PlayFair - Stripping AAC DRM

[jesuscandle]

compete, don't litigate

This is just one of the fundamental (unsolvable) problems in computer science showing it's head again - If You Can Read The Data You Can Copy The Data. That's just the way it is - no ifs, no buts. All systems like Fairplay do is make it slightly more of a pain in the ass to do so.

Trying to make this sort of thing impossible is like trying to ban gravity. It tends to keep happening no matter what you do because it's a fundamental law.

Absolutely. I think Steve has said it best when he makes his argument that you're never going to sue people out of wanting something for nothing. You have to compete with Kazaa if you want to beat it.

I'm a music fanatic and I use all sorts of methods to get what I want. For obscure import indie stuff, I buy a CD from my local record store. For more mainstream stuff I know I want, I buy it from itunes. For stuff I've heard is good, but don't really know anything about, I find it on acquisition. For stuff that's magically available at the time I look, I use bittorrent.

The fact is that itunes is probably a better experience for *digital* music than all of them. That they're ID3 tags are standard and right everytime is a huge plus in their favor. Obviously, buying a physical CD is great for some purposes, but for importing to my itunes library, it's still a little flaky.

itunes is quick, easy, reliable, and inexpensive. Compared to slow, complicated, flaky, and free (except for my not insignificant time). That's still a battle itunes can win.

That's why these software programs (download and compile the source? Right.) still face an uphill battle.

 

[DVW86]

This isn't the first application that could decrypt protected AAC files. QTConvert will do it and it is OS X native. It will convert them to AIFF and from there you can use iTunes to go to MP3 or back to AAC. It will only allow you to decode songs that you have rights to. So it is no different than burning a protected AAC to CD. I use it because my MP3 player does not support AAC.
http://www.pyehouse.com/lynn/qtconvert.php

 

[shen]

oh no!

this will ruin iTunes! oh dear! never been done before!

WTF guys, i have 2 apps that do this already, though they go to aif which i have to convert by hand. and you could always burn and rip before those. and audio hijack didn't work, right? get over it already......

if this does cause changes it will only be because everyone loudly complains and the tech peasants at the RIAA hear about it. shut up already.

 

[SiliconAddict]

This is a flagarant violation of the DMCA - even if you don't agree with the law you can't argue that it's in violation. I see this going underground rather quickly.

And we now are thinly treading a very touchy subject so lets stay cool folks.


If the law permitted beating a person senseless for spitting on the sidewalk we should follow it to the letter? Just because there is a law on the books doesn't automatically mean you should follow it. Change is done through protest and sometimes-outright rebellion of the status quo. How about prohibition? It was, among a long checklist of reasons, the massive and flagrant violation of that law that really made the government reconsider. It’s the people that decide what is deemed right and wrong not a bunch of over paid execs who have the ear of certain senators who have introduced such wonderful bills as allowing the RIAA to attack P2P networks and block copyright material. Or how about hacking into your computer? Theft is theft but handcuffing the user in terms of what rights they have with the songs that they has purchased is a high yield load of BS.

 

[123]

and to be able to play iTMS music on linux... well, how about if you are "knowledgeable" enough to use linux and want to play iTMS music on it, why not write your own code to strip DRM?

Because not everyone has the time to do this?

and let's be real - most will use for illegal purposes...

Most PC/Mac sharers either don't know how to compile the app, don't buy their music anyway or won't bother to compile the app only to be able to share 10'010 files instead of 10'000. Linux users, on the other hand, know how to compile it and also have good use for it.

just a thought. i understand why you'd release it to the public - i just hope something like this won't make apple/RIAA to change policies in ways that will inconvenience 99% of users for the "right" of the 1%.

This is already the case now.

Apple's to blame for this. They ignore Linux, they ignore other media players, home entertainment systems etc. If their files were supported on most/all platforms, nobody would really need this app and I doubt it would have been developed in the first place. It seems they'll never learn, though.

 

[iJed]

It really bugs me that some people here think that copying music is stealing. I agree that it is mostly wrong (unless the CD version has some kind of stupid copy protection -- which should itself be illegal) but copying music is not and can never be stealing. Since the definition of "steal" is "take without the owner's consent," there are obvious problems with calling this "stealing". You are, rather obviously, not taking the item without the owners consent since the owner is not losing anything. In fact most "owners" who share these files give full consent to copying them.

