CONFIRMED: Authentication Built Into iPod shuffle Earphones Comments

if so ..anti trust ruling please EU

I hope it's just another tabloid rumour, like they've found some mysterious chip and instantly assumed the worst.

Google puhhleeease make an mp3 player, Google should be the new Apple for civilised world (EU) and sensible people.

Edit: It seems that this is true.

So far everything has gone crap with the new shuffle.
Steve stepped down and all hell broke loose.

Instead of being the iPod Shuffle it's becoming the iSuck.

@Randy: Google is just Microsoft 2.0 - I don't feel very comfy seeing them spread out into all markets.

I have already decided that when I replace my Ipod it will not be with another Ipod. 3 reasons I do not like being told what I can or cannot do with something that I have paid for, I want a memory card slot and, preferably, a removable battery.

If Apple try to do something like this with the rest of the range then I will no longer buy any more iPods. I've bought about 4 or 5 so far over the years and I will NOT have Apple dictate what earphones I can and can't use!

I spy potential abuse of a dominant position - Article 82 EC. I hope the European Commission gets its teeth into Apple like it did with Microsoft.

I am shocked by this article. Not by the fact that Apple might have put a DRM chip into its last Shufle, but by the speculative aspect: this is speculation based on someone's else speculation. And you call this journalism? My God! You write:
"it is looking increasingly likely it [Apple] has implemented an 'authentication chip' into the new inline earphones". On what evidence do you base your "it is looking increasingly likely"? Just because some half-informed techy found a chip he could not identify in a new piece of equipment? This chip could be so many things (yes, including a DRM chip), how does he know what it is doing? On the picture, there is even a question: "what do you do, 8A83E3?". This is a clear enough indication that the original writter doesn't know what he is talking about. And you even write: "Boingboing even believes it has located the DRM chip itself (shown above) but is unable to verify at this stage". Obviously, you are not too concerned with TR's credibility...You could have reported the FACTS: an unknown chip has been discovered in the iPod Shuffle's earphones. While it can be anything, some say it could be a DRM chip to forbid use on non-Apple earphones". But you judge before even trying to understand ("Further digging itself into a hole following the ill-thought out new iPod shuffle is talk of some quite simply mind blowing selfishness. Emerging from boingboing, it seems the crazy decision to remove controls from the player itself and put them onto the earphones had another major motivation: cash). Frankly, look at Apple's balance sheet: would a company with more than $25bn in cash (Yahoo finance, http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AAPL) take the risk to alienate its customers by locking them with low margins items such as earphones? I certainly do not know what that chip is and I can't exclude anything, but let's have a look at what Apple is and then you can decide if this DRM story makes any sense:
1) Apple has à25bn in Cash on its balance sheet,
2) Apple goes for high margin items: it sells high-end computers, PMP players and smartphones,
3) its strategy has always been to go after the high-end of the market.
4) it has favored open technologies in the past, where it could (FreeBSD, Darwin, WebKit, etc...),
5) to balance point 4 and before you mention it: yes, it has put DRM in place in its line of players and its iTS music store, but this decision stems from its contracts with the music majors. Apple tried to get rid of the DRM as soon as it could (remember Apple was the 1st to sell DRM-free MP3 tracks with EMI back in 2007),
6) the PR nightmare that would result from such a stupid decision is certainly not worth the money Apple could make on earphones.

Do you think that low-end, low margins earphones fit in this strategy? I am not sure.
What I am sure is that Trusted Reviews is less and less trustworthy.

I've always thought that companies reflect the nature of the people who run them (Ryanair, for example) so it's no surprise that Apple is innovative, excellent at selling its products but is still a nasty company.

let's celebrate the idea that the new ipod range is innovative rather than everything else.

Maybe all those people fooled by Apple's marketeers will wake up to the fact that the company's just another Nike, McDonalds, Gap, et al.

I guess time will tell whether this is true or not. Unfortunately it seems TR has already decided that it is, just like it has already decided that the new Shuffle is pants without actually testing it. :)

@Ben the new shuffle IS pants because it is another apple product that is a triumph for style over substance. I've never understood why people who like gadgets would pick an apple product, they're generally twice the price for half the functionality of other products but it depends what you want I guess. Have I just turned this into an apple-bashing thread?

If that's just Gordon's opinion then you should probably remove it from 'News' and pop it all into a Gordoblog instead. IMHO, anyway.

So in other words, Apple moved the DRM from iTunes right into the headphones. Nice! Had to go somewhere...

I'm detecting a bit of hysteria being whipped up here, so I'll just point something out here. These new headphones don't just work with the Shuffle. They work with the latest Nano, Classic and Touch. With those players, you're quite free to swap Apple's earphones with your own choice of earphones. Apple haven't forced you to use their phones. Obviously that's not an option with the Shuffle, or you couldn't control it, but we already knew that. So it seems that nothing's changed?

So what if they do turn out to be DRM'd and you can't use other 'phones with the new shuffle? What difference will it make anyway? Walking down any street shows that the majority of people use the bundled iPod headphones anyway, so clearly don't give a stuff about music quality. Leave the iPods for the masses who are happy with 'ok' sound quality, and those that know better will still be able to choose a player with better sound quality and choose their favourite 'phones to go with it.

Hey a 'Gordoblog' column sounds good.

