How the RIAA wants your internet radio experience to work.

The RIAA is proposing mandatory DRM requirements for digital radio. The system they point out to for example is developed by Media Rights Technologies and you can see an example of it on their demo radio site.

To listen to radio protected with this DRM system (the one the RIAA is proposing), you must install the "SeCure X1 Recording Coltron" software.

To make a long store short here's the hoops you have to go through to listen:

1. You must be running Windows. No MacOS, No Linux.
2. You have to download their player which entails restarting your computer which installs special software to interact with your sound card. This may involve "root kit" technology.
4. You can't use a stand-alone hardware player like the Roku or the Squeezebox.
5. Use of the software is not allowed in certain countries due to US Export laws, including Iraq and Cuba. So US Forces cannot listen to internet radio in many overseas locations that they are deployed to.
6. You can't use iTunes or Winamp to listen to streams.
7. The software can't be installed on a "virtual operating system", so Mac/Linux users can't even use it under a virtual machine.
8. The software doesn't work with external (USB) sound devices

I tried to check out their player and report back to see what it does, but my PC is a Mac running Parallels and it won't install. If you are adventurous, and have a PC, try installing their software and see what happens. My understanding on how it works is that it utilizes all the available DSP power of the WIndows sound manager, which keeps you from being able to record the audio with a loop-thru analog trick.