What is Digg?184 Comments
- BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -34/+110Why do you hate the French?
What did they do to you? I mean, other than guarantee that you live in a free country and not suffer rule of the British royalty for another 100 or so years? - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -16/+89Indeed, America probably wouldn't be a country if it weren't for the French. And then we helped them out in WWI and II. Sure we have a difference of opinion, but seriously it isn't that hard to get along. Can't we just be friends?
- pmcall221, on 10/12/2007, -16/+71Didn't the French save the US in the revolutionary war and the war of 1812? I mean if we bring up the past and all, you might as well bring it all up. Can't pick and choose our history now can we?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -45/+96I am now incredibly conflicted, as my intense dislike for the French is matched by my intense dislike for Apple's monopolizing attempts - "Hey, we missed the desktop boat, but here's something else we can monopolize to be just like Microsoft!".
Ignoring the fact that the iTunes service is ridiculously bad value when compared to CDs (lower sound quality, no packaging, horrible restrictions on where I can and can't play it), it's quite honestly disgusting that Apple are locking in record labels exclusively, therefore preventing me legally grabbing certain tracks unless I own Apple's overpriced and metrosexual box of tricks (It doesn't even play ogg ffs, which we all know blows aac out of the water!).
DRM was, is and will continue to be a lose-lose situation for the consumer, and despite Apple's best efforts to wrap it with a positive "it's not so bad" spin, and a lot of slick minimalist design, it's still DRM. Is it as restrictive as some DRM? No. Is it still DRM, and therefore by it's very definition restrictive? Yes. That's a bad deal for the consumer.
Lastly, I guess here is the part where everyone says "But! Apple are barely making anything as it is! The record companies take most of the fee for an iTunes song!". Well Boo Hoo for Apple. As a consumer, I could give a *****, and quite frankly, if Apple started allowing their oh-so-exclusive tracks to be played on other music players, they may start generating a bit more cash from iTunes.
Please stop painting Apple as the all-in-white posterboy saviour of digital music, because they are patently not. They are in it for one reason, and one reason only, to shift hardware.
Finally - no, I'm not a Microsoft fanboy. I just want to see Apple get the same treatment as Microsoft did with their monopoly, so my rights as a consumer to listen to whatever music I want to, where I want to, are protected. - gimmegimmenow, on 10/12/2007, -12/+50"They reall are very rude and smelly bunch of sissies who are ungrateful "
The same can be said about the Americans. Traveling to other countries is not a great thing at them moment as Americans are looked down upon for being such obnoxious pricks. Always loud and demanding. And they get upset for countries not having American lifestyles or products. Sheesh! Oh btw, America did not save ww2 alone. It's quite known, as also taught in history outside of the US, that Russia contributed significantly to winning ww2. So, as usual, Americans need to stop taking credit for everything and give credit to their allies. The same sort of thing is happening with the Iraqi war where it's made to believe that the US is doing all the operations in Iraq. Hello? Other countries are contributing too as they have in other wars or conflicts the US has been involved in. Damn, even Australian soldiers helped out in Vietnam! - pmcall221, on 10/12/2007, -5/+38Lafayette wasn't the only Frenchman who fought in the revolutionary war. There were many other generals and their troops who fought against the British along side US troops. After the war France was almost the only importer/ exporter of goods. Aside from slaves, they were one of the most important keys in the economy at the time.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -29/+55This kind of moronic casual racism is one of the reasons the USA is the butt of alot of jokes
"Why do you hate the French?"
"I dunno, I guess sometime some guy told me I should, or something"
Think for yourselves - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -14/+40@Lane
But it isn't funny (notice how you got modded down), and it's completely untrue and idiotic. You fail to realize that Americans seem to think that any country that doesn't agree with what we want, is instantly flagged as "evil". Now of course, this isn't true for everyone- and people are entitled to their own opinion. Except if those opinions or "jokes" as you so bravely assigned it, are based on nothing more that relitively mild differences of opinion, and not on actual historical or political facts, then I cannot except your opinion.
