COMPUTER CURRENTS

Don't blame it all on pirates

Music CD sales are down, but that doesn't mean illegal downloading is entirely responsible

JAMES HEIN

For some time now I have been suggesting that piracy is contributing less to the decline in CD music sales than is indicated by groups like the RIAA and IFPI.

According to the latter, global digital music sales have nearly doubled in the past year and reached 10 percent of overall sales. While this figure has not reached the global decline in overall CD sales, it does show an increasing trend in digital music purchasing patterns.

As usual the 4 percent fall in sales was blamed on piracy, and this time the competition for consumer spending. The tracks available for downloading have also doubled to about 4 million for the larger providers.

Now consider the band Koopa. They have reached number 31 in the UK charts - not something that would normally make the news - but in this case the punk rock trio from Essex is an unsigned band and the sales position is based on Internet-only sales. In recent changes to the rating system it is no longer necessary to have physical sales to track.

If a no-name band is making the charts, what does this say for the officially sponsored groups? I have maintained that the selection available in the so-called top 40 has been restricted to a narrow number of genres, and that this has had an impact on sales.

The music industry has hardly been using the Internet to promote itself, rather it has been spending all its energy trying to keep up the impossible task of illegal downloads. People used to copy audio cassettes, then CD, now it's the Internet.

While I don't see an immediate concern for the labels, bands like Artic Monkeys and others will and have used the Internet to start sales and get record deals and I expect to see this trend continue rather than abate.

The digital music age is firmly in place, with digital audio player sales increasing and the ability to be built into more devices like mobile phones. Unless you use a server relay it is still impossible to download digital music from any of the main suppliers from any of the so-called high piracy countries.

The recording industry should make up its mind. Provide a legal way for these countries to download or stop complaining that people are downloading from other sources. I have many friends who complain that they can buy an iPod or Sony device but cannot download from the Apple or Sony music services while they are in Thailand and other places in this region.

Vista watch

You have seen the marketing: Windows Vista is Microsoft's most secure of an operating system to date. At the same time, Ben Fathi the corporate VP of the security technology unit at Microsoft, recently stated that "Our security partners continue to play a vital role in adding layers of protection onto the Microsoft Windows platform."

In other words, you should still get an update to whatever security product you are currently using and the good news is that all of the bigger ones and many of the smaller ones will have Vista versions by the end of January, the official public release date.

Vista comes with a firewall and a spyware blocker but until Windows Live OneCare is available they are still missing the anti-virus component. Reviewers are less than enthusiastic with any of the new Microsoft security products or components.

I have received some reader feedback on Vista installed at work. The first piece of advice is you should check http://www.widcomm.com for any missing drivers. One reader suggested that he would wait for SP2 before getting too serious.

Negatives include the giant dialog boxes, with two pages of text in each option in which you don't click on a button but rather the whole paragraph. Network settings are now hidden from the user and you have to select between business, private or public for a new connection. If you are using Wi-Fi and moving around you get the large dialog every time you move.

As expected people are finding the UAC annoying, and this is the first thing that is turned off. Once you do this the Security Center will start nagging you that the UAC is disabled.

Basically the issue with Vista is that it is like a small child constantly requiring your attention rather than leaving you alone to do your work. Some of the questions will be very confusing for the average user, who will not know if XXXX.DLL should be allowed to modify system resources or not.

Yes, you get a nice new Windows presentation layer with great graphics and sound but I expect to hear that Microsoft is getting complaint after complaint about the constant, in-your-face nagging from Vista. Personally I want to be left alone when I an using a computer and have turned off all of this stuff under XP. Sadly it appears that this may be impossible under Vista until SP1 or SP2 rolls out.

Industry news

There are some rumours that Apple will be implementing some kind of DRM "fair play" system to support its Netgear EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD, not an iPod. Speculation is that you will be able to connect iTunes to a PC and then be able to stream the audio from there. Or you could pay for your song and use the hacker utility that allows you to play it on your PC whenever you like. I know which system I'd prefer to use.

If you have not already done so you may want to apply the latest security patch covered in security bulletin MS07-004, as the attack code is already in use targeting Internet users. The attacks have been limited to date but you have been warned.

Remember that hacker code-named Muslix who claimed to have cracked HD-DVD and Blu-ray AACS copy protection? His work has not only been confirmed but copies are starting to appear on torrent sites. Admittedly the files are between 21 and 26 GB in size so they will not be for most people but the process has begun and the only way to play them would then be from a computer.

The single hacker has grown to a coalition that has cracked many HD titles. They are using the keys stored by the WinDVD program and then decoding these to perform the rip and distribution process. This is not going to save Blu-ray because it uses the same system for the first layer, and I expect to see the second layer, currently not present on many Blu-ray disks released, also fall in the new future.

Seagate has some fast 2.5-inch HDDs out to challenge the 3.5-inch versions. The new Savvio range spins at a rapid 15,000 rpm, making them more attractive to the server market, particularly where space is a concern. You can't get one yet as Seagate is shipping only to computer manufacturers, but by the end of the quarter they will be available on the street.

I followed a link to avsforum.com, where one owner had a problem with their new PS3. Calling Sony support, they were told that their warranty was invalidated because they had used a non-Sony component cable. The poster suggests that you are creative with the truth if you have a similar problem. I often use higher quality after-market cables like those from Monster.

Email: jamesh@inet.co.th

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007