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Free iTunes Over a Browser
Ade writes "One may now listen and search for Apple iTunes music via this front end or any webserver running the perl script called iTMS-4-ALL, which was written by Jason Rohrer, programmer of the secure filesharing system MUTE who hopes the script 'helps revive everyone's ITMS interfaces.' Music activists Downhill Battle, who organised the Grey Tuesday protests for disseminating censored music, run a copy of the script and say 'this is a cute tool, but it has the potential to become a powerful weapon to fight the major record label monopoly' in the ways they outline. Playing the music requires QuickTime for the ~600kb downloadable MP4 snippets to be heard." Update: 04/19 01:41 GMT by H : Thanks to Aaron at Punboy for sending us a link to a faster server.
why didn't apple make itunes work with any browser to begin with?
Having a P2P service pulling album covers and other metadata from Apple's pay service is as likely to be considered stealing as pulling copyrighted music without paying for it. Even checking their database from a non-iTunes application may raise hackles. It's a cute hack, but why risk upsetting Apple when they're already providing the fairest online music store to date?
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Is it sane to think of basing any sort of client on apple's metadata, surely they will mess with any clients trying to do it. So while this software works, now, will it work for long? Maybe if someone builds a second compatible database of the metadata ...
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
Because Linux is just as much of a competitor to Apple as it is to Microsoft. For all the reasons Microsoft doesn't want to do anything to help Linux on the desktop (e.g. porting applications), Apple really doesn't want to do anything to help Linux on the desktop. As I read elsewhere, it's all about mindset. Apple doesn't want people thinking "Linux vs. Microsoft" they want people thinking "Apple vs. Microsoft".
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
Anyone want to make a bet on how long it will take for Apple to issue a Cease & Desist order against this one? Reverse engineering has got to be against their TOS... It's not illegal, but it removes the iTunes interface that Apple has been working so hard to promote.
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It seems slashdot readers "get" the idea of free software, why is it hard to understand that the same ideas exist in the music community?
Instead, I'd like to see some productive discussions of those artists that allow their music to be freely traded.
Linkage: (there just has to be some music you can enjoy at one of the following)
Live Music Archive
Furthurnet Band List
Etree BitTorrent Downloads
One useful application of this would be to set up a way to monitor the "Just added" list at iTMS, looking for artists you're interested in.
Another useful one, if possible, would be to divide the "just added" list by genre, so users could get a list with all the oldies taken out, or with all the audiobooks excluded, etc.
As it is, the list provided by iTMS just gets too long.
Right now this is a cute tool, but it has the potential to become a powerful weapon to fight the major record label monopoly.
Give me a fecking break. The people at Downhill Battle have a history of vastly overstating the importance and relevance of their "accomplishments", and this is no different. Being able to browse iTunes over the Internet (something that won't last long once Apple hears about this) will do nothing to defeat the record companies. The amount of self-delusion that must go into a thought like that is startling.
While I'm on a rant, let me talk about something else that's been bothering me. Just what is it that Downhill Battle hopes to accomplish? One of their projects is showcased here. So, you guys buy a digital camera from Wal-Mart and then document yourselves vandalizing CDs, in-store displays, and music preview hardware (which, incidentally, has led me on more than one occasion to purchase indie-label music that I would not have found without the machines), and then fraudulently returned the camera. And this accomplished.... what? Far as I can tell, nothing beyond proving just how immature these guys are. Does Downhill Battle do anything of value, or is it all just lame anti-RIAA posturing?
I mean Gaim is compatible with AIM (Oscar and TOC protocols), ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr networks. It is good, has more features than the *real* software and it is Free. This could be the start of something similar. Who cares how I interface to ITMS, either through their proprietary interface or a perl script, as long as I pay apple for the service?
I played around a bit with the iTMS site a year back, by manually hacking URLs to pass to the site, and the search feature itself, at least as far as I could tell, is pretty much all standard XML. Never saw it ask for even as much as an SSL enabled connection. My only question is why it took so long for someone to hack together the requisite perl. I probably would have done it myself if it hadn't been for the fact that I have the attention span of a crack smoking otter.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
For a both anonymous and secure filesharing system take a look on GNUnet.