Again, we as Americans practically owe our countryhood to the French, whether you like it or not. - tekmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23It's pretty damn funny that so many people are insulting the French...joke or not. While thousands of French citizens are protesting their government over an employment (or unemployment) law, we Americans are sitting idly by while our government is on the verge of violating the 4th Amendment (i.e. NSA wiretapping and proposals for warantless searches). So, please, they deserve the tiniest bit of respect. ;-)
- o0joshua0o, on 10/12/2007, -16/+35I just felt the need to lay out a few facts that have apparently been forgotten:
*The US could not have won the Revolutionary war were it not for the French.
*WWII was won by Russia first, the US second. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+25Ha, the irony of that is delicious, the statue of liberty was a gift from the French, what a moron
- tanveer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22From the article:
"The FairPlay copy-protection mechanism in iTunes and the iPod was Hollywood's idea. Apple initially balked at copy protection, but as the iPod and iTunes took off, the company realized FairPlay had an important secondary function: It locked iPod users into the online iTunes Music Store, and iTunes music buyers into the iPod."
....Apple, which may soon strike deals with the TV networks and video production houses that will see hundreds of TV shows, documentaries, music videos and so on, hosted on an iTunes music and movie store -- accessed only though Apple's software or hardware, like the Mac mini...
If such a scenario comes true, Apple will become more and more powerful as the gatekeeper to this content. And it will behave like every other big, powerful global corporation -- as a predatory monopoly."
I think the ending statement puts it best:
"There are few Mac users prepared to argue that Microsoft's monopoly in desktop PCs has been a good thing for the technology industry; why would an Apple monopoly of digital entertainment be any different?" - hughns, on 10/12/2007, -9/+24This is clearly going to disintegrate into a Franco-US shouting match.
I, for one, have no idea why Americans resent the French so much. - GuineaPig, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16The whole idea of hating such a huge group of people bound by nothing but geography, whether they be French, Americans, Germans, Chinese, etc. is the pinnacle of human stupidity.
- TopherT, on 10/12/2007, -2/+151. 5 weeks of vacation seems pretty good to me.
2. France has been getting on some trouble for banning headscarves in schools It seems unlikely they would adopt an Islamist state under sharia law.
3. Spoiled little brats? 10:1 says you've never been to France and are speaking out of ignorance and a general desire to fit in with Americans who get a good giggle out of hating France.
Freedom fries? I mean how pathetic can we get.
Picking on France is like picking on Sweden, unnecessary and ignorant. - billyliberty, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16i saw a bumper sticker with the words "f*ck the french" that had a picture of the statue of liberty with its hand outstretched and a single middle finger erected to visibly show whatever french person happened to be behind the automobile just what was what.
and it also stood as a testament to the incredible intellect of the car's driver.
for the article, it only really covered the surface of the issue. with the increasing uniformity across Europe as political integration deepens alongside economics, couldn't this have an eventual effect throughout the EU? it seems that it definitely could.
i do think the author has it right that in the near-future, this sort of protection scheme will be much more painful for the consumer. however, it seems that there will always be some sort of DRM on this type of content (especially video). can you actually picture any of those silver-haired suits from the RIAA/MPAA not forcing DRM as they see their traditional money-making paradigm spurt away?
it definitely seems like a generational issue. those old guys just keep trying to apply band-aids to the business. only problem is band-aids don't do much when the carotid is cut.
- captaindan, on 10/12/2007, -6/+16As opposed to the attitude that most Americans have about our own culture?
- amoro99, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Note to french hating geeks:
Hating the french doesn't make you cool. Sorry, just thought you should know.
As for the article, music will be free in < 10 years anyway. - nnonix, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14Personally I hope Apple pulls out of France because of this. I'm no Apple fan in ANY way but I do believe that IF you create it, support it and own it, you should be able to PROFIT from it. Leave it to the other guy to come up with a better service.
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Why is everybody thinking that this legislation focuses entirely on Apple? Microsoft's Janus DRM (in WMA10) has the same problem, and there's dozens of online places you can buy WMA files. Napster, Wal-Mart, etc. Okay, most of them may not be available in France, I admit, but some of them surely are and the rest probably want to be. None of their files will play on any hardware that is not "Plays For Sure" compatible, and that includes the iPod.
- Bachus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"Not that it matters, but as a point of fact Russia didn't fight Germany voluntarily, they did it due to a sense of self preservation. America fought Germany out of a sense of doing what's right for one's fellow man. "
No, America fought Germany because Germany delcared war on us after we declared war on Japan after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Nevermind the fact that before that attack, popular opinion was against going to war at all.
