Hard To Believe: Computer Makers Giving In To RIAA Pressure, Disabling Sound Recording?
from the can't-really-be-true,-could-it? dept
A whole bunch of people are submitting this, though, the explanation is not passing the sniff test. The story is that a bunch of laptop owners (mainly from Dell) are frustrated after discovering that their laptop soundcard configuration blocks the recording of audio, even though it's possible to enable it with a few tweaks. In other words, recording has effectively been turned off by the computer manufacturers. It didn't take long for rumors and speculation to assume that somehow the RIAA has been pressuring these computer makers to turn off sound. Of course, with the entertainment industry, sometimes it seems that no concept is too evil to believe that the industry wouldn't endorse. However, there seems to be no evidence whatsoever that the RIAA had any part in this. On the whole, it sounds like someone just made a bad decision in terms of how to configure certain sound cards. If someone can provide any evidence that the RIAA actually had a role in this, we'll post an update, but there's no reason to jump to conclusions without any evidence. That's what the RIAA does.
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Filed Under: disabling recording, laptops, sound cards
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Of course, assuming that the RIAA was involved, this is pretty stupid for all concerned. The net effect of disabling this function on piracy will be nil. Dell's gains may be offset by people deciding that their company's next batch of PCs won't be Dell if they can't trust them not to try and control their PCs. Just another waste of money attacking a non-existent target while the real problems eat away at the RIAA's business.
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i have to agree with 1st post.
I think its fair to assume this was triggered by RIAA (although im looking forward to see facts on who actually caused that).
That reminds of the MPAA claiming that piracy was due to ppl going in theaters with there Video Cams.
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Hold on....
Yes, I can easily see how disabling this feature will affect every user of laptops around the world while only the 2% who actually use it complain about it.
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Re: Hold on....
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Re: Hold on....
Twinrova, that's a very dopey comment.
How do you know that only 2% record audio with their laptop?
Just becuase you never figured out how to do it, don't make assumptions about other people.
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Re: Re: Hold on....
Of course it was. It's not as though this is a huge issue to be concerned with.
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Jumping to conclusions
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Re: Jumping to conclusions
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Re: Jumping to conclusions
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Re: Jumping to conclusions
Huh? Willton, you've made it clear that you disagree with me, but if you have nothing substantive to say, why bother?
I try not to jump to conclusions, and I try to support my positions with a factual basis. If I don't, I'm sure that you'll be here to correct me. But I try to be as careful as possible. In fact, in this situation, most people would probably assume that I'd blame the RIAA, but I'm pointing out that there is no proof. I've done this before when the RIAA and others have been accused of things without proof.
I try to be as reasonable as possible, presenting my opinion based on the facts.
You imply otherwise, but show no evidence. If you have anything substantive that suggests I make false statements, then why not show it, rather than making some vague assertion implying I have done something wrong.
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Jumping to conclusions
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As usual it is the innocent who will suffer while the rest just look on it as a moments inconvenience.
The usual short sighted response to annoy everyone apart from the target group. Why am I not surprised?
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Much more importantly, however, Dell sells an awful lot computers, particularly laptops, to businesses. It has been my experience and I would hazard to guess that by far the most common use of microphones in laptops is for various business uses (boring stuff, webexes, VOIP conference calls, demos, training sessions). These applications are often used by dumb sales guys (like me) who can't be bothered adjusting too many settings. Your average sales organization would be really, really pissed to find out they can't get their laptops to record, particularly since they're most like to figure this out about 15 minutes before a client call.
So, no Dell didn't do it on purpose, and they're probably rapidly becoming really, really sorry, as people with a whole lot more clout than your avg consumer are complaining.
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jumping ship.
I have a RealTek HD Audio and was concearned that I did not have a stereo mix function either
:) i just found it on the web. thanks videohelp.com
Go to 'Control Panel' (Classic View) >>'Sound'
Select the 'Recording' Tab.
Right click on 'Microphone' in the window.
Tick 'Show Disabled Devices' and 'Show Disconnected Devices'
As if by magic 'Stereo Mix' now appears in the list, select it at click on 'Set Default'
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Re: jumping ship.
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My 2 cents
LOL I can just see the calls to customer support! I can't do what???! OK give me back my money!
