DVD Jon finally launches doubleTwist with limited iTunes DRM-removal

Open today for public beta after long last, DVD Jon's first, um, "legit" software business venture: doubleTwist Desktop, a Windows-based app intended to help seamlessly organize, transcode, and sync your various media types to devices like the PSP, Kindle, and Symbian S60 and UIQ phones, as well as share online through Facebook. (Apparently a Mac version is due in Q2.) Nary a mention of DRM stripping or the like (just a couple references to "liberating" your iTunes media -- convert it to MP3, stripping the FairPlay DRM), just a whole lot of talk about making your media easy to move between devices and share with friends.

[NobleArc, The Lazy Canadian @ Feb 19th 2008 1:31AM]

Nice.

[fanman @ Feb 19th 2008 4:28AM]

Old news... do it FREE here: http://radioshrike.8.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=9

[Mat @ Feb 19th 2008 1:37AM]

first

[ByronGman @ Feb 19th 2008 1:41AM]

Haha!


DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENIED!!!!

[Dominic @ Feb 19th 2008 1:43AM]

the first post was also 6 minutes before you..how the heck could you have missed that?

[ColonelSmith @ Feb 19th 2008 2:38AM]

EPIC Fail

[Mat @ Feb 19th 2008 2:44AM]

loal.

[Justin E @ Feb 19th 2008 1:45AM]

From the website:
12) What happens when I liberate my iTunes® music purchases?
doubleTwist can automatically convert music you have purchased from the iTunes store to MP3, a universal format supported by all devices that play digital music. doubleTwist does not delete or move the original files.

You can only convert files that you have legally purchased and are authorized to play with iTunes.

[pop @ Feb 19th 2008 2:25AM]

"Automatically convert ......", In other words ... it'll "play" the DRM'd M4A and "record" the output into an MP3 container... the old skool way ....

[Sam Winter @ Feb 19th 2008 4:10AM]

Thats because that's how the DRM stripping process has worked on Apples DRM. You had to have access to the song legally on ITunes before you could strip it. As mentioned, it probably always was just using the "analog hole" the whole time and recording the wave output back into an mp3. I'm seen this done before -- not sure about loss of quality from the process (aside from the loss from reencoding again)

[Libb @ Feb 19th 2008 4:23AM]

Actually, the old DVD Jon FairPlay cracker - QTFairUse, as well as Igor S.'s QTFairUse6 (which spawned the rather popular myFairTunes), both losslessly stripped the DRM off of iTunes files. QTFairUse did by exploiting a weakness in an old version of FairPlay and literally removing the DRM wholesale, while QTFairUse6/mFT attacked by watching a certain memory address where QuickTime held the decrypted AAC stream when a FairPlay song is played in iTunes and capturing the raw AAC stream. Said AAC stream was then copied to a new .m4a, thus not losing a bit of data, but becoming fully stripped.

This method is similar to a program called TuneBite, but it is inherently lossy (although not quite as badly as burning to a CD and reripping) and is slow as molasses. TuneBite got around the speed issue by using a hacked sound card driver that enabled playback at 6x normal speed, but from what I've seen of doubleTwist so far, it doesn't seem to have any such speed boosters.

[TavisJohn @ Feb 19th 2008 3:13AM]

This is a service, not an app... You have to sign up, and it will only work WHEN you can connect to the internet. If the service is shut down, the app will become useless...

Nice try, but pointless...

[Kelmon @ Feb 19th 2008 7:20AM]

"If the service is shut down"

It's a big "IF" - if the service is not shutdown then it certainly isn't pointless. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens over the new few days/weeks but even if you manage to use if for a bit, given that the service is free, then you haven't lost anything.

[TavisJohn @ Feb 19th 2008 11:54AM]

But if my internet connection is cut, I loose this "Ability".

Also wha is stopping them from keeping track of exactly what music and other files I run through it!

And even if it is not shut down by the RIAA, they may die off.

I would prefer a real app intad of this.

[Nick @ Feb 19th 2008 3:20AM]

Another backwards way of 'stripping' DRM is by simply burning to an audio CD and then ripping as audio tracks. This means you lose your metadata and (oh dear!) have to click a button to have a program find it all for you, but... It's not that difficult, and it works without limitations (unless the audio length is just THAT MASSIVE).
But I mean, call me old fashioned I guess. Success in any form is subversion, but as long as it's success, who gives a rats ass?

[zevdawg @ Feb 19th 2008 4:08AM]

That doesn't work if the DRM is copied to the disc, which some providers do. Nice theory though. Not every DRM management technique is the same. The workarounds are though :)

[Libb @ Feb 19th 2008 4:11AM]

The thing is they're sorta pushing it as revolutionary, which it's not - TuneBite has done this for years, and even has a hacked driver that allows it to work much faster than real-time.

When I first saw this, I was hoping DVD Jon had found a way to get the method behind myFairTunes/QTFairUse6 to function with iTunes 7.6, which has managed to elude hackers for a while now. But a free version of TuneBite is nice too, hopefully they'll add support for the Zune Marketplace soon, I want to play some of my subscription files in AudioSurf (entirely within my fair use, as long as I delete the MP3s when/if I let my subscription lapse...)

[trevor @ Feb 19th 2008 4:13AM]

What's the state of virtual drives these days? Have they made a reliable "virtual burner" yet, that does this but nixes the physically burned cd?

The first thing I do with purchased iTunes music is liberate it straight to a coaster and back. It's cheap (.15 ea?), but, you know, cheaper is better...

[Nick @ Feb 19th 2008 8:30AM]

I mean, I tried it with a couple different programs; iTunes worked perfectly with it. I don't know if it's cause they havent figured out how to relegate DRM to the actual data, but when it's encoded into an audio format, it seems to strip it out just fine. And, as pointed out by Trevor, it's cheap as sin.
I haven't tried the virtual drive option; I'd be all about testing that one out BUT I'm in Mexico studying abroad and my &@!@ing CD/DVD drive done shat upon me. It won't work, and it won't allow my virtual drive to run either.
Hellfire.

[tcc3 @ Feb 19th 2008 12:03PM]

DRM cant be effectivly copied to the disk or else cd players cant play it. The best they can do is make sure iTunes wont rip cds it burned. All you need is another program to rip.

[Julian Bond @ Feb 19th 2008 4:33AM]

iTunes still has DRM? Who knew?

[lee @ Feb 19th 2008 5:10AM]

And boy is it ugly.. it will not be coming near my mac.
Anything developed on a PC platform is generally ugly for that matter. Especially when made by some hacker turned legit.

[Kelmon @ Feb 19th 2008 7:22AM]

Yeah, that's the annoying aspect of this - no OS X client for the moment. The FAQ does state that development of one is a priority but given that it then asks for developers it doesn't give much hope that one will be delivered soon. Oh well...

[Nick @ Feb 19th 2008 8:31AM]

I mean, that's a pretty insane statement to make, as the best computer programmers out there are the ones who are hacker turned capitalist...

[John @ Feb 19th 2008 11:11AM]

Yeah, ugly software totally ruins my feng shui too.

[tcc3 @ Feb 19th 2008 12:05PM]

If it can effectively strip fair play from videos they might have something. I might actually buy some stuff from itunes if i could unshackle it from their platform.

[Radio @ Feb 19th 2008 1:58PM]

Burning songs to coasters (lol) works flawlessly and DRM is not copied over. Furthermore, I rip all my music at 320 anyway. Folks without trained ears can hardly tell the difference.

And umm... Am I the only one who's heard of Amazon MP3 or iTunes Plus?