Dell Colludes With RIAA, Disables Stereo Mix 377
RCTrucker7 writes with a link to a Maximum PC story, which begins: "Details of Dell's surreptitious collusion with RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) have emerged. Apparently, the computer manufacturer disabled the Stereo Mix/Mono Mix/Wave Out sound recording function on certain notebooks to assuage RIAA. The hardware functionality is being disabled without any prior notice and one blogger has even alleged that he was asked by Dell's customer support staff to [shell] out $99 if he desired the stereo mix option. Gateway and Pac Bell are the other two manufacturers to have bowed to RIAA at the expense of their customers' satisfaction and disabled stereo mix without warning." (There are some workarounds posted in the comments of the linked article.)
Any...facts in this case? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Any...facts in this case? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Any...facts in this case? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Any...facts in this case? (Score:5, Insightful)
Right, which is still mostly conjecture and RIAA bashing. I don't see any evidence they were involved - if someone's got REAL links with REAL data, let's have them! Linking to a Dell page with a workaround for an issue isn't proof of all the wild speculation making the rounds.
Re:Any...facts in this case? (Score:5, Informative)
From the techdirt link posted above:
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.
Yep, plenty of facts! Can't get more conclusive than that! RIAA is caught red-handed.
I guess FUD works both ways.
-Em
Re:Any...facts in this case? (Score:5, Funny)
Wouldn't work (Score:5, Funny)
Nah, that would make Slashdot outright unusable. I mean, half the headlines would be identical then. Can you imagine trying to find anything? ;)
Re:What editors? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm eight and have ADD, you insensitive.. LOOK! A BUNNY!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I'm eight and have ADD, you insensitive.. LOOK! A BUNNY!
That's supposed to be "PONIEZ" get it right.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Any...facts in this case? (Score:5, Interesting)
What's really funny is that I bet those machines run Vista.
And Vista has the Stereo Mix functionality built into the OS [microsoft.com]!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Because, y'know, why should we actually let dedicated hardware do its thing when we can put the load on the CPU instead?
No, it's a Timothy special (Score:3, Insightful)
The article was posted by Timothy, who is the same idiot who posted the article above this one on claiming but not claiming "criminal negligence".
The articles are pure flamebait, utterly stupid, typical of Timothy, and are simply sensationalistic crap designed to raise hit counts on slashdot.
Allegedly...? (Score:5, Insightful)
Dell Allegedly Colludes with RIAA, Stereo Mix Disabled without Forewarning
Slashdot:
Dell Colludes With RIAA, Disables Stereo Mix
Re:Use? (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry to reply to myself, but I forgot to add that Dell is not the only one that distributes drivers that disable stereo mix. Lenovo has these problems too:
http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=Special_Interest_General&thread.id=316&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
It's quite a popular thread, and Lenovo reps have posted too.
Re:Use? (Score:4, Informative)
How many people even use stereo mix? You record what's playing through your speakers. Any decent sound editing program is going to have some kind of mixer that will combine your recording with whatever you were playing along with.
My friend has a Dell, and for some reason you can't burn CDs with EAC on it. What we wind up doing when we're putting our LPs on CD is burn the .wav to CD as a data CD, then I take it home and burn it as a music CD. Oddly, his Dell will let you copy music CDs with no problem. So ironically, "fair use" is disabled while copyright infringement is not.
And unless by "speakers" you mean your guitar amp, if you are recording your speakers with a microphone you're doing it wrong. See an article I posted on K5 a few years ago, How to rip from vinyl or tape [kuro5hin.org].
Dell is not the only one that distributes drivers that disable stereo mix. Lenovo has these problems too
So if Ford Crown Victorias explode when hit in the rear, it's OK for Chevy to make exploding cars? Your logic is quite faulty there.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the point flew past you faster than an exploding Ford... I read that statement as Dell is not the only one pulling this shit, its a bigger problem than just with Dell.
Or to recycle your car analogy, If Ford makes exploding cars and Chevy also makes exploding cars, it's not used as justification, but as a statement that Automakers make exploding cars.
It illustrated
Re:Use? (Score:5, Insightful)
The only use I see is for a program like FRAPS, which records your screen and sound.
