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iTunes 4.6, DRM, and Hymn
fluffy writes "Although the recent iTunes 4.6 upgrade refuses to play music decrypted with Hymn, there's already a trivially-simple workaround, demonstrated within hours of the iTunes release, which still preserves the 'fair use' intent of the tool. What move will Apple take against Hymn next?"
And what happens at the next update? And the one after that?
If you don't like the DRM, buy a version without it. Or whine about the cat & mouse game you're going to keep playing.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
except that groups like the riaa on riding apple's rear to ensure music stays, in their view, "secure"
if apple didnt fix flaws, the riaa would pull the rug out and effectively close iTMS and kill the iPod. does apple want that? how would iTMS users react?
apple's just doing what it needs to remain in business, and honestly - at least apple had the guts to tell the riaa (in a direct manner) why their past ventures werent working, and what they could do to fix it. IMO, their "DRM" is the most relaxed out there anyway, especially with the a huge hole still open (in the form of burning a file to CD, the rip it back to mp3)
Company!? Try and MAKE MONEY!? Perish the thought.
Viva La Revolucion! Buy a Mac!
Minor correction... pissing the RIAA off wouldn't kill the iPod. It's still the awesome-est MP3 player out there, and not merely a playback device for the iTMS.
Since I started working out regularly, I'm really fiercely craving an iPod. I'm not much of an iTMS customer (lifetime purchase history of ~60 songs) but having a CD-based MP3 player doesn't quite cut it when you're lifting weights, and it's already taken flight from the treadmill once.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
They're sellout DMCA-wielding jackbooted thugs...
How, exactly?
It's not like they're being dishonest about this. Jobs & Apple have been totally up front about the DRM in iTunes. You simply can't ask for more than honesty.
their appropriation of the work of Open Source programmers notwithstanding.
You say that as if what Apple did wasn't wholly in keeping with the Open Source philosiphy--and, arguably, compatable with the Free Software philosiphy.
Or perhaps they simply don't want overmuch trouble from labels. Fair use doesn't enter into Hymn, because the problem is not one of copyright. The issue MIGHT involve patents (if any exist). But more likely they're trying to enforce contracts -- the iTunes license agremeent forbids stuff like that.
While I probably will get around to using this hack to un-DRM some of my songs for totally legit fair use reasons, I have to agree with the Mac-fanboi groupthink that Apple is being pretty cool about the whole DRM thing. I think it's extremely obvious that they're doing their damnedest to satisfy the lawyers at the RIAA while still playing fair with their users.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
I'm not much of an iTMS customer (lifetime purchase history of ~60 songs) but having a CD-based MP3 player doesn't quite cut it when you're lifting weights, and it's already taken flight from the treadmill once.
I bet most people would consider you a pretty serious iTMS customer.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
So why would one need specialized tools to "break" the encryption?
Or is there some compatibility issue I'm not understanding?
A contract that abrogates fair use rights would probably be considered unconscionable, were Apple ever dumb enough to take an individual to court for stripping DRM from his purchased songs. But Apple doesn't have to-they can sic the pheds on the Hymn project under color of the DMCA.
I must have missed the source code download for their enhancements to the X11 server. Can you post a link?
No, they're doing what they see maximizing profit even if it's not in the users' best interest, just like any other business. They're no different than the Nikes and the Microsofts in this regard.
I may not know much about iTMS, but I fail to see how the workaround is "trivially simple". It's hardly the sort of thing that jumps out of the screen at you.
Unless the submitter meant that running the script was trivially easy - in which case Linux is "trivially simple" too.
Well, everything's relative.
When it first came out I bought ~30 songs within the first week or two, since then just a single file here and there, not so much to acquire the tune, more just to register a paid vote for that artist. And, to be honest, about a dozen of them were my best friend's music. I've already got a few copies of his album, one of them a pre-mastered copy, but I figured it'd make him happy to see a few sales that way. But shhh, don't tell him it was me!
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
I swear to God I'm gonna tell your friend!!
Yeah your friend will know you did it.
wait..... what was your friends name again? and I didn't catch yours either.
