[MPlayer-users] .wma audio fails to play - an example

[GS HUNT]

>
> Thanks for the info.
>
> Just for the record my suggestion was pretty much the opposite of what
> you refer to.  The idea is to be able to play drm protected audio (that
> you have paid for) in linux *without* contacting Microsoft the whole
> time and feeding the beast.  The problem is Windows media player/Windows
> and it's privacy breaches.  If we could do the the whole thing in linux
> we could have control over what gets sent to whom and when.  Sadly, we
> can't do it technically but if we could it would be good I think.
>
> Does anyone know where one get the specs for this encrypted .wma codec
> if they are available?
>
> Raphael
>
Heh!  We'd all like those specs ! (Sorry I don't know... and if I did .. 
they'd be obsolete by the time I posted them)

I'd like to be able to play music payed for too in Linux...but that is exactly 
what Micro$oft doesn't want.. I know you don't consider yourself feeding the 
beast but consider the following.

If someone develops a codec that plays these files freely..they'll just come 
up with another way to protect them. (The developers of Mplayer will be 
facing an ongoing battle for years to keep up.) (Let's just not support this.  
I'll only buy music if it comes as a simple non-encrypted mp3 or ogg file)

There is pressure to in the United States to criminalize any software or 
hardware devices that do not support Digital Rights Management, and those 
which can reverse-engineer the DRM protocols. By coming up with codecs to do 
just that could put more fuel on the fire to get this idea made law. 
Ultimately, if this law was passed it could mean that using Linux would be 
illegal, and giving micro$oft an unparalell monopoly.

I think the way to encode these DRM files is not to support them at all.. and 
to encourage others to do the same. Eventually with luck they will just go 
away.

Gary

(see the following link)
http://www.scs.unr.edu/~raife/rants/drm-tech.html