Exactly, and I for one am a person that uses that functionality to record stuff legally (voiced go lessons on the Kiseido Go Server to be exact). Heck, it is impossible to do it illegally as it falls under the same category as recording videos. Why should I be restricted from using my own computer as I wish.
What I am really afraid of however is how these people are colluding by using a mix of cryptography and laws to prevent "unauthorized" equipment from being able to interface with the system. Right now I can always get another more free piece of equipment, but what about in 10-15 years when you can't run the software on anything but authorized hardware, and trying to bypass that is a federal offense.
The above may be a nightmare to me, but for some rich people it is an utopian vision. I mean it when I say that I am afraid. Afraid because people tolerate minor restrictions being added all the time with just minor protests. It will become worse much worse and by the time people wake up it will be too late...again. Have you heard some of the people behind this. They are not acting as individuals but instead as lunatic powerhungry agents for powerful immoral organisations.
And I used immoral instead of amoral deliberatly. Earning money is an amoral stance, but the idea of earning money above anything else is simply immoral.
Re:Use? (Score:5, Informative)
What's also funny is that typically the Stereo Mix functionality is implemented post-DAC. So when you're recording from stereo mix, the signal goes:
Output->DAC->ADC->Stereo Mix
So modulo electrical noise on the microphone and headphone jack, you get essentially the same result you'd get as if you went:
Output->DAC->Headphone Jack-> $6.00 Cable [radioshack.com]->Line In Jack->ADC->Line In
Re:Use? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yep it's ridiculous but true. For all you disbelievers, try recording "silence" on your Stereo Mix. Not so silent now, is it ?
I actually hadn't used this feature in ages, but I did a few weeks ago to rip a friend's tune on some lame-ass artist site... the MP3 download was "disabled" and the guy wasn't answering his phone, so I just recorded the streamed output from my onboard sound. Hello noise! I was seeing -48db peaks, maybe -58db average; it's almost inaudible but still not what I expected.
So just to be sure it wasn't the actual source file that was noisy, I did the same thing via my old M-Audio Audiophile 2496, using its "Monitor Mixer", and that one was perfectly clean. I would expect any card with an Envy24 chip to perform the same, as it does this virtual mixing at the digital stage, right on the chip.
There used to be a nice "virtual audio cable" freeware, but Google only turns up some $30 whoreware offering that's clogging up the index.
Re:Use? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.fridgesoft.de/downloads.php [fridgesoft.de]
"UPDATE: HarddiskOgg is now Open Source, the source code is available on SourceForge."
It says it's not for streaming audio, but it worked on the radio interview I mentioned above.
Re:Use? (Score:4, Informative)
Unbeliever here, so just tried it. Perfect digital silence. [Relatively] old dell laptop (D505) with SigmaTel C-Major low end sound card.
Re:Use? (Score:5, Interesting)
this MAY be only for the 'junk' cards like creative.
yes, you heard me. creative resamples (!) to 48k. always. even if the input is ALREADY at 48k!
historically, they have been evil like this.
and so, its not surprising that you get resampled junk when you put silence on the input.
also, while I'm on the subject, 'dolby digital LIVE' is also junk. it tried to convert regular stereo to '5.1' but it does some analog conversions (I'm pretty sure) where you should have an all digital chain. the fidelity is NOT there, its NOT good and should be avoided. if you have 2 channel audio, just LEAVE it as 2 channel and don't get caught in this marketing LIE about upsampling to 5.1 channel mode. you gain nothing good from that and the DD live chipsets are junk.
good ones: cmedia (cmi) 8738 series. better one: envy24 chipset. those do NOT resample and are bit-perfect.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Jst thought I'd add a link for anyone who has a card with this chipset [google.com].
I'd hae had to give out many times the price if I wanted the same functionality from a creative card.
Next Story: (Score:5, Funny)
The MPAA has decided that asking large computer manufacturers to disable any Video Out options, so pirates are thwarted.
Re:Next Story: (Score:5, Insightful)
Oddly enough the screenshot feature of Mac OS X is disabled when you are playing a DVD. I'd take a screenshot of the error message, but I obviously can't.
This seems to be the current trend. You can't print bank notes from Photoshop, you can't record audio on your computer, you can't take screenshots. I'm sure this is just scratching the surface of treacherous computing...
