Earlier this week it was revealed that Sony music has been installing a particularly nasty type of DRM on some of their audio cds. There is a technology called rootkits which gets into the lowest level of your computer operating system. At that level programs actually modified operating system instructions and redirect them. In this way for example if you list the files in a folder a rootkit can intercept the call and return a falsified result. By doing this files can be cloaked from view. This stuff was originally developed by hackers as a way of invading computer systems without being detected. Rootkits can be discovered with some specialized software like RootkitRevealer. A lot spyware and viruses use rootkit technology to prevent being detected and removed. A really good explanation of rootkits can be found by listening to to Episode 9 of the Security Now podcast. Security expert Steve Gibson explains rootkits in a very clear concise way. This is definitely worth a listen, as is the whole series if you use a computer with an internet connection.

Mark Russinovich is the guy who wrote RootKitRevealer and he was recently testing the latest revision on his own computer. In the process of testing, he discovered a rootkit on his computer. Of course as a security expert who knows how to protect himself, he was quite surprised at this. He wrote a very detailed description here. What he found is that a music cd he recently purchased had installed this rootkit as part of its digital restrictions management (copy protection) scheme. It now turns out that the software that Sony sureptitiously installed on his and countless other computers around the world was actually very dangerous and put a lot of people’s computers at risk. The sony drm was so poorly written that it cannot be removed without damaging the operating system. Virus and spyware writers can take advantage of this spyware to cloak their own malware now. Sony and other music companies use this drm technology allegedly to protect there music holdings from being shared on p2p networks and sold by pirates on street corners. The problem is anyone with any technical savy can get around this protection by simply disabling autorun on a windows computer to keep it from installing anything. Also copying the cd on a linux or mac computer will also bypass the drm. All the cds that have ever been issued with drm are readily available on file sharing networks.

The disgraceful part of this is that the only people who will be hurt by DRM are people who actually go out and pay money to the record companies to buy their music. So if you are foolish enough to be “honest” you will put your computer at risk of being hacked or damaged so that you have to reinstall your os and software. If you are sharing music you will be fine. Is this a good or ethical practise? Is it good to punish your honest customers while being totally ineffective at trying to protect your revenue stream? If you are going to buy a cd check the package for indications of copy protection or enhanced features. If there are any such markings put the cd down and walk away.

I don’t buy any music from labels that members of the RIAA anymore. This both because of the drm they use and the lawsuits that they have filed against, their customers. Boycott Sony Music and all members of the RIAA. Buy music from independant musicians through their websites or companies like EMusic, MagnaTune, Mp3Tunes and other music sellers that actually give a substantial amount of the money back to the musicians rather than overfed record executives like Edgar Bronfman and Howard Stringer. There are a bunch of links over on the sidebar, to new musicians I have found recently. There are also links to sites like the Association of Music Podcasters and the Podsafe Music Network. From there you can find links to lots of music podcasts where you can discover new music that is worth listening to and supporting.

BOYCOTT SONY!!!

Slashdot had a piece today pointing to a NY times article about whether the new 5th gen iPod
may have been a mistake. The basic premise is one that many in the press have repeated in recent days that the video capability of the new ipod is in adequate. Frankly I think the whole discusion of the ipod’s video feature is pointless. Prior to this past Wednesday when he announced an ipod that could play video, when asked about it Steve Jobs always said it was a bad idea. He said that the experience of watching video on such a small screen would not be enjoyable. He was right. I also don’t think that very many people will be willing to pay $2 an episode to watch tv re-runs and music videos (actually who would want to pay any price to watch music videos?). In the first few weeks some curious people will surely buy them just to check it out. However, I think that sales will quickly wane. Watching video is a distintcly different experience from listening to audio. You actually have to WATCH the screen. When you are watching video, you generally can’t do anything else. I listen to my ipod in the car when I am commuting to work, when I am sitting at my desk writing code, walking at lunch, reading blogs, cleaning the kitchen after dinner, working in the garden, you get the picture. There have been a variety of digital video players on the market for well over a year. None of them have sold very well. The only portable device that plays video that has sold in any significant numbers is the playstation portable, and that is mainly because it is a great game machine. There have also been portable tvs around for well over a decade, none of which has been particularly succesful, certainly nothing that has done as well as the ipod.

There is also the issue of the copy protection. No big media company will allow their stuff to be sold without some stupid drm scheme. So that means that videos you buy from itunes cannot be burned to dvds (although you can back up the files to dvd for archiving, you just can’t play them on any dvd player). The only place you can watch them is on the computer or ipod. Who the hell wants to pay for video you can’t watch on your tv? This will I think be the deal breaker.

Over time there have been three commercially succesful classes of portable media devices that have sold in huge numbers. The first was the Sony walkman tape player ( and the countless clones). The second was the portable cd player. In both of these cases, the generic clones generally sold quite well because there wasn’t much to distinguish any of the players. Because of the limited capacity, the user interface was not very critical and they were all pretty much the same. The case styling varied a bit but functionally, they were indistinguishable. Then came the mp3 player. They did OK when the first Rio players came out but it wasn’t until the ipod that really high capacity players started to sell in huge numbers.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the 5G ipod will be a failure. Not by a long shot. I think it will sell like gangbusters. It just won’t be because of video. Video is really a non-issue. Video will be one of those features like all the other “extra features” (think fm tuners, voice recording, etc) that most of the other competing players have but that hardly anyone uses. The ipod will sell for the same reason it has always sold. It is just the best digital audio player. The scroll wheel gives it the best control interface of any audio device. For high capacity players you need a interface that lets you easily scroll through long lists of audio files. The scroll wheel works because you can scroll through the list with your thumb without lifting. With the linear touch pads of devices like the creative and iriver players, you have to lift your thumb repeatedly to go through a long list. It just doesn’t work as well. The new version of the ipod has all the virtues of the previous generations (except for the faster firewire interface, now usb only) in an even thinner, better looking package. By making such a big deal about the video stuff, complainers are just whining about something that ultimately I feel will be irrelevant.