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DVD Jon Creates DRM Killer
Firmafest writes to let us know that 'DVD Jon' Lech Johansen's company has released an open beta of DoubleTwist, a desktop application that allows the user to copy media to any device. There's a Facebook app too. The software is available for download at Doubletwistventures.com. Currently only Windows is supported, but a Macintosh version is on the way.
I wonder who will be first to be contacting these guys and threatening legal retaliation based on DMCA.
"You can't copy that tune from there to this device. You must pay another fee!"...
All content in this message is copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. RIAA is prohibited here.
The software automatically plays the song files in the background (sans volume) and re-records them as MP3 files so they can be transferred to any device. Note: DoubleTwist only does this for songs you own or are authorized to play in iTunes.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
1)Convert all of my HD DVD movies into Blue Ray movies?
2)Run on Linux
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
So it is basically doing a software based line-out to line-in (aka loopback) encode? How is this anything special? I have done this for years using nothing but simple audio tools. Or is it doing something more intelligent? (I fail to see how though as it is still lossy -> lossy conversion).
Virtual Audio Cable isn't free, while DoubleTwist is.
Every time this dude releases a hack I'm not interested in using, I end up being forced to download a new patch from Apple for my iTunes/iPod if I want to buy new music.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
The install page doesn't mention anything about having to register for some reason. I think I'll go ahead and pass on that until after the subpoenas come through.
On a whim, I tried installing this. Once the setup is complete, it wants my e-mail address to create an "account" for me... and it installs a couple of other programs I didn't agree to. Sorry, not interested - deleted.
It's special because of two things, the history of the name and the goal of the product. DVD Jon is creating a friendly all encompasing media bridge between online media, local collections and portable devices that "your parents could use" according to the article. This means mass adoption if it works and doesn't get legally raped.
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
RIAA Creates DVD Jon Killer
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
how do you figure that? as far as i understand it, this is practically an automated analog hole trick. theoretically, it should be able to bypass pretty much any DRM scheme.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
Went to give this a try. Upon starting the installation, the application required MS' dotNET and started to download it. That's when I hit the CANCEL. Don't want that dotNET on my computer at all.
From Another Article:
The company is confident there will not be any legal challenges from Apple. "All we are facilitating are friends sending things to one another," Ms Farantzos told the Reuters news agency.
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
Umm.. after reading them relatively carefully, I don't think I'll be using that software. Basically, you give us your info, we update ourselves on what you're doing, we send it to the Cayman Islands and we promise promise promise never to give it to anyone else unless you agree, we're bought, subpoena'd or otherwise compromised. Somehow... I don't think so. Peace.
Jon Postel, R.I.P. You are missed.
Yes, it does appear to be a centralized way of converting A to B. And contrary to the article title, it does not kill DRM -- it just converts what you rightfully own to another format. You still have to purchase those iTunes songs in order to convert them, you can't just convert what you find on the net, thus is no different than using WMP or iTunes to burn to disk then rip the disks to files (if those two programs don't convert directly to MP3 or your preferred flavor without the intermediary disk step).
:)
Keep trying, Jon, you'll liberate some oppressed music yet.
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
At some point, I do expect that very large organizations will break the DRM on Blu-Ray, and they'll probably present it to DVD-Jon, much like they did with DVD's. Probably be a while, though.
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
"My Life As A Nail"
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
And while there are a lot of tools for stripping DRM available Jon is saying he wants to bring it to the masses. To quote (paraphrase?) "I want your parents to be able to do it".
It's not about hacking DRM because it should all be free, it's not about mass distribution of "pirated" (Arhh!) material, it's about making the exercising of fair use rights by consumers as easy as it was with VHS/Cassettes/CDROM (the real CDROM, the one that is allowed to use the logo).
Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
I hate to break it to you, but ANY conversion from AAC is going to be lossy->lossy. There's not way around that because the compression algorithms are different. The best you could hope to achieve would be to convert from DRM'd AAC to non-DRM'd AAC. That's the only way you can avoid the quality loss incurred by a format conversion.
For a similar example in non-DRM terms: take an image. The less simple it is the quicker this will become obvious, but even on a photograph it will show soon. Save it as JPG. OK, now save it as PNG. Save it as JPG again. Go back and forth like this several times. Open and view the image. Notice that regardless of the fact that there was no-DRM involved and this was a completely legit "no workaround" conversion between formats, it looses information every time.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Let's see... might it be because there is no iTunes binary for linux?
"The software automatically plays the song files in the background (sans volume) and re-records them as MP3 files so they can be transferred to any device."
This is not stripping DRM, this amounts to a generational loss of quality when its decompressed and recompressed. Why would someone known for cracking DRM protections start a company that recodes the files with loss of quality instead of strip the DRM from the existing file? Isn't this the same thing as connecting a SP/DIF cable to your output and feeding it back in so that you can recompress the digital signal as mp3? That's not what I called cracking DRM. Thats a poor mans solution to overcoming DRM.
JHymn has been broken for years. There are a number of recent developments (MyFairTunes, ffh, Requiem) which do the same job, though.