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
You must have not read the license on the original X11 server not requiring this. If the authors didn't want to allow this, they would have GPL'ed it. They didn't and hence they expect this kind of use.
Some people are really altruistic you know. Obviously you are not.
My iPod has taken flight from the treadmill on several occasions. I just don't feel comfortable with it on my hip, so I set it on the console...once in a while a swinging arm snags it, and I attempt to not step on it while it shoots off the back of the treadmil...
:)
Keeps on tickin though.
- Sighuh?
It would be cool if there was a way to send this script off to crunch the iTunes library, searching thru all the subfolders, so that it will fix all the files there... even if that means it would modify non-DRMd AAC files (such as those created by ripping CD's you own).
... not broken.
The reason for this is - i have 300+ songs that i have Hymned.... i found them by searching in iTnues for "Protected AAC files" - dropping those into a folder, unprotecting them, burning the purchased tracks to a DVD-R for safe keeping, deleting all protected files from iTunes, then dropping in all the unprotected files.
So now, i have no simple way of going thru my whole library picking out the previously protected now unprotected file.
Any ideas (pudge) on how to modify this script such that it would work in this fashion?
plus - what happened to that 1 line perl (you guys just fscking revel in that type of thing, don't you?) script that did the same thing? Could that be hacked to do a search and repair of the iTunes Music Library.
after looking at that script - it appears that it would be easy to make the modification - because it appears that it simply says "not broken" if the files was
I'd code it - but i'm not a coder...
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
So Apple only "contributes back" when legally required. Thank you for proving my point. Apple is the one who doesn't appear altruistic here.
For a hard drive, perhaps ticking isn't necessarily a good sign? :-)
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Give props to Apple for applying the minimum amount of security necessary to do the business they do.
The people at Hymn would make it seem as though their application is rocket-science or something when really it's a tinker tool.
The iTunes DRM is easily bypassed: just open the file in a compatible editor (Bias Peak is nice) -> Save As MP3 / Ogg or whatever your flavor of the month happens to be.
While iTunes doesn't "natively" support OGG out of the box, it's a simple update, and they even throw in a free icon for you already in the iTunes package.
In my opinion they couldn't be more free and liberal with their version of DRM.
If you're half as beautiful naked, you'd be 4 times as beautiful with twice as many clothes on.
Location of iTunes library file not changeable (and in users' homedir). WTF?
Symlinks, dude. Symlinks. I have my iTunes library on my much larger secondary hard drive so I have more room on my boot drive for apps.
Not that I'm sure this is actually relevent to anything real.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
go back to an article from several months ago: apple makes little-to-no money whatsoever on iTMS. 99c is literally cutthroat pricing from their pov. sure, they take maybe 5-10c per song sold, but it disappears quickly toward financing the operating costs of iTMS and such.
Man, you're a whiner.
No hotkey support regardless of focus. I want to change songs while coding without switching to iTunes, damnit (and no thanks, I don't need any 3rd party mini-app)
Use the Dock.
Location of iTunes library file not changeable (and in users' homedir).
Mine is on a server. Try LOOKING at the preferences.
No watching of the library folders.
Try LOOKING at the menu bar. It's called Consolidate Library...
Yeah, it's not automatic, but it is a one step process.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Location of iTunes library file not changeable (and in users' homedir). WTF?
My iTunes library is not in my home directory. It's not even on the same drive.
SteveM
My understanding is that they've checked a lot of their work back into the public trunks on CVS of several different projects, such as Konqueror.
Location of iTunes library file not changeable (and in users' homedir).
Mine is on a server. Try LOOKING at the preferences.
Hey man, cut him some slack. It's under the "Advanced" tab. Maybe he was afraid to look under there. ;)
----------------------------------
I'd rather not take sides until I hear the monkey's version - PHB
How 'bout cat foo.m4p | sed 's/geID/xxID/g' > foo.m4a
"The problem with internet quotations is that many are not genuine" -Abraham Lincoln
Location of iTunes library file not changeable (and in users' homedir).
Mine is on a server. Try LOOKING at the preferences.
Bullshit. That's the location of the audio files, not of the database.
