digital music/video
10/27/2005, 5:30pm, EDT
Thursday, October 27th
Software strips iTunes, Yahoo copy-protection
United Virtualities Group has released HotRecorder for Media, media recorder and converter tool designed to record and convert iTunes and Yahoo music files into universal formats, removing copyright protection while maintaining sound file quality. Both Apple and Yahoo have service terms that forbid circumvention of copy-protection, and the software carries a disclaimer stating that it isn't for converting audio files you don't own. Mookie Tenembaum, founder of United Virtualities, stated that his company merely provides the software and cannot police its usage, adding that it's no different from a knife manufacturer that can't control whether its product is used for murder, according to a report from Associated Press. HotRecorder for Media is currently only available for Microsoft Windows systems, and is priced at $20.
HotRecorder for Media automatically detects all the audio files included in the iTunes or Yahoo Music libraries, awaiting file selection for conversion into .wav or .mp3 formats. The conversion software does not require special sound configuration or quality regulation to get the best sound quality, the process is handled automatically.
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If I take a text file that is zipped, unzip it, then compress it (say with rar), I'll get a different format, without losing any information.
Same applies to what you've said.
MP3/AAC/Ogg/etc. are LOSSY compressions -- you cannot compress a file into one of those formats, then uncompress it again and get an identical file. It's like a JPEG image: save the same JPEG image over and over again and the picture quality degrades every time.
The only known lossless conversion is with Jhymn, which actually strips the DRM from the file, leaving the actual bits that comprise the song untouched.
If you convert an MP3 into a WAV file, then compress it back into MP3 again, you are MOST DEFINITELY losing quality.
iTunes has provided a very affordable alternative to piracy. Idiots creating software like this is going to make the already paranoid record companies retreat further into the dark ages.
I really wish talented people like this would put their efforts into challenging legal projects.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22380
they're once again invoking the Eddie Haskell defense.
Well, with Jack Campbell out of the biz, we need *someone* to lower expectations.
This may not be true in the US with the advent of the DMCA, which prohibits encryption cracking even on media for which you have a license. Now, whether an end user is liable when using a program written by another person is a question for the courts. HotCorder and others apps like it (Audio Hijack, et. al.) probably do not violate the DMCA since they work with the data after it has been decrypted.