Thursday, April 18, 2002
DataPlay - a record label's dream?
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 08:05 AM
http://ptech.wsj.com/ptech.html
Walter Mossberg has obtained a DataPlay device and has put the technology through its paces. Note: if you click on the link and get something else, click column archive and navigate to the April 18, 2002 column. In this article written last year, Jason gave some thoughts on DataPlay, and while the technology looked cool back then, Mossberg had some very disturbing findings when he recently looked at it. Here are a few quotes from the article:
• But the biggest downside of the new DataPlay format is that it is the first format for prerecorded music that's designed from the ground up with a copy-protection system that will severely limit the way honest consumers can use the music they buy.
• you won't be able to copy any of the music to a PC, or burn it onto a CD for use in a CD player
• each song can only be copied to another DataPlay disk five times, curbing the number of "mix" disks you can make
• Installation of the necessary software was a pain. Five sets of programs and drivers needed to be installed, including one that creates a file system for the disks
• Music on the disks can be played through your PC's speakers, but only if you use a special music program called Future Player, which is designed to handle the encrypted files
• And anyone using it as a music medium is giving up most of his legal rights to copy music for convenient use. DataPlay may be a record label's dream format
So, I can only make 5 copies of a song ever, which means after 3-4 years, I'll be stuck since I go through hard drives, Pocket PC's and computers quite often. Or worse, I lose one of the small disks and need to make another copy.
Sigh...until someone figures out how to let me make as many copies of music and protect the copyright holders rights, without forcing me to give up my consumer rights, I'll opt for technologies that protect my rights first. I think DataPlay should be avoided until we see that they are putting as much effort into our rights as they seem to be the record labels. :-)
Walter Mossberg has obtained a DataPlay device and has put the technology through its paces. Note: if you click on the link and get something else, click column archive and navigate to the April 18, 2002 column. In this article written last year, Jason gave some thoughts on DataPlay, and while the technology looked cool back then, Mossberg had some very disturbing findings when he recently looked at it. Here are a few quotes from the article:
• But the biggest downside of the new DataPlay format is that it is the first format for prerecorded music that's designed from the ground up with a copy-protection system that will severely limit the way honest consumers can use the music they buy.
• you won't be able to copy any of the music to a PC, or burn it onto a CD for use in a CD player
• each song can only be copied to another DataPlay disk five times, curbing the number of "mix" disks you can make
• Installation of the necessary software was a pain. Five sets of programs and drivers needed to be installed, including one that creates a file system for the disks
• Music on the disks can be played through your PC's speakers, but only if you use a special music program called Future Player, which is designed to handle the encrypted files
• And anyone using it as a music medium is giving up most of his legal rights to copy music for convenient use. DataPlay may be a record label's dream format
So, I can only make 5 copies of a song ever, which means after 3-4 years, I'll be stuck since I go through hard drives, Pocket PC's and computers quite often. Or worse, I lose one of the small disks and need to make another copy.
Sigh...until someone figures out how to let me make as many copies of music and protect the copyright holders rights, without forcing me to give up my consumer rights, I'll opt for technologies that protect my rights first. I think DataPlay should be avoided until we see that they are putting as much effort into our rights as they seem to be the record labels. :-)