 

[jxyama]

Apple's to blame for this. They ignore Linux, they ignore other media players, home entertainment systems etc. If their files were supported on most/all platforms, nobody would really need this app and I doubt it would have been developed in the first place. It seems they'll never learn, though.

your other points are fine, but why is it the responsibility of apple to support linux, other media players or home entertainment systems? show me the motivation for apple to support platforms and hardware/software they derive no profits from.

does M$/Xbox ignore PS2 and gamecube? does nintendo ignore N-gage?

 

[jxyama]

It really bugs me that some people here think that copying music is stealing. I agree that it is mostly wrong (unless the CD version has some kind of stupid copy protection -- which should itself be illegal) but copying music is not and can never be stealing. Since the definition of "steal" is "take without the owner's consent," there are obvious problems with calling this "stealing". You are, rather obviously, not taking the item without the owners consent since the owner is not losing anything. In fact most "owners" who share these files give full consent to copying them.

not this again, it's mostly semantics. it's easier to type "stealing" than "copyright infringement" in all the posts and most of the points still stands. it's not "stealing" for us, perhaps, but for copyright holders, it is "stealing" because things are being distributed without their consent. finally, when you buy a CD, you don't "own" the music either. you own the right to play those music - music labels still own the music.

it also bugs me when this point is raised in every one of these topics, as if it makes a huge difference in the illegality of music sharing. ok, it's not "stealing." so what?

BTW: the word "stealing" was used in one post (and one reply to that post) this entire thread in the way that you think is "wrong."

 

[TRiPod]

gee i'm glad to see rumor sites publicizing this... next it'll be on cnn and this will turn into the whole ipod battery rumor thing. stupid macrumors.

 

[Veldek]

the difference is, you have finite number of friends on the order of hundreds at most, i assume. and physical CD can only be at one place at once.

online, there's no limit to how many "friends" you can reach, there's no lost time in transporting the file, you don't run the risk of losing the file and the file can be shared by many at once.

let's not kid ourselves, there are differences. and they can cause different problems.

I think he’s somehow right but what he forgets is, that giving his CDs to friends to rip them is illegal, too.

 

[jxyama]

I think he’s somehow right but what he forgets is, that giving his CDs to friends to rip them is illegal, too.

of course... i didn't say it was legal.

i was just responding to the post claiming that there's no difference between lending CDs for others to rip and offering music files on p2p.

 

[Veldek]

It really bugs me that some people here think that copying music is stealing. I agree that it is mostly wrong (unless the CD version has some kind of stupid copy protection -- which should itself be illegal) but copying music is not and can never be stealing. Since the definition of "steal" is "take without the owner's consent," there are obvious problems with calling this "stealing". You are, rather obviously, not taking the item without the owners consent since the owner is not losing anything. In fact most "owners" who share these files give full consent to copying them.

If you don’t like the word, ok, it’s illegal nevertheless, so discussing if the word is appropriate doesn’t get us anywhere.

Edit: jxyama, you beat me to it

 

[isus]

i've read a few people backing this guy up on the basis that you need a key to strip the drm, and that that's ok, it's just 'fair use'.

ok, that's fine, but now that file, which is just an aac now, can be shared.

sure, it won't be as widespread as britney spears mp3's on kazaa, but this is more of a negative than a positive, and i do hope apple does something to stop this program.

 

[7on]

yeah, I've been de-fairplaying my music for a while now. You can use QTConvert, iMovie, or Toast as I have found out to turn to aiff then back to M4a. And anyone who complains of a significant loss of quality should actually try it. It doesn't sound any worse than what you get from the iTMS. Oh, I do it because sometimes I like listening to my music on school/lab computers without having to authorize them.

If you're buying from the iTMS, you shouldn't be complaining about a rerip quality issue.

