SunnComm Trying To Plug The Analog Hole

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the listening-to-music-is-bad! dept

The anti-copying technology companies keep trying to one-up each other by making the life of the consumer ever more annoying. The latest is that SunnComm has bought a company named Darknoise Technologies that claims to have a technology that will fix the “analog hole” of music copying. That is, if you have some music and you play it over some speakers, someone (gasp!) could record that music using standard recording equipment. Of course, people have been able to do this for ages, but Darknoise claims they do something to the music so that if anyone tries to do this, the recorded copies sound terrible. It’s a little unclear how exactly that works, but it’s yet another example of the industry trying very hard to offer less to consumers. Already, if you’re making an analog copy, the sound quality is noticeably degraded, which has always been one of the reasons why it’s never really been a huge problem. However, now that the entertainment industry thinks everything is a problem, they’ll probably jump on this solution. At this rate, how long will it be until the industry tries to impose a solution that makes you pay for each song every time you try to listen to it? On top of that, they’ll probably add in some technology to figure out how many people are within listening distance and charge you for each one. Once again, this does nothing to improve the consumer experience, and does a great deal to harm it. While the recording industry may still believe that’s a good business practice, they’ll regret it. It simply opens up huge opportunities for smart companies to offer products that consumers actually want and enjoy.