A mysterious chip in the volume-control bud of Apple’s new iPod shuffle headphones has set off a flurry of rumors that Apple is adopting a program of digital-rights management (DRM) for its hardware.
The rumors were launched during the weekend by very detailed reviews of the new hardware on the tech Web sites iLounge and Boing Boing Gadgets. The iLounge review was written by Editor in Chief Jeremy Horowitz, who complained bitterly about the limited controls on the shuffle and its impact on headphone use.
“Because of what Apple has done here — something sneaky and arguably terrible for consumers, especially if it continues with other iPod and iPhone products in 2009,” Horowitz said, “if you plug your old third-party headphones of any sort into the new shuffle, you’ll find that you can’t do anything with the device other than have it continuously play music without volume controls or interruption, unless, of course, if you turn it off.”
Authentication Chip?
Horowitz’s allegation that third-party manufacturers of headphones would have to license an authentication chip from Apple sent the techies at Boing Boing off on a hunt to see if they could find it. When they unearthed a small chip in the headphone module labeled 8A83E3, headlines popped up on Web sites around the globe that Apple was trying to dominate the headphone market.
As the Boing Boing site conceded, the techies actually weren’t sure what they had found: “For all we know, it could be something the FCC made them put in so that it doesn’t interfere with whale song,” Joel Johnson and Rob Beschizza wrote.
But the discovery of the chip set off a scramble for comment from Apple and its vendors. Accessory manufacturers V-moda and Scosche confirmed that Apple is requiring the purchase and installation of a chip, currently only available from Apple, to…