5 ms·

That doesn't make sense. If you're recording off the 3.5mm jack, then you can record the output of the external dac just as well. Moving the dac out of the phon

by Vexs 10y ago

That doesn't make sense. If you're recording off the 3.5mm jack, then you can record the output of the external dac just as well. Moving the dac out of the phone doesn't make piracy harder.

dogma1138 10y ago
DRM isn't about protection it's about inconvenience. Think about a streaming service which would play songs but some songs could only be decoded using Beats or Skullcandy...
- dzhiurgis 10y ago
  Or serves higher quality audio for specific manufacturers.
- Vexs 10y ago
  Yeah, I suppose that's possible, but it doesn't make sense for the artists, the publishers, or the streaming service, who make money by having people listen to their songs.
  - 1_2__3 10y ago
    ...No, they make money by people paying to listen to (or play) their songs.
  - JustSomeNobody 10y ago
    Does it makes sense for an artist to make their music available to only one streaming service? Some would say no, and yet they still do it.
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    They already do this, they limit which streaming services have their content, and do time/exclusive releases for specific services. Apple bought Beats for the app and the user base, it's not impossible to already do promotion like some headphones give you 20$ worth of iTunes credit, now it's even easier get Beats and get access to additional exclusive content, or like some one else suggested better quality content. Seems like a good way of pushing people to pay 300$ for 30$ worth of hardware, or more precisely helping people to justify their purchase because their headphones can actually now sound better than even entry quality studio/recording headphones. DRM can rarely be used as a protection against mass copying and pretty much never when you cannot control the analog output of the protected content, it's only real use it to restrict how lawfull consumers can access and use the content. External DAC's have existed for Android devices for quite a while (BT/USB DAC's), and even for iOS (you could connect a DAC to an iPhone/iPad since they switched to the Lighting cable). The streaming industry has almost hit a dead end with monetization, having a digital interface that can be controlled gives them a whole new avenue of value added services and while it's unlikely that they'll jump on it immediately I would bet my money on the likes of Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music capitalizing on this within the next 2 years.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
ZenoArrow 10y ago
The DAC will be hard wired into the headphones, there won't be a jack between the headphones and the DAC that you can plug into. At the start, you'd need to modify headphones to be able to record the signal, but I doubt this will work in the long term. At some point it's highly likely the DACs will come with DRM so that only approved headphones work with a device.
- nine_k 10y ago
  This very much depends on the design of the headphones. Look at bluetooth headphones: there are models with a transciever built into the headphones, and separate transcievers where you can plug whatever headphones you want. The same can be the case with type-C.
- djrogers 10y ago
  Nothing preventing someone from making a DAC with a 3.5mm jack instead of a set of headphones. In fact they already exist...
  - pjc50 10y ago
    In a DRM scenario, there would be an audio equivalent to HDCP in place, so you'd need a piece of technology which it's illegal to clone and only available if you sign a restrictive licensing agreement. Mind you, you'd still be able to cannibalise an existing set for this.
    - Vexs 10y ago
      Given how "successful" HDCP has been, I'd give it a month or two of survivablity. And yeah, as you mentioned, anyone with basic electronics skills (or for that matter, could follow a youtube video) could simply mod their hardware to plug whatever they want in.
- drdaeman 10y ago
  Unless the DAC is very tightly integrated into the actual speaker (literally fused, so it's hard to connect to the coil), there always will be an analog loophole. DRM is not about preventing this, though. It's about making ordinary consumers surrender to whatever media dictates, not preventing absolutely everyone from ripping the content.

by Vexs 10y ago

That doesn't make sense. If you're recording off the 3.5mm jack, then you can record the output of the external dac just as well. Moving the dac out of the phone doesn't make piracy harder.

dogma1138 10y ago

DRM isn't about protection it's about inconvenience. Think about a streaming service which would play songs but some songs could only be decoded using Beats or Skullcandy...

dzhiurgis 10y ago
Or serves higher quality audio for specific manufacturers.
Vexs 10y ago
Yeah, I suppose that's possible, but it doesn't make sense for the artists, the publishers, or the streaming service, who make money by having people listen to their songs.
- 1_2__3 10y ago
  ...No, they make money by people paying to listen to (or play) their songs.
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  Does it makes sense for an artist to make their music available to only one streaming service? Some would say no, and yet they still do it.
- dogma1138 10y ago
  They already do this, they limit which streaming services have their content, and do time/exclusive releases for specific services. Apple bought Beats for the app and the user base, it's not impossible to already do promotion like some headphones give you 20$ worth of iTunes credit, now it's even easier get Beats and get access to additional exclusive content, or like some one else suggested better quality content. Seems like a good way of pushing people to pay 300$ for 30$ worth of hardware, or more precisely helping people to justify their purchase because their headphones can actually now sound better than even entry quality studio/recording headphones. DRM can rarely be used as a protection against mass copying and pretty much never when you cannot control the analog output of the protected content, it's only real use it to restrict how lawfull consumers can access and use the content. External DAC's have existed for Android devices for quite a while (BT/USB DAC's), and even for iOS (you could connect a DAC to an iPhone/iPad since they switched to the Lighting cable). The streaming industry has almost hit a dead end with monetization, having a digital interface that can be controlled gives them a whole new avenue of value added services and while it's unlikely that they'll jump on it immediately I would bet my money on the likes of Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music capitalizing on this within the next 2 years.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

ZenoArrow 10y ago

The DAC will be hard wired into the headphones, there won't be a jack between the headphones and the DAC that you can plug into. At the start, you'd need to modify headphones to be able to record the signal, but I doubt this will work in the long term. At some point it's highly likely the DACs will come with DRM so that only approved headphones work with a device.

nine_k 10y ago
This very much depends on the design of the headphones. Look at bluetooth headphones: there are models with a transciever built into the headphones, and separate transcievers where you can plug whatever headphones you want. The same can be the case with type-C.
djrogers 10y ago
Nothing preventing someone from making a DAC with a 3.5mm jack instead of a set of headphones. In fact they already exist...
- pjc50 10y ago
  In a DRM scenario, there would be an audio equivalent to HDCP in place, so you'd need a piece of technology which it's illegal to clone and only available if you sign a restrictive licensing agreement. Mind you, you'd still be able to cannibalise an existing set for this.
  - Vexs 10y ago
    Given how "successful" HDCP has been, I'd give it a month or two of survivablity. And yeah, as you mentioned, anyone with basic electronics skills (or for that matter, could follow a youtube video) could simply mod their hardware to plug whatever they want in.
drdaeman 10y ago
Unless the DAC is very tightly integrated into the actual speaker (literally fused, so it's hard to connect to the coil), there always will be an analog loophole. DRM is not about preventing this, though. It's about making ordinary consumers surrender to whatever media dictates, not preventing absolutely everyone from ripping the content.