QTFairUse6: is Hymn finally back to strip FairPlay on iTunes 6?

Remember Hymn? You should, back in the day (like, um, 2004) it allowed you to strip the FairPlay DRM right off iTunes Music Store bought files just like that; well, it's been a long time in coming, but a new app called QTFairUse6 looks like it can now be used (with some amount of difficulty) to dump iTunes version 6.0.4 - 6.0.5 files of their chastely protection. It's not quite as slick as FairUse4WM or anything, but if you're not afraid to get your hands dirty with a little python up in this piece, you can get yours now; if not, it shouldn't be too long before our man Igor S.'s next-gen method for circumventing Apple's copy protection methods makes its way into a nice, neat little graphical interface all the Macs in the house are sure to adore. And, of course, then it's not too much longer after that when Apple blocks out this hack of Hymn and moves on to the next FairPlay iteration. DRM man, it's like a freaking möbius strip of consumer hurt.

[andrew abdullah @ Feb 5th 2008 6:10PM]

i would like information for itunes fairplay version 2? and is my itunes music that i bought is shared to other people itines library tunes fairplay.

[docsharp01 @ Mar 31st 2008 9:51PM]

Excellent article and comments about the QTFairUse6.
http://www.1-satellite-tv-facts.com

[Alice @ Apr 7th 2008 9:33AM]

Media converter TuneCab converts DRM-protected or unprotected files for playing on PCs, mobile phones, MP3 players, MP4 players and iPods, PDAs, PSPs and other devices. It converts music, films, video clips, audio books to commonly used formats such as MP3, AAC, WAV audio, MPEG4, DivX movie etc, has YouTube Ripper and CD Ripper.
http://www.tunecab.com/

[tracyjump @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:08PM]

Daniusoft Media Converter Pro could legally remove DRM WMV/WMA/M4P/M4V/ASF... using record technically process which records play and saves the recordings in unprotected digital formats.
http://www.wmatomp3-converter.com

[GolaYing @ Aug 15th 2008 2:24AM]

Daniusoft Media Converter Pro could legally remove DRM WMV/WMA/M4P/M4V/ASF remove DRM WMV/WMA/M4P/M4V/ASF? It seems good

[BaTycoon @ Sep 13th 2008 3:45PM]

Suggestion to all those who downloaded ITunes 8:
Your purchasing may be screwed.

When buying the songs off of the ITunes Store, I encountered a problem.
They used to sell the .m4p files with fairplay V2
Now, when you purchase them, they convert the newly purchased into .m4a files

Later i tried to play one of my earlier purchased songs. All my .m4p files request to get authorized, but when i have entered all the information, it notifies that they are already authorized. They still dont play.

What the hell Apple? You screwed me.

Good luck to those with ITunes 8.

[BruceeL @ Nov 26th 2008 8:33AM]

Found good M2TS Converter so that I can convert Sony/Cannon Video to popular videos.

see the detail here:
http://www.hd-dvd-ripper.net/resourse/M2TS-Video-Converter.html#117

[dudude @ Apr 19th 2009 11:45PM]

As the music in iTunes is encrypted with DRM, you cannot directly put it on any non-Apple MP3 player. The easiest way is:

1. Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Burn your playlist to make an audio CD.
3. After the audio CD is successfully burned, insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive again. Then you can use iTunes to import the music tracks on the burned disc as MP3 files.

Or you can get some software to help you. I use TuneClone M4P Converter ( http://www.tuneclone.com/m4p-converter/ ) to do this. Though not free, it is very well worth a try. It generates a virtual CD drive to help to remove DRM from iTunes.

[Bill Walsh @ Aug 29th 2006 2:41AM]

That's "Möbius," but what's an umlaut among friends? : )

[Luiso @ Aug 30th 2006 1:17PM]

This is nice. Itunes is the best.

[oven @ Aug 29th 2006 3:22AM]

isn't it just way easier to download from iTunes, burn to CD, then rip into unprotected WMA? thats how I get songs from iTunes onto my celly

[wootness @ Aug 29th 2006 3:29AM]

oven: a copy of a copy is not as great as a direct rip from the original CD... typically you can't notice much difference on a cell... but on a hifi system, you may notice.

