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iTunes 4.5 Authentication Cracked
fooishbar writes "Yesterday, Apple released iTunes 4.5, which deliberately broke the 4.2 authentication scheme, which had been successfully reverse-engineered. However, crazney has been at it again, and within 24 hours of downloading iTunes 4.5, has broken the new scheme, and added more features to this library along the way. If you want to incorporate iTMS support in your program, give libopendaap a go!" Reader ScottGant submits this story about the Pepsi/iTunes promotion: "News.com has this story about Pepsi's iTunes promotion give-away. The promotion,
which is slated to end this Friday, was to have given away 100 million
tracks through Apple's iTunes
music site. But according to Apple on Wednesday, only about 5 million
free songs have been redeemed."
That's way less than they anticipated. Only 5 million out of 100 knocked me flat. Since iTunes serves a pretty specific market, I guess that says a lot. Especially since the tracks are free. The question on my mind: how many of those 100 million winners actually reached folks? TFA mentioned something about distribution problems.
:P), but I have to wonder.
Also, about the new authentication crack: I am curious how this will impact their deal to offer free weekly songs, I'm assuming it's some sort of deal with the record industry. Today is a fairly uninspiring Avril Lavigne track (but free! I got it anyway!
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
my main problem with 4.5 is that it no longer allowed sharing with other itunes running boxen on my home network - the one machine i had updated to 4.5 ( my parents imac) couldn't accesss my music on the g5. it seems like a fairly annoying thing that wouldn't be particularly hard to not break for no particular reason. while i personally think theres no reason to break apple's authentication or other security features in itunes (the current permisions are more than enough for me, and i have less than 20 pruchased tracks, and only 2 machines i play em on), its nice to know that work arounds do exist.
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
I hope apple didnt invest too much time/money in this new fixed drm. Will these media pimps ever learn?
This isn't about DRM, it is about access to the music store, sharing, etc. outside of the iTunes application.
And despite the poster's assertion, there's no real reason to think the authentication scheme was intended to break compatibility; as most developers know, sometimes you need to make changes for other reasons that force a break in compatibility. If this WERE about DRM, I'd say it was likely, but I see no reason to think this separate change was deliberate. It may have been, but no one's given any reason to think it.
That's because for a "free" song you had to give them your credit card number.
No, you didn't. I got two free, no credit card required.
I've worked for marketing companies that created similar promotions for their clients. Promotions like this are created with the full knowledge that the vast majority of winning caps will be tossed. 5% is actually a pretty strong number considering the L.A. Lakers caps they had in L.A. were only redeemed at a rate of 1.2 % (You got $10 off at Foot Locker) Have you noticed that 90% of the time McDonalds announces "We're giving away a million dollars!" that you never hear about anybody winning the prize?
Vonal Declosion
I dunno what iTunes *YOU* were using, but I never had to give my credit card # and I'm on free song #9 and counting...
Viva La Revolucion! Buy a Mac!
Their new strategy seems to be fixed, and it's a strict policy of lip service. If they make sure:
- The De-Fairplay utilities don't have public development sites, and instead are forced to be these little files passed around on USENET and P2P and slashdot like they're some sort of contraband, well out of the public eye
- The way things work change just *SLIGHTLY* with every minor release of iTunes, causing all the De-Fairplay utilities to have to be updated with every minor release
Then, well. The slashdotters get to keep their de-Fairplay utilities and use them as much as they want; and from the RIAA's perspective, Apple's "doing something" about piracy, because there's no longer a publically visible way to crack Fairplay, and so they don't revoke Apple's license to sell music. Everybody wins! Except our civil liberties.
Ii might have something to do with the inconvenience of downloading and installing iTunes, creating an account (which includes entering a credit card number), and then finally entering the code and picking a song.
But I think more importantly, the vast majority of people simply don't know much about iTunes (or don't even know what it IS). I dug a lot of "one free song" bottle caps out of the wastebaskets in our office because people didn't have a clue what they were...however, once I showed them how to redeem them, their reaction was usually something like "I can get any song I want?!? COOL!". This leads me to believe that Apple still has a ways to go in terms of public interest and awareness of the online music store scene...which is actually an exciting opportunity for them.
Wow. That's fascinating. I never realized the Great Wall of China ended in Japan.
You mean you missed the big honking Pepsi logo right in the middle of the iTunes home page that said "Redeem your free song here"?
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
If a person still needs a account to login to iTMS with this bit of reverse engineered method, the Authentication hasn't been cracked!!!
Authentication cracked means that you cand take an encrypted password and retreive the plain text for and already existing account.
All this guy seems to be able to do is figure out where and how iTunes sends its login information, so he can put it in his own application.
Ok, you're a clever guy. We get the message.
But is your ego helping those of us who would like the RIAA to see the light and start being more open in their approach to digital music?
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Here's a thought for you who didn't find a Pepsi Bottle with a yellow cap: TRY ANOTHER STORE. Just becaue 9/10 stores in my immediate area don't sell Sobe's Love Bus Brew, ndoesn't mean I won't travel somewhere that does.
To those who couldn't find where to insert your code on iTunes. USE YOUR EYES. It was right there on the front page: "PEPSI iTUNES GIVEAWAY." With a Pepsi logo with headphones on it. Click on it, insert your code, then it says ONE FREE SONG in the upper right hand corner. Find a song, click DONWLOAD, and it downloads it free.
To those complaining about having to use a credit card: How else are you going to pay for the songs you download? Food stamps?!
And about the DRM. c'mon people. Apple has to play the game of the law and the game of the recording industry in order to sell these things. But you tell me. How many other service let you KEEP the rights to the songs you bought, allowing them to be burned with the only restriction: Can only burn the same PLAYLIST 7 times to CD....Hell, Add or subtract a song from that playlist and you have a whole new playlist ready to burn.
People...just have no sense of reason. This is the BEST legal download service available on the market. Plus, the software is free, and is THE BEST jukebox software, on ANY platform.
Even WINBLOWS users are stating that "opinion." Should be more like fact if you compare all the others.
You did not purchase the song. Read the agreement. You purchase the right to listen to the song subject to the conditions outlined in the agreement.
I have two words for you: bull, and shit.
I don't care what their agreement says. Nobody has to "purchase rights" to "listen" to a song. If I want to listen to a song that's playing out on the street as I happen to be walking along, nobody has any right to charge me for the privilege. Conversely, nobody is allowed to sign away their rights under the law. If I sign an agreement saying "I hereby grant you the right to kill me by strangulation" that still doesn't give you the right to kill me and it doesn't give me the right to commit suicide either (which is illegal in most states).
Copyright law is pretty clear and the first sale doctrine well established. If I buy a song from iTunes, it's mine and I can do what I want with it provided I don't do anything to violate copyright law. That includes stripping the DRM to exercise my rights as expressly provided in copyright law (don't forget, fair use is not some nebulous concept someone came up with on Slashdot, it is part of the actual law).
Now, you can try to quote various things from the DMCA if you want, but that won't win you many friends around here. And I don't interpret the DMCA as overriding fair use rights anyway, and neither does anyone else I know of.