“Mac rumor site Thinksecret.com seems quite sure that Apple will announce a video locker strategy of sorts at the January MacWorld show,” Robert X. Cringely writes for PBS.com. “Though I have written quite a bit about what I believe to be Apple’s emerging media strategy, I have no specific knowledge about this upcoming announcement. That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t a lot of material to analyze from just the Thinksecret account, which you’ll find among this week’s links.”
“Apple’s take on enhanced Digital Rights Management, according to Thinksecret, is never actually allowing copyrighted bits to be stored on the user’s machine. Instead, when you buy or rent a movie from iTunes, the video will sit on Apple’s server and be accessible to the purchaser or renter in accordance with the rules of that particular transaction. If you don’t have the bits on your machine, the theory goes, you can’t steal them,” Cringely writes.
“There are already software products that can hijack video and audio streams in real time as they play and though Apple can work to defeat those, it will probably be a losing cause. Still, with FairPlay on top of this locker strategy, Apple has something better than what’s being offered by its competition. Movie studios are eager for new revenue sources and Apple has the mojo, so we’ll probably see a bunch of movie studio announcements to this effect in January,” Cringely writes. “But we’re not there yet. What really bothers me about this Thinksecret item is how they finesse the language of what’s actually happening from a technical standpoint. Yes (if the item is correct at all) the movies will stay on a server somewhere. Yes, they’ll be played on your PC or Mac. And yes, they’ll never be stored there because of some clever Apple caching technology. But what does all this come down to, really? Streaming.”
“Streaming likes to have as much bandwidth as possible RIGHT NOW. To make streaming of high-bandwidth content as painless as possible, Apple would need the kind of distributed architecture I’ve been describing at Google. Maybe Apple has that, but if they do, nobody has told me,” Cringely writes. “There are ways around this technically. Maybe Apple is using the Akamai network or its equivalent. Maybe the distribution system leverages peer-to-peer in the same manner as BitTorrent. Maybe there is some secret technology Apple will pull out from behind Door Number Three. But whatever technical solution Apple presents, the company will still have a LEGAL problem.”
“No matter how I look at it, this supposed Apple announcement clearly bumps into the claims of little Burst.com and its nearly 40 video distribution patents. Burst has been quiet lately, which could mean something or nothing. Certainly, they haven’t announced that Apple has bought a license like Microsoft did last year for $60 million. If Apple introduces this video service as described but without a license, Burst will undoubtedly try to shut it down,” Cringely writes. “So if you believe the rumor, then look for an Apple/Burst announcement. I’m not sure yet what I believe.”
There is much more in Cringely’s full article here.
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Related article:
RUMOR: Apple to debut new distribution system, partners for feature-length, TV, and video in January – December 02, 2005
Why is Cringley’s mascot dated circa 1998? Circa means ‘about’ or ‘approximately’. Historians use the term when they can’t date something precisely.
Doesn’t he know when he started using his own mascot?
This guy is pullling ideas out of his butt.
With the new Intel chips coming there will be forms of DRM that will lock the OS and other software, directly to each machine.
For instance the copy protection scheme for HDTV called “HDCP” is on all these new Intel processors. It’s a incrediably hard DRM with changing keys and authorized machines. This is no simple software crack, it will require a hardware crack of some sort, and with trying to sell such a device opens up a person to criminal/lawsuit.
In fact HDCP is used on all these new HDTV’s being sold heavily in the US.
HDCP is content protection, the content is always scrambled on the hard drive and decoded by the processors in real time, with a M$ or Apple specific DRM going to the monitors.
It’s not going to be a pretty site when the Mactels come out.
After all how is content that is only streamed supposed to get onto your video iPod?
Really Cringely, get with it.
this has hurt my head
“It’s not going to be a pretty site when the Mactels come out.”
First off, stop calling them Mactels, unless you currently refer to them as MacBM’s or MacOrolas. Secondly theres no reason to criticise MDN for their site design. What makes you think they are going to make it ugly when the Intel switch happens?
