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http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/10/27/fairgame.strips.itunes.drm/

FairGame strips iTunes DRM with iMovie

updated 06:10 pm EDT, Fri October 27, 2006

FairGame strips iTunes DRM

Seidai Software has released FairGame, an application designed to convert songs purchased from Apple's iTunes Music Store to an unprotected format. FairGame uses iTunes' default encoder, keeping all the original metadata, lyrics, and artwork intact. The process takes 2 minutes and 42 seconds to convert a 4-minute song to AAC on a MacBook Pro 2.16GHz, according to Seidai. Users must enable "Access for assistive devices" in the "Universal Access" system preference and select "Place clip in Movie Timeline" in the "Import" preference of iMovie HD. Following those two steps users can select songs in iTunes, click on the "Process songs" button, and wait for FairGame to complete its tasks. FairGame is available for free as a digital download, and is known to work on Mac OS X 10.4.8 with iMovie HD 6.0.3, and iTunes 7.0.1 installed.

by MacNN Staff

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Horsepoo!!!
Banned

Joined: Jun 2003

0

10/27, 07:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Wowowow!!!!

Also song DRM stripped when burnt to CD and reripped...news at eleven!

Hobeaux
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

0

10/27, 07:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: news at eleven

yes, burning a CD does strip the DRM but I think it also loses all the good stuff -- art and whatnot. (haven't tested it personally, but there you go)

technocoy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2002

0

10/27, 09:38pm | report spam | close Reply |
hmmm...

does anyone know if this compresses the file again? that would kinda defeat the whole point... we need DRM strippers that retain the bit quality.

goatman
Junior Member

Joined: May 2000

0

10/28, 12:36am | report spam | close Reply |
Whoopee!

We get to kill the music industry. I didn't want them to sign any new bands anyway.

Neo.cmg
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jun 2001

0

10/28, 01:55am | report spam | close Reply |
This is Not The....

...Application You're Looking For. *waves hand*

Yes, this is just an application written to automate a well-known loop-hole in iMovie. The iTMS tracks are being re-encoded, thus further downgrading the tracks audio quality by re-compressing an already compressed file.

The only benefits it provides over ripping, burning, and re-importing your tracks is the aforementioned metadata and album art are kept in-tact and a GUI to help batch-process large numbers of tracks.

Wake me up when DVD Jon's DRM stripping hack is leaked into the wild...

ptkdude
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2006

0

10/28, 11:55am | report spam | close Reply |
Gave it a try...

... it converts to 96 kbs MP3 MONO sound. While there may be a way to change that, I couldn't find it. Sorry, but this one's not for me.

aledbrown
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2006

0

10/28, 12:36pm | report spam | close Reply |
it works fine

Follow the instructions. It re-encodes the song to whatever your iTunes import settings are.

I had to clean up my desktop before it would work. Just put the junk into a folder.

G5 Dual 2GHz, 4GB, 10.4.8.

horvatic
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2002

+1

10/28, 07:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
The instructions aren't

The instructions are not clear. Place clip in movie timeline in the Import pref of iMovie HD? What the h*** does that mean? What clip? Import doesn't select or say import pref of iMovie timeline. To confusing if you ask me and if it encodes in mono forget about it.

BDLatimer
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2005

-3

10/29, 01:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
instructions ARE clear

horvatic: Um, just like it says - go to the "Import" preferences area in iMovie HD, and select "Place clips in: Movie Timeline" (vs. "Clips Pane"). Pretty straightforward, it seems to me. You are running iMovie HD v 6.x (as it states as compatible), right?

That being said, as others have stated, this is an automated approach to the known-for-quite-some-time workaround for stripping DRM from such imports. The results aren't exactly spectacular (96 kbps MONO?? Wow, that's horrible), so I doubt most people are going to be happy with the results.

I'll just wait on iTV for entertainment system automation - since why else would I need to strip DRM? Portable players? C'mon, the new iPod shuffle is $79. Computer playback? 5 computers is more than enough to allow me to play a given song on ANY system I want. Yes, there are those who say "DRM is evil", but until we eliminate the music publishers entirely, it's a very necessary evil. Hacks such as this are awkward at best, and destructive at worst.

Just say "No".

ERG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2003

0

10/29, 04:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
@bdlatimaer

Completely agreed!

jonbwfc1
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Joined: Nov 2003

0

10/30, 07:48am | report spam | close Reply |
doesn't work for me

Seems to get through the encoding stage then pops up a save dialog box and stops. I suspect I've got some non-standard preference setting in iMovie which is causing it to hiccup but TBH I can't really be bothered to sort it out. I have like half a dozen iTMS tracks, so I'm really not that inconvenienced by the DRM.