And for the record, it took a number of things going the Allies' way to defeat Germany. Had any one of the major players not joined in the conflict, we would have lost. Had Hitler not been a moron and ignored his generals and advisors numerous times we would have lost. - brandizzle, on 10/12/2007, -10/+17Alright...comparing this to Microsoft is, quite frankly, stupid. Does a person NEED an iPod with the latest songs on it? No. Does a person in business need to be able to have access to Windows? Quite often the answer is yes.
Windows had a monopoly because they were pretty much the only person out there. There are plenty of competitors for Apple. If someone doesn't like Apple, then they can buy from a different company. If someone didn't like Microsoft then they just had to deal.
Oh but I would still love to see Apple remove the restrictions, but as a business choice...not because they're forced to. And I'll bet if they don't want to, then they'll just leave France. - HMTKSteve, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Is this the same France that is threatening to pass laws that would kill Video Lan Client????
- Régis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Yes exactly. This article is totally misleading because it does not give the full scope of this (actually terrible) law.
DRM are now mandatory on systems designed to exchange copyrighted material. As such, there is really no other option but to open the specifications of DRM, otherwise there would be a very strong vendor lock in. - DefenderOrights, on 10/12/2007, -7/+13@gimmegimmenow
Believe it or not I agree with you. America didn't win WWII or WWI by itself and as I recall we didn't actually win in Vietnam. I never meant to imply that we single handedly saved the world. Actually I do believe that if either Russia and America and Great Britain, and all the rest not gone to war with the Axis powers during the same time then the Allies would have lost. So Credit is given to all participants.
I meerly wished to point out this rewriting of history that says 'The French gave America their freedom.' The facts clearly are that the British Empire was spread to thinly to mount an effective land campaign in North America. Yes the French were our 'Allies' during the Revolution and the war of 1812, but they did NOT want to see us win. They had their own agenda, and that agenda was to gain a larger Empire than Great Britain.
Also You're probably right about Americans thinking that we're somehow better than everyone else. However I would think that's is something almost EVERYONE is guilty of. "My County is best."
And we DO NOT hate the French any more than they really hate us. We're like a big family. We squabble and argue but if you pick on one of us....you gotta fight ALL of us. Viva La France, God Save The Queen, God Bless America, etc... - KamikazeH20mln, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Why only punish Apple, which was forced into DRM by the RIAA? If you are going against DRM in France, then name all the players, not just Apple, to set your example. Apple, Microsoft, RealPlayer, etc. are just playing along in RIAA's game. Why punish the distributors/manufactures of music hardware/software when the RIAA is the real culprit?
Of course, who knows how much of this article is yellow journalism either. It will be interesting in how Apple really responds to the situation. - strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12Strange, my iPod plays my mp3s just fine. And I can copy my mp3s out of itunes. It's as simple as dragging and dropping. How again am I locked into the itunes store?
- llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Vive la France!
I wish we could be more like them and pass some reasonable laws for a change! - lane.montgomery, on 10/12/2007, -10/+15Reality check:
You don't have to buy apple software/hardware to be productive in today's world.
There are plenty of alternatives. Microsoft's monopoly was so bad because in order to operate in the business environment, you were locked into windows + office. In an office environment, you have to have cross compatability between companies to foster communication. With music, it's not like you need to have the same format of music as your friend or something. You just need what works for you. So I think it is an invalid argument to suggest that Apple's dominance hurts the market because there is no barrier for you to make a decision to purchase music from another retailer.
FWIW I do believe that consumers should have the right to circumvent digital restrictions management (I don't like using the word 'rights' there, it makes me feel dirty) on their own media. This would remove the barrier that exists if you are currently invested in one media service provider (MSP?) and want to switch to another. - silenceHR, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7i guess i'll get many minuses for this, but lets have a look at current situation.
US has DCMA, Microsoft does what it wants, Apple is creating yet another monopoly based on DRM and limiting what people can do with product they payed with their OWN money.
On the other hand, we have EU that is not backing down on Microsoft and it's practice, we have France that is passing laws that should force Apple to open up their DRM.