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You can't print bank notes from Photoshop
Bet you can print 'em up in GIMP. Don't let the Government find out about that though, bad things might #$*&(*@&*(*!)(*)!*)(#*)@CARRIER LOST
Actually, in all seriousness I'm not advocating the forgery of banknotes. Just pointing out the rather obvious fact that open source software isn't going to come crippled for my "protection". Wonder how long hardware will remain the same? Was this crippling of the notebooks done in software or hardware?
Either way, why are people still giving Dell money?
Re:Next Story: (Score:5, Informative)
I seriously doubt Photoshop would stop you, but that's just me. It seems a little pointless to have photo-editing software try to do that.
That said, for years scanners, copiers, and I believe laser prints have been designed to try to detect people copying currency and refuse to print. It may happen in ink jets and other printers too. I believe it is only the high end models though.
There is also the "invisible" yellow dot tracking that so many printers do today (you can Google it, or I know it's been discussed here years ago).
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Informative)
I seriously doubt Photoshop would stop you, but that's just me. It seems a little pointless to have photo-editing software try to do that.
Are you sure [slashdot.org] about that?
There is also the "invisible" yellow dot tracking that so many printers do today (you can Google it, or I know it's been discussed here years ago).
I'm well aware of it. I guess the anonymous "printing press" was just too much for the Government to contemplate leaving around.
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Insightful)
When that printing press is capable of making near-perfect reproductions of currency, and easily accessible information on how to defeat or mimic many of the security features is found on the Internet, then yes, it is too much to leave around.
That argument doesn't hold water as a defense of the watermarking technology that I was talking to. My complaint is with the practice of forcing printers to leave a serial number behind [slashdot.org] that law enforcement can track.
That "technique" does not survive a rational examination. That watermarking technology might catch the dumbass teenager that tries to pass a photoshopped $20 bill off on one of the drones at Wally World. But it's not going to catch professional counterfeiters. You really think that they are going to buy printers in such a way that can be traced back to them? The last time I checked it wasn't illegal to buy things with cash in this country and even if it were there are all sorts of ways to obtain things through "unofficial" channels (buying people off at Xerox comes to mind).
Given that, I don't really see how you can defend this practice. It doesn't do much of anything to deter counterfeiting. Yet it makes it that much easier for the Government to trace political communications that it might not agree with. Don't think it's happened before? Think again [latimes.com].
Re:Next Story: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Next Story: (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually you can still take screenshots. There are three easy ways. One is to use Grab.app. Another is to use the 'screencapture' command line tool in Terminal. And lastly you can use any third-party screen capture program. Apple half-assedly only disables the standard keyboard shortcuts. This is typical of their compliance with required terms for media playback. For example, the standard DVD player contract also requires making a reasonable effort to disable debuggers. Apple does this by calling ptrace(PT_DENY_ATTACH, 0, 0, 0) during application startup. This causes the application to crash if it's being run in the debugger, and causes any debugger attached to the application later to crash. It's laughably easy to work around, though; just set a breakpoint on the ptrace function, then tell the debugger to return immediately when it's hit. Presto!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This limitation in OS X has been there for a long, long time; it's nothing new. I don't think it's part of any trend. The blocks in place for Grab.app, etc. aren't terribly hard to circumvent, targeting casual users who will give up before querying Google for workarounds. Last time I checked, you don't need anything that doesn't ship with OS X itself t
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Since when has any Mac software let you do what you wanted ? It goes against the philosophy of the platform. They simplify everything, leave with you a single way to do stuff, and it just so happens that one way usually works pretty well. In a sense, Macs are kind of like game consoles.
Your DVDs play well, and have been doing so for longer than the PC players - you don't need to download your DVD playing software from some idiotic Chinese software company that couldn't even write a goddamned Solitaire cl
Re:Next Story: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Next Story: (Score:5, Informative)
You have to turn your hardware acceleration off.
Right-click
Properties
Settings Tab
Advanced
Troubleshoot Tab
Drag slider to the left
Take you pictures and just slide it back to the right.
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Informative)
An easier way to do is to take advantage of the fact that Windows XP can only use the hardware to render one video stream at a time*. So:
1. Start up some video player and have it play any old video file.
2. Pause this video player (optional).
3. Start up another video player and have it play the file you want to take screenshots of. Windows will render this video using software.
