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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.
Misleading title. This front end merely lets you listen to the samples, not actually download/listen to the actual purchased songs.
And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
why didn't apple make itunes work with any browser to begin with?
Look at some of the suggested uses for this... Constantly downloading free previews? Using them for P2P? What makes you think Apple will allow their service to be abused like this? They control both the server and the only client that they want to be accessing it, it would be trivial for them to break this without affecting anyone using iTunes at all.
It's this zero-tolerance attitude that will cement hardware DRM's inevitability. Apple tried to meet customers halfway and they still get attacked.
RTFA, this is nothing about illegally downloading copies of the iTunes songs.
you can use vlc instead of quicktime if you use an OSS system. Now the ITMS itself is going to be slashdotted, whoops...
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
would be to port iTunes to Linux. I can't think of any reason how that could hurt Apple.
Linux/BSD users already can listen to and download music shared over iTunes using TunesBrowser. The project is rather young, so a do-it-yourself compile is necessary, but it does present a very nice, clean GUI interface to iTunes shares.
(Incidentally, if you'd RTFA, your would notice that this project actually allows you to browse samples from the iTMS store, and has nothing to do with network song sharing.)
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
It would cost them a great deal of money to port iTunes to Linux, and it is not immediately clear that such a port would provide them with any tangible financial benefit. duh.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
I'd like to thank the jilted, bitter, preachy musicians who created the Downhillbattle.org website and are hosting this script. The search engine is actually more responsive than iTunes, so I can find the songs I want to buy from iTunes even faster!
Please, guys. Get off your high horse and work on finding a new way to do things rather than just trying to take the old system down. When you find a better way, the rest will work itself out.
....the first step in allowing us linux and BSD users to listen to iTunes shared music. While we can share music (and its well documented) we cannot, to the best of my knowledge, listen to others music without using iTunes. Perhaps if this is doable, somebody can make a hack to allow us to listen to shared music?
It's already been done. Personally, I don't know how well it works, but it sounds promising. IIRC, the Rhythmbox (iTunes clone for GNOME) guys are planning on including it when it's "ready".
(The hack in this article is unrelated to iTunes' sharing.)
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
They claim that this is great because you don't have to use the iTunes interface. But the interface to this perl script is horrible. It reminds me how perfect Apple got it the first time.
Why recomend quicktime? How about VLC, or MPlayer? Both play the files just fine. If you're going to go the closed-source route, just run iTunes in the first place.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
No, try and keep your scope proper next time you post. iTunes is, and always has been, entirely free to download. The Apple Music Store meanwhile is also free to use, although the actual purchasing of music costs money as the definition of 'purchase' requires.
"Stumble before you crawl"
Look, apple isn't doing anything heroic. They're not offering anything special.
I buy completely legit, DRM free, albums...any album you can name for $7 each, brand new (shipped to your door for that price). That comes out to about $.50 a song, and I can resell the CD's when I'm done.
CD's are only expensive for the impatient. The "oh, I can't wait 5 days, I must have that song NOW!" crowd. But if you can wait 5 days. FIVE days. Then you can get great deals.
Or there are used CD's.
But I don't get why Apple is "magic" but KMart offereing essentially the same thing is "evil".
Look. I'm typing this on a powerbook. I own 6 apple computers, I have 2 iPods. But I don't think iTMS is magic. its not special. I don't think Apple has done anything special except convince certain people that iTMS is something revolutionary.
Is isn't.
Paying $10/CD for 128kb DRM encrusted music may be your idea of fantastic. But I think I'll pass on that kind of generosity.
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?
It says this is a powerful weapon to fight the major record label monopoly, but it doesn't fight major record labels any more than it does minor record labels.
Great, I'm thinking of a script that lets me listen to an endless stream of 30sec previews. Who wants to put more effort than that in music anyway.
What? You still talking about that?
I think, therefore I am...I think.
You are absolutely correct. Whover thinks your comment is flamebait doesn't understand simple logic. Unfortunately, the guys at Downhill Battle are just punks who believe in vandalizing other people's property instead of finding real solutions. I certainly wouldn't want to count them among MY allies.
The Apple-provided iTMS Link Maker has similar functionality. It's great for searching for music outside of iTunes or for linking to music you like. If they're offering this kind of stuff themselves, I'd imagine they wouldn't have a huge problem with others doing it too.
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...
1. Launch iTunes.
2. Click the "Music Store" link in the playlist area
3. Click the "eye" icon in the upper right of the window
4. Click "audiobooks" from the first column labeled "Genre"
5. Click a category from the middle column, then you can see all the "authors" in the third column
There is no (easy) way to see the list of all authors for all categories though, you have to go category by category.
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
First off, you can browse the iTunes Music Store without an iPod. Did you try the "Browse" button?
... the catalogs, if not identical, are very very close.
Secondly, all of Apple's audiobooks are through audible.com
OS X is closed source. This means that it is the work of the devil - its purpose is to make the end users eat babies.
Linux is the only free OS. Yes the BSD lincenses may appear more free, but as they have no restrictions, they are actually less free than the GPL. You see, restricting the end user more actually makes them more free than not putting restrictions on them. You must be a dumb luser for not understanding this.
And you obviously dont have a real job. A real job involves being a student or professional academic. You see, academics are the ones who know all about productivity - if you work for a commercial organisation you obviously do not know anything about computers. Usability is stupid. Whats wrong with the command line? If you cant use the command line then you shouldnt be using a computer. vi should be the standard word processor - you are such a luser if you want to use Word. Installing software should have to involve recompiling the kernel of the OS. If you dont know how to do this, you are a stupid luser who should RTFM. Or go to a Linux irc channel or newsgroup. After all, they are soooo friendly. If you dont know how the latest 2.6 kernel scheduling algorithm works then they will tell you to stop wasting their time, but they really are quite supportive.
Oh, and M$ is just as evil as Apple. Take LookOUT for instance. You could just as easily use Eudora. Who needs groupware anyway, a simple email client should be all we use (thats all we use as academics, why cant businesses be any different).
And trend setters - Linux is the trend setter. It may appear KDE is a ripoff from XP, but thats because M$ stole the KDE code. We all know they have GPL'ed code hidden in there somewhere (but not the things that dont work, only the things that work could possibly have GPL'ed code in it).
And Apple is the suxor because they charge people for their product. We all know that its a much better business model to give all your products away for free. If you charge for anything, then you are allied with M$ and will burn in hell.
That's where being able to buy individual songs can definitely save money over buying a full CD, even at $7.
But I actually agree with most of what you say. I don't like Apple's DRM either. It may sound like they are very generous, but they are just trying to lock you in to their software and hardware players.
As much as it pains me to give Microsoft any credit, their WMA format is, in a way, more "open" than Apple AACs, since they license their DRM to other software and hardware vendors. Just look around and you will see that almost every portable or car MP3 player out there can also play WMAs. I was thinking about starting to buy songs on ITMS, but since I have not found any portable or car players other than iPods, I nixed that idea. I can buy a car stereo that plays WMAs for $160, or a portable CD WMA player (with a car adapter too) for $40! I have no choice with AACs.
Since I don't want to contribute to Microsoft's monopoly, and thanks to Apple's greediness and lack of vision, I'm afraid I will have to buy used CDs and burn my own MP3s. If Apple ever decides to license or give their DRM to other software and hardware vendors, I will reconsider.
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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