The Privacy Policy
The Terms of Service
Quotable Quotes Please note that this Privacy Statement is not a binding contract and does not create any legal rights. It is made available to you so that you can make an informed decision about using the doubleTwist website and services after considering the steps doubleTwist takes to protect your private personal information doubleTwist" means the SpiceFlow Corporation, a company incorporated under the laws of Cayman Islands, having its registered office at PO Box 309GT, M&C Corporate Services Limited, Ugland House, South Church St, George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and any SpiceFlow Corporation subsidiaries or affiliated companies. You acknowledge and agree that doubleTwist, in its sole discretion, may modify or discontinue or suspend Your ability to use any version of the doubleTwist Software, and/or disable any doubleTwist Software You may already have accessed or installed without any notice to You, for the repair, improvement, and/or upgrade of the underlying technology or for any other justifiable reason... We may use Personal Data to: provide services and customer support You request; resolve disputes, collect fees, and troubleshoot problems; enforce our Terms of Service; customize, measure, and improve doubleTwist Software, VoIP Service and Website content and layout; inform You about targeted marketing, service updates, and promotional offers (unless You opt out)
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
Slips out of a tricky situation with regards to breaking DRM. By using a already owned DRM key it doesn't have to break the protection. This keeps the software maker (you know who) out of any sticking 'breaking their encryption issues'. This makes it fairly immune to DMCA attacks thus reducing it to an automated method of converting files. These already methods already exist and it just makes the task easy.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
It's the digital equivalent of growing seamonkeys!
which is totally what she said
threatening legal retaliation based on DMCA.
I'd like to see US law enforced over in Oslo, Norway. Wouldn't that be a hoot.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
But that would be worth achieving, otherwise this is just an unexciting automation of the analog hole.
1. configure cups-pdf
2. configure samba and share the cups-pdf printer
3. print the PDF to said printer
4....
5. profit??!! (serious, now you should have an unlocked PDF for your document)
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
Not true.. just convert to a non-lossy format like FLAC. You won't get quality better than the original AAC file, but you won't get any worse either...
Spiceflow... you're right... I was blind, but now I see. It's the goddamned House Horkonnen at it again. Probably in league with House Ordos.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
What is property? Property is theft.
No! Property is imaginary. (Do try to keep up.) Basically it doesn't matter how much it cost to produce a program, a movie or a song: because it's imaginary property, you can give copies to whoever you want. All IP licences are unenforceable relics of a bygone era, so pirate away!
Well, if you must know, there are magical anti-DRM pixies inside the code that lovingly polish every bit as it passes through the transcoding process just to get its guard down, then they sprinkle them with magic pixie dust to remove the DRM, and finish the process with a nice close shave and boot polish. It's a trade secret though so don't tell anyone.
Really though - a DRM remover is a DRM remover, and this just goes to demonstrate that you will *always* be able to break DRM with the analog hole, the whole thing is such a joke.
which is totally what she said
After you've bought 250 movies, and the DRM they made "back then" is no longer supported, DVD Jon will have made sure you can still see what you bought.
OK?
My startup is a Web-based social network portable media player plug & play standards based open media file swapper with AJAX Google enhancement.
It sounds like a GUI front-end for Sox, Image Magic and ffmpeg. As such, it should be immensely useful, since running those utilities from a command line is quite a challenge.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Now dont you guys do anything that we would do... From their EULA (http://www.doubletwist.no/dt/Legal/EULA.dt) "C. You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the doubleTwist Website and/or Services or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the doubleTwist Website and/or Services, and the Communications Content made available by use of the Website and/or Services." I guess only DVD Jon is allowed to do that.
Of course its just the structure fires that make it look that way.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Schrödinger's download is slow.
Anarchists are so cute!
Q: Why do Anarchists drink Herbal Tea?
A: Because proper tea is theft.
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
No, the DVD in my hand that I burnt from an ISO is quite real, so is this hard drive full of DivX encoded movies. So are the profits to be made from pirating movies.
However, the losses involved from no-sale piracy are quite imaginary.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
The issue is not property (a poor choice of name).
The issue is labor.
I'll use an example to illustrate:
You are a good office worker, and your boss has tasked you with writing a 100-page document. You spend all week writing said document and when it's done, you hand it off to your boss. He says, "Thanks; beautiful work." You then go home and wait for your check.
The check never arrives.
Meaning that you labored to produce a work,
but never got paid for it.
Okay. Now imagine that your name was Stephen King, and that 100-page document you created was your latest short story, and that your bosses (the customers) took that work without ever paying you.
What they've stolen is not property.
What they've stolen is another man's labor.
Like the planatation owners did to slaves.
Bottom Line: I believe that the authors, writers, et cetera deserve to get paid for their labor. They don't get hourly wages like we do, but they do still deserve to be paid for the labor that they performed. BUYING the short story is how we customers pay them for that labor.
If you don't pay, you've stolen another man's labor without just compensation.
You've turned that man into your own personal slave (labor without payment).
The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
That's absolutely true.
However, once I've bought that book, I don't plan on paying Stephen King each time I intend to read it. If I have bought the deluxe-bigass-hardcopy edition, and plan on reading it while backpacking, it is my good right to photocopy that book.
That's what this software means to achieve: Use stuff you've bought legally, in the way YOU want it, not hindered by commercially-imposed limits of device, location, etc. I don't have an Ipod, I have a minidisc. If I buy stuff from Itunes, I need to get rid of the DRM in order to listen to it, even though I've bought it fairly.
I take life with a grain of salt...a slice of lemon and a dash of tequila