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All posts tagged "PlaysForSure"


Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Online Music Ripoff

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Digital Home Talk" @ 02:00 AM

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/218...poff/page1.html

"Why is DRM so contentious? Surely it's designed to protect the rights of artists and record companies in a climate where, as one international music industry body claims, illegal downloads swamp legitimate music store downloads by a ratio of 20 to 1? The problem is DRM doesn't affect the pirates, who upload and download DRM-free files often ripped directly from CD. Instead, it affects legitimate buyers in a range of deeply irritating ways. The first roadblock comes down to Gates' talk of "simplicity" and "interoperability", or rather the lack of both"

I think most people who know anything about DRM hate it. They hate dealing with the limitations of the technology, both intentionally built-in or as a direct result of poor technical planning/implementation. Unlike a good protection scheme which is invisible to the end user, DRM is too limiting to the average customer, and does nothing to stop hardcore music pirates. Plus, when a store goes down and its licenses stop renewing, the customer is the real loser. Sure you can burn your songs to a CD and re-rip them (or do it virtually), but the process is time-consuming and you lose audio fidelity. Another option is to free your purchased music using tools like FairUse4WM (above) or Hymn, or just buy DRM-free in the first place. Check out the article if you need yet another reason to hate DRM.


Monday, January 21, 2008

Use Any Media Management Program With Zune

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Software" @ 11:00 PM

http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/completed/16810-zalternator.html

ZuneBoards' renowned PityOnU has just dropped his highly anticipated zAlternator software. The hack, currently in RC, cloaks your Zune as a generic Windows Portable Device, allowing it to theoretically sync with WMP, WinAmp, iTunes, or your favorite media management library. The instructions are pretty basic too.


Yes, that's my Zune in WMP... I can view files, sync, and reverse-sync with the device. It's pretty cool.

Get your device into "sync" mode (have it show "syncing..." with the "starry night" Zune logo on the screen), and hit ctrl-alt-del, bring up Task Manager. Go to the Processes tab and end the process "Zune.exe". Now bring up zAlternator. Follow the instructions, setting the Desired Service Provider to "Generic" and then clicking "apply." Now open your program of choice and everything should be golden.

Just keep in mind that for those wanting to use iTunes (blech), the service is still in beta. Use at your own risk.


Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Microsoft Breaks FairUse4WM (Again)

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Software" @ 08:00 PM

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=114916&page=70

Remember that program that promised to rid you of all the Microsoft DRM on your purchased media? I guess someone at Microsoft decided they liked keeping their job, and fixed the problem. To be honest, I'm surprised it took this long—two months is a while in the world of DRM. Who wants to take bets on how long it'll be before it's broken again (or "John Doe" gets sued)?

For all you tech heads out there, your DRM-removal is safe as long as you have an ibx (the decryption file store) version 11.0.6000.6324 or below (not version 11.0.6000.7000.) Note that your Windows Media Player version may not necessarily correlate with the ibx version number, you'll have to run FU4WM to find out for sure.


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