[antiorario @ Aug 29th 2006 3:29AM]

New app?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QTFairUse
Wikipedia says it's been around since November 2003.

[Knockout @ Aug 29th 2006 3:43AM]

"DRM man, it's like a freaking mobiüs strip of customer hurt."

Best line i've read this morning.

[jack_brack @ Aug 29th 2006 4:51AM]

yeah, let's take a 128kb AAC file, decode to CDA, then re-encode back to yet anoter compressed, extra lossy file.

Yay for craptastic sound. but hey, if you think iPod is the ultimate in technology, this kinda stuff is right up your alley.

[igorsk @ Aug 29th 2006 7:18AM]

The program is called QTFairUse6. Maybe I should have called it something else to avoid confusing with the original QTFairUse. Also, it's not really related to Hymn. It doesn't try to do any decryption itself (like Hymn does) but just hijacks iTunes code.

[tovaac @ Aug 29th 2006 7:58AM]

Of course, you could just burn your music to a cheap CD and rip it straight back onto your computer, all shiny and DRM-less. Hell, you'll have made a backup along the way.

[Chris @ Aug 29th 2006 8:30AM]

"Yay for craptastic sound. but hey, if you think iPod is the ultimate in technology, this kinda stuff is right up your alley."

Can you read? It intercepts the file BEFORE it's decompressed.

[lewsmind @ Aug 29th 2006 9:21AM]

It looks like this is Windows only. Too bad .

[captainjaroslav @ Aug 29th 2006 9:53AM]

Chris: You have responded to a troll. Don't worry, we've all been snagged at one time or another.

Personally, I think, if we don't want music with DRM then we shouldn't buy music with DRM in the first place. As I understand, and I forget the names of the sites, there are places where you can buy music from bands online who have agreed to sell it DRM-free. I, however, still buy CDs when I buy music. Yes, it's more expensive, but if the album you're buying isn't worth $18, then maybe you need to find some better music! With a CD, you have a wide variety of formats you can rip to, you can rip an infinite number of times, and it acts as a backup as well. If you don't want DRM'd music, don't buy it. When there's no alternative, that's a different story, but for now, there is.

OTOH, if you want to strip iTunes songs of their DRM for the purpose of illegal sharing, aren't there several better ways to do that? Bittorrent? Usenet? Other places?

[sveden @ Aug 29th 2006 9:57AM]

Möbius stip... nice freaking analogy! Gonna have to mentally bookmark that one for further use. Oh wait I switched my brain over to delicious. Consider it tagged.

[Robert @ Aug 29th 2006 10:40AM]

Magnatune.com makes much more sense then any of the above suggestions.

[glacia00 @ Aug 29th 2006 11:56AM]

"Chris: You have responded to a troll" To me it just sounded like a response to an opinion about burning to CD first.

One of the few things I've liked about engadget forums is the lack of opinion police whining that someone with a different opinion is a troll. Especially when it sounds like you both missed the point of the post you're bashing.

[Encoding @ Aug 29th 2006 12:48PM]

jack_brack said "yeah, let's take a 128kb AAC file, decode to CDA, then re-encode back to yet anoter compressed, extra lossy file."

Chris, that's the important part of his comment.

Dumping the AAC to a CD, then extracting and reencoding does NOT net you a song with the original sonic quality as the original.

The ideal method of stripping of DRM is NOT to dump to CD for the purposes of re-encoding, but to remove the DRM thereby preserving the original quality of the song.

Had you started with a FLAC, then dumped to CD, and extracted back to FLAC (or another lossless codec), then it would be all good.

For the purposes of putting the song on your phone for running, etc.. the cd method is just fine since you may hear the wind more than the music anyways.

[kriz @ Aug 29th 2006 1:32PM]

Seems pretty simple to me (and a few others on here).

If you don't want DRM on your music, don't buy music with DRM. Its not like you don't know what you are getting or don't have other options. Sorry but as much as music pirates would have you believe it you just don't NEED that music. It's a luxury and if you don't like the terms, live without it. Quit breaking the law.

[captainjaroslav @ Aug 29th 2006 1:19PM]

Should've clarified: I only thought this part was trolling - "Yay for craptastic sound. but hey, if you think iPod is the ultimate in technology, this kinda stuff is right up your alley."