Mind Booster Noori
The other day I was trying to find out what audiobooks are available from iTunes. To my horror I couldn't browse the catalogue, I wasn't looking for clips just a plain old list of authors and titles, maybe even a list by category.
Hopefully, someone can now create a browser plugin that will enable people to browse iTunes without owning an iPod. If I knew what was available from iTunes I would be much more likely to buy an iPod Mini instead of other solid state players such as Creative's Muvo TX. If other people are thinking like this then potentially Apple could get a bit of buisness out of this.
Its been reverse engineered... too bad it requires iTunes itself in order to take off the DRM, and most users have reported that trying to play one of the DRMless files crashes their computers.
If I were Apple, I'd be embracing this technology - make the iTunes Music Store a ubitquitous web service like Google search. Allow users to point links to iTunes content on any page, allow them to post sound snippets and then link to download with iTunes. After all, Amazon does much the same thing with their Associates program.
Rather than a threat, I see this as an excellent way for Apple to get the iTMS even more exposure, make it easier to use, and still drive sales through iTunes - after all, there are a lot of people who won't download a new application until they see what benefits it offers.
Should I feed the troll? Yes, I think I should.
The companies comprising RIAA form an oligopoly (and the RIAA itself can be considered to form a monopoly if it usually acts as a single body) simply by virtue of their dominance of the market. It doesn't matter if they provide a useful service. It doesn't matter if they charge, or don't charge, exorbirant rates. It doesn't matter if they have 10 million competitors (each with $0.12 in annual sales). As long as you have 5 firms dominating (>50%) a given market, that's oligopoly for you.
Now, is oligopoly good? Classical economics says it's not an efficient way to distribute goods. I.e. RIAA makes a killing, the consumers get ripped off, and the ripping off part actually outweighs the making a killing part. On the other hand, if I understand it right, under some circumstances oligopolies produce more research and development than a monopoly or a large number of small firms. If only that research was directed at something useful and not at turning a given random person off the street into a pop star...
I think perhaps the RIAA is more of a cartel. I don't see any way you could shoehorn the RIAA in to the definition of monopoly.
Of course, cartels are illegal in the US, so they call themselves and "industry group" instead. Same deal more or less.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
It lets you dig into the iTunes metadata and see what label owns a given song, so you could write a perl script to weed out RIAA-affiliated songs.
-Rich
iTMS Link Maker is just for searching the store, and finding out links to songs in the music store. The links are still opened in iTunes though, and not much information is retrieved except for title, artist and album.
this new script retrieves pretty much all information, including the previews.
Apple made a music service. If you dont like it, dont use it.
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Apple really doesn't want to do anything to help Linux on the desktop.
Then why are they contributing to KDE via khtml which they use in safari? (and whatever other projects they are involved in)
Actually I think the more *nix/FOSS users there are the more that benefits Apple, because it means there are more *nix/FOSS developers to write cross platform code. Having darwin open source has sealed the fate of the core part of the OS. If Apple die ; the OS will live.
Apple is really a hardware company; Microsoft however is a software company. Its only with the advent of OSX, that people have started really talking about the operating system. OSX is the very reason Linux people "wont kick Apple out the bed" its unix roots have seen to that. Most of the interesting conversations that go on here regarding Apple, are to do with OSX, or other technical aspects (eg G5 processors) its rarely about the fine looking designs that go into there hardware cases. Its the physical machines which make them the real dollar.
Of course there are issues with some of Apples practices they are consumer whore's just like the rest of 'em!, but at the end of the day give me a wad of cash and a choice of an Powerbook or an a M$ based laptop. I know which company id rather support, and its the one that works with Open Source, and generally has a better operating system. You have to make choices in life, sometimes its better to go with the lesser of two evils.
As it happens i use linux, but I plan on getting a powerbook as soon as my first months salary goes in;) ; Does that mean I have been taken in by Apples evil marketing plan? Who knows...