“Secondly theres no reason to criticise MDN for their site design.”
He’s not talking about MDN, he’s referring to Cringley.
Sight vs. Site. If you want people to be able the understand your writing, use the correct words. MacDude probably meant, “It’s not going to be a pretty sight when the Mactels come out.” What Hammer did was use sarcasm to point out the misuse of “site.” Sarcasm is also often misconstrued in print.
And you thought those spelling lessons weren’t important.
Apple has to let you into the iTMS purchasing queue before you can even get any of their DRMed stuff. They don’t let just any old body in there, you know.
He is close… heh heh. Can’t say no mo.
Except it is wireless.
Well if MDN gave us the option to edit our posts then “site” could be “sight” like it’s supposed to be.
After all at least i run the spell checker, but it doesn’t Catch all the eRos as you can tell.
yeah I had the sarcasmo machine going there. Some people get it.
Anim8r says “Except it is wireless”
Hmmmm…
maybe it rhymes with ‘fly Macs’. Hmmm… certainly would give the bandwidth needed. Major overhaul to .mac huh?
MacDude, only the low-res video content will be downloaded and stored on an iPod. The HD-res video content is what Cringely and Think Secret is writing about. HD-res video will not be downloaded onto the iPod. It will only be viewable when connected to the Internet – usually within a home on a large-screen HD display.
Sounds like a glorified version of video rental or car lease to me.
If I buy it, I want it to be MINE to play wherever and whenever I want, internet or no internet.
There will be two kinds of content: low-resolution content to download, and HD-content to stream: http://www.2manage.de/managementchannel/?p=27
The HD-content will be hardware-DRM-protected.
Cringley rocks. It’s an opinion and brief analysis!
This is great news for Apple. But what about us poor bastards on dial up?
I do not think that we are ready for streaming HD movies yet. Most iTunes users do not have a computer capable of playing 720p or 1080p videos, like those offered on the QuickTime Trailers page. The smallest HD size, 480p has a data rate of 2665 kbs and most home connections would not support a stream that big for the duration of a movie. The media vault idea sounds good as a backup for content purchased on iTunes but not for streaming movies. The market for it would be miniscule.
What’s wrong with calling them ‘MacTels’? Apple have even trademarked the word, so I don’t think they’re shy about people using it in the future to describe their machines.
It would have to be better than what I’ve heard so far. If it ain’t a keper, it’s a waste of bandwidth.
if thay do this thay will shoot thair self in the foot like thay did in the 80’s by not licensing software in doing so thay went from huge market share to allmost bankrupt. thay have major market share in the download of media and sales of ipods. to do this thay will suffer greatly. i would not buy another piece of digital content or mp3 player from them and i doubt verry many people would(unless u are dumb as a box of rocks. i am a friend of apple and would hate to see this come to pass.
If you are renting a movie … why does it matter if it is streamed? Streaming might be an issue in the case of a purchase, however, I don’t see it being a problem for rental purposes.
cringly get’s it wrong when he states that microsoft bought a license to use burst.com’s streaming technology. according to this cnet article http://news.com.com/Burst,+Microsoft+agree+to+settle+suit/2100-1030_3-5611028.html
“Software company Burst.com has agreed to a tentative $60 million settlement with Microsoft over charges that the giant had stolen its streaming media technology.”
“What’s wrong with calling them ‘MacTels’? Apple have even trademarked the word, so I don’t think they’re shy about people using it in the future to describe their machines.”
Because it sounds like some cheap ass commodity PC. Just like you go to the local computer gear store and all the cheapo junk PC gear is called Win-this or Win-that. Winmodem. WinBurner… WinWhatever
It’s not premium branding which is part of what Apple is all about.
“by not licensing software in doing so thay went from huge market share to allmost bankrupt”
That Apple had “huge market share” is a myth. While certainly they had a much larger share than they do now, it never got much higher than 15%, which is far from what the rest of the pie contains.