 

[sushi]

Mind you, now that CDs can no longer be reliably ripped I don't buy them any more (I was burnt a couple of times with f*cking EMI and their unlabled CDalikes that won't play in computer or car CD players

It is a shame when you cannot rip/convert to MP3, AAC, etc. the songs from a CD that you have purchased. The latest one for me was Santana.

However, I have found a work around that works sometimes. Use an old cd player (1X variety) to copy the songs to your HD. Use QT Pro to strip out the copy protection crud for each track (AIFF file). Then compress with iTunes.

YMMV...

Sushi

 

[greg75]

This utility uses the several months old FairPlay code from VideoLAN. The only thing new is the DMCA violating frontend

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34712.html
http://wiki.videolan.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=5

Check the src/mp4ff/drms* files. They're copyrighted by VideoLAN.

It will be interesting to see if Apple sends a cease and desist letter to SourceForge. If they do and SourceForge removes the project, it's bound to end up on Slashdot. From Slashdot, it's a short way to news sites around the world.

 

[dho]

It does work on Mac

Firstly, this does work on the mac. Yesterday I downloaded it and converted about 20 songs to test it. Unfortuneately not all of them converted properly and those that didnt work continued not to work.

For the files that didnt work, it would cause Quicktime or iTunes to crash.

But I can tell you I did get about 15 or so songs that came out fine. It even copied the album art and complete song info. The only thing mising was the copy protection.

For anybody with issues getting the file, try the unc mirror on sourceforge, because thats the only one that worked for me.

 

[Dippo]

This isn't a big deal. Apple isn't going to change Fairplay, and yet we will still be able to have all of the rights of a CD.

Sounds like a good thing to me.

 

[morkintosh]

I think (if possible) Apple should sue the distributor of this source code. Or can this only be done if it is distributed as a working program, rather than just the source code?

This might also delay the European introduction of the iTunes Music Store.

I suspect strongly that Apple doesn't have a tort here even if it were a compiled application being shipped. The software itself is not illegal, rather the use of the code to remove a DRM is. It is tantamount to suing the manufacturer of the gun that shot you when you were mugged last week. Sure you can do it, but you'd better have a Mississippi jury or you won't get much.

 

[macphisto]

What a bunch of garbage!!! Remember what happened when everyone exploited the ip sharing of the iTunes library in 4.0? Why do some people have to ruin it for the rest of us.

Idiots.

 

[sethypoo]

Well, this seems obvious, but at least you have to buy a song in order to decode it.....though this is bad news.....

 

[SiliconAddict]

The software itself is not illegal, rather the use of the code to remove a DRM is.

Actually doesn't the DMCA specifically state it is illegal to create a method of circumventing DRM schemes? I've only read the first few pages of the thing. I never could get through the whole document. Legal ease makes me drowsy.

 

[sethypoo]

I think he’s somehow right but what he forgets is, that giving his CDs to friends to rip them is illegal, too.

Wait wait wait, this isn't illegal! Lending CD's, or VHS tapes, audio tapes, or even DVD's to friends isn't illegal, and even if they copy them, it still isn't illegal.

Back in the days of audio tapes, people were swapping and sharing all over the place.

Sharing/copying CD's, to my knowledge, is legal, so long as it's not done for commercial gain.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but you can to share CD's!

 

[legion]

The point of this little program is that you're going from AAC-FairPlay straight to AAC(unprotected.) When you use QTconvert or rip from a burned CD or use an AIFF, you're uncompressing a lossy format(AAC) to a lossless format that now has artifacts (AIFF or stream capturing) and then recompressing it back to AAC with more artifacts compounding the original compression. That creates generation loss in sound quality. If you can just strip the DRM, you have a fairly pristine single generation lossy song already in AAC.

That's why this is important.

 

[Dippo]

It comes down to this. It is impossible to play iTMS songs on a Linux computer. Many potential mac users use (or will use) some combination of Macs and Linux PCs. You should be able to play songs on 3 computers, yet, you can't use them on Linux at all. And yes, I know you can burn and re-rip but that results in fairly significant quality loss. Until Apple releases a player thant can play iTMS files in Linux, you will continue to see this (and you'll see it even if they do release such a player, but not with the fervor or frequency).

Also, what if you want to use a player other than iTunes to play your music. Shouldn't you have a choice?