Well, I remember sitting at a Creative product launch about a year ago wondering how long it would be before this particular bit of functionality felt the wrath of the record labels. The answer was, about a year.
Digital music player manufacturer Creative is removing FM recording capabilities from its players. Previously owners of Creative players have been able to 'capture' FM radio transmissions played through their devices, keeping digital copies for future listening. That functionality has been unpopular with the Recording Industry Association Of America, and other industry bodies, for sometime, with concerns among content owners that such facilities allow music fans to access high quality recordings of music at no cost.
Creative may have been persuaded to act now regarding those concerns following the recent and previously reported RIAA lawsuit against US satellite radio company XM, who have a tuner with similar radio capture capabilities. The change comes in the latest firmware update for Creative's Zen MicroPhoto and Zen Vision:M players. Consumers who install the update will benefit from a number of improvements, but will lose the FM radio capture function.
XM have disputed that their capture function infringes copyright, but Creative seem unwilling to enter into a potentially lengthy legal fight with the labels over the issue. Nevertheless, the US Consumer Electronics Association said the move was part of a larger "campaign of terror" being undertaken by the RIAA. The record label trade body responded by accusing the CEA of having "hyperbolic, extremist views".