> Thanks for all the great input about digital cameras. It has been really > helpful and I have learned a lot. > My wife and I really like the Sony DSC-P92. At 5 mega-pixel, it's as cheap as > most 3 mega-pixel cameras I've seen (though I understand that 3 is probably > acceptable for my needs). It also has most of the other features that we > wanted. It does have a major problem though: the dreaded Sony Memory Stick. > Besides being more expensive than Compact Flash, it seems that Sony wants you > to use the Memory Stick Pro which incorporates the Evil(TM) MagicGate > copyright protection technology. A quote from a page which has been removed > from Sony's website (Google cache: > http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:1tX2xcgdrtMJ:www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/CXPAL/CXNEWS-20/PDF/TW.pdf+MagicGate+Technology+PDF&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 > ) > > "This copyright protection technology is incorporated in both the MG Memory > Stick semiconductor media and appliance that uses that media . . . This > technology provides two main functions. > "Mutual confirmation between the media and the appliance that both the media > and the MG appliance support copyright protection (authentication). . . . > "If authentication is not established mutually, data exchange operations are > not possible This prevents inappropriate copying and protects the copyright > on the content." > > To me this says that if I buy a camera enabled for Memory Stick Pro, then > even if I use a conventional memory stick I am still supporting theft of fair > use rights because the technology is already in the camera. So, I reason that > it isn't a big deal because I own the copyright to my photos. But this > article says that I still can't use Free software to access the a Memory > Stick Pro because it can't legally (due to the DMCA) speak MagicGate's > protocol to the card. > So if Sony wants to lock consumers into using the MagicGate technology (which > appears to be their strategy), the day could come when I need a new Memory > Stick and can only buy a Memory Stick Pro. > Does anyone know for certain? Do Magic Stick readers work in Linux? Even with > a Magic Stick Pro? Is it likely that Sony won't continue making Magic Sticks > in the future without consumer crippling technologies built in? > I would still like to buy this camera (if I can verify that I won't ever have > to buy a Memory Stick Pro), but I'm not sure if I can feel good about it > anymore. Sony often has the best technology out there, and then they ruin it. > Frustrating.
There are many other companies out there that are making regular memory sticks without the magic gate stuff in them now. My guess is that you will still be able to get the original memory sticks for quite a while. The old than a year that is) memory stick drives do not support the new Memory Stick Pro either (its rather new). The funny thing is that the mp3 player on my Sony clie will not play mp3's with the copyrighted bit set without having the magic gate sticks (which I do not have any of). Remove the bit and it works.... I could be wrong, but it looks to me like all this application to stick authentication garbage only happens with Sony software. All of my sticks are just block devices with files in Linux. Their sticks are pretty nice, though the old version is broken (can't have a stick larger than 128M, the 256M regular mem-sticks have a switch to choose which side you're on). It's nice to just transfer stuff from clie to computer to camera without cables and hassles. My sony camera's usb connection just shows up as a usb-storage device in linux which I can mount (vfat) and read off the stick in the camera. So if you just wanted to get a decent sized stick now, you could just copy stuff off whenever it gets full to a laptop with little effort and never get another one. > Can anyone suggest a comparable camera without the ethical baggage? Anyways, I don't know enough about digital cameras to make any suggestions (mine takes pictures that look decent). >>>------> -- +-------------+-----------------------+---------------+ | Ed Schaller | Dark Mist Networking | psuedoshroom | +-------------+-----------------------+---------------+
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