4. Capture your screenshots.
*Some fancy video cards may have drivers to work around this limitation. It also probably won't work in Vista.
Windows XP? Didn't he say "OS X"? (Score:3, Informative)
"Oddly enough the screenshot feature of Mac OS X is disabled when you are playing a DVD"
Indeed he did. What's with the all the Windows XP work-arounds? They're valid, mind you.. for Windows XP; but that's not going to help for OS X?
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Funny)
It's called Preview, the button left of the [Submit]
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Informative)
Welcome to the dreadful hack that is the Windows graphics overlay system. It allocates a very specific color that will be treated as a video area by the video card, so that it won't overlap windows that should be on top. It's clever, but XVideo in the open source world is much better. As usual.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, and XVideo is still much better than Windows' overlay. I'd be the last to defend X itself. I've looked in the source. Global event arrays and select() are used as the core of the entire XFree/XOrg implementation. Enough said.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"Windows may suck, but X11 has traditionally been one of the absolute worst things about Unix."
In some technical aspects, perhaps. But being able to run a graphics program on my work test system with the X11 output being ssh-forwarded to my work desktop computer then over the VPN to my Linux machine at home and then over the wireless network to my Windows laptop in the garden where it's finally displayed is one of the best features of Unix; whereas having to actually sit at the bloody keyboard and monitor t
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Informative)
Don't forget Microsoft's Remote Desktop.
It's very fast. NX might have the advantage on Unix, but RDP is certainly a legitimately good product.
Re:Next Story: (Score:4, Insightful)
We did? You could change X video resolution with a simple set of keystrokes... in 1993. While it wasn't a particularly user friendly way of changing resolution it could be done and it didn't require a desktop restart.
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I noticed the same thing on Windows 2000, and I found out it was because that color, which is copied exactly into the Paint instance during a screenshot, becomes transparent on the video card.
Actually, a lot of legacy image formats did that too, before widespread ARGB use became viable. Instead of having arbitrary levels of transparency, a specific color would be chosen and saved in the image file, and this color is excluded from the bitblt that draws the image.
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Looks like they fixed it in Vista - I just got a shot from a commercial DVD out of Media Player with no issues. And people (including me) criticised it for being crippled with DRM. Oops.
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Re:Next Story: (Score:5, Funny)
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The MPAA has decided that asking large computer manufacturers to disable any Video Out options, so pirates are thwarted.
It's called Protected Media Path. [wikipedia.org]
Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:5, Insightful)
>Is this to prevent home grown artists from recording their own high quality material?
As a musician, I would want to challenge this as abridgement of my rights, and I'd want to make a (worth $Billions$) anti-trust case out of it.
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent modded as "Funny", but you know, the "Independent musician invoking antitrust against the RIAA" thing might just have something going for it.
Too bad you'd need a huge chunk of capital just to get the legal ball rolling...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:4, Informative)
Dismissed at the pleading stage for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted. There is no legal theory on this planet that would make a third party (even a disreputable one like the RIAA) responsible for the Dell's choice to include or exclude some features from a driver. Perhaps you could proceed in a fraud case against Dell IF somewhere they claimed stereo-mix as a feature or, and this is a huge stretch, general merchantability.
More broadly, I suggest you stop thinking of the legal system is a cure-all for every practice you don't like. The law is not meant to be an all-encompassing tool for redressing every wrong but rather a minimal standard of civilized decency. While I'm no fan of the RIAA, and many of their tactics are indeed illegal (I'll let NYCL flesh those out), this particular odious act is still well within the law.
If you are a musician (Score:3, Insightful)
I hope you'd buy a soundcard that doesn't blow to record your stuff. Internal laptop cards are noisy as hell. Get yourself a nice firewire card. Much, much, much better converters, and their drivers suffer from no limitations.
Seriously, while this is a dumb move by Dell, any righteous indignation by musicians tells me that either:
1) They don't know much about recording.
2) They are just generating false rage for the purpose of hating on the RIAA.
If I find that the RIAA has managed to outlaw soundcards with h
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:5, Insightful)
>It isn't about recording audio input from microphones, it is about making a copy of whats going out to the speakers.
