Fairplay, they could have said the same thing they did about WMP.
That they didn’t take a swipe at Fairplay is one sign they don’t understand the market. That they believe people will want to buy music through some system that offers an unbreakable DRM-lock goes beyond that — looks like they’ve lost their grip with reality.
Have any of you guys been to their site? They hardly seem to have any kind of recognisable product, and the slowest most boring intro I’ve ever seen. I get the impression that announcing a music store is the latest publicity gag to grab attention. Hey, MDN, why don’t you guys send out a press release announcing one? You could then get the word out more effectively!
People don’t want DRM. The company with the “best” DRM in terms of protecting artists vs. protecting people’s right to own a copy of an artist’s work loses.
Good one Bo’ster.
We would like to announce that MacDailyNews will offering online music sales to our customers. We found that there is room in the market for a music store that gets DRM right. Our in-house tests find that WMA and AAC/FairPlay allow the DRM to be easily circumvented. Therefore we have developed our own non-proprietary solution. This DRM prohibits anyone from playing the music. Plus it works as intended on all portable MP3 players including the popular iPod and over-priced mini iPod. The owner of the music is not only allowed to make as many copies as he/she wants, but is also allowed to freely distribute the music to anyone on there email or chat lists.
Good Idea!! Macdailynews offers the first totally legal free music download site. All songs will be by independent artists who voluntarily agree to give up their digital rights in order to promote their music.
Even if you never actually do it you would get lots o hits
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
I don’t see any media players as being very adequate .. WMP least of all.
Self-respecting Windows users at least use Winamp or iTunes/win32. Self-respecting Unix/Linux users at least use MPlayer or VLC.
Self-respecting Mac users at least use any combination of Quicktime, MPlayer/OSX, VLC/OSX, and iTunes.
It is unfortunate that Apple limits Quicktime technology so much – it used to be so great, but it has become a backwards technology. No ac-3 support, no dts support, no free mpeg2 support, NOT EVEN FULL SCREEN PLAYBACK W/OUT PAYING 30$. Not to mention, transcoding is user-unfriendly, as well as limited in so many way, even with the Pro version.
I would like Mac OS X 10.4 to include a completely redesigned Quicktime for mac users, with support for all multimedia formats (except for WMA – M$ can whine until they are blue in the face, for all I care).
Uh-oh. Next headline “Buy Microsoft Corporation’s Windows Media Player and go to jail”. Tell it to the judge, convict!
“…the company has been able to easily duplicate “protected” music and media content producing freely distributable, anonymous, unsecured copies with minimal effort….”
finally someone found an actual advantage of WMA.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Once you put it on the internet its fairplay. Furthermore, If I buy Music, even from apple, I don’t want it to have any hoops to jump thru. I should be able to drop it in my ipod, not burn it to a disc first. In the words of Tom Daschle, “This is wrong.” I have a legal right to copy stuff I bought for my backup archive. I do not steal music. But I don’t like paying for locked AAC files from i-tunes! Universal open source code hoardes should overun the rubicon and decentralize the fat dumb and happy Roman bread & circus. The Tower of Babel is almost complete. One World Language… Open source code.
http://www.millenniafever.org
I think if you look at the press releases these guys have put out you will see they had previously licensed WMP and this press was not swiping at anyone but just pointing out it does not work, as we all know, so they gave up on it. I don’t read much else into the release.
It looks to me like someone trying to court the RIAA. Unbreakable DRM goes against fair use. It’s just pitting corporate interests against consumers. It’s not surprising in that light that they chose to take a swipe at Microsoft. MS is trying to sell to these same corporate interests.
You may be on to something there Jimbo. It looks like they are picking their fight on consumer and artist rights. They put out another statement today: http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/040311/54064.html but did take a bigger swipe this time.