Tag: WINDOWSMEDIA

British readers be warned: the Free Software Foundation's Defective by Design campaign is coming to our side of the pond tomorrow in protest at the BBC's decision to make extensive use of DRM (and in particular MIcrosoft's DRM) in their beta iPlayer software. For those who are unaware of the iPlayer, the BBC is making its programmes available for 'catch-up' via the iPlayer - albeit only for 7 days ...

Earlier this year Netflix announced a new service that lets you watch a limited number of videos online instead of waiting for the DVDs to come in the mail. There's just one problem. You have to watch on Netflix's terms. The video player is browser based, and the movies are wrapped up in Windows Media DRM. If you want to want to copy a movie to a portable device for viewing on the go, you're out ...

Critics of online music stores like the new Napster and Yahoo! Music Unlimited say by giving them you're money you're really just renting your music, since if you stop paying their fees, you lost the ability to listen to the tracks you've downloaded. But if the makers of FairUse4M have anything to say about it, that's no longer the case. Engadget has the scoop on this new, probably-illegal ...

Yesterday, Jordan blogged an announcement from Microsoft's Steve Riley that Vista users will need to have 64-bit superpowers if they want the ability to play HD video. It turns out this isn't entirely true, as Engadget is reporting that Microsoft has clarified the complication: 32-bit versions of Vista can play HD - but not without help from third party folk like CyberLink and InterVideo. The ...

At the ongoing LinuxWorld conference, RealNetworks announced that it will be releasing open source software that will allow Linux user to listen to and view audio and video files encoded in Microsoft's proprietary Windows Media formats. Currently Linux users are able to view Windows Media files only through closed-source components, but a deal Real inked with Microsoft after last year's anti-trust ...

I just love making those "XYZ-killer" titles, though I suspect you readers tire of it. Anyhow, at Microsoft's WinHEC conference on Wednesday it showed off Windows Media Photo, a new file format intended to displace JPEG. Though the CNet article isn't especially specific, Microsoft had all kinds of good things to say about its new baby, including how it can achieve twice the compression at the same ...