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Zune DRM Cracked
Journal written by hanzblinx (1128183) and posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun Jul 15, 2007 09:57 AM
from the that-took-a-bit-longer-than-epected dept.
from the that-took-a-bit-longer-than-epected dept.
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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Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.google.com/)
Since DRM is about selling the customer _less_, how is it a surprise that DRM isn't good for sales?
Re:Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.uncoveror.com/)
Re:Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:5, Insightful)
Not really sure why anyone would total diss it other then hype/marketing/backlash/etc.. It's not like iTunes was a DRM free happy land when the Zune was launched either.
Interface was no worse then iPOD (seriously, I'd love to see someone that has actually used both try and claim the interface sucked or was somehow worse), storage for the price point was the same, Zune had bigger screen which was a feature I wanted since I use it for carrying around photos and listening to the radio as much as MP3's.
It was a decent product, sales have been so-so but nothing special. But it just gets too much flask IMO because it's MS and not Apple.
Hell, apple could probably launch a $600 phone with virtually no 3rd party apps and that can't even send pictures in text messages and people would probably buy it.
Re:Microsoft is thrilled by this news (Score:5, Insightful)
And seriously. You opinion on the interface was very convincing. It sucks because it sucks. What does it actually do worse.
If you pick the thing up you can navigate through songs/albums/artists/media/etc very quickly and easily. Hence, it doesn't suck.
Everyone's going to have a preference (though 90% of the ones I'm going to read about the zune I can rightfully dismiss as people that have no clue what their talking about). But I've yet to see the race between zune and iPod users finding music or using the device in other ways.
Oh yeah, and the better screen. I guess the specs are arguable. But "better" in most cases is subjective. Never had a problem with my screen, and bigger is better on a device of similar size. It's easier for people to see pics of my dog/cat/wife/car/whatever on the zune then it would be on a comparable iPod. In fact, I really wanted to Zen Vision W, but it was just a tad too big to be carried around.
But I know I know. Apple is great, MS sucks. Your statements were very thought out.
At last... (Score:5, Funny)
Piracy (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, wait. Never mind.
Re:Piracy (Score:4, Funny)
Re:At last... (Score:5, Informative)
And yet... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://philwelch.net/)
Re:And yet... (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference with the Zune's DRM is that it effectively allows music "rentals" through WiFi sharing. People can "squirt" each other a song then remove the DRM, effectively getting the song for free. Not much different than pirating off of p2p networks, but it does mean Microsoft has created an incredibly effective piracy device.
For the rest, I agree. Microsoft has tried to over expand, making itself irrelevant in quite a few markets. In the process, they've half-assed their position in their original market, alienating a lot of customers. I've had several more technical friends switch to Linux, and less technical friends switch to Macs in the time since MS has started focusing more on running everything than making a solid OS. Microsoft needs to seriously reconsider their priorities if they want to avoid becoming irrelevant in all of their markets.
Re:And yet... (Score:4, Insightful)
What is this magical, mystical time period you're talking about where making a solid OS was a successful MS priority? '99-'02? Hadn't they already started with the branching then? (e.g., MSN?)
Cool. (Score:1)
(http://www.myspaceistakingover.com/)
Breach of Their Contract (Score:4, Interesting)
Alright! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.geekstreak.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday May 31 2003, @07:06PM)
Isn't technology awesome?
Re:Alright! (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.geekstreak.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday May 31 2003, @07:06PM)
Re:Alright! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Alright! (Score:5, Funny)
Look here. (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't solve the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.modemaztech.com.ar/)
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.
Marketshare and cracking (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/~Infonaut/journal | Last Journal: Tuesday July 31, @02:22PM)
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.
Re:Marketshare and cracking (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.foobarsoft.com/)
I don't think so. That may have been the case when 10.0 or 10.1 came out, but at this point Macs are more common. Combined with the perception of security (and the Apple ads touting such), the Mac is a very nice target. If someone was able to make a good Mac virus that didn't require security authentication or other such things, they could get a lot of press (and probably a very easy shot at a good position in computer security). I'm sure there are plenty of people trying.
The Zune took so long because most people don't care. The average consumer doesn't care (or doesn't know that they should), and they bought an iPod anyway. The average techie (who does care) either bought an iPod, or probably doesn't buy DRMed music. Doing this is an interesting challenge, but it doesn't have the motivation behind it of cracking the DRM on the largest selling player and music store.
The market share thing for OS X is a myth. It's not perfect, but it is more secure by design than XP (Vista was supposed to improve that, I don't know how good a job it really did, I haven't looked). The Zune just wasn't a very temping target, so this took a while.
Once again, the hordes bring it down (Score:1, Redundant)
(http://stalag99.net/ | Last Journal: Tuesday August 14, @12:20PM)
The link to FairUse4WM for Vista and Zune (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.zune-online.com/ | Last Journal: Monday May 28, @02:32AM)
FileSend [filesend.net]
zUpload [zupload.com]
Files-Upload [files-upload.com]
zShare [zshare.net]
QuickSharing [quicksharing.com]
SendSpace [sendspace.com]
ShareBee [sharebee.com]
MD5 hash 0d5eaa7f8010e1293221a320943adb7e
Via:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127943 [doom9.org]
Nice try Microsoft (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.davidsterry.com/)
oh no! (Score:5, Insightful)
Its a ZUNE though. Who cares? IT uses WMP .. eww! (Score:2)
Oh yeah DRM cracked? Who didnt see that coming? DRM is dead. Its a stupid idea to rally your share holders around. The real truth is, the people have spoken and we dont want DRM and we will avoid buying wherever possible and there will be brilliant digital equivalents to George Washington, that will crack all of this nonsense.
Good news, if of limited use... (Score:1)
(http://z11.invisionfree.com/Far_Side_of_Reality/)
Probably never need it, but I suppose it's good to have the ability.
Re:Good news, if of limited use... (Score:4, Funny)
Anyone emailed them yet? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://communityhosting.net/)
I think two of them were non-techies, so they may not know.
um... (Score:1)
(http://www.oursland.net/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 17 2007, @04:07PM)
yay (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Monday January 02 2006, @01:32PM)
Now all we need is somebody with a Zune... (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Zune, zune, zune!
Piracy - the *other* way to grow market share (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Wednesday May 16, @05:49AM)
--
Toro
pros and consequences (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://agh2o.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 19 2006, @02:56PM)
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...
Re:Is Secure DRM Possible? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Great, another set of morons. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Beyond Me (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://thewaxwingslain.com/)
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.
Re:Beyond Me (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://timgray.blogspot.com/)
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.
Re:Great, another set of morons. (Score:1, Funny)
Not if you want the end user to ever hear the song (Score:1)
(http://www.edodo.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday January 10 2006, @11:10AM)
Re:Beyond Me (Score:4, Funny)