MagicMan
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

0

10/30, 08:36am | report spam | close Reply |
iMovie workaround

Isn't this a slightly more automated version of manually importing iTunes tracks into a iMovie timeline and then exporting them? If it is then there's not much new here.

hayesk
Professional Poster

Joined: Sep 1999

0

10/30, 10:43am | report spam | close Reply |
Waste

If people are willing to re-encode into Apple Lossless, which will make the file much bigger, then utilities like this would be handy because there'd be no loss in quality.

The only reason I would want to remove the DRM from my songs would be to use a third party device like a Squeezebox. An iTV may solve this issue for some people, but I don't want to turn on my TV to listen to music.

horvatic
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2002

0

10/30, 11:09am | report spam | close Reply |
Didn't say import prefs

It just says import clip. That is not clear and mono sucks, so why bother.

AlexisG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2001

0

10/30, 07:41pm | report spam | close Reply |
plenty of reasons

There are plenty of reasons as to why you would want to remove the DRM on songs which you legally bought from the iTunes store.

Hardware and Software such as Squeezebox, Tangerine and iVolume will not work with songs which have been bought from the store. If apple would give these apps a hook into being able to process these files this would not be an issue for me.

The 128kbps bit rate from the store is already pretty lousy/lossy and burning these songs to CD and then reimporting them is not really an option.

lindstro97
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

11/28, 01:19am | report spam | close Reply |
Who Cares???

I completely agree with bdlatimer. So what! I mean what is the advantage of stripping DRM? You can play it on a copycat piece of junk MP3 player. Big deal. Apple had an idea and implemented it�the iPod. Not only that but Apple put all of the quality measures in place BEFORE they released it to the public. It's obvious that so many other companies are playing catch-up to the iPod and they are doing a horrible job at it. Microsoft is my favorite copycat�ask yourself one question. What percent of Microsoft market is big business? From a revenue perspective�I bet 80%. And why are they trying to tailor their software to the home user again? They painted themselves in a corner by responding to big business and they are going to have a tough time cracking the Apple market because Apple chose to tailor their software to the home user (Pictures, Music, Movies, TV Shows, etc.). Let's be honest�Apple owns a majority share of the music industry because they have a quality product and people generally know quality when they see it. Until there is a compelling reason to strip DRM�I'm not interested. Some people made good points on how songs won't play on certain quality devices. Bottom line�iTunes should have a format that will be usable on other devices�but we all know that there are absolutley NO STANDARDS in the electronic / IT arena and it's going to be that way for sometime. Until then ROCK ON iPod and iTunes. You earned the market for a reason!!!

nemesys
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 1999

-1

05/09, 11:35am | report spam | close Reply |
Doesn't work

I have everything, iMovie 6.0.3, set the preference to import clips in the timeline but everytime I try to process a song, it stops about 3/4 of the process with an AppleScript error that says "Can't get item 1 of {}. (-1728)". The reason I want to strip DRM is to convert songs to MP3 so that I can stream them over the Internet with QuickTime Streaming Server. Maybe there is a better way to do it but I haven't found it yet...

karina
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2008

0

03/19, 11:41am | report spam | close Reply |
Remove DRM

Converter TuneCab converts DRM-protected audio/video files http://www.tunecab.com

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FairGame strips iTunes DRM with iMovie

updated 06:10 pm EDT, Fri October 27, 2006

FairGame strips iTunes DRM

Wowowow!!!!

re: news at eleven

hmmm...

Whoopee!

This is Not The....

Gave it a try...

it works fine

The instructions aren't

instructions ARE clear

@bdlatimaer

doesn't work for me

iMovie workaround

Waste

Didn't say import prefs

plenty of reasons

Who Cares???

Doesn't work

Remove DRM

Login Here

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FairGame strips iTunes DRM with iMovie

updated 06:10 pm EDT, Fri October 27, 2006

FairGame strips iTunes DRM

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Wowowow!!!!

re: news at eleven

hmmm...

Whoopee!

This is Not The....

Gave it a try...

it works fine

The instructions aren't

instructions ARE clear

@bdlatimaer

doesn't work for me

iMovie workaround

Waste

Didn't say import prefs

plenty of reasons

Who Cares???

Doesn't work

Remove DRM

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace