Free Your Music with DRM Dumpster

Freeware Mac app DRM Dumpster automates the process of burning your DRMed iTunes Music Store purchases to CD, then rips them back to your computer as unprotected MP3s.

This has always been the unofficial method for stripping DRM from your music, but DRM Dumpster simplifies the process using a CD-RW, meaning that you can just insert one CD and DRM Dumpster will take care of your entire protected iTunes library. Handy.


Read more on http://www.burningthumb.com/drmdumpster.html

Sony reveals new DRM technology

Sony has announced that they have developed a new "block cipher algorithm" that is specifically designed to enable advanced copyright protection and authentication for distribution of digital media such as music, movies and images.

Sony says it plan to reveal more details about the technology, code named CLEFIA, at the Fast Software Encryption 2007 conference which begins on March 26 in Luxembourg. To date, Sony has revealed that the technology is "a 128-bit block encryption that supports key lengths of 128, 192 or 256 bits." They also say that CLEFIA is powerful enough to defend the digital media against "known cryptoanalytic attacks."


Read more on AfterDown.com

The EU’s ongoing joust with iTunes

By John Carroll

In what some articles have characterized as an EU that has backed down over iTunes, Meglena Kuneva, EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection, re-characterized her previous words that chastised Apple over its closed DRM model as merely a means by which to start the debate over ways "to develop this market and to have more consumers enjoying the really very important, very modern way of downloading and enjoying the music." She also dismissed comparisons of Apple to Microsoft, noting that Apple's share of the market is not very large. I presume she means Apple's computer market share is not very large. I wish Microsoft could point to their portable music player share (an area where Apple's share IS very large) as reason for the EC to call off their antitrust attack dogs.

Slight diversion aside, the cause of all this ruckus was Ms. Kuneva making a sharp point of the fact that we wouldn't accept CDs that didn't play on every device. That point was always a bit odd, however, as its like pointing out that doors in the middle ages rarely had locks as reason to oppose the proliferation of locks on doors. CDs weren't ever designed with the Internet in mind, where ripped music files can be sent around the world as easily as email.


Read more on ZDNet

New software removes DRM protection in seconds

Digital Rights Management (DRM) simply doesn’t work, and it makes media play on external devices a huge hassle. I would certainly be in full support of a system that worked; a system that would not prohibit media play on particular, external devices, or expire after a given length of time. A new software, SoundTaxi V2, changes all that.

Ramka announced today the second version of their highly popular windows-based software for removing copy restrictions on downloaded media. SoundTaxi Version 2 allows users to play downloaded music on any device, without having DRM compatible hardware, and it’s substantially quicker than its predecessor.

Released first in 2005, SoundTaxi’s conversion method allows users to play DRM protected music and audio books while recording them simultaneously.


Read more on tech.blorge.com

Sony exec: DRM should be ‘invisible’

By Matt Kapko

Digital rights management is an inevitable byproduct of the capabilies consumers now have to store and stream large amounts of information, but for it to function properly it must be virtually invisible to the consumer, Albhy Galuten, vice president of digital media technology at Sony Corp. of America, said in his opening keynote at the Digital Media Summit.

“We all hear the rumors about how DRM is going to be dead, it’s too complicated, it’s too confusing,” he said. “The goal is to have it invisible to the consumer.”

He squarely puts that responsibility on the industry. Media companies must allow consumers to enjoy the content they want on the device they prefer on their schedule, he said.


Read more on RCRWirelessNews

Why Not Leech Off of YouTube, Video Pioneers Ask

By Tim Gideon

There was nary an empty seat at Monday evening's SXSW panel entitled "What Does the Future Hold for Video on the Internet."

It opened with the moderator, Eddie Codel, producer and co-founder of Geek TV, announcing: "We have beer, we hope you do, too [sadly, I did not]. Whenever someone says the word 'paradigm', everyone drinks." This prompted an audience member to yell "paradigm", after which the rules were immediately revised. The panel consisted of Codel, Micki Krimmel of Revver, Kent Nichols from the wildly popular Ask A Ninja, Kevin Rose of Digg fame, and Scott Watson—the odd-man-out, not-so-indie rep from Disney.


