Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] Video?

[Alex Lancaster <alexl users sourceforge net>]

>>>>> "AT" == Adrian Thornton  writes:

AT> Rhythmbox won't play back any music vides from my shared iTunes
AT> library, nor will it play (the video in) video podcasts. Are you
AT> expecting to support video (even via a third-party player such as
AT> xine) in the near future? It would even be perfectly acceptable
AT> for Rhytmbox to go "oh wait, this is a video file, so I'll tell
AT> Xine to open it instead.

See the recent mailing list thread:

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/rhythmbox-devel/2006-July/thread.html#00046

In particular James Livingston's post:

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/rhythmbox-devel/2006-July/msg00048.html

Consensus is, if it could be integrated in a sensible way from a user
point of view, it could be done as a plugin.

AT> Also, is there any way to authenticate on Rhythmbox so I can play
AT> my iTunes Music Store purchases? Not essential, but it would help
AT> make my transition from Windows to Linux complete.

Erm, *very* unlikely.  The legal way would require Apple providing a
way for third-parties to authenticate files purchases on iTMS which
they seem unwilling to do for anyone, let alone an open-source
project.

Witness the struggle Real had reverse engineering Apple's "FairPlay"
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) scheme to allow Rhapsody to play
iTMS purchased music, because Apple wouldn't allow just that:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/15/apple_vs_real/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/26/real_drm_switcher/

Or even Microsoft:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/08/xbox_360_ipod/

The not-so-legal way requires converting your files using some third
party tool to remove the DRM built into the file into a plain mp4
file.  Doing that in the U.S. necessarily involves breaking the
dreaded Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

I recommend you boycott the iTMS for the very reason that it makes
criminals of people who want to listen to their legitimately bought
music on computers and players other than that sanctioned by Apple,
because Apple offers no legal method of doing so.  See:

 http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

Some good alternatives for DRM-free music are here:

 http://defectivebydesign.org/en/guide

eMusic's range is pretty large (although I haven't used it) and
Nettwerk has large range of Canadian acts.

Rhythmbox has an experimental patch for supporting the Magnatune music
store in bugzilla:

http://bugs.gnome.org/345783

Hope this helps,
Alex