View this article at: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/07/08/riaa.limiting.pc.stereo.in/
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008 10:45am
RIAA pushing PC makers to l...
The American music industry may be pressuring Dell and other computer manufacturers to disable stereo recording support in an artificial attempt to discourage piracy, say accounts from users. Users of Dell systems with SigmaTel chips in particular claim to be only allowed single-channel recording out of the box and are told that an official solution that restores stereo input will cost $99; Gateway and (in Europe) Packard Bell systems with the audio hardware are also said to be affected.

Dell and others haven't provided an official explanation for the artificially disabled stereo support or the need to charge for the fix, though one Dell representative claims that a fix for the Precision M65 restores stereo recording. Other users have also discovered a registry solution which is said to address the problem for most notebooks that use the SigmaTel processor.

Multiple reports pin the disabled audio on the Recording Industry Association of America, which is accused of asking larger PC builders to neuter full-quality recording to prevent users exploiting the analog signal to record copy protected material. While unverified, the approach would be consistent with previous RIAA approaches to combating piracy, which have often focused on closing off analog-to-digital recording.

The RIAA doesn't publish contact information and so is unavailable to respond to the accusations.