Jul 29

Digital Rights Management - Cracking…

I know a lot of people are looking to find out more about digital rights management cracking, and no matter how much I am against piracy, I can't blame them, because DRM makes people that buy music lose their money too often. As an example, look at Yahoo! Music, and this is only the latest example. When we talked about Yahoo! Music, I expected to see pressure starting to build up around Apple's DRM, but I must confess I wasn't even hoping to see it happening so soon, since today I just found out some interesting things about this topic, as we're going to see right away...

Before moving on, let me say it again - you like an artist, buy the album. Get the CD. Feel it in your hands, enjoy reading the booklet info and watching the pictures. If you simply want to listen to various hits, there are plenty of online radio stations to choose from. Buying tracks that depend on the availability of a remote server to be moved around from a computer to another is not a choice, especially since DRM is applied to lossy-compressed tracks, and according to some artists, the entire music industry is going down because of this, because albums are being recorded and mixed using lower standards. After all, most buyers are listening to lossy versions, aren't they? What a shame...

...but since there are a lot of music fans who don't like to compromise, and the situation is favorable, anti-DRM protests are expected to start pretty soon, maybe even as we speak, at Apple stores across the world! Although this is more of a symbolic gesture, it's a good start - the Free Software Foundation has a plan, called Apple Challenge, involving a very simple approach - its supporters will book a Genius Bar appointment, and then ask various questions about Apple's restrictive policies regarding the iPhone source code, protected iTunes music, and others.

While the part regarding DRM of the Apple Challenge may not be as consistent as one would expect, this is one clear sign that digital rights management cracking has begun, and not like in "cracking a protection," but like "a crack in the wall." These being said, all I can hope is that we'll be celebrating the fall of the "DRM wall" as soon as possible. After all, Apple was always pushing this world ahead, and it would be a shame to hold it back, this time!