DRM FTL

astrod00d

astrod00d

New Member
I usually buy my cds and back them up to my computer. I'm a n00b when it comes to DRM protected music. My wife wanted a particular song the other day so I decided to take the plung and download it from MSN music for 99 cents. One thing I didn't like is that it is in wma format. There was no option to download an mp3 version. That's what I get from downloading from MSN I guess. Now for the big problem....DRM. My wife wants it on her mp3 player so she can listen to it at the gym. I dragged it over like I do any of our mp3s or wmas ripped from cds and it won't play. I also copied it over to her computer and it won't play without a license. So effectively, I can only play this one wma file on the computer I downloaded it to.

What I need is some free software that will allow me to circumvent the DRM protection and convert this thing to mp3. I bought and paid for this song and as long as I don't share it with others, I should be able to do with it what I want. Anyone know of some software that can do this for me?

How do you guys (and gals) go about downloading music and using it how you want? Now please, let's not turn this into a Apple vs. Microsoft debate. :p
 
Beautiful idea hescominsoon. I had the same problem.

Another solution is burning the file to an audio CD, then putting it back on your computer.
 
just buy the cd, you get better quality (i like about 256kb+/sec for ripping), and can rip it whenever you need it again.
 
Not only that, but the way I get around the iTunes DRM (useful for putting iTunes music on my Xbox) is burn an audio CD of my purchased music from iTunes. This creates a non-DRM copy of my music which I can take anywhere.
 
hescominsoon said:
actuallly itunes 7 drm has already been cracked..:)
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Yes, I use a certain Python script to convert the .m4p files to .m4a files, which is what HCS is referring to here. I'm unsure of whether it's against forum TOS to link to it though, so I'm not going to do that.
 
kraniac said:
Yes, I use a certain Python script to convert the .m4p files to .m4a files, which is what HCS is referring to here. I'm unsure of whether it's against forum TOS to link to it though, so I'm not going to do that.
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Probably best to leave the link out, but if people want to PM kraniac for the link, go right ahead.
 
vibrokatana said:
but the quality is much inferier to an original audio cd.
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True. Number-wise, it is "inferior", but I'm also not an audiophile (and have relatively untrained ears), I can't really tell the difference. I'd much rather save a couple thousand dollars I don't have (no job) by purchasing one or two songs off iTunes instead.
 
it really depends what you listen to. Audio will take up more "bandwidth" depending on the range that it covers. Most voice programs (ie teamspeak) actually drop the bottom 3 bits because they will never really be used.

I like ogg vorbis best for encoding, it has a tendacy to play the audio back closest to its original content.

In a personal test, comparing 256kbps mp3s and ogg-vorbis. you can actually hear the strain in the voice (like the actual cd) where the mp3 encoder had compressed it to where you couldnt.

but besides the point, stuff encoded at under 160kbps tends to loose content, particuarly with the subwoofer ranger (30-120, which i have mine set to). Also I have notice some distortion when playing songs with high quality high hats turning into mush.
 
SirThom said:
I'd much rather save a couple thousand dollars I don't have (no job) by purchasing one or two songs off iTunes instead.
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HOLY COW! WHAT KIND OF CDS ARE YOU LOOKING AT!!???!?!?!!?!??!?!?!

If I had to drop a G on each CD, you're darn tootin' I'd be on iTunes.
 
Since January 2006, I've purchased approximately 125 songs from iTunes at $0.99 apiece. If I were to buy a full CD (we'll say it's $15 from Wal-Mart or Target) for each of those songs, it'd come out to $1,875. Since I don't even make a third of that in nine months, I'm much more comfortable dropping a dollar on iTunes instead. And I still have to pay for my websites.
 
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