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iTunes v6 FairPlay DRM Cracked 421

Posted by kdawson from the round-and-round-they-go dept.
luaine writes with an Engadget article claiming the cracking of iTunes v6 FairPlay DRM. From the article: "[A] new app called QTFairUse6 looks like it can now be used (with some amount of difficulty) to dump iTunes version 6.0.4 - 6.0.5 files of their chastely protection." At present this is a Windows-only tool for those who are "not afraid to get [their] hands dirty with a little python." Engadget does not provide a link to QTFairUse6, and neither will we. We've run several DRM stories recently, but it's been 19 months since Cracking iTunes' DRM with JHymn.
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iTunes v6 FairPlay DRM Cracked More

iTunes v6 FairPlay DRM Cracked

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  • Any why won't you provide a link to the software?

  • Behold... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by crazyjeremy ( 857410 ) * on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:44PM (#16008934) Homepage Journal
    ...the power of Python.

  • Macs have this ability - via iMovie (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cultrhetor ( 961872 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:45PM (#16008941) Journal
    You don't need a special software tool if you own a Mac. This is a fairly old trick - and time consuming - but it works pretty well. If you have the license for the piece of music (if you're on one of the five computers licensed to listen to the track), you can open it without problems in iMovie, save it as an AIFF file (uncompressed audio), and then import it into iTunes as an mp3 or whatever you choose. It works pretty well - and it's a bit of a lifesaver if your wife happens to crash her Windows box on a regular basis, forcing a reformat and reinstall about once every six months.
    • Seems like a lot of hassle, but effective. Is this workaround something Apple could/would disable in the future?

    • No, they don't. (Score:5, Informative)

      by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:49PM (#16008993)

      iMovie works by decompressing and recompressing the music, resulting in a loss of quality. Apparently, this new software works by extracting the compressed stream after it has been decrypted, giving it the distinct advantage of being lossless.

      Of course, it doesn't do me any good, since it only works in Windows...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Takeel ( 155086 )
        iMovie works by decompressing and recompressing the music, resulting in a loss of quality. Apparently, this new software works by extracting the compressed stream after it has been decrypted, giving it the distinct advantage of being lossless.

        AIFF uses uncompressed PCM. You can choose to apply lossy compression after converting to AIFF if you want to, but nobody's got a gun to your head.

        • Okay, fine, but you're missing my point: whether you recompress it or not, you still don't have the both high-quality and small file you started with. Therefore, the conversion was not "lossless" (according to my no-longer-standard definition).

    • Re:Macs have this ability - via iMovie (Score:5, Insightful)

      by joe 155 ( 937621 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:50PM (#16008995) Journal
      I hate to sound like a troll but why do you use iTunes when you have these problems and say yourself that the fix is time consuming?

      I want a legal system, so I use allofmp3 (because it is legal in my country (the UK)), but isn't there any alternatives for you to iTunes without DRM at all?
      • Sure. Buy a used CD and rip to whatever format you want. Much cheaper than iTunes though you have to wait for the CD to be delivered.

        Or buy songs from Allofmp3.com. Either way, you get all the music without giving a penny to those selfish artists who have the audacity to record music you like to listen to.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by joe 155 ( 937621 )
          come now, this has nothing to do with "stealing" from artists, this has everything to do with people wanting to be able to use what they have bought in what they consider to be a fair way (which I would say is me being able to put it onto every computer/player I own so that I can listen to it where ever I decide). It also has a lot to do with me wanting to be able to buy music in a format which suits me best and in a quality which I choose.

          I would also disagree with the tone of your post which seems to
        • "you get all the music without giving a penny to those selfish artists who have the audacity to record music you like to listen to."

          You really don't have an understanding of how the music industry works do you?? The biggest artists on a label are extemely lucky to ever see 10% of the profit form record sales. That's profit, not gross. After all other bills are paid and everyone else gets their cut (managers, promoters, advertisers, pressers, radio station payola, etc.), if there is anything left, it goes

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dr_LHA ( 30754 )
      That "hole" in iMovie was closed a long time ago, so that only works if you have an old copy of iMovie from before the fix.

      However what you're talking about is no different from burning to a CD, just without producing the coaster. Its far from removing the DRM from a AAC file.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Mister Whirly ( 964219 )
      Maybe it would just be easier to get another wife...

  • A Link to a download (Score:4, Informative)

    by smitingpurpleemu ( 951712 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:46PM (#16008964)
    Here you go: http://hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=155 3 [hymn-project.org]

  • wonder if works for itunes video (Score:3, Insightful)

    by schnikies79 ( 788746 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:47PM (#16008966)
    burning to a cd and ripping dosen't quite for that..

  • Oh, NOW you won't link to it? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Wesley Felter ( 138342 ) <wesley@felter.org> on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:49PM (#16008994) Homepage
    Sure, everybody will link to the tool that cracks Windows Media DRM, but when it's time to crack FairPlay people start getting self-righteous.