Don't try to dictate to me how I may, or may not, use my tools, thank you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:4, Informative)
correct - any musician wanting decent sound quality will use an spdif (or similar) interface and do the analog/digital conversion outside the computer.
these days, if you need only 2 channel stereo you can use a usb-audio input device and there are ones that have spdif toslink (opto) inputs. then you front-end that with an a/d converter, maybe a small mixer and you're all set. can be done for $100 or so and you'll get bit-perfect recording. usb-audio (asynch) drivers are driverless! so there's nothing 'they' can disable on you.
same with usb-audio style spdif out devices. those run in synch mode and they are also driverless (mac, win, linux, bsd, you name it). you can find usb audio dongles that support 2496 samplerates and even DD5.1/DTS via raw mode.
no one that would be 'serious' would use the analog i/o ports on a notebook for recording.
BUT that does not let dell off the hook for hobling their own goddamn hardware. no excuse for that kind of behavior. shame on dell. I will remember this stunt for the next time an IT manager type asks me which brand of hardware we should go with.
vote with your dollars. avoid dell and when asked, TELL them why.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
We're not talking about recording from input; we're talking about making a copy of the output as it goes to the speakers. I don't think there's any D to A involved in recording this way, although you do lose a generation, and of course if the source was compressed you're in extra trouble.
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Not at all, If you sign up with the Riaa, then you can sign over all rights and record to your hearts desire.
Because they are probably not.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this to prevent home grown artists from recording their own high quality material?
Basically we are talking about Dell screwing up one driver to which people are ascribing various conspiracy theories. If you are actually read any of the blogs they are all just speculating and pointing to each other. Some of the more serious blogs outright say it is just random speculation, but that does not stop them from spreading the FUD. Something tells me if Dell made some secret deal, this would affect ALL of their computers, not just ones based on specific chipset. They wouldn't be selling alternative audiocards, and they would not be posting workarounds all over the place.I think that old variation of Occam's razor applies - "don't attribute to malice what can easily be explained by stupidity." Its not the first driver Dell screwed up - its not going to be the last. This one just happened to somewhat fit into a conspiracy theory.
-Em
Re:Why is RIAA asking this? (Score:5, Insightful)
What has been disabled is the loopback, which lets you record the music that the computer is playing. Youtube for example.
Yeah, or even your own LEGALLY COPYRIGHTED drum/beat/synthesizer loops. Or even the audio off your home videos to use for your own LEGAL reuse in your own LEGAL compilation home videos. Or even your own LEGAL automated answering service that may need to record messages. Or any of a plethora of other LEGAL uses.
As a poster has already stated, do NOT tell me how I should/can or shouldn't/cannot use MY hardware.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Semetic, just like the Arabs are.
Not that there's enough differentiation in the human genome between the 'races' to matter much, but you asked.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
This was posted on Slashdot. Needless to say, the story is total bunk.
Try to relax before knee-jerking to something you see here. Probably half of the damned stories here are blatantly false.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, that may be... but certainly Dell's "cred" for anything but a Windows lapdog and a mod-unfriendly assembler of Chinese parts has been thoroughly trashed over the years.
I have a P2-400 from Dell that is _STILL_ running DSL 4.1. I can't vouch for the current lot of Dell's computers, but if the web (and my company's) comments on Dell's QC of their boxes are even 10% true, they've fallen FLAT.
It's rather a sad state of things when the margins got so razor thin (mostly by Dell's own making), they simply b
packard bell? (Score:5, Funny)
Gateway and Pac Bell are the other two manufacturers to have bowed to RIAA at the expense of their customers' satisfaction and disabled stereo mix without warning."
Is that the Packard Bell that so many of us loved to hate? Really, did they even reach the technological prowess of having stereo recording in their systems?
I really thought their systems pretty well disappeared back in the mid to late 90s, and were buried in a junkyard with rusted-out Yugos somewhere.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:packard bell? (Score:5, Funny)
Recommendations? (Score:2)
I hate the idea of giving companies like this any more business, at least until they become very repentant and remember their one and only source of revenue.
That said, I frequently get asked by relatives to recommend a computer they should buy. I've been in the habit of recommending Dell because they seem to be well built and inexpensive. I build all of my own because they are generally gaming machines, but it's just not worth it to build (and support to some degree) a PC for everyone that asks. And besides
Re: (Score:2)
"one and only source of revenue."
Other than advertisers and crapware?
"Anyway, does anyone have suggestions of good places to get pre-built PCs without supporting this kind of anti-consumer behavior?"
