DRM Free music embeds account info of buyers(itunes)

[ZippyDSMlee]

p2pnet.net news:- Apple is now flogging EMI's DRM-free songs online at $1.30 each, so does that mean it's time to torrent?

Apart from the fact that, thanks to the p2p networks, there's no need to go to the extreme, as TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) observes:

Sure, you can now download music from the iTunes store without DRM but that doesn't mean you should just willy nilly start sharing that music with your friends. For one thing, it's illegal.

For another, your account information is embedded into that m4a music file.

Want proof?

For the technically adept, TUAW post also features a way for you to check it out for yourself.


http://p2pnet.net/story/12382

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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070530-apple-hides-account-info-in-drm-free-music-too.html

thanks but no thanks.....

[Jabrwock]

Cue 3rd party utility to strip this info in 3... 2... 1...

If it doesn't have DRM, then it's not illegal to strip out that information...

Not that I'm suggesting that anyone should do that, but it's inevitable that someone will, because they can.

Still, not much of a point. I mean you can already get these tracks for free off p2p, why would you then pay Apple and then re-upload them?

[Jabrwock]

Hmm, it's only a string, and it's just a user account name, nothing else. So if you had a throwaway account, they wouldn't be able to track you anyway.

And a string is easy to garble without affecting the rest of the file.

Probably just an oversight. Apple devs didn't remove the account info (which btw is present in DRM'd files as well), because people wouldn't be stupid enough to distribute the files, right?

[ZippyDSMlee]

Hmm, it's only a string, and it's just a user account. So if you had a throwaway account, they wouldn't be able to track you anyway.

And a string is easy to garble without affecting the rest of the file.

Probably just an oversight. Apple devs didn't remove the account info (which btw is present in DRM'd files as well), because people wouldn't be stupid enough to distribute the files, right?

LOL
Cue 3rd party services you mean allofmp3 is a wonderful place to buy Mp3s one of the best I have seen, I don't think it has the the highest qauilty but ti sure beats itunes and others that cant seem to force the media mafiaa into a better prices.

[Jabrwock]

Then again, there may be an encoded version of the account holder somewhere in the file. Still, placeholder/throwaway account if you really wanted to distribute, but why bother?

[Jabrwock]

LOL
Cue 3rd party services you mean allofmp3 is a wonderful place to buy Mp3s one of the best I have seen, I don't think it has the the highest qauilty but ti sure beats itunes and others that cant seem to force the media mafiaa into a better prices.
No, I mean a utility like Lostify, AtomicParsley, etc. that allow you to "zap" metadata embedded in non-DRM'd m4a files.

[ZippyDSMlee]

I meant its time services drop the OTT profit line it would be better for all if they went to making "normal" profits off stuff., until then people wont stop hacking and cracking.

have you seen this yet ?
'Ten inconvenient truths about the music industry piracy today'

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/9914.cfm

[Jabrwock]

Apple isn't really the problem though. They're trying to encourage companies to particpate, that frankly would have laughed at the idea of digital distribution a few years ago. The fact that they've managed to get such a large collection, AND have managed to convince one supplier to go DRM-free, is a feat in itself, considering iTunes size...

[ZippyDSMlee]

Ya Itunes is not the problem they are doing the best they can I guess the RIAA,labels and studios are mostly the problem.

[Jabrwock]

I mean Apple IS out to make money (look at all the restrictions on AppleTV), but they're not as stupid as the MAFIAA. They know when the battle is lost and to move on to the next one.

[Theory?]

Cue the people who bring up that iTunes STILL makes you pay for lossy music!

[penarestel]

Cue the people who bring up that iTunes STILL makes you pay for lossy music!

Yay I've been cued!:D

Lossy music sucks. Huzzah for FLAC!

[steelcobra]

I mainly rip cds to iTunes anyways. The only stuff I buy online is the hard-to-get stuff like Subway to Sally.

[Thefremen]

Cue the people who bring up that iTunes STILL makes you pay for lossy music!


Agree'd. If I pay for music I want every last bit and byte of what I'm paying for. It's like they sell me a car but strip out cupholders and the cig. lighter because i probably won't notice they aren't there.

[Jabrwock]

Hmm, apparently they are potentially storing something else, a unique account watermark maybe?

EFF: DRM-free iTunes files carry "more than just names and e-mail addresses" (http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/05/31/eff-drm-free-itunes-files-carry-more-than-just-names-and-e-mail-addresses)

We compared two DRM-free copies of the track Daftendirekt by Daft Punk. When decoded to PCM/WAV data, both copies produced an identical audio signal (the MD5sum is e40b006497f9b417760ca5015c3fa937). So there is no audio watermark. But one of the .m4a files is almost 360K larger than the other!

We haven't finished examining these differences yet, and we don't have in-house expertise on MPEG codecs, but some of them have an intriguing amount of structure. There's a region (see around offset 0x11470 in the Daft Punk track for example) where the files contain what look like tables with sequential indices but different data in the table.

[ZippyDSMlee]

payplay launches tracks are 198Kbp @ 88 cents a pop and 59% of that goes to the artists unlike Itunes 7%!

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/9921.cfm

[Jabrwock]

payplay launches tracks are 198Kbp @ 88 cents a pop and 59% of that goes to the artists unlike Itunes 7%!

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/9921.cfm
legal music download store that will sell over 1.3 million indie music tracksDifference here, Payplay isn't being "negotiated" with on behalf of the artists by multi-billion dollar corporations... ;)

[Thefremen]

Difference here, Payplay isn't being "negotiated" with on behalf of the artists by multi-billion dollar corporations... ;)

Looks like the RIAA has screwed the people they represent. It may very well come to the point where artists sell their music directly to the consumer and the cartels will become useless and poor.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Difference here, Payplay isn't being "negotiated" with on behalf of the artists by multi-billion dollar corporations... ;)

LOL
my bad :P