  • DRM (Score:4, Insightful)

    by daeg ( 828071 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:50PM (#16008996)
    As much as I hate DRM, by buying the music from iTunes in the first place you are clearly stating your position that you will tolerate DRM. It's like buying a Ford and ripping the Ford emblem off the car and thinking that you're "sticking it to Ford." I have news for you: Ford (Apple) is laughing all the way to the bank.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) *

      If every iTMS track you have has either been from a Pepsi cap or the weekly free download (as mine is), you can still make use of the software without having compromised your ethics.

      (On another note, isn't it a nice coincidence that I'm wearing my EFF t-shirt today? I had just chosen it randomly, but now I can say I'm wearing it in celebration!)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by spud603 ( 832173 )
        Except that you've given your money to PepsiCo, which in my book is ten times worse than FairPlay.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by TheGreek ( 2403 )
        If every iTMS track you have has either been from a Pepsi cap or the weekly free download (as mine is), you can still make use of the software without having compromised your ethics.
        As long as you didn't pay them for it, you didn't compromise your ethics?

        That says more about how committed you are to your ethics than it does about anything else, frankly.

    • Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)

      by nine-times ( 778537 ) <nine.times@gmail.com> on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @01:26PM (#16009297) Homepage

      It's like buying a Ford and ripping the Ford emblem off the car and thinking that you're "sticking it to Ford." I have news for you: Ford (Apple) is laughing all the way to the bank.

      Actually, it's not like that. It's like... the opposite of that. Or not really, but it's just not like that.

      There are a bunch of differences here, the first being that I don't know how a Ford logo is anything like DRM. You might not like the Ford logo, and ripping it off might be a cosmetic improvement (or not, depending on your opinion), but it doesn't inhibit your use of the car. Second, I can't think of a reason why Ford's suppliers would stop selling to Ford if their cars didn't have a Ford logo. It's generally believed, on the other hand, that Apple fought with the record companies because Apple didn't want to use DRM, but for the RIAA, it was a deal-breaker. No DRM, no music, hence no music store.

      In any event, I don't think people want to remove the DRM so they can "stick it to Apple". They buy from Apple because they like the service Apple is providing, and they strip the DRM because they don't like the DRM.

    • Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @01:52PM (#16009539)
      If iTMS were a subscription service, I might be more inclined to agree with you. But it's not - you're buying the music for keeps, so it doesn't really matter ethically whether you strip the DRM or not, as long as you don't then go and violate copyright law.

  • Google: QTFairUse6 (no results?) (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yahoo and MSN show results. Google does not. Good to see they're doing no evil.

  • been there, done that (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jltnol ( 827919 ) <jltnolNO@SPAMmac.com> on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:50PM (#16009004)
    I think this was tried before.... and the response from Apple was that if the file was downloaded, it was paid for. So, deleting the DRM, while not in Apple's best interest, isn't exactly the same as the WMA subscription problem, where songs that are "rented" could be owned. Let's face it, if you really want something for free, there are lots of places to get it... I just don't see the point of removing the DRM from a paid for iTunes file, because FairPlay does seem pretty generous with what you are allowed to do with it.
    • Indeed. All the work required to strip the DRM off iTunes files, one could go to a myriad of P2P programs and find what they are looking for, at a higher bitrate as well.

    • Re:been there, done that (Score:5, Informative)

      by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @01:00PM (#16009080)
      I just don't see the point of removing the DRM from a paid for iTunes file

      Two reasons:

      1. Sooner or later you will either lose your decryption key or want to use the file on an unsupported platform.
      2. It's the principle of the thing!

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by dr.badass ( 25287 )
        Sooner or later you will either lose your decryption key...

        Which you can recover. [apple.com]

        or want to use the file on an unsupported platform.

        Which doesn't require breaking the DRM.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by ad0gg ( 594412 )
        My nano losses its decryption key on a monthly basis. And it always seems to happen when i won't have access to my computer for a couple days to change the ipods name(weirdest fix i've heard of) which fixes the problem. It just recently did it a couple days. Its quite an annoyance and i'm seriously contemplating using something to rip fairplay off my music. Also just recently purchased a phillips boombox type mp3 player for $20(slickdeals.net ftw), and it can't play my itunes purchased music but it will

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by TClevenger ( 252206 )
      I want to put it on my Creative Muvo. Fairplay isn't THAT generous.
      • That doesn't change the fact that you SIGNED AWAY your fair use rights when you LICENSED the file you downloaded. You didn't BUY anything upon which to excercise your fair use. It sucks, but that is what you agreed to when you signed up for iTunes and clicked the "Accept" button on the license agreement.

        If you don't like it, you don't have to use it.

        I just don't understand people saying: "Gee, I don't like the terms to which I freely agreed. I will now proceed to break them."