No watching of the library folders.
Try LOOKING at the menu bar. It's called Consolidate Library...
Yeah, it's not automatic, but it is a one step process.
Bullshit, that's copying all the files already in the library to a central location. I want to copy files to that location and iTunes to notice them (=adding them to the library DB).
My god.
Oops. Correction: Replace "*.m4p" with "*.m4a" instead. D'oh!
The symlink is easier, really, and it will take care of both the music files and the library database.
/Users/Shared/iTunes ~/Music/iTunes
ln -s
The database is in the top directory, and the subdirectory iTumes Music contains the audio files.
For the bit about copying files to the location and iTunes automatically adding them to the library:
If you are on a Mac, look at AppleScript Folder Actions. It does take a little work on your part, but you could set up a folder (or alias) on your desktop which would, when you add files to it, run an AppleScript adding those files to your iTunes library. I would be surprised if this script did not already exist somewhere -- if it does, all you do is attach it to a folder.
Also, I think you can drag files to the iTunes icon on the Dock and accomplish the same thing.
True, but is it a requirement that they have to give back ALL their changes given that the license doesn't require it?
Remember, they did not *have* to release darwin as free software. Yet they did. This is kind of like critizising someone who gives money to the homeless, but decides to keep some for themselves.
The open source comminuty can be exceptionally snotty in this regard. A corporation helps out the community, then some people in the community turn around and istead of saying, gee thanks, they say, "But I want ALL your ip! You are an evil company!".
And taking and not giving back is perfectly in keeping with open source principles, and even some free software licenses like BSD. If it were not, it would be explicitly forbidden in the definiton of free software or open source!
It's not in line with copyleft, but copyleft is not everything.
Peace
I'm curious where you see that Apple is 'clearly' not giving back. Looking at CVS for Konqueror, and quite a few FreeBSD tools, and you see Apple making their mark. Not to mention Apple's Public Source site where /all/ of Darwin is there, Streaming software tools, ZeroConf changes, and more are open to the public.
Clear as mud, yo.
- oZ
// i am here.
Jeez Dude...
I have a multi-user Mac and all users share the same iTunes library and it's not in anyone's home folder. Changes made by one user are reflected in everyone's iTunes app.
Ever heard of symlinks?
I think you can find all of the gory details if you do a quick search on Google.First, it makes it look like they are combating piracy. It looks good on paper when they go to tell the RIAA how they have been fighting piracy "we disabled the latest version of Hymn, but a workaround was found quickly." So long as they are doing what they can, the RIAA won't complain.
Second, it prevents someone from the RIAA ascertaining what percentage of tracks shared are the iTunes version nearly as easily.
Think about it. If you leave the ID tag in there, the RIAA can download a bunch of files from P2P networks and very quickly and easily determine what percentage of them were purchased from the iTMS. Apple doesn't want this at all--if that number ever does become significant, they don't want the RIAA coming to them and saying "20% of all songs being shared over P2P networks were originally purchased on the iTMS..."
Unlikely? Sure, especially since m4a files are still relatively rare on p2p networks (though the number of them is growing), but Apple doesn't want it to ever be an issue.
If there is an ID tag that is unique to decrypted files and can be quickly scanned for, they can ascertain this percentage without any difficulty in a selection of downloaded music. Otherwise they have to compare the decrypted stream to the decrypted stream of the original for each individual song, which requires identifying each individual song and then matching it with the original--a much more drawn out process than scanning for the presence of a tag.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Bullshit. That's the location of the audio files, not of the database.
It took me all of 10 seconds to make an alias (File-> Make Alias) change the name from iTunes Music Library Alias to iTunes Music Library and copy the file to all my users home directories. And then, not only did I move my Library file out of my user folder, I moved it off my harddisk and on to a USB keychain. And it worked. How amazing is that?
Bullshit, that's copying all the files already in the library to a central location. I want to copy files to that location and iTunes to notice them (=adding them to the library DB).
So you want iTunes to take files that it isn't aware of, copy them to a different directory and then become aware of the files? Doesn't that sound slightly contrdictory to you? Or do you mean you want it to copy files to the library folder as you add them? IN which case I suggest you check the options again.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
I believe the application mentioned was X11.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
OK, that f---ing stupid two minute thing has kicked in again. So it's time to find a joke at random and post it.
The founder of an international nail company wants a new ad campaign, so he hires an ad agency to come up with a good TV commercial for his Wilson Nails.
Tens of thousands of dollars later, the ad agency has a meeting with the director to premier their commercial. The ad begins with a flying shot that zooms over a mountain (to stirring music, of course!) and begins closing in on three figures on the hillside. It zooms closer and closer and the viewers can now tell two of the men are dressed as guards and are nailing the third to a cross. The camera continues to zoom in - right up to the Wilson symbol on the head of the nail protruding from the crucified man's hand.
"Wilson nails - for the toughest jobs." says the announcer.
Well, the head of Wilson Nails is livid. He cannot believe the ad agency was so flippant with the religious angle. He demands that they reshoot the commercial for free - and they better come up with something good this time or they're fired.
After another few weeks, the ad agency has just completed reshooting the commercial and the head of Wilson wants it aired right away - he has no time to preview it this time, trusting them to have fixed the problem. He is at home that night when the commercial airs. As before, the camera flies over the mountain and begins closing in on two figures this time. It gets closer and closer, until the viewers see the two guards standing beside a lone cross. In the distance, a man with a sheet around his waist can be seen running down the mountain. One guard turns to the other and says, "See, I told you we should have used Wilson Nails".
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
So you want iTunes to take files that it isn't aware of, copy them to a different directory and then become aware of the files? Doesn't that sound slightly contrdictory to you? Or do you mean you want it to copy files to the library folder as you add them? IN which case I suggest you check the options again.
No, he's talking about having the files in a directory somewhere and setting it up so that if he (or anyone else, think server here) copies a file into that heirarchy, iTunes automatically notices it and adds it to the database.
It should it be easy enough to script the refresh, but its still more of a pain that it should be.
The reason for this, conversely, is that Apple is really trying to minimize the times that people think of "Files" instead of "Music" or "Photos". But its one of those things that works well in the normal case, but falls down when people try to do interesting things outside the box with it.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
These are whines, as others point out. My problem with iTunes is that it is not graceful at handling large song libraries. A library of 14k songs for example is difficult to navigate (scrolling randomly slows down, and sometimes the computer completely stalls when iTunes is running, which I believe is related to the library size, since it doesn't happen on my laptop). Is this a common problem for people with large music libraries? Or does it sound like I messed something else up? The sluggishness would be ok if the crashes stopped; when this kind of crash happens nothing works except manually restarting.
If Apple didn't believe in DRM they wouldn't be the largest provider of such material, there are no excuses. They are in it for the money.
I have 13,300 songs in my library and none of the issues you have mentioned, this is on a 2x2ghz G5, I shared the library and then scrolled through it on my laptop (400 mhz ti) and saw a slight slowdown in scrolling, about the equivalent of every three to four pages of scrolling, it would hiccup and then catch up the re-draw. I am guessing this is due to netowrk speed more than anything else. I used to have wierd scrolling and stalling issues on my laptop (less than 3,000 songs), which went away some where in the iTunes upgrade cycle, although in there I also doubled the RAM, so I am not sure which it was.
If you are one in a million, then there are six thousand people who are just like you.
If they were trying to enforce contracts, they would sue the end-users of the program in question, since the program itself cannot and does not violate any contracts.
I think his name is Bryan.
you don't even need symlinks, just go into iTunes prefs | advanced ... and change the location of the library. sheesh.
Legally, no, it isn't a requirement. Please, re-read my comment. And also bear in mind I'm not the original AC.
I understand your point, and was not trying to suggest that you in particular are snotty (please don't take it that way). I just feel that Apple has been quite a good open source citizen. They abide by all the rules, and even when they don't have to they release source (darwin) and work to make sure it is classified as a free license.