Let's leave all the "freedom fries" and who saved whos butt in which war behind us and look into the future. Just tell me one thing, whats better for users ( and that means _US_, people that use digital media, people that comment here and offcourse people in general).
I am not saying France is saving civilization, cause thats big overstatement, but let's put war and current politics aside and think about which approach is better.
Why should Apple enslave you to buy THEIR player, when maybe you like some other?
After all, you are PAYING for that music, TV shows and movies on their site.
It should be YOU who will decide where, when and how to play content you PAID FOR.
DRM issue is something we should take seriously and "f*ck the french" or "i hate france" arent best approches to deal with this issue. Best approach (IMO) is to look at future and think about the fact that companies are trying to lock us into using their media formats, their media players and so on.... after all, without competition and need to make better and better products we would prolly watch this on 15'' screens, with 200-500 Mhz CPU and so on.....
Opening any closed product to competition should be GOOD THING(tm) - snooo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It's so ***** stupid (pardon my... you know). If the french weren't involved in this business, then Diggsters would be lauding how great this would be.
Instead, a horde of wingnuts have appeared. This law seems to have brought out a bunch of stupid and insipid prejudicies about the French which are irrelevant to the actual story - rather more related to a vauge bitterness over the fact that Chirac made the right call over Iraq.
This, my friends, is about DRM, not ***** wars. Grow up. - eyreka, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6If you don't want to use iTMS then don't. Putting non-DRMed music on an iPod is trivial. As to other music digital players you're free to use any source other than iTMS you want and I don't see why Apple, as a business, shouldn't tie iTMS downloads to their player.
Now as a consumer it would be nice if everyone used the same DRM but don't think legal DRM-free on-line stores are suddenly going to appear because of this move by the French government--that's not even their goal. Fair Play is just that, fair and very reasonable. There have always been limits on what one can and cannot do with copyrighted material.
The goal should be to be as fair as possible to both consumers (I hate that word) and 'content' creators. Apple's solution IS proprietary but it is also the best one out there. For those who don't like Apple please feel free to use other products but don't complain that Apple doesn't play nice just because these other services aren't as convenient. - Nik420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Ask anyone outside the US who the "***** of the World" are. I guarantee you France would not be the answer.
- Régis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7There is virtually no music site which provides mp3, and doing such a thing will be illegal in France, as DRM are now mandatory. If you buy music online for your iPod, there is no choice but going to iTMS.
- strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9"or if i don't like itunes but like the ipod?"
Then buy your mp3s elsewhere and play them on the ipod. Why is this so hard to understand? I like electronic music. itunes absolutely sucks for electronic music. So I buy my non-DRM'd mp3s elsewhere. See how simple that is? - Titan615, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wow, I've been so busy trying to read all these posts that people have put up that I haven't even read the article...
Seriously though, I mean common people, I am an American and I harbor no hatred for any other person of nationality, race or color. This is supposed to be the golden age of communication so why can't we cut this stupid ***** of people insulting other people based upon past prejudices? We should not flame each other about how we interpret history, it happened and we should just be glad that 1.) Hitler is dead 2.) the world is a better place.
And also, hindsight is 20/20 so live with it. - anarchocap, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"and that's a good thing for consumers, in the long run." an editor talking long-run economics, please!
Stopped reading there, how in the hell can anyone justify forcing companies to do something with their proprietary product? I hope when Apple completely pulls out of France they will begin to realize that the answer is freedom not force, or legislation.
Anyways, In the long run we're all dead! - rabiddogma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4And to all the French bashers out there: if we had listened to France 4 years ago we wouldn't be in the mess in Iraq that we're in now. They were right and we were wrong about Iraq and now all around the world the USA is the new France.
- Eldoo77, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Perhaps you mean "vain" ??
- webdude, on 10/12/2007, -10/+13They have a 26% unemployment rate and students protesting and the parliment members are focussing their energy on this?...The truth is France and to that extent some other parts of the old europe are fast becoming irrelevent in today's global economy but they still have the 19th century mentaility that they are the centre of the universe.
