Posted on 10/24/2006 7:48:58 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 24 (Reuters) - A hacker who as a teen cracked the encryption on DVDs has found a way to unlock the code that prevents iPod users from playing songs from download music stores other than Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iTunes, his company said on Tuesday. Jon Lech Johansen, a 22-year-old Norway native who lives in San Francisco, cracked Apple's FairPlay copy-protection technology, said Monique Farantzos, managing director at DoubleTwist, the company that plans to license the code to businesses.
"What he did was basically reverse-engineer FairPlay," she said. "This allows other companies to offer content for the iPod." At the moment, Apple aims to keep music bought from its iTunes online music store only available for Apple products, while songs bought from other online stores typically do not work on iPods. But Johansen's technology could help rivals sell competing products that play music from iTunes and offer songs for download that work on iPods as they seek to take a bite out of Apple's dominance of digital music. ITunes commands an 88 percent share of legal song downloads in the United States, while the iPod dominates digital music player sales with more than 60 percent of the market. Cupertino, California-based Apple, whose profits have soared in recent years on the strength of the iPod, declined to comment.
Johansen, known as DVD Jon, gained fame when at the age of 15 he wrote and distributed a program that cracked the encryption codes on DVDs. This allowed DVDs to be copied and played back on any device. His latest feat could help companies such as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research), Nokia (NOK.N: Quote, Profile, Research)(NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research), Sony Ericsson and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research), which have all announced plans over the past few months for music download services combined with new devices to challenge Apple.
There are two independent issues here, and I'm not addressing yours. If Apple wants to restrict their on-line music store to iPod users, that's their business, not mine.
I always strip the DRM scheme in any case.
"My iPod has 8,600 songs on it,"
Dosen't this speak to the "cool" factor mentioned earlier?
One has to wonder just how much space is used on these things for songs that will NEVER be played ?
The iPod is NOT a device with the characteristics you describe. If you think it is, then you have been lied to and misled.
It takes up a lot less space than my CDs used to, now boxed up in the garage.
Good lord. Use the spell checker man. U spend too much time paying with text messages on "ur cell fone doncha?"
Actually I've NEVER text messeged (is that correct?).
Granted, the #1 seller is ungly in my opinion, but the others are cool. You can also get a special version for Rhapsody music service at Best Buy (Rhapsody is subscription based, but you can take all the music you want as long as the subscription is alive).
Well, actually the issues are not independent if you look at it from the point of view that Apple may be the only source for some digitally distributed music. If they have an exclusive that is. If they do not, and you were free to find the same music elsewhere, that would play on any player, then that would be okay. Of course there are people with iPods who visit the iStore, but undoubtedly have other players, perhaps non-Apple, that they might want to play the content they'd paid for.
I always strip the DRM scheme in any case.
Which renders your previous statement that - 'no hacking necessary' - to be disingenuous.
But Like I said previously - DRM is a boil on the butt of the consumers, so in my mind, anything that makes it useless, is okay in my book.
I'm not out to rip-off the creators of content, I just want the free and fair use of that which I've paid for. DRM denies me that, so, strip/hack/whatever, away.
You can also download some small apps that can strip the ID tags from Itunes .m4p files and convert them to mp3's or .aif's, etc.
What software...& where?
Any time I change the EQ settings on my iPod, it crashes. I thought only Windows was supposed to do that. Just as the Zune will do I am sure.
Better, but you still aren't using the checker. You do know there is a button labeled "spell" just two buttons to the left of the button labeled "post", right?
To Ping... or to unping, that is the question...
Ping
Ok, if you have Itunes 6,7+ you can use this program http://hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1555 to convert your m4p files that you downloaded with Itunes and convert them to .wav or mp3.
BTW - I'm under the impression that you must load an mp3 into an ipod through it's software, which just dosen't drop it on the drive, but does some conversion of it.
It will not play them if you do attempt to just put in on as you would any other file.
My little creative looks and acts like a flash drive, just toss them on from any comp and play - no software needed.
The interface is easier to navigate, i haven't seen anything and because it's the most popular player out there, more options are available (for example, there's a CD-quality audio recording adapter for the iPod.
The iPod has taken over the market because it's the most elegant MP3 player on the market -- and I mean elegant in the engineering sense, not just looks. And the cheaper MP3 players aren't that much less expensive when you compare apples to Apples, looking at alternatives with the same capacity. Basically, you can get a bigger color screen for a slightly lower price with something like an Archos, plus you get the ability to play WMV files, if that matters to you.
Yeah... closed platform products that use industry standard parts, which, when put together to form a computer, can run Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.
He knows. He knew he had a limited amount time to build a market.
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