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Cracking iTunes' DRM with JHymn
comforteagle writes "Howard Wen has interviewed 'FutureProof' of the JHymn project, a DRM removal application for iTunes song files laden, or 'crippled' as some say, to prevent filesharing. FutureProof tells us how Apple's DRM works, how to rip it out using JHymn, how they build on the work of 'DVD' Jon Johansen, and how to upgrade to that brand new iShuffle safely."
"Protected CDs" rippeable pressing CTRL
That was shift.
I just don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die.
To churn through 10 GB of music I had either purchased through iTunes, or ripped myself using AAC (drinking the koolaid made me use AAC over MP3). All legally obtained. Why? TiVo desktop cannot play AAC/m4p files, only MP3. So I either spring $200+ for and airport card and airport express to stream my music to the stereo, or convert it to something more useable. Worked like a charm. I wouldn't have to do it if Apple/TiVo would get it together and let me use my music on the gear I already own.
"dvd jon went had to go thru a lot of hell for what he did"
Dvd jon proved to us that we have a right to use our purchased media in whatever way
we see fit as long as we don't break copyright (or other) law.
EULA? what EULA!? I'm copying music from my computer to my mp3 player, then
on to another computer, all for my personal use, in the privacy of my home.
No law broken here.
Actually itunes 4.7 breaks hymned files.
The best is the enemy of the good
No driving to the store, hunting through overpriced bins, etc... And after you purchase that music, and saved it to your fileserver, you want to be able to listen to it wherever, whenever. So rip the DRM out of it and play it on your MP3 player, your Linux box, your toster, whatever.
Plus, My g/f just bought an album off of ITunes for $10. Some obscure band that she just had to have a copy of their album. You think my local Worst Buy stock that album. I doubt it. Amazon.com had it for 17.99, plus a week for shipping. Of course the first thing she asked me was to put it on her USB thumb drive so she could listen to it at work. I told her se couldnt, because she could only listen to it on Itunes, and of corse she cant install Itunes at work. So I learned to use Hymn and ripped it to MP3 and she annoyed her coworkers all day playing New Age Goth musicBut your implication is that the RIAA is actually asking what people would want to pay for music. Apparently they aren't.
These are people who make a business running artists into the ground. The cartel has effectively monopolized the music industry, shooting themselves in the foot in the process.
Think about it: what's the RIAA's big justification for the high cost of CDs and the reason they financially destroy so many artists? They claim they have to take a big risk on artists, as it's expensive to produce, tour, promote, etc.
Who said rockstars need to have their every whim catered to? Who drove the cost of music videos through the roof? Who demands artists pay $20,000/hour for some "big name" producer to hit a few buttons in Pro Tools? Who demands artists pay thousands an hour for studio time? Who created this bloated, overinflated, cookie cutter music market where it's ridiculously expensive to get exposure? Who helped create the radio station conglomerates like Clear Channel and Infinity? Who created this situation where it's prohibitively difficult for non-affiliated artists to get more than small, local exposure?
The whole point, is the industry is solely responsible for this situation they're in. They flat-out lie in press releases. They slander their own customers, and treat them like criminals. They charge too much for a lackluster service, and now we're supposed to feel sorry for them? When's the last time the industry showed any good will towards its customers?
No, the RIAA isn't listening; they're oblivious and out of touch. No one wants DRM. Yet they insist on it. We want more reasonably priced music, but they won't give that to us, either. Yet they've created an environment where it's exceedingly difficult to be exposed to music that isn't being actively pimped by them! And now we're supposed to bend over and take it in the ass while they use one law to make an end-run around another and screw us out of our rights?
[b]Fuck them and the horse they rode in on[b/].
The truly stupid thing about this is that iTunes already provides a mechanism for doing what JHymn does - burn a CD, re-rip it. Problem solved. All JHymn does is streamline the process a bit.
One reason for removing the DRM is so you can use devices like this and this. iTunes is already in an encoded format that these devices can play, its just the DRM that is preventing it.
