Napster facing DRM Threat…

Microsoft’s latest version of DRM (Digital Rights Management), which was designed to put a stop to hacker’s getting around the licences imposed on downloaded music, could be exploited once again.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cmusings/2005/04/14

Ever since Microsoft released its DRM technology, rookie hackers have been trying to get around it to get more for their money from services such as Apple’s iTunes and Napster. However, professionals have decided to take on the daunting task of decoding Microsoft’s encryption methods.

The reason for this taking on this lengthy process is not just out of spite. The community of hackers lead by the infamous Cody Brocious are said to be undergoing this daunting task to allow them to code a universal music download client that can run on Linux and take advantage from both iTunes and Napster.

Cody insists that his project merely allows consumers to listen to their music on whatever platform they want to, however in order to achieve this Brocious and his team had to crack Microsoft’s DRM management code in order to play protected files on a non-Windows platform.

The hacked client doesn’t re-code the protected sound file – instead it just strips the DRM protection headers and tags from the file and decrypts the file permanently. This process however will only work with tracks downloaded with the ‘improved’ client as the encryption key needed to perform these tasks are only send to your computer when you 1st download the sound file.

There have been other ways you could get around the DRM rights but they have all relied on the same principle of setting up a loop-back in your sound card (the line-out [speakers] port is connected to the line-in port) where the songs are streamed and then recorded using a separate program. However this method means you have to play each song you want to recode all the way through and would mean you lose quality and tag information. For this reason, DRM has never really had any threats.

But the idea of being able to remove DRM on-the-fly poses an enormous threat to the major record labels. With the newly-introduced subscription packages from services like Napster, people could pay as little as £9.95 per month and they could download as many songs as they wanted to do and copy/rip/listen to them when/where they want to. They could then cancel their subscription after the 1st month and they’d have 1000s of tracks for less than a penny a song.

But is this idea so wrong, I personally believe that if you pay for your music (whether it’s by subscription or per track), then you have the right to do what you want with it. You should be able to freely upload it to your MP3 player or be able to burn it to a CD without having to pay any extra.

1. DarthTibault Says:
   August 31st, 2005 at 2:17 pm

   But is this idea so wrong, I personally believe that if you pay for your music (whether it’s by subscription or per track), then you have the right to do what you want with it. You should be able to freely upload it to your MP3 player or be able to burn it to a CD without having to pay any extra.

   Agreed.

2. Usayd Says:
   August 31st, 2005 at 3:14 pm

   I second that agreement which is why i deteste the idea of DRM, it sucks
   Great post btw, thanks 4 that!

3. Usayd Says:
   August 31st, 2005 at 3:30 pm

   “CNN is reporting that some US libraries are using Microsoft Media DRM to automatically ‘return’ audiobooks checked out of their catalog. A patron with a valid library card visits a library Web site to borrow a title for, say, three weeks. When the audiobook is due, the patron must renew it or find it automatically “returned” in a virtual sense: The file still sits on the patron’s computer, but encryption makes it unplayable beyond the borrowing period.”

   CNN Article

4. DarthTibault Says:
   August 31st, 2005 at 8:25 pm

   That’s an interesting article. And a far more practical and better way to use DRM IMHO.
   edit: removed quote