        It doesn't make sense. It just d

    • I just don't see the point of removing the DRM from a paid for iTunes file, because FairPlay does seem pretty generous with what you are allowed to do with it.

      I agree that the fairplay restrictions aren't very restrictive relative to other DRM that's out there. However, it's the nature of DRM that it doesn't feel restrictive so long as you're doing things that the DRM allows, but it's very restrictive to those who want to do anything the DRM doesn't allow.

      If there were an easy way to strip the DRM witho

  • nothing was cracked (Score:5, Informative)

    by vafada ( 782986 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @12:56PM (#16009055)
    FairPlay wasn't cracked.. this python script attaches to iTunes.exe..... reads the memory when you play a track and creates a dump for the AAC file... its a very nice scripts... but again... nothing was cracked

  • With some amount of difficulty? (Score:5, Informative)

    by MDMurphy ( 208495 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @01:04PM (#16009120)
    That's the part that makes it worthless.

    Music from iTunes is already compressed a fair bit. Yes, you'll lose some fidelity, but the copy to CD and re-rip has always been there if you're not too picky but seriously DRM-phobic.

    But other than single-track purchasing, the whole point of the ITMS is convenience. If you want music a single click away it's there. If you want it a click away, but are willing to go through hoops to remove the DRM you kinda lost the convenience part, so what's the point?

    If you wanted cheap music, at least an ablbum at a time, borrowing or buying used CDs, ripping them yourself then returning ( or re-selling ) them is an option. If you look at the price of a used CD, minus the price you get selling it back the next day, it's going to be cost competitive with ITMS purchase. Heck, splitting the price of a new album with 2 friends and you all rip it before selling it is going to be a better price. Illegal, yes, but no more so than de-DRMing

    So if that's an option, why would you buy from ITMS in the first place if you're going to go through pains to de-DRM it? Poor impulse control? If you can get it for the same price ( or cheaper ) by getting the CD and ripping yourself AND less hassle than removing DRM, why not do just that?

    Which is why I think any DRM removal that is more than a single click just silly.

    • If you wanted cheap music, at least an ablbum at a time, borrowing or buying used CDs, ripping them yourself then returning ( or re-selling ) them is an option.

      That's an option. Also, I'd suggest looking at AllOfMP3 [allofmp3.com], a Russia-based company where you can buy tracks, pay a VERY reasonable fee per megabyte, and have them custom encoded on-the-fly. You can choose Ogg Vorbis, MP3, FLAC, or WAV (why anyone would use WAV when FLAC is in the list is beyond me...). It's really awesome.

    • Re:With some amount of difficulty? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sobachatina ( 635055 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @01:33PM (#16009348)
      Illegal, yes, but no more so than de-DRMing

      I disagree. I personally feel that copyright infringement is dishonest. I don't feel that breaking the DMCA and circumventing DRM for fair use reasons is dishonest. I want to be able to honestly pay for the music that I want for a reasonable price. iTunes is one way of doing that. I also want to be able to play that music on whatever player I want. This requires the DRM to go away.

      the whole point of the ITMS is convenience.

      I agree that convenience is a big selling point but for a lot of people it is not more convenient than finding the torrent file. It is much more honest. The best solution would be a convenient service through which I could buy the music I want unencumbered by DRM. I don't know of one.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by argent ( 18001 )
      So if that's an option, why would you buy from ITMS in the first place if you're going to go through pains to de-DRM it?

      Because people don't want to buy an album at a time, and they've been burned by DRM in the past, and the "with some amount of difficulty" is almost sure to be a short-term problem anyway.

      Me, I'll keep using "Mix, Rip, Burn" as well, but I think you're being wilfully blind here.

  • God Loves DRM. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ElboRuum ( 946542 ) on Wednesday August 30, 2006 @04:17PM (#16010853)
    Always a fun topic.

    I always wondered what would have happen to some of the world's major religions if copyright law in its current convoluted form existed at the time of Moses. Would the Ten Commandments be copyrighted? Would Gutenberg have had to pay royalties? Would he have had to pay God? Check or money order? Would churches now have to get a volume license to relate the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah? Would Cain and Abel have gotten 'points'? Gross or net? And when Cain killed Abel, who bought up his rights from his estate?

    If the first letter of Paul to the Ephesians was read out loud to the Ephesians by someone other than Paul without Paul consenting in writing, could Paul sue for damages? Or does this qualify as fair use?

    If God liked DRM, would the first Bibles be like a big sheaf of blank pages, and when you pay your licensing fee, the words magically appear (only partially illegible due to compression loss)? Or would he just temporarily blind you every time you looked at it until you paid.

    Along the same lines, you know how people like to quote scripture? Would God give you a case of laryngitis if you tried to quote scripture without accepting a EULA first? Does the fact that God is omniscient and knows what you're thinking constitute a 'rootkit'?

    DRM, always a fun topic.

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