Apple should hire him as Head of their softtware grounp

Joshi, Geneva,

DRM is an offence in itself. In no other industry I can think of are you restricted with the things you buy. If you buy a car you are not restricted to company supplied roads, or have to pay annual usage fees or restricted who you sell to when finished with it.

It seems to me that governments around the world have been bought and paid for by the media industries and at our expense.

The true purpose of copyright and patent laws was not to guarantee long term earnings to large corporate bodies but to encourage creativity for the benefit of society. The idea is that if you have a period of monopoly you are more likely to go the effort and cost of creating and selling. What we have now is a return to the selling of monopolies that so enraged early 17th century England and helped lead to the beheading of Charles 1st. Seems to me we need some axe sharpening now .....

Neil Murphy, cfromer,

I haven't followed the "iTunes lock in" objection. It's the piece of software that transfers your digital music to the iPod. If they didn't provide that you'd be upset. I had a Creative jukebox for a while. Seem to recall it too had a single software (not very good, in fact rubbish compared to iTunes) that you had to have to transfer music.

It's not as if only music from the iTunes shop will go on an iPod- otherwise they couldn't sell the iPod in the many places in the world where you can't buy music from iTunes. It's just that they do not facilitate the transfer of music bought from a competitor, and that is more inconvenience than anything else (as observed by other commentators, it's not so difficult to circumvent). To buy a Microsoft product because you don't like lock in...

Martin, Singapore,

This seems kinda idiotic what with Bittorrent sites all over the world. Nothing new here.

Jim, Longmont,

I don't even want to give my tunes to other people, I just want to play them in other devices. currently i have to designate the tracks burn a cd, re-load the cd to get them in mp3 format, then save the mp3 onto my flash drive....then i have a bunch of cds i don't need ...i give those away...i want this new application

Thog, anytowne,

Apple, and all companies should no by now that wen they try to restrict media someone will crack the method used. I can go online now and download any song i want. if i buy a song from apple, i will use it as i see fit, it is mine. so long as i'm not sharing it, apple shouldn't care. they should just be happy i bought their download instead of getting it for free. These things are what's killing the music business. They just do not understand the technology, and how to deal with it. They are out of touch.
When i was younger i listened to radio for hours on end to tape record a song i wanted. No different than what goes on today. WAKE UP companies! Apple is now the very type of company the founders once shuned. Appple has become today's IBM. DUH! double DUH! I'm in my 40's and i get it all. Why doesn't Apple?

Scott, Boobadoo, OH,

I've never had any difficulty moving files between different iPods, media players and operating systems, including those purchased on itunes. The fact that so many people seem to think it's nigh impossible is just peculiar.

Boris, London , uk

Bill from SD. People like you irritate me. Do musicians make music for fun, for people to listen to for free? Give me a break, you spend 10 hours per day for 2 weeks trying to perfect an album someone is going to buy, it costs you £20,000 to produce, don't you think they deserve to have people PAY for their songs rather than idiots like you who steal? Huge acts maybe, but smaller acts trying to get the money, no.

Mat, Liverpool,

Why has Apple been able to get away with tieing music to a specific player? Surely this is anti-competetive and illegal?

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

DVD Jon, you are a scholar and a gentleman.

Jon Wannabe, SA, USA/TX

This technology has been around for years there has been a product from Germany that has done this for a few years known as tunebit.

G, U.S, U.S

Restrict my property? Impose some rules after I paid for it? Fair enough IF in both justice and equity I may now restrict THEIR usage of the MONEY THEY received. It is or was an arms-length transaction. "Something for something." The only agreed upon condition is I will not violate a copyright, defined as my pecuniary actions. Other than this, they sold it to me. Now they pursue post-purchase modification to the agreed-to terms. No equity in this. I agree to this; they may repurchase what is now my product at my choice and price or leave me be. Obviously others beg to differ with the seller as well. Carry on!

Karen Miller Esq., Anderson Mill, TX USA

Why not just burn your purchases to CD-ROM, then rip them back as MP3s? Or is that just too obvious?

DVD Tim, Centerton, Arkansas

Tell you what, you burn 30gb of itunes purchases to cdrom, then convert them back to mp3, and I'll use Double Twist - would you like to put a small wager on who is faster?

To alll those people who don't see the point of this, citing the fact that DRM is dead and you can legally purchase MP3's, what about those who have an ipod full of music they can't transfer anywhere?

Joseph, Moshi, Tanzania

Bahhhhhh you ipod sheep!!!
Ipod may be nice, but not the best. Many other music players out there do it as well, if not better and much cheaper, just not marketed as well. To each their own, but not for me. It's not like you couldn't break the itunes drm already anyway if you wanted to.

Jeremy, Fairfax,

Well it won't be much longer and we all will be playing or listening to music around a fire again anyway- so charge up your IPODS one last time boys and girls

DR Nick, saratoga, ny

I just love headlines like this. Large corporate tech companies who hire high paying software engineers to develop security measures which are breached by a spotty hacker. It makes the morning papers that much more entertaining.

bob, London,

GM in Brisbane - funniest put down I've read in ages.