That's what Chris claimed to be responding to. The rest of my post was not related to jack_brack's snide and sarcastic but accurate original post about losing quality every time one converts from one compressed format to another.

[russ99 @ Aug 29th 2006 3:17PM]

Encoding:

For my purchases, I download .AAC, burn to CD and then reimport as Apple Lossless, which eliminates the bad lossy conversion. Sure it's not as good sounding as original lossless FLAC files, but for the price, it's good enough for me.

[Harold @ Aug 29th 2006 3:35PM]

Where can this wonderful software be found? Can you post a link?

[William Crabtree @ Aug 30th 2006 8:22AM]

Do you mean jHymn? I have that for my mac and it lets me "unlock" them for use on any machine.

http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/

[robUx4 @ Aug 30th 2006 5:38AM]

Yeah a URL to test would be nice (and maybe make a UI for it?). It's funny that Google doesn't know about any page that mentions QTFairUse6, not even this one !

[Geoff @ Aug 30th 2006 9:13AM]

Use MSN search for QTFairUse6. Easy to find from that point...

[chris @ Aug 30th 2006 12:20PM]

russell,
why would you take a compressed, lossy format and convert it to FLAC? you don't improve the audio quality but you blow the file size WAY up!

the only way to get to lossless quality is to start from lossless quality.

for everyone else,
to start from a lossy format, nothing you do (NOTHING!) will get you the original lossless format back... including using this DRM removing method.

[Steve @ Aug 31st 2006 2:10AM]

Stop buying music from vendors who insist on pissing in it by adding DRM. Buy your music from AllOfMp3.com or Emusic.com in a DRMless format.

Heck, if you are going to burn it to a CD then re-rip it, why not just buy the freakin CD and rip that?

[Ben @ Aug 30th 2006 2:48PM]

Click my site's url for a link.

*cough *cough*

[Rochelle Slawson @ Nov 5th 2008 3:30AM]

need fair use

[SHEiK124 @ Aug 30th 2006 6:32PM]

Better idea than this program? iTunes 5. I'm still on iTunes 5.0.0.35, but guess what, I can still use JHymn! I mean, yeah, I can't see videos, but big whoop, when that odd one in a thousand song I can only find on iTunes pops around like some rare remix or live version, I sleep easy at night knowing I can remove its DRM. But, if you've purchased anything with iTunes 6, JHymn won't work for ya whether you're on iTunes 5 or iTunes 4 or 3 or anything else.

[plonk420 @ Aug 31st 2006 7:30PM]

one of the DRM strippers i don't mind is the one that strips the DRM but leaves user info in the file.i have no illegal use of my iTunes music... i just want to play it in my car, in Winamp (wihtout a special plugin), anywhere else...

[Stormchild @ Aug 31st 2006 3:33AM]

I have to agree; if you don't want DRM, don't buy music with DRM. I really like the idea of the iTunes Music Store, but until they drop the DRM completely (which will probably never happen), I'll just shop elsewhere. I'm not sharing the music I buy. My reasons are twofold: I am a DJ, and want to be able to play the music in Ableton Live (or Traktor etc.), and I also want the original, uncompressed audio whenever possible. Lots of online stores sell WAVs now. Apple's not there yet (and will certainly go with Apple Lossless if they do, as it will allow them to maintain the DRM stuff).

The following online music stores sell DRM-free music; some of them even sell WAV or FLAC files so you get an identical copy of what you'd have if you bought the original CD. Now we're talkin.

http://www.beatport.com
http://www.bleep.com
http://www.stompy.com

These are mostly underground electronic music stores, but this is just a very small slice of what's out there. Check the websites of your favorite artists and labels. Alternatives are popping up all the time.

[Michael @ Aug 31st 2006 10:48AM]

I'll just throw my $0.02 in, I don't like being accused of breaking the law b/c I'm interested in stripping the DRM from my audio files. I love my Mac and iTunes despite all their flaws, but the one thing that irks me beyond belief is that fact that I can't convert anything I bought in the ITMS (or Audible) to an mp3 without some large degree of hassle. They're my songs, I would think I should be able to use them how I want (this of course does NOT include illegal file sharing).

