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Manufacturer confirms chip: iPod headphones now have the Apple Tax
Boing Boing Gadgets —
... has no controls on the device itself. To control the latest iPod, customers have no other choice but to use headphones made by manufacturers who have purchased a licensed authorization chip from Apple.
Since the new controls also work on the latest iPods and MacBooks, we can now presume that all future headphones released with the iPod controls will include the added cost of the licensed authentication chip from Apple.
Update: Macworld.com also confirms it with additional sources.
The next step? Someone with diagnostic ability ...
Manufacturer confirms chip: iPod headphones now have the Apple Tax; Update: Apple confirms no DRM, authentication, just licensing
Boing Boing Gadgets —
... has no controls on the device itself. To control the latest iPod, customers have no other choice but to use headphones made by manufacturers who have purchased a licensed authorization chip from Apple.
Since the new controls also work on the latest iPods and MacBooks, we can now presume that all future headphones released with the iPod controls will include the added cost of the licensed authentication chip from Apple.
Update: Macworld.com also confirms it with additional sources.
The next step? Someone with diagnostic ability ...
Apple confirms presence of proprietary chip in shuffle headphones, licensing fee
Engadget —
... A flurry of news broke out over yesterday regarding the proprietary headphones required by Apple's new iPod shuffle, and now that Monday's here and everyone's back in the office, some things are starting to get cleared up. For starters, both Macworld and Boing ...
iPod shuffle “control chip” not DRM, just more licensing
SlashGear —
... to launch an “authentication chip” which only licensed headphones would offer, Apple themselves and a number of third-party accessory manufacturers have spoken up about the smallest iPod’s hardware. V-moda, Monster Cable and Scosche have all described it as a “control chip”, which uses the microphone channel in the four-channel headphones to send multiple commands: play, pause, volume control and more. ...
iPod Shuffle Earbuds Contain Special Chip; It's Not a Big Deal
Wired: Gadget Lab —
... Long story short, Apple simply made a chip that works for its product, and third-party manufacturers must communicate with the company to put that chip in their headphones, too. (Macworld has an interesting article including technical details on why this was necessary.) ...
Proprietary chip and Apple’s iPod Shuffle headphones
PR News: —
... over the weekend from Web sites iLounge and Boing Boing Gadgets that Apple have asked that these third-party headphones will require an “authentication chip.” V-moda and Scosche, iPod-accessory vendors along with a number of others have been speaking to Macworld and have confirmed that these reports are true. These vendors are calling the chip a control chip.” For use of this proprietary circuitry, Apple will charge these vendors a fee through the Made for iPod program. Read the full article Sign up to our Newsletter for updates or select a news feed CLICK ...
