Apple’s DRM, FairPlay, Is Now FreePlay!
Written by Bryan Los on September 4th, 2006 @ 3:52 PM
In the continuation of a long-running arms race, both Apple Computer and Microsoft have seen their music protection technologies come under fire in recent days. — News.com
In the past month, separate programs have emerged to strip away the digital rights management (DRM) tools that the two technology giants use to protect music from unauthorized duplication. One of the programs counteracts Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM, while the other targets Apple’s FairPlay.
Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree
Specifically for Apple, a program called QTFairUse 6, ver. 2.0 is freely available to download. The new version features support fully automated conversion to m4a, and all metadata (including artwork) is preserved. Also new is batch conversion of all protected files in iTunes library.
Apple has yet to issue an update to its software and an Apple representative declined to comment on the matter.
Obviously Apple has to cringe when it sees success like this. After all, they are a multi-billion dollar company. If they can be cracked, is there really any DRM that is really secure? Apple makes so much from from iPod sales, directly associated with their music store. If anyone wants to keep their products secure, it’s certainly Apple.
Newton’s FairPlay Laws
And just how QTFairUse 6 strips the DRM is ingenious. It actually uses iTunes to help break the DRM. The software intercepts AAC frames after they’re decrypted but before they’re decoded. So once the iTunes software decrypts them, QTFairUse 6 jumps in and snatches them before iTunes has a chance to play. Brilliant!
In November 2003, Norwegian programmer Jon Johansen posted a program called QTFairUse that helped evade FairPlay’s copy protection restrictions. Other programs emerged that tried to expand Apple’s abilities to stream music over a local network into a means of actually swapping files.
