The RIAA v. Steve Jobs
Though the precedent of time shifting existed for television, space shifting was still an emerging idea. The acronym for the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA, was something of a new four-letter word due to their hostility toward new ideas. […] This had an impact on our marketing for the first version of Audio Hijack. Rather than focusing on the app’s recording functionality, we highlighted use cases like adding an equalizer to movies. We knew recording was useful, but the app’s ability to apply audio effects anywhere on the Mac carried much less legal peril.
[…]
We never heard a word from the RIAA, nor their lawyers. As time passed without any trouble, we eventually came to assume that they recognized our tool’s many legitimate fair uses. We continued development of Audio Hijack, leaning in to its audio recording abilities. That focus led to it being a premier solution for podcasters, both then and now.
Earlier this month, however, we heard a chilling story. It comes from the Podfather himself, Adam Curry, who was instrumental in helping podcasts take off in the mid-2000s.
And in that very meeting, Steve asked: “How do you do your recording?”. We didn’t really have any tools to record, there was not much going on at the time. But the Mac had an application called Audio Hijack Pro, and it was great because we could create audio chains with compressors, and replicate a bit of studio work. Eddie Cue said: “The RIAA wants us to disable Audio Hijack Pro, because with it you could record any sound off of your Mac, any song, anything.” Steve then turned to me and said: “Do you need this to create these podcasts?”. I said: “Currently, yes!”. So Steve Jobs told them to get lost, and I thought: “Hey man, thanks, Steve’s on my side. That’s cool.”
His actual words were “fuck them”
I mean, this is great, but as Kafasis says it’s terrifying that it could have gone differently were it not for the whims of one man. And Jobs’ decision was pragmatic, not principled. Apple under his watch later developed the iPhone and the Mac App Store, neither of which allowed software like this. It then made such utilities much harder to install with the M1 Macs. We’re celebrating a small victory, but the larger story is one of a loss.
Previously:
- Rogue Amoeba Historic Screenshot Archive
- MuseScore Requests Downloader Takedown
- M1 Macs Add Hurdles for Audio Plug-ins
- youtube-dl vs. RIAA
- Potential
2 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
> Apple under his watch later developed the iPhone and the Mac App Store, neither of which allowed software like this. It then made such utilities much harder to install with the M1 Macs. We’re celebrating a small victory, but the larger story is one of a loss.
My feelings exactly. I worry that we're nearing the point where the next such decision will not be made in favor of users, especially with things like the RESTRICT Act on the table. I was even compelled to write a brief editorial on this topic, though it may well be yelling into the void: https://concernedsoftwareuser.github.io/software-freedom/
When I learned about how difficult it now is to install Rogue Amoeba software on Apple Silicon macs, I got quite upset, perhaps irrationally so. At a time where most software companies have forgotten how to make good software if they ever knew how in the first place, Rogue Amoeba is a paragon of excellent software design. Wonderful, responsive native interfaces that are both functional and beautiful, utilizing the features of the OS to do incredible things and empowering users with terrific tools. They ought to be put up on a pedestal.
And here Apple is messing it up for them for no god damned reason. We didn't need these new security features they're cramming down our throats. They're not solving any specific problem. They're just making life harder for end users, introducing new bugs, and choking third party developers like Rogue Amoeba who Apple *ought* to be elevating. It's so frustrating! And we just know that each new release of macOS is going to tighten the chains even more. How long will it be until Rogue Amoeba's business is effectively ended by Apple killing anyone's ability to install something like ACE?