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
It can create users. For example, I have a few Linux desktops and _ONE_ windows XP desktop at home. I don't use windows xp for much and don't install software on it. I also did not want to install Apple's iTunes application just to check it out to see if they have the songs I like. So I downloaded this app, did a quick search, and wham, iTMS does have the songs I like. I now will probably give iTMS a try to see how I like it. Though I doubt I personally will use it much since I purchased tons of CD's years ago and mostly listen to them. With this little app I can preview some newer material to see if there is anything I may be interested in buying. I personally don't want to use windows XP and I don't want to have to use it to browse music to see if there is anything new I may like. Linux has 25% of the server market and 2.8% of the desktop. Just about the same desktop share as Apple. So, Apple has the same potential market size that they get from their Mac OS X users. The only reason I can think of for Apple not to have even a non-supported Linux client is because they want a hardware monopoly. They have to support MS Windows if they want any success, and if it is not MS Windows, they want it to be their OS. That is just wrong to me and not any different then the tactics by MS. Thier iTMS should be platform agnostic and only exist to drive iPOD sales to _all_ consumers regardless of that consumers OS of choice.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
The thing is, is that Apple vs. Microsoft has been dead for a long time now. It is Linux vs. Microsoft. If Apple helped Linux, in the end they would be helping themselves. Anything that can bring down the Microsoft monopoly on the desktop would help Apple since Apple wants to sell desktops. If enough people think of something else then Microsoft for the desktop, some of those people will look over at Apple and become customers. As it stands now, Linux has about 25% of the server market and 2.8% of the desktop market. Apple has about 2.9% - 3% of the desktop market. Linux and Apple by themselves do not have much weight. However, together, 6% of a market is not bad. If Apple and Linux worked together, any gain in Linux desktop or Mac desktop would grow that combined total and make the MS monopoly on the desktop less effective. Apple has not been able to ever grab more then 3% or so of the desktop alone. Maybe they should make some stategic alliances with Linux on the desktop. It could work in favor for Apple.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
Anyone with five minutes and a copy of ethereal could learn that iTMS uses HTTP.
If only you had spent *6* minutes instead of just 5.. and then you may have noticed that after the serviceList, all iTMS traffic is AES encrypted.
i have karma to burn so i'm'a reply to myself with a mindless rant that'll get some Nerd Panties twisted in a bunch.
Why are people fighting against Apple and the iTMS? DRM and not enough Fair Use? for crying out loud. You wanna play music simultaneously on 98723487234 computers? You can't possibly cope with compressed music because your ears detect inferior quality to music purchased from a CD? BUY THE FUCKING CD from Amazon.com. iTMS was NOT BUILT FOR YOU. Apple is not asking you to slit your wrists, slay an unborn child, give-up your rights to free speech, or to do anything that goes against the U.S. constitution. Apple is not "luring" you into buying some songs from them only to "surprise" you with DRM restrictions. NO, all the rules are clearly stated UP-FRONT, everyone knows about them, and they are a condition of usage of their service. This service can't possibly fit the needs of every single music-connaisseur-wannabe Nerd on Slashdot. If you don't like it, DON'T USE IT.
You, as a consumer, have MANY alternatives to buy music from your favorite artists, on many media: live concerts on DVD and Video, Albums on audio CD and cassettes. Rip, mix and burn to your heart's content.
The fact of the matter is that RIAA owns most of the music industry. If you wanna fight somebody, fight the RIAA by NOT purchasing any music from them. Stick to indy artists. Apple's platform also happens to support independent artists.
Working so hard to reverse-engineer the iTMS protocol only does two things: mostly promote RIAA songs AND feeding more fuel to RIAA's lobbying fire as they can spin this type of news headlines as yet another reason why they are the poor, hapless victims fighting some Evil Army of Nerds, giving them more credibility in the eyes of clueless lawmakers to pass stupid laws and closing their eyes on CD price hikes.
THINK BEFORE YOU ACT.
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