RSSApple Blocks iTunes DRM Hack
By Nate Mook | Published March 21, 2005, 3:52 PM
Quickly responding to news that three programmers discovered a way to download songs from the iTunes Music Store stripped of their digital rights management protections, Apple has updated its software to block the hack. Legitimate customers must now upgrade to iTunes version 4.7 to continue using the service.
"The security hole in the iTunes Music Store which was recently exploited has been closed, and as a consequence the iTunes Music Store will now sell music only to customers using iTunes version 4.7," Apple said in a statement. The rogue software, called PyMusique, was partly developed by Jon Lech Johansen, who is known for breaking the copy protection used in DVDs.
So, because a couple of hackers don't want to simply abide by the rules of a business for thier willing customers, they have cost all of us in wasted bandwidth for hundreds of thousands of software upgrade downloads and have accomplished nothing. They should be prosecuted and fined the cost of that bandwidth. If you don't like iTunes don't use it. Go buy a CD at a local record store and stop whining.
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uhh Why would you be using a piece of software that is more than 2 versions older than what is out right now... especially since it's FREE.
Nobody's suffering here. Maybe Apple a little bit, but most users have converted to 4.7 or 4.7.1 already so the "wasted bandwidth" theory is moot.
If you're using 4.6 still, oh well. Spend an extra 30 - 45 min downloading the new ver... it's not like you need the new version for iTunes to run... you just need it to buy music. That being said you don't even need to download it in the near future; you can wait until next week, month, etc. until you want to buy more songs.
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Actually I don't use iTunes or AAC. It's the total lack of values these authors display that really bothers me. It's just another form of theft veiled under some sort of romantic notion that everything on the internet should be free. There were costs related to thier actions that effect all of us. These guys rank right up there with Phishing authors and virus writers yet they are proud enough of thier flagrant disregard for the law to actually put thier names on it.
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I don't necessarily have a problem with it at all. If it was actually downloading music for free maybe. But you are still buying music, except without the DRM protection. I doubt people were downloading songs from iTunes without DRM just so they could spread it on p2p networks. Of course, no DRM also means RIAA quits allowing anyone from selling songs...
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Oh, grow up.
Because a couple of consumer rights activists decided to electronically hold a company accountable for their Draconian restraint of the consumer's rights to do whatever they wish with a product they paid for, the company in question has attempted to plug the hole.
Until the next time.
That last line says it all.
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Tomaras must either work for Apple or just not understand. This hack was not a way to get free iTunes at all. It had nothing to do with stealing music. What it had to do with was allowing people to purchase itunes on any machine with any OS (after some more ports) that they wish. This is not by people that hate iTunes, but rather those that like it and want to make it better. For those that want to illegaly share music, they can already buy the CD, Rip it into AAC or MP3 with iTunes software and then share at will.
PyMusique had nothing to do with pirating, and all to do with being free.
For more read my blog on this.
http://itunesphone.com/forum/index.php?topic=12.0
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And so will the hackers as well.
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I would only hope so :-)
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