To then turn around and accuse them of being an 'evil' company because they don't release ALL their changes and code just isn't right. I'd say that they've shown plenty of goodwill, and have played by all the rules. How many other companies have done as much as Apple? IBM and SGI both released filesystems, Apple released an entire operating system. I realize darwin is not GPL compatible, but then GPL software is not BSD compatible (my choice of license), so I can't see holding it against Apple.
My problem with iTunes is that it is not graceful at handling large song libraries.
15,343 tracks here, and no problems at all. And that's on a G3 iMac running at 400 MHz.
I access the same library from my dual GHz G4 upstairs. No problems there either. In fact, apart from encoding speed, I can't tell the difference between the two machines as far as iTunes is concerned.
I write in my journal
Hymn was written to extend fair use of the iTMS, by allowing you to play the files that YOU bought in the iTMS in devices that DON'T support Apples DRM.
Ok so let's suppose you have a Mac, an iPod, a Windows PC, a Linux box, and another AAC-capable player.
You buy a file from the iTMS. It plays in your Mac, your iPod, and the Windows machine using iTunes. But you want to play it in your Linux box and in the other AAC player. And maybe in WinAmp, since I've heard that iTunes for Windows is a resource hog (I'm very glad I use a Mac).
So, you use Hymn to de-DRM-ize your files. The new files work in the non-Apple players, but not in iTunes.
Well... who gives a f**k if iTunes refuses to play the new files? You already have the original files, which play nicely in iTunes! So you don't want to have duplicate files in your computer(s)? Well, leave only the copy that works in each machine! Duh!
I see this as an issue if you want to play the files in iTunes in more than five machines all in different places. (If they are in the same network, you can use the iTunes sharing feature). But quite frankly that is far from typical for a normal user. Very, very far.
What I see is a bunch of pirates who want to share the Hymn-ized files illegally, and don't want to leave evidence to trace them back in the files. Users who really want to enforce their fair use rights should have no problems since they still can play their iTMS songs in all their AAC-capable players.
Control-click (or right-click) on the iTunes Dock icon. You can control iTunes through the menu that pops up, no matter if iTunes is in the background or the foreground.
If you zoom the main iTunes window to its smaller size you are able to control the small window without changing focus. Just zoom the window (press the small green button in the tope left corner of the window) and drag the small window to a corner where it won't be obscured by a document. You can even make the zoomed window smaller by dragging the resize area at the bottom right corner of the window. Then you can just click on any of the controls in that window to change iTunes without changing focus away from what you are working on.
Go to this web page, download this file. Unstuff the file, take the "Add to iTunes Library" droplet out of the "Desktop Droplet" folder and put it on the desktop. Then just drag new music to that droplet and it will automatically be added to your library.
One thing, this script is a little bit outdated - it isn't set up to accept AAC files. This is easy to fix, just tell it to do so! Drag the droplet onto the Script Editor application found in the Applications folder. Change this line (line 8):to this:Save it and you are all set.
It is trivial to change this script into a Folder Actions so that you can have a "watched folder" if you want that.
Sapere aude!
This is supposedly fixed in the 4.6 Release
You still cannot transfer those files to your iPod -- even if you can get them to play in iTunes.
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
Yeah, because Apple has really clamped down on thosee poor X11 using bastards.
Excuse me, but wtf?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
yeah but this still keeps the "Music" directory with one or two itunes files - unless your files are on a second hard drive or in another users account, you might as well commit to using "Music"
at least its not "My Music"... *shudder*
it does annoy me I cant delete capital letter'd directories, but I have accepted some lack of choice for an overall better OS
The reason for this, conversely, is that Apple is really trying to minimize the times that people think of "Files" instead of "Music" or "Photos".
As much as I can see why they (apple, etc) are doing this, they have to realise it doesnt work! Both of my parents have used computers for long enough that they cannot shake off the idea of files, and that they are stored in a heirachical directory. They both hunt down the file they want in the Finder/Explorer to copy it into another program or whatever - drag and drop just isnt intuitive for them
Now, I love drag and drop its great - but it takes effort to change peoples mindset to use it . LIkewise the concept of a song or a photo often confuses people because they have already learnt about files! and their understanding is not great enough to get how the disctinctions all fit together
I agree that large song libraries are not well dealt with (and not to do with scrolling/speed).
