[mythtv-users] Apple iTV - MythTV Frontend?

David Brodbeck gull at gull.us
Tue Jan 16 19:39:15 UTC 2007


Michael Hobbs wrote:
> Au contraire, mon frère. Granted, this is hearsay from the latest TWiT 
> (http://twit.tv) podcast, but they were mentioning that Apple LOVES DRM. 
> In fact, some of the Apple management in charge of iTunes has said that 
> they would put DRM into iTunes even if the music industry didn't require 
> it. It creates lock-in. If you have $200 invested in iTunes music that 
> can only play on an iPod, you're going to think twice before switching 
> to any other device.
>   

Sure,  but now you're talking about the opposite situation.

Apple doesn't want you to play their content on OTHER hardware.  This is
both because of lock-in and because they don't want to incur the wrath
of the music industry.  They don't seem to particularly care if you play
other people's content on THEIR hardware, though.  This makes sense; at
its heart Apple is a hardware company.  If they sell more iPods because
people can play their existing MP3s on them, well, that's good for them,
because they make a fair bit of money on that hardware.

Contrast this with the Xbox situation.  Microsoft really, really doesn't
want you running anything but licensed games on their Xboxes.  The
reason is they lose money on every Xbox they sell.  They expect to make
it back in licensing fees for games.  If people buy Xboxes to use as
little Linux PCs or Myth set-top boxes, they're basically taking money
right out of Microsoft's pocket.


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