iTunes Rendezvous sharing to go way of internet sharing?
Now that all Windows and Mac users have access to iTunes, college campuses are likely to become hotbeds of iTunes Rendezvous sharing. It's still not as bad as internet sharing, but some campuses have tens of thousands of students all with computers on the same local network. And I'd guess that those file-stealing utilities will pop up on the Windows side soon.
I can't see the Powers-That-Be® liking this too much when they start to hear about it. I wonder if Apple will give in on this, too?
I can't see the Powers-That-Be® liking this too much when they start to hear about it. I wonder if Apple will give in on this, too?
Comments
Originally posted by jante99
Campus IT Directors probably like the iTunes sharing because it only uses internal network bandwidth (which is essentially free) compared to outside bandwidth which costs money.
I know that when I was in residence with a pipe that pulled at over 800k, one guy developed an internal P2p file sharing program (http://uwgo.net/). Everyone had it in the school - there are about 5000 students in residence...It was awesome. One could download an entire movie in about 20 minutes, and there was a plethora of movies, TV shows, music, and obviously porno. IT was hilarious. The school blocked Bit Torrent, Kazaa, and all other external networks, or made it so that they could only download at around 1k...so I'd leave them going on overnight.....
I'm still trying to figure out how to access my brother's library, but that?s a whole other deal. I have yet to see how iTunes is working out in the residences though...
Screed
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Most of the time I am sharing my music with 4-5 other people. The number of people sharing doubled after iTunes for Windows came out.
I bet there is at least 100 gigs of music available most of the time.
Originally posted by jante99
The pleasures of having one router for an entire college:
Yeah, I think when the RIAA starts seeing those pictures, they're going to put pressure on Apple to remove ALL sharing features of iTunes.
It's not like music sharing is new, exactly, this is just another (controlled) way to do it. And it doesn't involve copying.
Originally posted by BRussell
Yeah, I think when the RIAA starts seeing those pictures, they're going to put pressure on Apple to remove ALL sharing features of iTunes.
Apple might make the RIAA happy (well, less annoyingly bitchy -- I don't think the RIAA can become happy) by crippling the sharing feature a bit, like only letting iTunes show a small maximum number of shared music libraries, say 5-10. Then the sharing feature would still work the way it way it was originally intended, for sharing music on a home network.
Originally posted by Amorph
Maybe not until someone comes up with software to rip the song from the stream.
It's not like music sharing is new, exactly, this is just another (controlled) way to do it. And it doesn't involve copying.
You know that of course they do have that software. I assume that the software that was out when people were internet sharing would still work. Even Ambrosia's perfectly legit software should do the trick.
Originally posted by shetline
Apple might make the RIAA happy (well, less annoyingly bitchy -- I don't think the RIAA can become happy) by crippling the sharing feature a bit, like only letting iTunes show a small maximum number of shared music libraries, say 5-10. Then the sharing feature would still work the way it way it was originally intended, for sharing music on a home network.
That's a good idea. Kind of like allowing three computers to be registered to play your iTMS files. For that matter, they could allow full-blown Internet sharing but limit it similarly.
Originally posted by BRussell
You know that of course they do have that software. I assume that the software that was out when people were internet sharing would still work. Even Ambrosia's perfectly legit software should do the trick.
The RIAA is a little less worried about possible copying that involves generational loss of sound quality. If you capture the digital playback stream that you get while listening to someone else's network-shared music, you'll be getting AIFF-style data that's already been decompressed. You'd either have to save large AIFF or WAV files to keep this music, or recompress the decompressed music, degrading sound quality through a second generation of lossy compression.
The kind of hack that would most raise RIAA hackles is something that could tap into the compressed data stream from someone else's computer, before decompression, and let you save that data.
So I think the question is, what is the difference between the fiasco a few months ago and the current situation with thousands of students on a single campus all sharing their music? Is it just a difference in quantity? Because if it is, I'd say the quantity on some campuses might be significant enough to get Apple to take away this rendezvous sharing as well.
Originally posted by BRussell
shetline, did you try any of those apps that allowed you to take music right from iTunes sharer's playlists
I can't say I have. I'd thought when you mentioned Abrosia that you were only talking about WireTap and similar software. Can I take it that apps like these at least kept DRM intact, so that you'd still need authorization to play protected AAC files?
Originally posted by shetline
I can't say I have. I'd thought when you mentioned Abrosia that you were only talking about WireTap and similar software. Can I take it that apps like these at least kept DRM intact, so that you'd still need authorization to play protected AAC files?
That's right, you couldn't share the iTMS-purchased music. But there were several programs, I think one was called iLeech, that allowed you to just download the shared music.
Originally posted by BRussell
That's right, you couldn't share the iTMS-purchased music. But there were several programs, I think one was called iLeech, that allowed you to just download the shared music.
yes, there were many programs. the scene pretty much stopped as soon as v4.0.1 came out. the transfer between different iTunes was the actual mp3/aac/.., not a decoded file. A full on AIFF or WAV is too much to throw back and forth, and time is a factor when ur playing music. I assume that the only-1-subnet version does the same thing, with only the subnet filter in place.
Originally posted by thuh Freak
A full on AIFF or WAV is too much to throw back and forth, and time is a factor when ur playing music. I assume that the only-1-subnet version does the same thing, with only the subnet filter in place.
I definitely knew that MP3s and AACs weren't being turned into AIFF or WAV for the purpose of streaming over the internet -- yes, that's very impractical. I was merely thinking that these hacks might have done nothing more than record from the decoded data on the receiving side, somewhere downstream from receiving encoded MP3/AAC data over the network.
Originally posted by shetline
I definitely knew that MP3s and AACs weren't being turned into AIFF or WAV for the purpose of streaming over the internet -- yes, that's very impractical. I was merely thinking that these hacks might have done nothing more than record from the decoded data on the receiving side, somewhere downstream from receiving encoded MP3/AAC data over the network.
You can always use a recording utility like WireTap to convert the music your playing into an AIFF file.
Originally posted by shetline
I can't say I have. I'd thought when you mentioned Abrosia that you were only talking about WireTap and similar software. Can I take it that apps like these at least kept DRM intact, so that you'd still need authorization to play protected AAC files?
You can't even see iTMS files across the sharing... and I think that applies even if both computers are authorized. I'm not entirely sure about that latter part tho.
Originally posted by Kecksy
You can always use a recording utility like WireTap to convert the music your playing into an AIFF file.
We covered that idea earlier in the thread. The problem is that you either have to save big honking AIFF files, or compress them again, losing sound quality through a second cycle of lossy compression.