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lannim

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 6, 2011
69
1
Indiana
Is it possible to de-drm songs from zune pass and make them able to be synced to ipod? No morality lectures please, I've no interest in doing it just curious if its possible ;).
 

AdrianK

macrumors 68020
Feb 19, 2011
2,230
2
Yes, all it does it play the file through the sound card and record it straight back, so it will work with *any* audio file that your computer can play. However, since it basically unpacks the (already lossy) audio to analogue, and then re-encodes it (presumably to a lossy format), you will loose quality.

It's basically the same as burning to a disk and re-ripping, except it doesn't require CDs.

Using the "analogue-loophole" has got to be one of the most in inefficient ways to acquire DRM-free music. Just don't bother.
 

lannim

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 6, 2011
69
1
Indiana
Yes, all it does it play the file through the sound card and record it straight back, so it will work with *any* audio file that your computer can play. However, since it basically unpacks the (already lossy) audio to analogue, and then re-encodes it (presumably to a lossy format), you will loose quality.

It's basically the same as burning to a disk and re-ripping, except it doesn't require CDs.

Using the "analogue-loophole" has got to be one of the most in inefficient ways to acquire DRM-free music. Just don't bother.

I see I thought it was a straight conversion..is there a better way?:eek:
 

AdrianK

macrumors 68020
Feb 19, 2011
2,230
2
No, that would require a method to decrypt Microsoft's DRM. The problem with that is, it would take a lot of effort, and it's a grey area - legally. So, if someone was to make decryption software, they'd have a hard time selling it, due to being chased by MS' lawyers.

The issue with quality (which would not occur from straight decryption) is that the music from Zune pass is already 'lossy' (in a format that throws away -supposedly in audible content - to save space). When it's converted to analogue, it needs to be capture, but at the point it's in a lossless uncompressed format. In order to get back to the original size, it has to be encoded with a lossy codec again. Some people might not be able to tell the difference, but to me that's just madness.


So if you insist on going down this road, try to find a wma decryption program, there's probably one somewhere but it might be hard to get hold of. I personally would just buy CDs or beg/borrow/steal CDs from friends :p
 

zap2

macrumors 604
Mar 8, 2005
7,252
8
Washington D.C
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Not to encourage any less then legal actvities, but suggestion to the OP is buy from amazon or iTunes...or look 'elsewhere' if ya get my drift.
 

lannim

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 6, 2011
69
1
Indiana
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Not to encourage any less then legal actvities, but suggestion to the OP is buy from amazon or iTunes...or look 'elsewhere' if ya get my drift.
Yea..I mean I don't intend to do anything illegal, being as I do own a zune and plan on keeping up the subscription to zune pass..just wanted the "theoretical" possibility of putting that music on an Apple device :D
 

zap2

macrumors 604
Mar 8, 2005
7,252
8
Washington D.C
Yea..I mean I don't intend to do anything illegal, being as I do own a zune and plan on keeping up the subscription to zune pass..just wanted the "theoretical" possibility of putting that music on an Apple device :D

Ahh, the subscription deal is just that, quite a deal for the amount of music you are getting, but it also allows the company to tie you to certain hardware. Which is fine if you like their hardware, but if you want to move around you can't(one of the reasons I can't use Linux as my main desktop because I have Fairplay protect songs from Apple and my iPad/iPhone depend so much on iTunes)
 

lannim

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 6, 2011
69
1
Indiana
Ahh, the subscription deal is just that, quite a deal for the amount of music you are getting, but it also allows the company to tie you to certain hardware. Which is fine if you like their hardware, but if you want to move around you can't(one of the reasons I can't use Linux as my main desktop because I have Fairplay protect songs from Apple and my iPad/iPhone depend so much on iTunes)

Just wish Apple offered something like zune pass cause my zune hd is garbage
 
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