Sealed unit
Encyclopedia
In the early days of radio in Australia
, AWA, the Amalgamated Wireless Australia corporation, had a program to implement the "sealed unit" project (or, more commonly "sealed set" or "sealed receiver") where radio receivers could only receive the transmitting service (or services) to which they were licensed. Under this model, the Government would issue a licence to transmit on a given wavelength (or frequency in modern terminology) and oversee the manufacture of receivers locked on that wavelength. The owner of the transmitting licence could then charge the receiver's owner a recurrent fee that would be used to run the station. This was seen as preferable to the British situation where the Government backed a monopolistic service (the British Broadcasting Company
as it was then) and collected a single licence fee from each household with a receiver. There appears to have been little attention at the time to a third possible model: that of the licensee charging for advertisements.
Radio Amateurs were compelled to sign agreements that they would not carry out activities that would challenge this project. Under the legislation being drafted to implement this policy, it would be illegal for the consumer to do unauthorized tampering with the radio.
2SB started experimental broadcasts in March of 1923, and commenced the first radio broadcast in Australia that was oriented to the general public at 20:00 (8 pm) on 23 November 1923. It is not generally known that this was a "pirate
" broadcast.
For minidisc
recorders that have a USB port, it is very difficult to get your original recording out to a computer, because the set is firewalled
, to prevent copying. An HD minidisc recorder will refuse to allow the digital transfer of an ordinary NET MD recording, and will only allow you
one go at copying an original HD-minidisc recording that you have made.
The transfer can only be done with the program "Sonic Stage" generally supplied with the recorder.
Even when you do copy the original ATRAC
file to the computer, it will only play on that particular computer and will also no longer play if you change the computer's operating system.
Without effective circumvention, it is necessary to get sonic stage to produce a wave file, and to never overwrite yor original minidisc, in order to adequately preserve whilst distributing your recording.
See also:
The introduction of FM radio in Australia
The Microsoft Palladium Project
Timeline of Australian radio
This page provides a timeline of the main events that charted the course of Australian radio.-1900-1909:*1901: The six states federate into the Commonwealth of Australia...
, AWA, the Amalgamated Wireless Australia corporation, had a program to implement the "sealed unit" project (or, more commonly "sealed set" or "sealed receiver") where radio receivers could only receive the transmitting service (or services) to which they were licensed. Under this model, the Government would issue a licence to transmit on a given wavelength (or frequency in modern terminology) and oversee the manufacture of receivers locked on that wavelength. The owner of the transmitting licence could then charge the receiver's owner a recurrent fee that would be used to run the station. This was seen as preferable to the British situation where the Government backed a monopolistic service (the British Broadcasting Company
British Broadcasting Company
The British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom and licensed by the British General Post Office...
as it was then) and collected a single licence fee from each household with a receiver. There appears to have been little attention at the time to a third possible model: that of the licensee charging for advertisements.
Radio Amateurs were compelled to sign agreements that they would not carry out activities that would challenge this project. Under the legislation being drafted to implement this policy, it would be illegal for the consumer to do unauthorized tampering with the radio.
Opposition
The first RF radio broadcast in Australia was to have been carried out by AWA and Farmer and Co. Ltd., under the call sign 2FC, but Radio amateurs carried out a pre-emptive rebel broadcast.2SB started experimental broadcasts in March of 1923, and commenced the first radio broadcast in Australia that was oriented to the general public at 20:00 (8 pm) on 23 November 1923. It is not generally known that this was a "pirate
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
" broadcast.
Contemporary Sealed Sets
A lot of today's electronic game products have chipsets with keys, that make it difficult or impossible to interchange the integrated circuits in the device, in order to repair it, or to carry out certain interface or applications. Some people do get around the keys, but it is quite an involved process. There is quite a good counterculture scene however, and there are quite a few people who do this.For minidisc
MiniDisc
The disc is permanently housed in a cartridge with a sliding door, similar to the casing of a 3.5" floppy disk. This shutter is opened automatically by a mechanism upon insertion. The audio discs can either be recordable or premastered. Recordable MiniDiscs use a magneto-optical system to record...
recorders that have a USB port, it is very difficult to get your original recording out to a computer, because the set is firewalled
Firewall (computing)
A firewall is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass....
, to prevent copying. An HD minidisc recorder will refuse to allow the digital transfer of an ordinary NET MD recording, and will only allow you
one go at copying an original HD-minidisc recording that you have made.
The transfer can only be done with the program "Sonic Stage" generally supplied with the recorder.
Even when you do copy the original ATRAC
ATRAC
Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio...
file to the computer, it will only play on that particular computer and will also no longer play if you change the computer's operating system.
Without effective circumvention, it is necessary to get sonic stage to produce a wave file, and to never overwrite yor original minidisc, in order to adequately preserve whilst distributing your recording.
See also:
The introduction of FM radio in Australia
In Computing See:
Trusted Execution TechnologyThe Microsoft Palladium Project
Next-Generation Secure Computing Base
The Next-Generation Secure Computing Base , formerly known as Palladium, is a software architecture designed by Microsoft which is expected to implement parts of the controversial "Trusted Computing" concept on future versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. NGSCB is part of...