Telamon wrote:
In article ,
craigm wrote:


Telamon wrote:


The statements that I have seen before about DRM being an open standard
are as far as I see false because the software is not in the public
domain.

The software does not have to be in the public domain for the standard
to be open. The standard is one thing, the software is an implementation
of the standard. I can write software that complies with an open
standard and sell it without putting the source in the public domain.



Like this one?
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drm/


No I don't like it. This is another computer - radio. You do realize
that most of these units need a computer to operate? These are not stand
alone radios. The link I provided is the one stand alone SW radio that I
know about.


The reply was in response to your statement that the software was not in
public domain. Source code is available so your argument fails.


You do not have the rights to the software, those rights are reserved.
For the time being you can down load and compile it on a local machine
for your own use. If the rights holder tell you to stop using it then
that's it.

If you follow the requirements of the GPL, then the rights holder won't
tell you to stop using it.


If money is demanded then you will have to pay it.
Per the GPL, any money is for distribution costs. Since the links were
for a free download site, there is no cost, now or in the furute.


There are
many ways this can be enforced.

Yes, but you would have to violate the terms of the GPL.


There is one stand alone demonstration radio. I provided the link to it.
The others are multi kilo buck professional rack mount units that
consumers are not going to buy. All the other links by the DRM Troll
point to AMBCB and FM NOT SW RADIOS or computer assisted radios.

So the argument that "DRM consumer penetration into SW" is false.


Just because the software runs on a computer today, doesn't mean it must
always run on a computer. Initially MP3 encosded music only ran on a
computer. Now you can easily find battery operated MP3 players.


So what.

You argue that DRM is primarily limited to computers and that is an
issue for you. I provided an example of a technology that was initially
limited to computers and is now available in low cost devices that fit
in a pocket. The point being, the same can happen with DRM.



There are some that run 70 hours on a single AAA battery. Battery life
does not need to be an issue either.


Again so what.

You argue that the technology to turn a digital stream to audio is too
power hungry for portable devices. Again, MP3 players show that this
does not have to be so.



The other links are not SW radios or they need computers to operate or
they are rack mount units that are and will continue to be very
expensive. The rack mounts are not consumer units.



Once a semiconductor manufacturer produces an ASIC for DRM it will be
possible to produce battery operated radios with DRM. A receiver
manufacturer could also create a custom ASIC.


Yeah that's the no brainer requirement it will take to create a radio
that will operate on batteries. Make no mistake about this, battery life
will be shorter than the current generation radios.

So who do you think is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
to make ASIC's to do this?

Sony could. TI could. Philips could. Analog Devices could. If you could
sell tens of thousands of them, why not. Many companies are making ASICs.

DRM uses MPEG4 AAC audio coding as one of its choices. The Apple IPOD
supports MPEG4 AAC audio coding. Perhaps half the ASIC work is already done.

craigm