Just let him rant and rave about everything - weather it's true or not - with a small print disclaimer at the bottom...he could be the Clarkson of the Tech World, no?

The Technology industry needs opinionated hacks with personalities, who aren't too afraid to speak out of turn and put a ruffle in the feathers of industry.

I just can't see this DRM malarky being true .... but if it is then stopping people from using better earphones is one of the most stupid moves any company has made since Sony's rootkit debacle. Its bound to hit sales not to mention tarnish their already rapidly vanishing customer goodwill.

the gordon (micro)blog is already available on twitter and very amusing it is too!

would it really surprise anyone that Apple is trying to lock down their hardware? seriously? the whole mac ecosystem is based on lock in. it's the reason everything works so well together but that doesn't disguise the fact.

and yes, i do think Apple are greedy enough to attempt this. i think iPod number five will now be my last.

Next thing you know, even the iPouches will have DRM.

Wow Ben is close to tears over a review that has not yet appeared, a big problem with Apple little things that get too touchy.

I'm a renowned Apple fanboy which has come from working for an Apple Authorised Reseller, and even I've had to stand up and say the new Shuffle is ill-thought, I don't think the VoiceOver features are practical at all, this earbud thing has caused mass uproar, and if this talk of Apple-licensed earphones is true then I have a huge disagreement with that also... Whilst I'm very happy to sell Apple products day in-and-out, the new Shuffle certainly isn't anything I'll be putting much effort behind.

Do you think Tim Cook avoided doing a Keynote on these recent product launches through fears of getting booed? get well soon Steve ;)

Serge, I'd love to hear your thoughts now that this has been confirmed.

There's nothing quite like seeing someone enjoying their righteous indignation and then being kicked squarely in the nuts by reality...

Shock horror. The biggest surprise to me is that I'm just not that surprised.

This act by Apple is unlikely to be noticed by a great swath of ipod users as, it's already been stated, the average user simply uses the existing headphones. Does this mean it's targeted at the user who enjoys Apple products, but upgrades when it improves the performance? Or is it aimed at tapping into the huge aftermarket sales for ipod products? It would be interesting to find out if Apple has a patent on DRM headphones? Hence making third party manufactuers pay them lience fees.

Apple must feel there is a balance between annoying a percentage of their customers and the profit they will reap from this move. As they do have such a large percentage of the market, it's not so far fetched to believe they will get away with this move with not too many ripples to it's consumer base.

For me personally, while I admire the OS on ipod products greatly, I dislike the restrictions they build into them, needing itunes etc and this puts another barrier in place for me for when I upgrade (you can't beat drag and drop I say).

Currently, Apple are popular enough to get this pass most consumers. However, goodwill takes a long time to build up and is easily lost, espicially as that company becomes larger and larger.

So bad news for more 'gadget minded' consumers like you and I? However, they don't actually have my custom so thats not a problem to them and no news to the average ipod customer.. for now.

Ps, Working in Marketing I have to admire the launch of this on the shuffle market, testing the water for the Nano and itouch. You can't fault Apple in the way they are going about this. They know tech fans will kick up a stink, if the stink is bad enough it won't go further, if it's not that major the rest of the range will gain this 'feature' shortly.. Their shareholders will be happy lol

PPS, can Trusted Reviews increase the size of this comment box? I would prefer something larger than a few lines at anytime!

@my last comment. I didn't mean make the amount of space I have to reply larger. I meant, the viewing area of the comment box is a bit too small in my opinion.

Contrary to the size of my above comments, I'm not looking to write War & Peace each time I put fingers to keyboard! Don't worry lol

"PPS, can Trusted Reviews increase the size of this comment box? I would prefer something larger than a few lines at anytime!"

I've been saying that for ages!

Oh I get it- Apple are sore that their earbuds have always been so bad that they're making everyone else pay. Talk about throwing your toys out of the pram... ¬_¬

I really don't see how this chip affects anyone except Apple's partners. From what I've read, the SOLE purpose of this chip is to ensure that 3rd party manufacturers can't make their own earphone remotes without Apple's say-so. It seems that it does nothing to prevent people from using any earphones they choose with their iPod. Obviously you need the remote to operate the new Shuffle, but that's the product of an ill-conceived design which has nothing to do with this chip.

Also, this is not a 'DRM' chip in the usual sense. DRM protected music will still play through any earphones that don't carry this chip.

@Hugo - 'complaining'? Not sure I was doing that, more making a suggestion based on my preferences. Do you work for my IT department? Everything I ask them is a chore also! (Like can I have a PC which doesn't crash every 2 hours) lol

@Chris - 'product of an ill-conceived design'. I wouldn't say thats the case at all. I think Apple knows exactly what they are doing with this design ;)

Canny discussion going on here and it just shows the evil in Apple's heart, don't worry Google will show their true colours soon as well.

There is NO DRM in the new Apple headphones for iPod Shuffle. Your own Boingbong source confirms it, Gordon: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/03/16/manufacturer-confirm.html

What's more, there's no encryption used. Anyone can duplicate the operation of the chip. They just can't print "Made for iPod" on the packaging unless they're Apple-licensed, which is probably the case for iPod accessories anyway.

@Ben - Thanks for the link, that sort-of confirms what I've been trying to say.

@Gordon - Quite right - and I'm not challenging the voracity of your article, just trying to point out that this isn't necessarily anything for the consumer to be concerned about.