I hate to be "that guy" but, maybe Apple? I haven't ever tried on my Mini so I don't know if there is a way to record the mixer output.
Other options... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Just guessing here, but one could rip iTunes Store recordings, or plays-for-sure (whatever the MS store is) tracks, or audible audio books just by playing them and capturing the high-quality PCM streams while it plays. Then convert into mp3 or whatever.
Essentially, this would let you exploid analog hole without requiring any cables for line in/line out loopback. And since the waveform never leaves your sound card, the quality of the recording is near perfect.
This is just another useless annoyance (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
even sillier, $5 cable from earphone jack to mic jack, problem solved.
No no no, problem not solved. I already moderated once in this discussion, but this is just too common an error.
The earphone output is somewhat compatible with line levels and impedances, so it should go to the line-in. Of course, some computers only have a mic input. In that case you'll only get one of the two channels, only mildly distorted if you're lucky.
A lawsuit waiting to happen? (Score:4, Interesting)
If Dell advertises "ACME sound chipset ABC123" but doesn't deliver all the features of that chipset, are they guilty of false advertising?
Just asking.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Likely not. You would have to prove it was Dells intent to do this deliberately. From the sounds of it, Dell just kinda fucked up. That might entitle you to a rebate, refund or exchange but is unlikely to get you any punitive damages.
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In both cases, techni
dear riaatards: (Score:3, Interesting)
1. anyone committed to do music piracy will commit music piracy and any software or hardware hurdles you throw up cannot stop them
2. anyone committed to not do music piracy will be irritated by the software and hardware hurdles you throw up to stop music pirates
congratulations for punishing your paying customers and doing nothing to stop music piracy
fucking retards
your business model is dead
just die already
Sometimes... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Firehose (Score:5, Insightful)
I submitted a story that didn't make it beyond blue in the firehose, but which was selected for one of the subsections. I submitted another which made to red, and it wasn't selected.
Firehose popularity may be something editors consider, but it is by no means the deciding factor. This story is on the front page because an editor thought it ought to be there.
Really? Is this a big huge problem? (Score:4, Interesting)
Just use the non-Dell drivers. If it's a Sigmatel, download a Sigmatel driver from somewhere else for the same chipset. Use Everest or something to report what chipset it actually is, and just go get someone else's driver. I've dived through the .INF files for some of these, and this kind of thing is something you can enable/disable directly within there, if you were so inclined and knew where to look (and had the time and patience to change it in about six different places in the same file). It's actually pretty easy to figure out if you're used to looking at config files, even if it really is a different beast.
I just wanted to say... (Score:5, Informative)
I did some googling of my own and found other users who located a Dell driver (R171789) for XP that can be installed in Vista using the XP-SP2 compatibility mode option. I found this driver, installed it as prescribed, went into Vista's Recording Devices, told it to show and enable all disabled devices, and boom, there was my stereo mix. So far I have been recording without any issues.
So yeah, without question it sucks that I even had to go through that, but it took me 10 minutes of research and even less than that to enable and configure.
I hope this helps somebody.
They caught me! (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is the kicker though; if I couldn't do that, I still would not buy the CD. On the contrary, being able to sample music like this brings me closer to caving in and buying a CD( but I typically only buy used CDs because I am more willing to pay the discounted, still marked up price when I know the profit goes to the small business, so suck on that secondary market RIAA ).
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"( but I typically only buy used CDs because I am more willing to pay the discounted, still marked up price when I know the profit goes to the small business, so suck on that secondary market RIAA )"
Never fear, that's next [techdirt.com] on the agenda
Lenovo ThinkPads also have a disabled waveout (Score:5, Interesting)
I just got a new T61p through the upgrade program at work, and spent literally hours a few nights ago trying to figure out how to re-enable this function.
I use it for one reason only: I call into telecons from our VOIP client, and record them so I can post them online internally as MP3s (along with meeting minutes) for those that miss the discussion. I dial in from my phone, dial in again from the laptop, hit record in Audacity, and have the whole thing recorded and done.
I'm really quite annoyed because this simple function won't prevent pirates from pirating audio. Clever folks will always figure out a workaround.