Damian, Manchester,

For those that call this stealing - rewind your memory a few years and you'll recall this was legal. The difference today is that powerful lobbyist have purchased legislation that makes this illegal. Now every do gooder in the world is taking the high road and calling it stealing. It's not stealing - it's illegal - there is a difference.

Mark, StLouis, Mo, USA

I'm the same Zak, I will never buy an Ipod not because I don't want to pay for music but because of the fact that you are FORCED to use Itunes

Rob Lindsay, Wallasey,

The issue of DRM aside, surely there are questions to be asked about Apple tieing music bought from iTunes to only being played on the iPod! Surely this is unfair business practice, the type of which Microsoft were prosecuted for regarding MediaPlayer not long back!

I agree with Jon T in Maidenhead, if I purchase a track from iTunes then in reality I am buying a licence to play/listen to that song, I should therefore be able to play it on any media player I own, be it MP3, PC, Mobile Phone, CD player, etc, etc, etc

After all if I buy a CD from HMV do they restrict me to listening to it only on a CD player purchased from them.... I think not!

Steve, Leeds,

I have an ipod, and only use itunes to put the music onto my ipod, i do not buy music from itunes - I dwnload it on MP3 and add it to itunes. It works fine, and means i do not have to buy music from itunes. Not sure why you are locked toitunes, except that i use it to link to my ipod. I use WMP to play music on my PC.

MRI Charity Worker, Bankso, Bulgaria,

Zak from Leicester,

The iTunes lock-in as you call it only applies to iTunes purchased music. The iPod still accepts mp3's without DRM either from CD or provided by the user from another source.

The DRM excuse isn't really relevant if you want an iPod.

Jamie, Worthing, UK

"The iPod is an amazing peice of hardware design, but I flatly refuse to buy one simply because of the iTunes lock-in."

There isn't an iTunes lock in - I have 30 gig of music on my iPod, only three track of which were bought from iTunes.

Alvin Lucier, London,

Well done Apple. You've managed to turn the collective population of good ol' USA into a bunch of left-wing, "all property [rights] is theft" marxists. You've just beaten the Soviet Union at its own, now-defunct game. Does this mean I now really can have the Brooklyn Bridge for my back yard?

KR, Stockport,

5 percent loss of quality when you rip a CD? Only if you rip it with compression. If you rip it in a lossless format there is no difference between the CD and the file.

Ian, Frederick, USA/MD

I bouught my wife a Zune... I REFUSE to be locked in to iTunes and Apple.

Hell, if there was a "legal defense fund" for ZDVD Jon, I'd send him some money!!!!!!

Phil Cohen, Pennsauken, USA/NJ

buy your cds in a store and rip them yourself and place them on your ipod. why bother purchasing lossy muisc?

gowanis, new york, ny

Bill from San Diego..

"iTunes is stupid. Anyone who buys music from iTunes is equally stupid. It is all out there, free, in mp3 format."

You are so right. Same as salary's are stupid, anyone who works for a living is stupid. It's all out there, free, in peoples handbags and wallets, waiting for us to steal.

Why have I wasted my years trying to earn a living when I could of just stolen it from other people.

Thanks for the enlightenment Bill.

GM, Brisbane,

The iPod is an amazing peice of hardware design, but I flatly refuse to buy one simply because of the iTunes lock-in.

Zak Larue-Buckley, Leicester, UK

DVD Jons software is analogous to playing a song and recording a copy. The process effectively is 'high speed dubbing' as seen on early cassette tape recorders - remember this?. This is a analogue method, therefore I seriously doubt this will circumvent the Digital Rights Management, it seems there is no attempt to break the DRM protection and this is not an exact copy.

Sebastien Rose, London, London

this is moot. amazon.com already offers millions of tunes drm free anyways. itunes is moving in the same direction...its just the players that need to ditch drm too.

blogster, seattle, usa

No need for special software to circumvent DRM. Just use an audio capture software like Total Recorder.

Mauro Villa, San Diego,

iTunes is stupid. Anyone who buys music from iTunes is equally stupid. It is all out there, free, in mp3 format.

Bill, San Diego, CA

1. Softwrea to do this has been in existance for some time, causing a battle betwen the DRM developers and the hackers: it's not news.
2. Not "all" songs on iTunes use DRM, some are DRM free 256kbps AAC files, watermarked with the purchaser name.
3. The only difference Doubletwist makes is the fast forwarding - it's still only making an audio copy not stripping out the Freeplay DRM. Softare such as Hymn specifically does this (Hymn has been defeated by recent versions of DRM. So if you ahev the time you can simply record your DRm music onto a CD and rip that back into whatever player you want.
4. Amazon and others will shortly be offering DRM free MP3s for purchase in europe. iTunes is likely to follow.

Peter Morgan, Cardiff, UK

Wow! They are so far behind it's not even funny. This new software is unnecessary. IPOD MP4 is easily converted to other formats. VCD gear is just one tool. It converts a 700MB video file to an iso or .bin file in about 30 seconds. Then it is easily mounted to DVD or converted to AVI.

robert t, louisville, KY

Reminds me of when I bought a Schwinn bicycle in the early eighties and only thier parts would fit and you could not mix parts from other companies. I just bought another bike that fit me better.
Mr. Johansen is keeping the suites on the edge of their seats and that's good. I'm just glad the loud horn that a train makes is not copyrighted, I love that sound!