For example, I bought a new car with an mp3 headunit, but I haven't had the money/time to install an iPod adapter yet. I have a road trip coming and ideally I'd just use iTunes to pop out a couple mp3 discs for my own use, but with my DRM shackles I'm limited to files not purchased through the music store. Zing! Sure, I guess I agreed to those terms when I bought the songs, but it doesn't mean I have to be happy with them.

[Shiyoushi @ Aug 31st 2006 11:55AM]

>>Personally, I think, if we don't want music with DRM then we shouldn't buy music with DRM in the first place.

Honestly, after the last CD I bought installed a rootkit (Damn you Sony BGM!) I'm afraid to put a CD in my PC. I'd rather buy (relatively) benign FairPlay DRM'd tracks from iTunes, at least I know what I'm exposing my system to.

[Bob Sneidar @ Sep 2nd 2006 11:59PM]

Might I just say that if untold millions of people did not wantonly spray illegal copies of music all over the internet in some kind of digital orgy a few years back, thinly veiled by their "Screw the establishment" morality, we would not be having this discussion. DRM exists because WE THE PUBLIC demonstrated just how completely and totally we despise and distain anyone's right to their own copy, so WE THE PUBLIC brought DRM on ourselves. Had we behaved responsibly in the first place, DRM would be a 3 character abbreviation of the word DRUM.

That being said, my big beef is that I often need to change the pitch of a song to bring it back into tune with my guitar as I am playing along with it. Because of that I indeed convert the files to MP3's so I can do that. Because of that I am interested in this utility. What I won't do is make tons of MP3 CD's for my friends or spray them all over the internet.

[Gerd Topsnic @ Sep 3rd 2006 10:32PM]

The person earlier (russell) is not ripping purchased iTMS songs to ALAC under the belief that this improves the quality. This can be done so that the DRM is lifted and no further quality loss is introduced. It isn't as convenient as JHymn was, but it's a whole lot better than any real-time solution, which I understand is what QTFairUse6 is.

The truth is, though, that compared to what mastering engineers do to the music before it ever even leaves the studio, lossy compression of music is the far lesser evil.

Audio encoding has come such a long, long way, where you now can basically achieve transparency for 98% of all hearers at VBR 128K AAC. If you want absolute ripping perfection to avoid errors in ripping, rip your CDs using EAC and then convert to 128K AAC VBR in iTunes.

But no matter what bitrate one chooses, if you post that preference on the internet, there will be no shortage of people who will tell you it's not good enough, and they will never be convinced otherwise.

I prefer listening to music, not equipment or algorithms. 128K AAC VBR is the sweet spot between small file size and transparency. If you're super paranoid about it, use 160K AAC VBR.

[Steve @ Sep 17th 2006 11:23AM]

Can't you record the music to an .iso then use Daemon tools to mount it, then rip from the virtual CD drive? 0% loss, or am I missed something?

Saves CD's and quality :D

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[hugo @ Dec 13th 2006 8:59PM]

were can i possibly download this becuase i had an ipod and an extensive music collection on itunes and some of which i bought and i now have a creative zen vison w

[bassem @ Nov 30th 2007 4:44PM]

I've cracked my iPhone, but I don't know which version of itunes shall I use to sync my iPhone with, so can someone please tell me which version shall I use?

[Hood James @ Dec 17th 2007 1:15AM]

DRM-encrypted audio files are only allowed to be copied to and played on a limited number of authorized computers and portal devices. That’s why we are claiming their digital rights. And that’s why we need DRM audio converters. Personally I collect a batch of such kind of DRM audio converters, besides QTFairUse6,

FairPlay shall be really fair at last.

NoteBurner

Convert m4p, protected wma, aac and audio Book to mp3, wma and wav.

http://www.noteburner.com

Tunebite Platinum

Convert m4p, protected wma, aac and audio Book to mp3, wma, wav and ogg.

http://www.tunebite.com

SoundTaxi Pro

Convert m4p, protected wma and audio Book to mp3, wav and unprotected aac.

http://www.soundtaxi.us

Blaze Media Pro

Convert m4p, protected wma and aac to mp3, wma, wav, ogg, mp2, vox and raw.

http://www.blazemp.com

Hymn

Convert iTunes music (m4p and protected aac) to unprotected aac.

http://hymn-project.org

However, I'm worried that someday Apple will apply some tricks to forbid all these programs from cracking its DRM protected music. People shall unite and stand for our digital rights.