Slashdot Mirror
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!
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?
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?
Downloaded tracks from iTunes are DRM'ed so that only the user who bought them can play them. Hymn is designed to get rid of the DRM, so that (for example) you can play your files on a Linux machine. However, it leaves in your user ID so to prevent piracy by making files easily traced.
The latest version of iTunes refuses to play files that contain a user ID but no DRM - even if the user ID is your own. Hence, a fix is needed.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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!
If you do it, you will be sorry. sed will mangle binaries.
$ md5 < song.m4p
e7e226f8bb2bd10ea4543abf879fc525
$ sed < song.m4p | md5
ec6849772458b78180fd8f8a434a2889
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.
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
Yeah, because Apple has really clamped down on thosee poor X11 using bastards.
Excuse me, but wtf?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
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.