Read more on PC Magazine

The DRM threat to desktop Linux

By Jack Schofield

The growth of HDTV in the US threatens "the potential marginalization of Linux to older machines or servers," according to Brian Proffitt, Managing Editor of Linux Today, because of the DRM (digital rights management) system much high-def content may employ. Proffitt says:

If HD content will be king, then the manufacturers ... will either have to sign-up for this DRM scheme or they won't. Given that in three or four years, which is when such a DRM plan is expected to be implemented, Vista will have probably gotten itself installed on a majority of the world's desktops and there'll be even more broadband to deliver HD content, only a suicidal card manufacturer would opt out of this DRM scheme.


Read more on Guardian Technology Blog

Free Software Foundation to Jobs: Be First to Drop DRM

By Shaun Nichols

A branch of the Free Software Foundation known as DefectiveByDesign launched an online petition last week that calls on Apple CEO Steve Jobs to "set the ethical example" by eliminating DRM from iTunes. The petition, a response to an open letter on digital rights management Jobs wrote in February, reached its initial goal of one thousand signatures about five hours after going live.

The Free Software Foundation has begun an online petition urging Apple chief executive Steve Jobs to begin removing protections from the company's iTunes Music Store.

"As the largest purveyor of DRMed music, Apple carries a large part of the responsibility for the situation in which consumers now find themselves," the petition reads.


Read more on Mac News

Don’t Let Fear of Piracy Rob You of Profits

JK Rowling is famously known amonst online book circles as the highest profile author to refuse to allow digitization of her books. This has not deterred individuals from offering a home brew ebook version of every title in the Harry Potter series. In fact, Book 6 was released at midnight and online reports told of the ebook version available less than twelve hours later. Recently, the High Court of Delhi required eBay to halt four auctions on eBay India of illegal ebook versions of Potter’s book.

If one can get past the piracy issue, it is important to understand that there were purchasers of this illegal ebook version. Which means that there is a market for the ebok version and rather than the market being filled by a legitimate source, authorized by Rowling, the market is filled with illegal versions for which Rowling will receive no royalties.


Read more on Dear Author

Microsoft Stakes DRM Patent Claims

A smart guy wrote a while back that DRM has “negative value” with no way to motivate users to be interested in adopting it, let alone pay for it. So what should be said of the attempt to patent DRM methods? We noted that Microsoft was recently issued a patent on a method of managing DRM across devices and were curious about how much effort they have put into DRM.

In early 2001, Apple made a dynamic move signing major labels to deliver legitimate music downloads, albeit with a good amount of restrictions (FairPlay). Fair enough, a number of folks at the time thought that DRM was a good way to get the digital party legally started. While iPods sold and Microsoft worked on playsforsure and planned Zune, we pulled together more of the picture on DRM which adds insight to Steve’s Thoughts on Music.


Read more on CrunchGear.com

DRM Security Startup: $13M

Arxan on Monday announced it has attracted $13 million from investors interested in its potential to protect digital media from piracy.

The funding includes new investors Legend Ventures and TDF, as well as existing investors EDF Ventures, Paladin Homeland Security Fund, Solstice Capital, and Trident Capital.

Bethesda, Maryland-based Arxan refers to its protection technology as “little modules of code” that can get inserted into a program. The company said its code works better than existing protections because it functions on a binary, or ones and zeros, level of programming.


Read more on redherring.com

DRM, p2p and dead horses

Digital Copyright Canada's Russell McOrmond posted an article saying DRM is both a form of theft (of what you'd otherwise own) and a scam (pricing doesn't take the "rental" situation into consideration) that should be illegal.

His remarks were keyed to another post in Techdirt and he went on to quote a few thoughts he'd added to that discussion saying, in part:

What I am opposed to is calling a relationship a purchase that is really a "rental" (IE: the person receiving the content doesn't own the hardware - they are "renting" it from someone else).


Read more on p2pnet.net

Why Vista's DRM Is Bad For You

By Bruce Schneier

Windows Vista includes an array of "features" that you don't want. These features will make your computer less reliable and less secure. They'll make your computer less stable and run slower. They will cause technical support problems. They may even require you to upgrade some of your peripheral hardware and existing software. And these features won't do anything useful. In fact, they're working against you. They're digital rights management (DRM) features built into Vista at the behest of the entertainment industry.