And yep, I'm an IBMer. I work in Power Systems development (Power 575, 595, etc., NOT at Lenovo). There's even one or two random posts on our intranet message boards mentioning that folks couldn't get this to work on the latest systems, but no one's posted a solution.
This is a common problem on Analog Devices SoundMax Digital HD audio chips. I was able to modify the INF file for the SoundMax driver to give me the GUI option to record the audio, but when I select that device, it records nothing, so obviously something else isn't quite correct.
At least I'm not the only one with these problems. Hopefully if enough people make a fuss, AD will re-enable this function.
~ Mike
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Possible it's just an engineering decision. Maybe their new chips don't have the electrical links to feed output back to input. Or perhaps their chips now do, but they are cutting it out in the future and they don't want people bitching about new chips having less functionality. Now it might seem silly, why cut out a few small components? However, this kind of thing happens in mass production items that are designed for minimal costs. I've recorded talks (one of them from a guy at AD who is real good at thi
It's a VISTA thing (Score:3, Informative)
According to this thread http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&message.id=43688#M43688 [dellcommunity.com] the stereo mix drivers that Dell was supplied by SigmaTel (now Freescale Semiconductor) are being rejected by Vista on installation. The techs are working on it, but odds are SignaTel (not Dell) is being threatened by RIAA as not to supply the fix.
http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/66120/Correct_Sigmatel_audio_drivers_Stereo_Mix# [ideastorm.com]
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&thread.id=40127&jump=true [dellcommunity.com]
Collusion is such a weighted word (Score:4, Insightful)
n. A secret agreement between two or more parties for a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose.
That doesn't really sound like what's going on here. Maybe Dell relinquished a little more choice in the matter than they should have, but Michael Dell isn't sitting behind a curtain wringing his hands over this one. Try "cooperates", it's much less FUD-filled.
Accurate weights... (Score:3, Insightful)
If they removed an advertised capability without notice, that's deceitful and arguably fraudulent, though probably not illegal. :)
Dell E310 with SigmaTel Audio (Score:3, Informative)
Said options were disabled on my computer too. When I finally required its use, I got around to fixing it by going to SigmaTel's web site and acquiring updated drivers. The 'Stereo Mix' option then appeared and worked without issues.
Grumpy bullshit (Score:5, Informative)
OK, here is ALL of the evidence that the RIAA has been strongarming Dell into this behaviour:
(from http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/32286847/vista-audio-solution--wh.aspx [eggheadcafe.com])
"Many of you may have been as frustrated as myself by Micrsoft bowing to the RIAA
and pressuring the soundcard manufacturers to remove the "What You Hear" feature
from their drivers."
Oh, yeah, and there's the other article which points to it, on http://www.ripten.com/2008/07/07/bend-over-dude-youre-getting-a-dell/ [ripten.com]:
"Some believe that Dell, and several other computer manufacturers such as Gateway and Pac Bell, were pressured by the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) into disabling the stereo mix functionality." ...
"So that we are all clear, the evidence points to Dell appeasing the RIAA by disabling hardware, only to have their customer service reps turn around and offer a solution to their consumers that reverses the alteration they made in the first place at a premium price."
Yep, that's it. One guy claimed it with absolutely no evidence, and so it's apparently true. Another guy wilfully misinterpreted some random tech support guy's suggestion, and now we have a collusion between Dell and the RIAA. Wow, this is investigative reporting at its finest!
My Dell laptop at work didn't have a way of turning off the damned 'tap to click' feature of the touchpad. I spent ages looking for a downloadable driver to make that feature work. Based on the rules of logic illustrated above, this is clearly a sign of collusion between Dell and Logitech.
Honestly, aren't there enough examples of corporate bullshit that we don't have to invent false ones?
They are damn lucky they didn't do it to my laptop (Score:3, Insightful)
If they had, I would have sued dell in a heartbeat.
This is an expected feature of modern sound cards and not to be fucked with.
This is getting out of hand and Dell and the whole board who decided this are COWARDS!
I guess no one has the integrity to stand up and say, enough is enough.
The RIAA is overstepping their bounds by miles here.
Re:What does Dell stand to gain? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Piracy to use the term loosely, hasn't become more prevalant. Sales are declining because they keep putting out garbage, with audio-compression schemes to increase volume and distortion levels.
Then they wonder why they're losing money...
Good gawd *IAAs, get a clue...