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another reason not to buy dell
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Re: another reason not to buy dell
As for service: A friend recently ordered a Dell Vostro. They messed up and put in an 80GB HD instead of the 320GB that was ordered.
DELL caught the error even before the computer arrived - and shipped an extra (and bigger) external HD for free.
Yep, pretty shitty service, there.
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Re: Re: another reason not to buy dell
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Re: Re: Re: another reason not to buy dell
Who the hell wants to do that?
It would be easier to just bring it to a local computer store and explain what's going wrong to them. They'll figure it out in what...10 minutes or less?
Sure, it will cost a little money, but you don't have to translate a heavy Indian accent for 3 hours straight.
(I don't have anything against the people in India working customer service. They really are extremely common, and it really is hard to understand a lot of them. Also, don't ever be the ass that says "let me talk to someone who speaks English")/endofftopicrandomcrap
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Re: Re: another reason not to buy dell
Dell *USED* to be one of the kings of Supplychain management for years. If they can't deliver correctly, they might as well not deliver at all. Surely it's happening to others too.
Free is never free. Someone's paying for it- other customers, shareholders... Someone.
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If it smells like a rose...
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Why would anyone even suspect that this change would come from RIAA anyway? Cause you know, I download music and rip my friends CDs with my microphone..? Simply hilarious that the RIAA would be the first place people would point fingers, but there is absolutely no motive for RIAA to disable such features by default.
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Re:
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the usual suspects
the idea that the RIAA would collude with a PC manufacturer to disable a working feature on new PC's doesn't surprise me in the slightest. the idea that dell would sell its customers out to the RIAA for a few bucks is only slightly more surprising.
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Good Job DELL! You have been added to the list.
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Doh!
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Dell stock is tanking
This seems like the nail in the coffin for me to buy a MacBook, which is sad because my personal laptop, a dell, screen broke and I'm in the market.
How tough is it to go from a two-button mouse to a one-button mouse?
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Re: Dell stock is tanking
As for the mouse -- get yourself a mighty mouse (wireless, if you want. There are 4 features you can turn on and off as you like and it definately has 2 buttons (and then some).
Good shopping and enjoy a new Mac.
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FAIL
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HP Laptop does this too
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Dell's Response...
>> If this is the case, our Sigmatel R171789.exe XP drivers unlock the “Stereo Mix” feature.
The biggest concern is the word 'unlock'. To me this implies that it was blocked on purpose and we can all debate as to why.
What doesn't make sense to me is why you would lock it in the first place. Not like you are going to sell a software add-on for $29.95 that enables it or some other BS. I highly doubt at this point it is a feature that causes problems like system lock ups. As such, why "lock" it in the first place?
Freedom
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Headline Hijinks
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Re: Headline Hijinks
Huh? No, the headline says the *opposite*. It says that those claiming this is the RIAA are saying something that is not supported by the evidence.
The article says, "There's no way Dell actually did this because the RIAA said to. There are more logical explanations."
That's the same thing the headline says.
You've misread the headline. Did you miss the "Hard to believe" part at the beginning of the headline? I was pointing out that these rumors are not believable.
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Of the course the RIAA is behind this
Isn't that what they're trying to do in some of their court cases?
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Junk Blog
However, after reading this particular "story", which must surely have been written on drugs, I'm going to do it straight away. Bye.
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Re: Junk Blog
Huh? Did you not read the fact that this post says the RIAA did NOT do what it's accused of doing. Did you not realize that I'm saying that the RIAA is getting the bum rap in this particular case?
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Hard to believe
Here they are :
1. Make everyone pay for every music file/cd/dvd they have.
2. Backups are ALL illegal. Period.
3. Everytime you listen to a song, you have to pay the
RIAA.
4. You must kiss the RIAA in the ass every hour,
every day.
5. You must pay 20,000 for a rented radio [ one month ].
You can only use the radio 1 hour a day.
All those artists in poverty need your money.
6. ALL recordable media is BANNED to the public.
No more blank DVD's, tapes, bluray, etc.
The result : The RIAA has absolute power.
They make trillions of dollars per year, or month.
If you like the RIAA, go work for them.
Oh wait, you probably do.
I can't wait to see what the RIAA disables next.
Maybe the RIAA will install root kits on every damn DELL
computer. THAT should be interesting.
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RIAA Is Not A Factor In Much That Is Scammed Illegally
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