Sure, the search function is *the best* when you want to find the artist/genre/album you want to play
wouldnt it be great, though, if you could have your whole library visible and be able to group via artist/genre/album/whatever - as in choose the field you want to group by, then have a collapsable group (think finder list-view directories with the arrows or those little +/- boxses) formed for each matching group
the problem with search is if u cant remember all the stuff u have! u want a reduced, summarised version at your fingertips..
Streaming software tools, ZeroConf changes, and more are open to the public.
Which zeroconf changes were those? Or did you mean where they intentionally violated the standard on TXT record formatting in iChat?
Apple has benefitted far more from opensource than opensource has benefitted from Apple.
An AC earlier said that Apple doesn't always give back to the community. S/he gave the example of X11. After a long discussion about what the AC meant, someone asked me to give an example of where Apple hadn't "given back". I repeated the AC's example of X11.
How is whether Apple "clamps down" on X11 users relevent to the question of whether Apple has a proprietary X11 server built on originally F/OSS code? I don't think anyone's suggesting Apple has done anything of the sort. What is clear is that when Apple takes F/OSS code, it doesn't contribute F/OSS code back in equal measure.
Indeed, for all of Darwin's supposed open sourciness, the code is often missing for quite low level and critical operations. An example would be the device drivers for CD and DVD burners (That's DiscRecording.framework, in case you need to know) which Apple seems to have gone out of their way to keep closed so they can dictate the burners people can and can't use (something which had a major impact when DVD+R started to become popular.)
What Apple is legally or morally obliged to do is a different debate and will depend on the licenses of the code (former) or ethics of the person arguing (latter.) But on a basic, non-partisan, non-judgemental, objective level, Apple, while it gives far more to the F/OSS communities than, say, Microsoft, does not give as much as it benefits. I find it ironic really that Slashdotters tend to "like" Apple for this and yet will abuse Sun, who really have given more than they've taken, without a single thought.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
My understanding is that they've checked a lot of their work back into the public trunks on CVS of several different projects, such as Konqueror.
khtml, damn it! Not Konqueror! And because license for khtml is lgpl they pretty much have to give all the changes to back.
khtml. You knew what I was talking about. The point is - they could have bought the code from OmniWeb instead. They didn't. They used OSS.
Free, legal music for iTunes users.
I have purchased about 20 CDs from itunes music store, but was always concerned about what might happen with the tracks if apple were to get out of the music biz, my worry increased with the changes to the iTunes license in 4.5 & 4.6. I was happy to see fairplay and hymn come along. I used it to clean my tracks. I have not shared or copied anyone else's purchased music.
I thought it was an interesting decision on the hymn programmers part to keep the apple id tag in the cleaned tracks. I find it curious that apple chose to check for that to decide if a track was legit (in itunes 4.6). Perhaps this was the easiest way to check if it was a track altered by hymn, but also perhaps apple would rather have hymn go back to stripping out all info so that their legal case against hymn will be stronger. AFAIK apple has sent no cease and desist orders to the hymn developers since they got to their current home and released the version that keeps the apple id intact (if it has happened neither side has made it public).
I think hymn at this point should keep trying to take the high road (as much as is can be called a high road in this case), if possible instead of storing that apple id in a non standard tag perhaps they could move it to a standard tag, so again the info would remain there, but they wouldn't be able to scan for it like they can now.
To those who say that covering this story isn't news because it's just a cat and mouse, tit for tat thing are missing the point. This type of battle will play out many more times in the near future, but the actual choices both sides make, to me anyway, is interesting to follow.
Anyway, between sharingthegroove.org and allofmp3.com I aint got no time for iTunes store anymore anyway, and, I may actually fill up my 30GB iPod for once!
khtml. You knew what I was talking about. The point is - they could have bought the code from OmniWeb instead. They didn't. They used OSS.
:), not that I call my OS GNU/Linux, it is just fun to watch flamewars)... I will stop now and light up a joint and chill out.
Yeah, sorry about the harsh language but I just had to write since there still are some confusion about Safari, some people make mistake and think Safari is Gecko based (Gecko wouldn't be a bad choice either, but as KDE user I think it is good that they chose khtml, more developers the better).
Besides Konqueror and khtml are somewhat different, but I am starting to be too pedantic again (GNU/Linux
And for the record, I really don't care wheather Apple gives code back to opensource projects if the license doesn't require it. Although it is nice if they do.
Ah Shit...
I would also like to point out that I am not that I must have missed the source code download... or that Apple is the one who doesn't appear altruistic here AC, I am that khtml, damn it! AC, and may I add a pretty stoned AC right now...
Run iTunes, select a playlist, hit apple-B or select Edit->Show Browser
The browse window that appears does all this for you.
Sapere aude!
"I want to copy files to that location and iTunes to notice them (=adding them to the library DB)."
There are two ways to do this easily, if not automatically.
(1) If you're using the "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" option: make a habit of dropping your new music files into a folder inside the main music folder (e.g., one called "New Music"). Then, periodically drag and drop this folder onto iTunes, or choose File->Add Folder to Library... and navigate to this folder. iTunes will add all the songs to your library database and move the files into appropriate folders. Advanced tips: (a) stick at least one non-music file in your "New Music" folder, so iTunes won't completely empty and delete the folder. (b) Create a folder action on the "New Music" folder, so it automatically feeds itself to iTunes whenever a file is added.
(2) If you're managing your library folders manually: Once in a while, drag the top level music library folder onto iTunes and drop it on the Library list. iTunes will go through the whole folder hierarchy and quickly add any music files that aren't already in the database. It's smart about this, so you won't get any doubles. You can also do this via File->Add Folder to Library...
Is suspect that Apple went after DRM remover apps just a show for RIAA. Apple depends very much on RIAA for iTMS content. It doesn't affect Apple much monetarily other than spending money to hire lawyers. Determined pirates will pirate anyway whether it's from iTMS song or other sources.
/.) keep making it a headline news, Apple will have to continue going after Hymn. Best if people just not talk about it.
Once things quiet down, people will 'forget' and Apple will let it go just like they let go other DRM removers. As long as media (including
I love Apple, although our relationship is a little rocky right now. Apple is a beautiful girlfriend, and she does her housework really fast and efficient, but there are problems. Namely, she won't let me listen to her sing. I mean, I bring home the bacon daily, but if I want to hear her sing I have to go in a specific room of the house. Pretty lame if you ask me. If I try to listen to her in a room of my choice instead of hers, she kicks me in the nads.
Ouch.
The girl I dated a few years ago - Napster - and the one after that - Kazaa - were much more trusting of me. But they were ho's and gave it up to anyone. Apple is much classier than those, but I miss being trusted. Heck, Apple even makes me wear a chastity belt because she doesn't trust me with myself.
Needless to say, Apple is making me pretty uncomfortable lately with this squeamish distrust. I thought the basis of any good relationship is trust and understanding, but apparently she thinks it's all about control and restriction. That's no way to live life. If she's not careful, she may end up a lonely spinster with no sustainable long-term relationships. Please Apple, I love you - don't treat me like a child! Give me the freedom I long for, and I promise I'll be faithful to you!
Even more trivial
> the riaa would pull the rug out and effectively close iTMS and kill the iPod.
When I worked at the Apple Store (for the past three months) I personally sold maybe 200 iPods (I was part-time). About 5 people cared about iTMS. About 98% of them asked me, though, "will it play music I have downloaded off Kazaa?"
RIAA has no power to kill iPod. To suggest otherwise is silly.
I really don't care if iTMS stays in business anymore. It's going to suck more as the RIAA puts higher prices on things. I had to remove all the DRM from my files (using nothing but 1 CD-RW and 30 minutes of my time--burn, rip, erase disc, repeat) because, ironically, when I started working for Apple, my iTunes account was accidentally disabled. I initially tried to share some of Apple's enthusiasm back when iTMS first went up, and I might still buy my favorite artists' tracks once in a while, but I think most of the time I'll just go buy the CD for my favorite artists and infringe copyright for the rest. I just can't stand the money going to RIAA members.