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Zune DRM Cracked
An anonymous reader noted that Zune Scene is reporting that the Zune DRM has been cracked with software now available that strips the DRM from Zune Marketplace tracks and those shared with WiFi.
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It means someone bought a Zune.
This is the announcement that's been so desperately needed to kickstart Zune sales...
No one cares. Breaking AACS, iTunes, or even CSS was a big (albeit inevitable) deal, but I suspect most of us just shrug this story off for one simple reason--Microsoft, with its ill-thought-out strategy of expanding into every conceivable market at once, at whim, and with no controlling strategy has made itself an irrelevant bit player in multiple markets.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Now I can listen to music that I didn't buy for the media player I didn't purchase on an MP3 player that I don't possess!
Isn't technology awesome?
I recall Steve Jobs claiming back in February that if iTunes Fairplay was cracked, they were under contract with the Record Labels to repair the crack within something like 24 hours. He used this as a reason why Apple couldn't license Fairplay to third-parties. Do you think M$ has a similar agreement? Maybe the Labels will have to wait until Patch Tuesday.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127943
In a word, No.
The problem with DRM, in a nutshell, is that you ultimately have to provide the keys for accessing the content to the end user. All DRM, no matter how it's designed, is at the most basic level just security through obscurity. Since decryption keys have to be provided to the end user it's just a matter of time before one of the (potentially) millions of users worldwide manages to find those keys and figure out how to make use of them. Companies spend more and more on trying to restrict access to those keys, and now to revoke compromised keys (think AACS), but even that's a losing battle. Companies spend tons of money and some teenaged hacker in Russia still manages to crack the encryption fairly quickly. It's a no-win battle for the companies. They just haven't admitted defeat yet.
We hardcore and tech savvy users usually crack, mod or unlock any device we got ours hand into (Ipods, cell phones, DVD Players, Apple TV, etc) but it doesn't solve Six pack Joe's DRM problems. He will get a Zune, won't bother or know how to crack it and play along MS and MAFIAA's rules.
The same thing will happen with our parents and most people. The solution is buying products that are open and DRM free in the first place.
For years now we've been hearing that Mac OS X is less vulnerable to viruses and cracking because it has a far smaller marketshare than Windows. The argument is that nobody bothers with OS X because of the smaller marketshare. Although Zune DRM is being cracked for a different purpose, it does make me wonder if marketshare is much of a factor in decisions regarding which systems crackers attempt to defeat.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Here are the links to the FairUse4WM :
FileSend
zUpload
Files-Upload
zShare
QuickSharing
SendSpace
ShareBee
MD5 hash 0d5eaa7f8010e1293221a320943adb7e
Via:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127943
-- Zune-Online.com Share your Zune Experience!
No, cracking your own DRM won't allow you to reach your Zune sales goals either.
You miss the point. Because the Zune can network with other Zune, this now means that people have a way to pirate songs over a network.
Oh, wait. Never mind.
Yes, you are quite a "genious."
DRM exists entirely for the protection of the RIAA, not Microsoft. This will only increase the popularity of the Zune. An mp3 player that can share files over wifi with no restrictions, sign me up. I can't see Microsoft being too proactive about locking down the DRM again.
Does this mean I'll be able to play my Microsoft PlaysForSure tracks on my Microsoft Zune now?
All that effort to make a post and you didn't even bother making it semi-useful by including a link..
I guess it's the consensus around here that the Zune is a horrible piece of junk. The place I work bought some Zunes and some iPods and some other portable media players and I got a chance to take each home for a few weeks.
I really kind of liked the Zune. To my surprise it wasnt' that ugly brown color. All my (non-DRM) music played just fine, and I even kind of liked the way the Zune sounded with a pair of the $40 JBL 210 reference ear pods. The videos played well and the interface was acceptable. Battery life was pretty good.
I didn't try the wifi stuff, but the unit I tried compared nicely with the 30gig iPod.
I'd never buy one myself because I make a concerted effort to avoid giving Microsoft my business, but it wasn't the horrible crap that I'd been led to believe by that group of people who only seem to post at Slashdot when the issue turns to something having to do with, or competing with, Apple. I have heard that if you look at those people out of the corner of your eye you only see a black silhouette of a dancing gen-Y'er with fake dreadlocks.
You are welcome on my lawn.
You'll have to snort instead of shooting up, but this might help. And it comes with a free blender.
For the perfect anti-Unix, write an OS that thinks it knows what you're doing better than you do and let it be wrong.
Has anyone emailed the 4 people who own Zunes yet and let them know?
I think two of them were non-techies, so they may not know.
That pretty much matches what I've heard from a Zune owner. His gripe isn't with the player's interface or the hardware itself, but rather the deliberate crippling of the wifi and the horrible PC-side software.
I don't know why everyone keeps bashing the Zune. I love mine! It is the perfect size to shim up that old table in my den with a short leg.
How ya like dat?
you are incorrect. It's the consensus here that the Zune is a great piece of hardware. everyone agrees it has a fantastic screen awesome power and is overall a incredible device.....
that was turned into a turd by the software that it runs. They took the decent software inside and then shoved DRM in by the heaploads. Making it a turd.
That makes it the horribly piece of junk.
Once it's cracked and a 3rd party firmware can be installed to run it, I'll be buying 2 or more of them. In it's current DRM and windows Locked state, nobody wants it.
Microsoft catered so hard to the RIAA and MPAA organized crime families that they ruined the product.
it's like the microsoft keyboards, they are actually awesome, but nobody would own one if they refused to type words or phrases that were on a banned list.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"the Windows Media Player is HORRIBLE. It mangled all of my music and i had to do all my tags. "
You can turn this off. Its just as easy as it is in iTunes, which mangles all your music as well by default.
I'll bet Zune owners are celebrating with a circle-squirt.
It's much larger and heavier than an iPod. The interface is not as simple or intuitive, but clunky.
Even aside from that, at time of launch it cost more than a simmilar iPod!
The only thing the Zune ever had going for it was WiFi. And Microsoft botched that up so bad it's ridiculous (why no Zireless sync? Why no wirless purchase of music?)
The fact that they went to the trouble and expense to include WiFi but not include these basic features people would WANT it for is ridiculous. and indicates they did not do proper market research. The whole "WiFi share" idea is also retarded in a number of ways.
Given the zunepass subscription model, someone could effectively grab a ridiculous amount of free music for any player (including ipods). Heck, you can even download the zuneplayer without owning a zune, but don't think it will let you subscribe without one. And then cancel the zunepass subscription when they are done. Given sheer logistics, its probably impossible to grab the entire marketplace, but you probably could grab just about everything you wanted, at least until they patch this and i'm sure they have people working overtime on this. Because the danger is that the RIAA would pull their stuff out of the marketplace if they don't feel confident microsoft can protect their content, they're already overly nervous about something like a subscription and wifi sharing, to the point where they'd crippled much of the device's potential.
I use a zune, mainly for the subscription model, the player is nice for some things but there are times I'd rather use my sony ericsson phone because its a lot smaller, heck, i use it sometimes although that's limited to my none-zune marketplace content... My zune is more used in my car and at my desk. But I take it with me elsewhere at times because of the greatly expanded content I have access to on it. at least till now, where this would allow me to listen to it on that device. I'd happily keep paying my subscription fee if I had a means to listen to it on the device of my choice. You know, like that playsforsure concept...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