Two hundred… ninety-seven… dollars. And twenty-six cents! That’s what it’s going to cost to free my 1138 songs and 5 music videos from the clutches of FairPlay — iTunes’ DRM.
I’ve been purchasing music exclusively from the iTunes Store almost since its first day of operation, knowing that it could only be played in the terms that Apple’s DRM will allow. I thought: “Once a Mac user, always a Mac user, right?” And yes, I never really noticed the DRM throughout all these years, other than the occasional event of me wanting to use the music in other programs. But in the end, the concept of DRM is flawed from a user standpoint — and now must I pay the price for supporting it. These years of music I have want to go free, but the upgrade price is too steep for me. But there’s something Apple should know: what’s to stop me, or anyone else, from burning the music — music lawfully purchased — to a CD and ripping it again to get rid of the DRM for free?
by Galley
12 Jan 2009 at 23:11
Burning to CD and reimporting it is perfectly legal. The only way to now lose any quality, would be to import as lossless.
I’m glad I never purchased more than a handful of DRM-enabled tracks.
by Leonard
17 Jan 2009 at 13:21
What’s to make you think Apple minds if you do that?
by Macmatt
17 Feb 2009 at 03:58
A Mac DRM cracker is OK.
by AMS
02 Mar 2009 at 18:10
There is a way you can crack it through iMovie is there not?