Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

iTunes 4.6, DRM, and Hymn

Posted by pudge on from the here-we-go-again dept.

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?"

2 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Re:DRM, the RIAA and the Artists... by harkabeeparolyn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I do have a problem with the DRM and it's that the terms of use are not fixed. Apple can change their minds (or have their minds changed for them by the record companies) and place onerous conditions on the use of the music after I've given them my money. And there is nothing I can do about it.

    With the DRM in place it's like Apple has a hand loosely gripping my nuts. That hand might give me great pleasure or it might suddenly squeeze so long and so hard that I beg for the surcease from pain that only death can bring. Anyone sane would get out this situation if they could. H-Y-M-N spells freedom for my nuts.

  2. Re:Don't like cat & mouse games... by mithras+the+prophet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If anything this incident is a further argument for using tools like hymn to strip DRM.

    A Hymned music file complies perfectly with the AAC spec. Quicktime, VLC, WinAmp, etc. play them just fine, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Once an iTMS file is stripped of its DRM by Hymn, it is future-proofed: any AAC-capable player, under any OS, will be able to play the file.

    As a 'goodwill gesture', the Hymn developers chose specifically to leave the Account ID field in Hymned music files. This was to leave an identifying mark of the owner in the file, so as to underline the fact that Hymn is intended for personal use, not to make files available for sharing.

    However, some bright bulb at Apple decided to add code to iTunes 4.6 specifically designed to recognize these files, the ones with the Account ID field, but no DRM, and refuse to play them. Again, you could play them in Quicktime, VLC, on your Palm Pilot, etc. just fine -- only iTunes had this crippling feature added. So what is the solution? To remove the Account ID field, of course, which makes Hymned files indistinguishable from AAC files you have ripped yourself.

    Apple really shot itself in the foot on this one.

    --
    four nine eighteen twenty-7 thirty-nine forty-7 fiftyeight sixty-nine seventy-9 eighty-8 one-hundred-and-nine one-twenty