We've all been there before. Perhaps you missed out or want to re-live a concert experience, so you head over to Youtube, make yourself comfortable, and inevitably brace yourself for an hour long cringe-a-thon as you try to stomach the endless supply of crappy phone footage in order to find that one decently shot video you can enjoy, only to realize the best video available from that concert ends before the song does.
Several sources are reporting that Apple has filed a patent application to stop you from shooting live events! The application reveals potential plans to build a system that detects iPhone video filming at venues using infra-red sensors which will in turn bounce back and contact the iPhone in your hand to automatically disable it. This move is of course in the interest of live-event companies that feel the concert going experience has been lost to the internet (not to mention a decline in ticket sales). It's also in the interest of the record labels who distribute the music of the performers in these live events, the same labels Apple has very sweet licensing deals with.
This all seems pretty shitty if you ask me. Even though I'm not a fan of crappy phone footage, I'd be lying to say I haven't enjoyed my share of good live video on Youtube from concerts I have no way of attending, especially since the latest iPhones have stellar video and sound capability that only seem to get better with time. It makes me wonder, how far will live-event organizations go to protect their business model? How far will Apple bend to these demands? How long until all other phone companies jump on board? Fan filmed video clips are sometimes the inside loop hole that exists into breaking news and happenings around the world. We all know if Apple decides to put this system in to effect there will be a jailbreaking team hacking away at record speed, but something should be said about the very thought of taking first hand media away from a society that literally thrives upon it. Let's hope Apple has more sense than that. What are your thoughts on the subject?
