Filed under: Audio, iTS, Software, How-tos
Breaking the Law: Stripping DRM from iTMS-purchased songs
I haven't raised everyone's ire with an anti-DRM rant in a while, so I thought I'd share this bit. Here's the warning: according to the DMCA circumventing the DRM in your iTMS tracks is illegal; however, as the DRM contravenes existing fair use laws in the first place, the DRM itself is illegal. Plus, if you are not pirating music, and you are simply trying to, say, grab a sound byte from a track you bought off of the iTMS to place in Garageband and feature in your podcast, and the RIAA happens to find out and actually bother to sue you....well, you can always point out to the judge that you could have simply burnt the song to CD and then re-ripped the songs without breaking any laws, and hopefully he/she will have the sense to throw the case out and fine the RIAA for wasting his/her time. //end warning
Step 1: Download JHymn.
Step 2: Run JHymn and drag any songs you want stripped of DRM into its interface.
Step 3: Enjoy DRM free music.
Reminder: Don't pirate music.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tom said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
You're a bit late to the party with this one, CK. There've been quite a few comments in the past directing you to this during your anti-DRM rants (which I usually agree with).
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Andrew Kaufmann said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
I thought song snippet broadcasts were covered under fair use, as long as the whole song isn't played?
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Todd Plants said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
Doesn't Apple break Hymn every now again? How does that work exactly?
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iMatt said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
DRM is illegal b/c it violates fair use rights? That's a stretch, CK, to say the least.
The product that iTunes is selling is just different from the product that the record store is selling. Each has its own trade-offs, and I can't imagine that there's anything illegal about offering products that accommodate different sets of trade-offs.
If I want a cheap, convenient, quick jolt of downloadable instant gratification, I can download a song (or an album), knowing that in exchange I have somewhat limited rights.
If I want more generous use rights, I have to pay a little more, go out of my way to a record store, buy the CD and rip it myself. The rights are more generous, but not without limits.
So where's the illegality? Fair use rights are default rules that the ITMS contract trumps. If you don't like the ITMS trade-offs, though, you don't have to accept their terms. Just keep going to the record store!
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Kevin said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
>"Don't pirate music."
Reminds me: "Don't steal music."
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Chris said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
Amen, C.K. There is no sound defense of DRM as far as I am concerned. The reason? When it breaks, you can't play your music. I have had so many problems with songs I've purchased from iTunes. I love the quick fix of the immediate download, and I've spent around $250 ITMS music. I don't even mind that the music is locked to X number of machines. I do mind when the music is no longer playable, however. When I sent my PowerBook in for repairs, I followed apple's advice and de-authorized my Powerbook. Upon its return I could no longer play the songs. Yes, I reauthorized the machine when I was able, yes I sent numerous help messages to Apple and they responded quickly (cleared all authorizations on my account even, to no avail). But iTunes still crashed whenever I attempted to play certain songs. (It asked me to authorize my computer for particular songs, then it would crash.) Two weeks without music. My eventual fix? Hymn, on another machine that could still play my songs.
The only reason I had this problem? DRM. I broke no laws and did not even attempt to contravene the DRM in any way. I simply did as Apple suggested and suffered for it. All because of DRM.
I still WANT to spend money on downloadable music. Every once in a while, I still do. But I no longer buy as I once did, only because I don't ever want to waste any more time fighting a quixotic system that only harms those who abide by the laws, but in no way hinders the (so-called) criminals.
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ukexpat said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
Where's your legal reasoning for DRM being illegal because DRM contravenes existing fair use laws? The DMCA specifically makes defeat of copy protection measures illegal, so to that extent DRM is encroaching on fair use laws, but that it not per se illegal. New laws repeal, limit and otherwise alter old laws all the time. The only basis on which the DMCA could be "illegal" is if it is unconstitutional and as far as I am aware the US Constitution says nothing about fair use -- "fair use" is a creation of copyright law, not a constitutional right.
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Carl said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
I have no beef with Apple selling DRM music if they want to. It's their store, they can sell whatever they want. However, the idea that the government can tell us that we're not allowed to strip the DRM out of our own music files, even if we don't redistribute the files, well, that's just crazy.
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Tim Hadley said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
I hope no one relies on the comment that DRM violates fair use and is therefore illegal.
The DMCA anti-circumvention provisions carve a hole in fair use, and do so pretty effectively. Some fair use is constitutionally protected, but the constitutional status of most fair use is unresolved, and at least some of it is likely to gain no constitutional protection. To say otherwise as if one were reporting facts is reckless, though it looks like most readers here can think for themselves.
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teksno said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
screw iTMS...screw DRM...long liive MOTHER RUSSIA and the wonderful drm FREE music services like www.allofmp3.com and www.mp3search.ru
music as it should be....cheap, available, and DRM FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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clearlynuts said 4:18PM on 6-16-2005
Don't like DRM? Stop supporting it. How will vendors ever learn if you keep paying for DRM music? Vote with your dollars.
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GWS said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Thats great - when you find a online music store that has as many songs as iTunes (because the record companys will work with it, because of DRM) then I will indeed switch.
For now I shall strip it off, because it is buggy, stupid, and generally infringes the basic rights you have on any other product if you buy it.
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Chris said 3:36PM on 6-23-2005
Isn't it the re-distribution ("a sound byte...and feature in your podcast") that's the problem, rather than the method of acquiring the sample?
(although obviously suing somebody for saying "this track is great, here's a little bit of it" is stupid)
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