Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 16th Mar 2009 23:00 UTC
Just when you thought that DRM was on its way out, with various music stores abolishing the practice, some company will implement DRM in yet another way that will affect lots of customers in a very negative way. The most recent case of idiotic DRM comes courtesy of a gadget maker from Cupertino. Update: MacWorld provides nuance to the story, with comments from Apple and third-party manufacturers.
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Member since:
2007-12-13
The so-called DRM chip is a PIC (programmable interrupt controller) necessary to implement the control buttons on the headphone cable. You don't have to use Apple's at all, particularly if you know how to program a PIC yourself (not hard, and they are cheap), but Apple sells them pre-manufactured and programmed if you want them.
Every set of earphones for the micro shuffle is going to need one, but there's no DRM going on, no authentication, and no mandatory licensing or approval procedure. That's all FUD.