And you don't get to refuse them.


Read more on Forbes.com

Vista Doesn't Add DRM To Unprotected Content

Out there, in the blogging world, a lot of facts can get mixed up with rumours and lies. George Ou has attempted to put an end to the whole Vista and DRM confusion. I said he "has attempted" simply because there will always be Microsoft haters who will continue to spew false information regardless of how hard the facts slap them in the face: “A lot of people have been screaming that Vista will deprive you of your rights with the inclusion of DRM technology. Bruce Schneier even referred to this DRM issue as a "security" issue for Vista even though he's merely referring to existence of DRM capability. We're hearing widespread rumors that DRM slows down game play. I even hear people blaming DRM for the lack of driver support in Vista.”


Read more on Neowin.net

EMI wants more money, walks out of DRM talks

EMI, one of the world's top music labels, has walked out of licensing talks with the world's largest online music retailers. EMI faced off against the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and RealNetworks and couldn't agree on the size of an upfront payment in exchange for offering DRM-free music. According to Bloomberg news, EMI wanted substantially more money which would have been in addition to the individual song fees that it would have received from sales.

EMI hasn't publicly talked about the meeting, but the company appeared to be close to a deal just a few weeks ago. One possible complication could have been Warner Music's bid to buy EMI. Warner opposes DRM-free music sales.


Read more on TG Daily

BitTorrent to offer movies legally, using Microsoft's DRM

By Jack Schofield

BitTorrent will launch a download service offering movies, music, TV programmes and games tomorrow (Monday), according to the New York Times.

The programming comes from studios, including Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Brothers, that previously announced their intention to work with BitTorrent. There is also a new partner: the 83-year-old Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which will take part by making 100 films available on the site from its 4,000-movie library.

The story says:

The BitTorrent store will work slightly differently than rival digital media offerings like the iTunes Store of Apple and the Xbox Live service of Microsoft. BitTorrent will commingle free downloads of users' own video uploads with sales of professional fare. And while it will sell digital copies of shows like "24" and "Bones" for $1.99 an episode, it will only rent movies. Once the films are on the PC, they expire within 30 days of their purchase or 24 hours after the buyer begins to watch them.


Read more on Guardian Unlimited

Steve Jobs' iTunes dance

By Cory Doctorow

Now the Apple CEO says he would gladly sell songs without digital restrictions, if the record companies let him. That's hardly a brave defiance, and besides, I don't believe him.

In early February, Apple CEO Steve Jobs published an extraordinary memo about the music industry, iTunes and DRM (digital rights management), the technology used to lock iTunes Store music to Apple's iPod and iTunes Player. In the memo, Jobs said that "DRMs haven't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy," and offered to embrace a DRM-free music-sales environment "in a heartbeat," if only the big four music companies would let him.


Rean more on Salon.com

Google's Schmidt roots for DRM

Proponents of DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control have received one of their most significant endorsements yet.

"We are definitely committed to (offering copyright protection technologies)," Reuters has Google ceo Eric Schmidt saying. "It is one of the company's highest priorities.

"We just reviewed that (issue) about an hour ago," Schmidt told Reuters when asked what Google was doing to make so-called anti-piracy technologies widely available to video owners. "It is going to roll out very soon ... It is not far away."


Read more on p2pnet.net

Canadian music service delivers DRM-Free MP3 downloads

Puretracks, the music download service whose majority owner is Bell Canada, today announced it would begin offering selected music downloads in DRM-free MP3 format.

The company said it would offer approximately 50,000 songs, of its more then one million song catalogue, unencumbered of digital rights management (DRM) technology.

Digital rights management is a generic term for the encryption schemes used by movie studios and artists to thwart music and movie piracy.


Read more on Digital Home

Universal Music Begins Offering DRM-Free Video Clips

As music sales continue to fall, the major labels are being forced to get creative in reaching customers, including embracing a channel the industry has long attacked: file-sharing online.

Starting this week, Suretone Records, a division of the Universal Music Group, will begin distributing online video clips of some artists, such as Weezer and Drop Dead Gorgeous, the New York Times reports.


Read more on www.marketingvox.com