Don't trust audible.com, it's drm infected and they don't tell you

If there's one thing I hate (there isn't, there's lots, but this is today's) it's companies being economical with the truth to get you to part with your money, only to have you disappointed when you find out the whole truth.

I just bought an audio book on audible.co.uk. And now I can't even listen to it. I thought I was buying an mp3, or maybe even an ogg file. It is only on actually attempting to download the thing I have just paid for that I discover to my utter disgust that all the download links are for some kind of evil drm type program (I presume here, but there sure as hell was no mp3 in sight).



As you can see from the screenshot above, they clearly imply an mp3 download. I haven't seen such a clear use of weasel sales words for some time.

Next time I'll read the god damn small print, but I still think this is totally out of order not warning that they are providing crippled versions of what you think you are buying.

Thank fsm for people like the FSF. Their logo really sums up how I feel about being treated in this way.

Protect your freedom!

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Update: credit where due. 24th July 2008.
My complaint about the website still stands, and my aversion to drm has not diminished, however the responses I have received from their customer service (by email), have been prompt, courteous and have totally resolved my outstanding problem. I have been given a full refund. I've been especially impressed given the hot blooded content of my initial contact. A lot of companies could learn lessons in good customer relations from these people.

A vision of open in-car computing systems

I have a vision. A vision that puts you in control of your in car computing experience.

There are many superb appliances and embedded devices available for your in-car enjoyment, such as the sat navs, the dvd players, the built in games consoles. But they all share one thing in common, they are closed to you. You don't have the freedoms defined by Stallman because they are designed, intentionally or otherwise, to be hard for you to modify as you wish.

I feel deep in my heart that there is enormous potential for in-car computing. There are more possibilities than any individual or company can imagine or provide on their own. I'm sure my imagination is not big enough to list them here, so I leave the ideas for you to contemplate.

Add to this, the evidence and my experience that open source when done right produces the better engineered solution at a lower cost, and you have a compelling argument for such a system.

I have seen the freedom that open source and the GPL provide on the desktop computer, and I believe that this culture of openness and freedom for the users can be applied to the in-car computing market to the benefit of all.

My mission is to provide a basis for this innovation, and cultivate a thriving ecosystem in the way that only open systems can. And so, my vision is a range of affordable flexible and most importantly open computing devices for your car.

And so, I introduce to you in the above photo, the mark one of my in-car pc. It has no name, and the software and hardware needs some work to say the least, but in the tradition of openness on the internet, I will present here my ups and downs, successes and failures, genius and downright stupidity for your entertainment.

I have minimal spare time and numerous other projects, but there is no rush, as I think this plan will stand the test of time, and all the while hardware gets cheaper, smaller, faster and less power hungry. As I progress in fits and starts I will post photos to flickr under the tag carpc (first set) and progress updates to this blog under tag carpc.

All feedback welcome. I will announce new articles on my twitter feed, twitter.com/tim_abell, and can be contacted using the links at the bottom of my blog.