DVDJohn: 2nd iTunes Hack

[dotdotdot]

BetaNews.com reports:

The cat and mouse game has begun. Just one day after Apple closed a hole that allowed a third-party program to access its iTunes Music Store and download content without digital rights management protection, programmer Jon Johansen re-opened the back door with a new version of the software.

Johansen, known for releasing the code to break DVD copy protection, wrote in his Web log that he once again broke Apple's latest encryption. Johansen developed the program, called PyMusique, with the help of two fellow hackers.

"The iTunes Music Store recently stopped supporting iTunes versions below 4.7 in an attempt to shut out 3rd party clients. I have reverse engineered the iTMS 4.7 crypto which will once again enable 3rd party clients to communicate with the iTMS," Johansen said.

PyMusique replicates the capabilities of Apple's iTunes application, and its users must still pay for the music they download. But because iTunes adds DRM protection to songs only after they have been downloaded, Johansen simply left that piece out of his program.

This means that iTunes music downloaded with PyMusique can be freely shared and transferred to portable devices other than Apple's iPod.

As iTunes 4.7 is the latest release available, it's not clear how Apple will respond to Johansen's latest move. The company may be forced to change its software once again and require all customers to upgrade.

PyMusique's programmers claim the software is designed to give Linux users access to the iTunes Music Store. Seemingly to reaffirm this position, a Windows version of PyMusique that bypasses Apple's block will not be released.

iTunes 5 Here We Come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How does this guy do it over and over??

And now iTunes Music Store works on Linux through this app...

 

[JeDiBoYTJ]

I wonder how Apple will respond to this... I guess its good because there isnt a Windows version of it, and we know those people will abuse it.

I dont really understand everyones beef with the DRM. it certainly doesnt bother me, my 1 computer and 1 iPod that the music is being played on. And its easy to circumvent if I ever need to (JHymn, to AIFF, for use in video projects)

 

[mad jew]

I love the last bit about it not being ported to Windows.

 

[jim.]

BetaNews.com reports:


iTunes 5 Here We Come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How does this guy do it over and over??

And now iTunes Music Store works on Linux through this app...

I think he just changed the identifying packet to say iTunes 4.7 instead of 4.6. Apple really only bandaged the code, I'm surprised he took this long to change the identification. I think to truly stop him from doing this, the DRM would have to be added serverside, which would be a *huge* overhead to Apple.

Plus DRM will always be overcome on a software level. It just isn't practical unless there is a hardware solution too (Trusted Computing, anyone?).

Jim

 

[Littleodie914]

Why not just sue the guy

 

[mad jew]

Why not just sue the guy

Is he American? Does he even live in a country that has ITMS? I don't know heaps about international law or anything but this may be harder than it sounds. I wish it wasn't though.

 

[jim.]

Is he American? Does he even live in a country that has ITMS? I don't know heaps about international law or anything but this may be harder than it sounds. I wish it wasn't though.

To answer you: Nope ... yep. But I think he is in a country that doesn't have any form of law that prevents this. In fact he isn't cracking the DRM, so a DMCA law doesn't do anything. He's just violating a term of service which may or may not make him culpable in any way. Most EULA's are laughable anyway in most legal systems. Plus he may not be the actual maker of these workarounds. He may just be the publisher, which puts him in a different category in civil terms, I believe.

There is already a heap of cases working for Johansen, making a lawsuit pointless. He is his own precedent.

Jim

 

[7on]

haha, I'd be amused if Apple gets so fed up with this guy that they release an iTunes+QT for Linux just to kill his argument.

 

[dotdotdot]

haha, I'd be amused if Apple gets so fed up with this guy that they release an iTunes+QT for Linux just to kill his argument.

I can see the ads:

iPod and iTunes
The world's biggest music player and store just went universal

Mac + PC + Linux

 

[IanC]

iTunes 5 Here We Come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dont ya mean itunes 4.7.2 here we come