iPod Shuffle 3G. Source: bfishadow on Flickr. License: CC-BY 2.0

Boing Boing’s article on the supposed DRM in Apple’s new iPod Shuffle has been updated, reporting that Apple has stated that the chip does not use encryption or authentication, and is thus not subject to the DMCA’s prohibitions on circumvention.

Update 2: Just spoke with Apple. There is no encryption or authentication on the chip, so clones could conceivably be made, just not with “Made for iPod” official certification. And now we know!

While the move to remove controls from the unit itself still makes the new Shuffle incompatible with just about every set of headphones and anything with a TRS audio cable, at least we can expect a workaround in due time, since third parties do not have to go through Apple first unless they want to bear the “Made for iPod” mark. Hopefully an adapter will be made by someone that contains the controls and allows the customer to use his or her existing headphones or audio cables.

• Boing Boing Gadgets
• Slashdot

"Money Clip Shuffle" by re-ality on Flickr (CC-BY)

Apple’s third iteration of the iPod Shuffle contains a nasty surprise for consumers — headphones with DRM:

[...]the new shuffle doesn’t fully work with any headphones except Apple’s. Because of what Apple has done here—something sneaky and arguably terrible for consumers, especially if it continues with other iPod and iPhone products in 2009—if you plug your old third-party headphones of any sort into the new shuffle, you’ll find that you can’t do anything with the device other than have it continuously play music, without volume controls or interruption, unless of course of you turn it off. Surprise: the only third-party headphones that will work are ones that haven’t even entered manufacturing yet, because they’ll need to contain yet another new Apple authentication chip, which will add to their price.

The EFF remarked on how little this had been covered by other reviewers:

One final thought: why have so many of the reviews of iPods failed to notice the proliferation of these Apple “authentication chips”? If it were Microsoft demanding that computer peripherals all include Microsoft “authentication chips” in order to work with Windows (or Toyota or Ford doing the same for replacement parts), I’d think reviewers would be screaming about it.

Yes, and rightfully so. Granted, Apple’s pulled shenanigans like this before, but having one pair of headphones just for your iPod Shuffle and one pair for everything else is ridiculous. Maybe people are becoming accustomed to being treated like crap by Apple. That’s a dangerous thought in and of itself.

• iLounge review pointing out the DRM (first paragraph after the second picture)
• EFF Commentary on the DRM

Rockbox

After 3 years in development, Rockbox 3.0 has been released.

Some new things since version 2.5:

• A new tool to help simplify installation and removal of Rockbox, called RockboxUtility, is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
• Support for SWCODEC targets, with the ability to playback a multitude of codecs See the SoundCodecs page for all supported codecs.
• See the MajorChanges page for an exhaustive list.

Man…after 2 years of reading the Rockbox feed, I drop it weeks before 3.0.  Then Slashdot and Boing Boing beat me to the punch.

• Rockbox
• Slashdot
• Boing Boing