FutureProof said that Apple is putting watermarking in their music and they are looking for the lack of that watermark in future versions of iTunes (both to stop competitors and most likely identify those who would rip from iTunes and resell it illegally). Nothing has stated that the watermark is an Apple-wide watermark (i.e. distributed to all users) or if it is a per user watermark added on top of the Apple watermark (double water-marked).
Unless this makes your head swim, there is an excellent book that most folks with a bachelor's degree in some field which involved math should be able to read and understand: Information Hiding Techniques - Techniques for Steganography and Digital Watermarking (ISBN 1-580-53035-4), by Katzenbeisse. This and some other related books can been seen at forensics.nl.
Note: I am not affiliated with any of these publishers or authors, but merely read through the above mentioned book and found it appropriate for the topic.
Yes, I can.
As this sounded like BS, I did a quick Google:
i me _overview.html
:-)
http://www.mostchoice.com/business_insurance_cr
Found others too.
As a business owner, believe me, there is insurance for pretty much anything. The only question is whether the premiums are worth it. My broker would be happy to fill you in.
Larry
Actually, they don't know it's stolen, until someone asks a retail clerk about where the last copy of London Calling is, and the computer indicates the store has 3 copies on hand, and a quick inventory realizes that a 5-finger discount has liberated said store of 3 copies of London Calling. I say 3 copies, because many stores down to a single copy will automatically reorder a copy, so as to avoid loss of sales due to out of inventory issues. This of course may hinge on unsold copies in a warehouse somewhere owned by said company, or a store with computer inventory records of 4+ copies of said title, which may invoke a redistribution of unsold copies to locations more likely to sell the merchandise etc... but the point is, the RIAA doesn't get additional revenue beyond the revenue they would have gotten for the cd just sitting in a warehouse somewhere until and unless demand dictates that the company orders aditional copies... and in the case of music, backorders are usually only performed on custormer request, at additional charge, and only when said warehouses/other retail locations have exhausted supply.
But yeah, 5-finger discount has a lot lower risk/reward ratio vs digital piracy. let's see, $50,000 per song, or 5 days community service per CD stolen*... hell yeah 5-finger discount all the way!!
*= unless you're in california, and the 3-strikes law applies to you. then 20 years to life... but that's california, and you need to have commited 2 felonies and been convicted too.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
With iTunes, when I buy a song I CAN'T LISTEN TO IT IN MY CAR because it won't let me "export" the song to a format my hardware can parse.
That's an untrue statement, and it's kind of disappointing that you'd stoop to making it. You can burn an audio CD. A standard, no-funny-business, plays-everywhere audio CD. Which "your hardware" (we're talking about a stereo, right?) can "parse." (We're still talking about a stereo, right? Why all the jargon?)
If you want to then take that audio CD and go elsewhere with it to compile a CD of MP3s or something, knock yourself out. You're free to do whatever you like with the songs you buy from iTunes. They're yours. You own 'em.
Uh dude 3/4 of the article was about why that is not true at all. Two reasons were given. First, Ipod and Itunes memorizes what songs were bought from the music store. If it sees that song with out the DRM it wont play. Amusingly it will play on any machine that did not purchase that song, it just wont play on a machine that did purchase it. Second, apple may be watermarking the songs. So these songs ARE distinguishable from songs you ripped yourself to AAC.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
JHymm's method = no loss of sound quality, the file is the original AAC data.
Goofy burn to CD and re-encode method = much loss of quality, creation of artifacts etc.
Enough said.
You dont HAVE to burn the MP3 or AIFF files to a blank CD - you can mount and image and then burn to it. Atleast on a Mac - dont know about PC's.
AM
If you read carefully, you will see
(1) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or
(2) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000
It would appear that as long as you don't sell the stuff, and as long as you don't copy more than $1000 retail value of the stuff within any 180 day period, you don't meet the criteria --- i.e. you are not stealing.
If you meet the criteria, then I will concede that it is theft.