trying this again - just posted the following on the NPGMC U Tell Us forum

I want to upload my DVD-Audio tracks and I can't either

I just burn the tracks onto an audio CD then rip them onto MP3 and stick them on my iPod.

I'm pretty sure this is what NPGMC said to do (and they were happy with it). Makes a bit of a mockery of DRM, but there you go.

FWIW the quality is fine.
Al

headhunter said:

You need not convert them. Just uploading the CD will do

Tip: use CD-RW.

PANDURITO said:

??

The iPod won't play wma files so you need to convert them.

Uploading the CD? If you mean upload the CD in iTunes, ripping it to MP3 or AAC is exactly what iTunes is doing. As it happens I prefer LAME.

Cheers
Allan

Is there an equivalent license protection to drm that would work on macs?

For better or worse, the NPGMC has decided the music files it supplies need some protection from easy copying. We all know it's pointless with mp3s. However, you have to admit the protection really works on wmv video files - I don't know any way you can get around the protection on those. Or is there?

metalorange said:

AAC files can be protected (all purchased iTunes downloads have DRM). Works on Macs & PC's. In an ideal world, Mac would support MS DRM in iTunes and on the iPod and vice versa. That said, the NPGMC files are not licensed for playing on a portable player, so it wouldn't work anyway.

The video file DRM does work very well. I am not aware of anywant around it.
Al

The NPGMC DRM files have just recently been made compatable with all PlaysForSure portable digital media players. http://www.playsforsure.com/

Just because the files are not compatible with the one that's being shoved down our fucking gullets doesn't mean that the Club isn't trying to accommodate newer technologies. Apple will NOT share their DRM with third parties. Period. Yell at them for once will ya?

The problem is that Prince is clearly much more concerned with keeping his properties controlled by Digital Rights Management and staying independent than in acquiring more Members. You'll just have to deal with that fact. That's who he is as an artist. A lot of people actually became fans because of his control issues.
[Edited 4/14/05 14:44pm]

metalorange said:

as long as you can burn it to a CD, what protection is there?

And protecting video from burning to a DVD is the dumbest thing I ever heard of. Why have people spend money to buy a video they cannot watch on TV?

alandail said:

You're right of course - there's a lot of people who use computers and the internet who are not technofiles and won't know how to get around the protection or even how to burn cds - that's why this question comes up a lot on the org - but you would assume the only real protection these files would need is from people who share them on file swapping sites - and the type of people who do that are almost always experienced enough to get around the protection anyway.



I'd rather not have the protection - but from their point of view, it helps stop these files being shared on the internet for free

I prefer watching dvds and videos on my pc rather than my tv - my monitor is actually higher-res and sharper than most tvs, so it is actually the superior way to watch them! Computers are becoming the complete entertainment system just as much as the tv is.

Besides, video files have to be smallish to make them realistically downloadable. This inherently means they are not tv resolution - so if you did convert them to dvd, they look a bit rubbish anyway.

Always kind of amuses me to hear fans complaining about the 'poorer' sound quality of mp3s over CDs - and yet we have been happily listening to ropey, staticky bootlegs and watching shakey digicam footage of concerts for years!

iPods are such useless devices. I mean, tons of superior (and often times cheaper/more reliable) mp3 players exist.

metalorange said:

Computer monitors have good resolution, but they are only so big - videos are better on a big screen. And with h.264 soon to be available cross platform, there is no reason for the videos to be low resolution. It should be burning them to DVD is lowering the resolution until HD-DVD is available. And the videos should be complete with 5.1 sound. I have the NAACP performance in 5.1 sound and HD quality in my HD-Tivo. The club should offer a version in that quality using H.264. If they did, I'd go ahead and buy it because that'd be easier than trying to get the video out of my Tivo.

headhunter said:

Not true anymore. The NPGMC files have now been converted to the format that will play on portable devices. I think they are 192kbps CRB files. You have to re-download the file (but not pay for the licence again) and they should now be transferrable in their unaltered form.

KeithyT said:

Hi, KeithyT.

eyeofnone said:

Wow...I'd like to hear an elaboration of why an iPod is "useless," please.

alandail said:

Living in the UK, the answer to that one is simple... We don't get any of these broadcasts, no Grammys, no RRHoF induction, no NAACP awards, bummer really.

headhunter said:

I think you missread what I said. Why not let people burn a DVD and watch it on their TV? Most people have better sound and larger screens on their TV than on their computer.

alandail said:

Same reason they DRM the music files. To discourage people from sharing the files.

alandail said:

Sorry, I did misread your post. My mind replaced "cannot" with "can".

Al