Quote:
Apple created ALAC so they could put their own custom container around it that can support DRM. Same reason Apple made their own custom container for AAC. So they could add DRM.
[ snip ]
ummmmm....not quite.
yes, the concept of "music content protection" was a key background item behind the development of ALAC
however, apple's creation of a new lossless compression scheme was not driven by a draconian/conspiracy relationship between apple desire for control and using DRM - a "reason" that many people continue to mention
rather, the development was related to requirements defined by "the music industry" if the evolution of music to digital files was to move forward into distribution via personal entertainment networks
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ALAC was not created with the *primary* development goal being to enable customers to make lossless versions of music files from their CDs; rather that was a happy byproduct of the actual reason
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apple at the time was fully committed and engaged in implementing thier overall strategy evolution which would emphasize portability, convenience, and simple unwired connectivity -- all to serve (and leverage) customer desire (and human nature) for instant gratification in access to media and information content.
this had started of course with the introduction of Airport (802.11 wifi) in 1999, for internet access and file transfer between computers -- several years before ALAC capability was introduced as a component of QuickTime end-April 2004
by 2004, with the iTunes ecosystem taking hold (the iTunes Store was roughly a year old and quite successful, iirc 50+ million downloads and accelerating), and with 802.11 maturing in customer use, apple wanted to add untethered music streaming to their overall product feature mix ("iTunes helps organize your music. you can find what you want fast. now send it to your home entertainment system").
but there was still a huge customer base on 802.11b, not yet evolved to 802.11g
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sending 128kbps compressed audio files over wifi doesn't take much bandwidth. however, higher quality would be better for integration with a home entertainment system; and of course ripping CDs at full 16/44 was very typical. hence CD bitrate of 1411kbps had to be supported
do a bit of research and you'll see that actual *typical* available bandwidth in a home wifi network is much lower than the quoted 11 or 54 Mbps. often, an 802.11b network has a useable bandwidth allowing only something more like 2-3Mbps. a CD rip at 1411kbps (= 1.411Mbps) + error correction would be a significant portion of this allowable "bit budget."
hence possibility for wifi network congestion and bad performance (dropouts, stutters, etc), which woud be very noticable in an audio streaming environment. and apple does't want unhappy consumers blaming them for problems which are actually caused by wifi technology bottlenecks.
so, in order to make audio streaming work reliably in a typical consumer wifi environment, a solution was needed to reduce demands placed by that audio stream on the wireless network.
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enter the concept of lossless compression.
everyday example: when you use lossless encoding during a CD rip, your resulting filesize drops and hence the average playback bitrate for the file drops down from 1411kbps, typically down into the range of 600-900kbps.
simply stated, by using a good lossless compression algorithm, a CD-quality audio stream could have the same result: bitrate reduced by 30-60%.
run the original audio thru a lossless encode/decode chain
computer ALAC compress > wireless 802.11 transmit > air > wireless 802.11 receive > Airport Express ALAC decompress
and communication through that over-the-air "channel" would require much less bandwidth.
600-900kbps put less strain on capability of a consumer wifi channel.
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so where does "the music industry" come in to an apple plan to allow wireless music streaming as a function intimately connected to the exploding iTunes ecosystem?
and more specifically, with regard to lossless compression (which was needed for the data communications bandwidth issue noted above, namely, reliable CD-quality streaming functionality within the limited bandwidth of typical consumer wifi)?
answer: they insisted that any of their content being transmitted out of a computer environment, over any wireless network, had to be "protected."
and any "software" or algorithm involved while that data was "out in the air" which looked like it could be "cracked" -- or, god forbid, which was "open" -- was not acceptable.
so, in addition to the obvious parallel discussion about wifi security (at that time considered reasonably good), there was this little problem: the lossless compression algorithm had to be "protectable."
ie it couldn't be open source in any way.
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FLAC: wonderful lossless decoder, but all licensing is related to BSD and GNU GPL copyleft -- free software licenses, and with implications that any derivative works must follow same/similar licensing requirements.
so, no way would the content providers (music industry) allow their extracted CD-quality audio content, moving within the (wildly-successful- and seen-as-possible-industry-salvation) iTunes software/hardware ecosystem, go through any commercial-product-based wireless communications link with a non-defendable lossless compression scheme. especially one whose licensing requirements could force (as-yet-unknown) future digital music systems to be subject to open-source-style requirements.
but the music industry loved the idea that music streaming a la wifi could be a factor positively motivating consumer demand for music product. (they may have been late to get it in the beginning, but by now they saw the inevitible future of consumer audio involving a computer).
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solution: create a lossless compression algorithm with a controllable legal & licensing lineage.
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hence, apple had to create their own lossless compression algorithm to placate music industry fears while evolving the "computer audio" experience to integrate itunes with the environment that average consumers were familiar with: their home entertainment systems.
2004 late-April: QuickTime (and iTunes) introduces ALAC capability. about six weeks later, introduction of the Airport Express, with seamless iTunes audio streaming as a feature. all audio which comes out of the computer via wifi is subject to ALAC lossless compression for tramsmission.
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apple were forced by music industry / business reasons to use a lossless compresion algorithm other than FLAC. since ALAC lossless functionality is equivalent to FLAC lossless functionality is equivalent to algorithmXYZ lossless functionality.... well, apple have lossless functionality. no need to support other (potentially commercially-undefendable) algorithms
not utilizing FLAC removes the business and legal exposure to which potential future products and software might be subject, via FLAC copyleft licensing terms. this is why no apple products have native FLAC support.
kept the music industry suits happy, their heads filled with visions of revenue streams coming from the evolution of on-line music ecosystems - especially iTunes.
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oh, and as a side benefit of this whole affair, you can store your audio files as ALAC lossless...
hopefully entertaining,
chuck
edit: schpellink