My bet is apple will just pullout of the tiny french market than to deal with the headache! - drakethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Ok the interesting thing about this is that assumption that Apple is doing this intentionally. Nobody has stepped back to consider the possibility that because they were requested to use DRM by the Record Labels, that is still the only reason behind FairPlay. Yes it does have the advantage of putting up a barrier in the digital music and media market but what other choice did Apple have? The other services just use Microsoft DRM technology which locks you into their attempt to do the same (yet their's didn't work as well since it didn't have the iPod). So was Apple supposed to use Microsoft's DRM? So that their users could be stuck with using iTunes and their iPod on Windows since WMA is propietary and can't be played on Macs (legally). The only way Apple had a chance at getting any market share was to do what they did. It was that or not even enter the market. Intially even as the article states, Apple wanted nothing to do with DRM, so please people seriously consider the real issue here, the RIAA.
- Ellsass, on 11/05/2008, -2/+526% is the unemployment rate for students under 25; overall it is much lower. Also, another poster erroneously stated that "thousands" of cars and buildings were burnt last fall. That was not the case.
This anti-French bigotry is really ignorant and pathetic. - webXL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This should be the good-guy/bad-guy litmus test for every oppressed DRM-hating geek:
Has iTunes made me better or worse off? Has iTunes artists better or worse off?
Whatever your opinion is, your argument should address these questions.
And this is an easy anti-competitive litmus test just so we aren't limited to one or two so-so guys:
1) Are there only a few ways can I buy music and put it on my MP3 player?
2) Is there one company or an oligopoly setting the price of music?
Just keep the net free and no one will be able to have a monopoly on content. - Izzie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3actually it's the same law project: DADVSI, nicknamed "DADVSI code" that makes DRM mandatory, force DRM and other fileformat to be open, makes P2P software illegal, and threatens opensource software. french sourceforge mirrors have already removed all P2P related stuff.
DADVSI is the french version of european EUCD which is the european version of DMCA and all 3 comes from industry and are enforced by lobbying.
check here:
http://eucd.info/index.php?English-readers
http://www.videolan.org/eucd.html - borntobedown, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Sorry if any of this has been covered in other posts - didn't read any. This article made absolutely so sense to me. Lets use the authors logic to prove him wrong. Microsoft is a software company, they made their monopoly by doing exactly what the author said Apple should be doing (open their iTunes music store). Windows could be run on any of the 100 brands of computers out there. Apple on the other hand, controls both its operating system and the hardware, as it does now with the iTunes music store. Apple does not have a computer monopoly. It is not as if there aren't ways of listening to the EXACT same songs on COMPARABLE and CHEAPER devices out there. Now, some may say the iPod is what Apple makes its money off of, and that's true, they hardly make any money off of the iTunes music store. Frankly, I don't think they care if they even lost money on the store, as long as it helped sell iPods. But it is not as if you NEED to buy your songs off of iTunes. You can buy CDs if you want. I really got confused by the logic presented. Don't punish Apple for doing something so right that even though there are a billion other options out there, no one cares to use. Are we gonna make Sony port all of their existing games for the XBOX now?
- gonz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4France is a long way from saving anything :)
Something to take a look at :
http://www.digg.com/software/File-sharing_made_illegal_in_France_ - damonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Why is this about Apple? The article clearly states that Apple didn't want the DRM - it was the record labels that forced them to add it. If you are going to hate anyone, hate the RIAA! This is why I purchase directly from the musicians. If that is not possible, I use www.allofmp3.com - no DRM. You've got to love the Russian copyright laws...
- sethgoldin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3From TFA,
"There are few Mac users prepared to argue that Microsoft's monopoly in desktop PCs has been a good thing for the technology industry; why would an Apple monopoly of digital entertainment be any different?"
I don't really know what Leander Kahney's referring to here. Does anyone care to explain? - cathode, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The title is lame, but cool story. As conflicted as many of us are over the French, you gotta love them for this.
- Zaffel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4So will this make xbox games play on sony PS3 and PS3 play on Nintendo systems and if it doesn't play on PSP well there will be hell to pay from France? Unless we call it a format WAR in which france will back down immediately!
With all the pressing issues today this is the fight france chooses to pick? Zoot alure!
France should get some yarbles and fight a fight worth fighting!
pollution, fuel shortage, global warming, nuclear proliferation, terrorist organizations, and wort of all DRM!
Who says the french are a bunch of wussies? -
Show 51 - 100 of 182 discussions
Check out the new & improved 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is