Saturday, September 4, 2004
New Front in Digital Wars: Recording of Satellite and Internet Radio
Posted by James Fee in "ARTICLE" @ 10:00 AM
"Technologies that let people record satellite and Internet radio broadcasts digitally are opening a new front in the recording industry's war on music piracy. Until recently, the music industry focused its efforts on the widespread sharing of music files online. But a proliferation of software that make recording radio streams a breeze now has recording companies worried. The latest trouble comes of a hardware/software combination that has catalyzed a new type of backdoor recording. A program called TimeTrax, developed to record broadcasts from XM Satellite Radio's PCR receiver, spurred huge demand for the receiver from XM subscribers. And for that reason the PCR appears to have been discontinued. TimeTrax lets users store XM broadcasts, channeled through the PCR receiver, on a computer as individual tracks in the MP3 or WAV formats. Recordings can be scheduled at different times over multiple broadcasts. Since the TimeTrax program debuted on the Internet earlier this month, XM retailers like St. Louis' XMFan.com saw a crush of demand for the PCR units, which first hit the market about a year ago for under $50. PCR receivers were selling for upwards of $300 on eBay on Tuesday, and the founder of the company that distributes TimeTrax said XM's lawyers had written him asking that he stop selling the program."
I'm assuming it is only a matter of time until Satellite Radio is encrypted to stop recording digitally. Coupled with comments by Jack Valenti, this new "front" could be closed before we even get to enjoy it.
I'm assuming it is only a matter of time until Satellite Radio is encrypted to stop recording digitally. Coupled with comments by Jack Valenti, this new "front" could be closed before we even get to enjoy it.
