[cc-licenses] How Zune is alleged to violate copyright licenses, "piracy" and "theft" language

drew Roberts zotz at 100jamz.com
Tue Sep 19 06:14:37 EDT 2006


On Tuesday 19 September 2006 02:35 am, J.B. Nicholson-Owens wrote:
> drew Roberts wrote:
> > That said, what is this viral approach to DRM?
>
> According to the URL cited earlier, "Zune", Microsoft's new portable audio
> player, has wireless capability and can share tracks with others.
>
> However there is a catch when sharing tracks:
> > [...] recipients of shared songs will only be able to listen to them
> > three times or for three days, whichever comes first. It sort of sounds
> > like a really bad tire warranty.

Thanls for the reply, since I asked the question, I have both read more and 
heard other answers and explanations.

It is still not clear to me though if it will share any song on it, or only 
songs that the "player" wants to promote. In other words, I have seen 
explanations to the effect that the owner of the device cannot share tunes 
that he wants to share, the device shares tunes that it wants to share.

Does anyone have anything further on this? If this is the case, then the wifi 
abilities of the device are there purely for the benefit of microsoft and 
their "buddies" and not at all for the device's owner.
> >
> > Zune accomplishes this amazingly stupid feat by wrapping shared music in
> > a proprietary layer of DRM, regardless of what format the original
> > content may be in. If Microsoft’s claims are to be believed, this
> > on-the-fly DRM will be seamless and automatic - which must be some kind
> > of first for Microsoft.
>
> And the EFF says that Microsoft isn't just ignoring your licensing power.
> According to the EFF, Zune won't play
>
>  > Windows Media Audio and Video purchased or "rented" from Napster 2.0,
>  > Rhapsody, Yahoo! Unlimited, Movielink, Cinemanow, or any other online
>  > media service.  That's right -- the media that Microsoft promised would
>  > Play For Sure doesn't even play on Microsoft's own device.

If it is from a competing vendor. Well, this is MS after all. But, will it 
play "ripped" music and your own recoded music?
>
> If this is so, Microsoft is essentially helping those who want to show how
> self-destructive (for the user) and futile (for the copyright holder) DRM
> is. See http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004910.php for more.
>
> And, I quite agree on ceasing the misuse of "piracy" and "theft" -- let's
> use them when they apply and delegitimize their use in discussions around
> copyright infringement.

Indeed. Sometimes when people insist on using these terms, I ask if it is OK 
with them if I call the big boys rapists and child molesters?

all the best,

drew
-- 
(da idea man)
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/145261
Record a song and you might win $1,000.00
http://www.ourmedia.org/user/17145



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