Heroes from Whereever: China Content Broadcasting Network exhibition

Australia’s "Radio Info" carried a story on April 29 about the "China Content Broadcasting Network (CCBN) exhibition", or 第３２届中国国际广播电视信息网络展览会, an annual event held at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing. The exhibition and the forums accompanying it were widely covered in Chinese media. It was organized by the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS) and National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), and attended by "a consortium of domestic and international industry leaders – including Beijing BBEF Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Fraunhofer IIS, RFmondial, and SimReal Technology".

While DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) isn’t a big thing in Europe, the Fraunhofer Institute appears to be a regular stakeholder in China’s and India’s digital radio projects, and in projects elsewhere in the world. Beijing BBEF Science & Technology Co., Ltd., also known as "Beiguang", is a long-established manufacturer of transmitters for all wavebands, with customers in (as of 2012, according to company data) China itself, Africa, the Middle East, and lone outposts in Albania, Antarctica, and Cuba at the time.

North Korea probably was or is a customer, too, but the transmitters’ location there is "a state secret". Maybe in accordance with that, BBEF have since removed all their webpages with anecdotes related to their 2011 training sessions with North Korean technicians, including the art of installing at least one transmitter underground.

History and tradition aside, DRM might actually find a big market in East and South Asia. The car industry is ubiquitous in this context, and "[t]he opening of the Multi-Channel Network Collaborative Development Forum on 24 April saw the launch of the Shortwave Broadcasting Innovation Initiative, led by the Radio Station Administration Bureau of China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), together with Communication University of China and other industry partners."

There is a party line of course, quoted in this context in Chinese media.
Xi Jinping, in a speech on internet security in 2016:

Some comrades’ suggestions to form industry-academia-research-application alliances are excellent. For example, we could establish an "Internet+" alliance, a high-end chip alliance, etc., to strengthen communication and collaboration in strategy, technology, standards, and markets, and to jointly tackle key innovation challenges. We could also explore a "challenge-based" approach, posting the key core technology projects needed. [Technological] Heroes are not restricted by their provenience; whoever has the ability, should be invited to take on the challenge.

____________________

Related

A lot of “downloaded” songs are basically tied to:

active subscription checks
DRM restrictions
device/account verification
offline expiration

So even if the music is saved locally, it’s not always truly yours offline.

This breakdown explains it pretty well:
https://www.tuneboto.com/topics/amazon-music-download-limits.html?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=landy-202605

Especially useful if you travel a lot or keep losing offline access randomly.

#AmazonMusic #StreamingMusic #OfflineMusic #MusicTech #DRM #Audiophile #Android #FLAC #MusicStreaming #TechTips

Remember when people used to complain about cable costing too much, and having too many ads?
Look at where DRM-based streaming services are going. Subscription prices keep going up every month, and the quantity of ads per minute of viewing keeps going up.
And it is increasingly being owned by less and less companies (currently 4 companies control almost all TV and movies in the United States)
They knew they couldn't squeeze more money out of us through traditional cable. It is just going to keep getting worse, until boycotts become stronger, or until more people realize that Copyright is obsolete, and that you don't need to spend thousands per month for something you can ethically get for free, and for which the people who make it are barely even compensated for to begin with.

Crazy examples:
You can go and watch a video of an ad on YouTube, and get 90+ seconds of ads before you can watch the ad (depending on ad length, this can sometimes be 15+ minutes)
#drm #scam #streaming #copyfight #enshittification

Xbox Owners Accidentally Get Lego Batman Early As PC Players Bemoan Surprise Denuvo DRM

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://kotaku.com/xbox-owners-accidentally-get-lego-batman-early-as-pc-players-bemoan-surprise-denuvo-drm-2000694853