Richard Lagunas, Stone Mountain, GA

I agree with Todd from Dallas. Not wanting to pay for copyrighted works because you feel the money goes to the "dirt bag" executives is analogous to not paying a prostitute, and then justifying it by saying you don't want your money going to the dirt bag pimp. That's a great deal for the "John" (free sex) and copyright infringer (free music)...not such a great deal for the prostitute or musician. Of course, if the prostitute or musician wants to GIVE the sex or music away for free, that should be their choice.

Steve, Washington DC,

I'm surprised there hasn't been a monopolistic charge levied against Apple for making it so that you can't transfer music from iTunes to another type of player or to a device other than an iPod. Shouldn't you be able to buy music anywhere and play it anywhere? I'm not saying screw copyrights, particularly, more like, how is there competition is Apple has cornered that market? I think that once you own whatever it is that you bought from the iTunes Music Store that you should be able to do with it what you like, just like any product that you purchase.

Kate, Kansas City, MO

Jason Kennedy,

Apple charges what the record companies require them to in different countries.

Second, Apple doesn't have a monopoly. At least not in the sense that people don't have other options. Samsung, Creative, Sandisk, iRiver and several others make players. All of them are compatible with multiple music services from WalMart to Yahoo to Napster and several others. They can even use Amazon's MP3 download service that has no DRM. It's just that people CHOOSE not to use those options because the Apple-iPod-iTunes thing just works better. Heck, one can even burn DRM'd tracks from iTunes and re-rip them for use on any player. That's the worst implementation of a monopoly in the history of mankind.

Bryan, Montgomery,

You still listen to the RIAA music ?

Dude...stop letting them tell you what to listen to. There's so much music that isn't copyrighted but the mass media won't make that known.

Ok...OK if you think Metallica is cool then don't let me get in the way of you fattening a few in corporations.

Joe Mitz, New York,

Perhaps it's time to rescind some of the DRM laws. I believe that the current crop of laws sides too much with copyright owners, and is open to revision.

No-one has ever shown that the ability to restrict what hardware you can play songs you bought on is in any way justified from a moral point of view. And despite all claims, no-one has ever shown that the true productive sources of music, the composers, writers, and performers are served by the obstructive DRM laws we are seeing now.

Of course the middleman industry, the "music industry" stands to loose, but then ... why should our laws be aimed at protecting their business model? Industries rise, prosper, and decline. Why not just let the music industry fall over if they can't exist without ridiculously far-reaching DRM?

Golodh, London, UK

AnalogWhole does this already (www.analogwhole.com) and is even more automated. It will monitor your music directory and automatically re-record any song as an MP3 as soon as it is downloaded.

Bob Smith, smithfield, Alabama

Please people get your facts right before making comments!!

iTunes also sells DRM versions of songs too, they are just 20c more expensive. It is not Apple who insist on DRM, they have said many many times they would rather sell music without it. It is the record companies that have insisted that iTunes sell tracks with DRM. Only recently have Apple managed to get this changed.

Moan at the record companies not Apple. iTunes is without doubt the best application for ripping CD's, buying digital music and managing your collection there is. The iPod is a great companion for it.

You can talk about Zune all you want but Zune was a failure on a massive scale and is still an embarrassment to Microsoft. They launched it to be the iPod killer and nobody bought it. Ipod and iTunes has killed the market because it is so good, you cannot argue with sales figures.

GM, Brisbane,

Robert from Portland.

You don't know what you're talking about.

The "greed" at the root of copyright is nothing more than a wage for a songwriter. A songwriter who provides you value and should be able to expect value in return.

You're idea that there should be no copyrights is simply stupid. All of us should feel that pang of guilt when we download. You're hurting more than just record-company suits. You're hurting an honest schmo in his home studio who has no chance as a performer, but can write his ass off. What's his incentive? The Art? Grow UP.

Value received for Value consumed. Will always work that way.

Todd, Dallas, TX

DVD Jon is a tech-god. Go man go... take down every wall the elite throw up in front of you. The days of record excec's living lifestyles beyond that of kings and queens is over.

Where was the record company out-cry in the 80's when we all bought albums and copied them to tape for our car stereos? And in the 90's when we all started to dup our tapes to CD's...

I was on Napster the day it started and have relished the discomfort of the dirt-bags who run the entertainment industry. They have all failed to embrace technology. Instead of trying to bond with the internet, they have been fighting a losing battle for 10 years now.

Thank God for DVD Jon and those like him, who always keep one step ahead of 'the man'. Keep working Jon, and never let them get you down.

John, Lethal Haven, Hi

I hope this software is free. I'd hate to have to pay for it. He shouldn't be able to make money off his creation anyway.

Jessie Trimble, NY, NY

This is the best of technology and the internet age - breaking down business practices that have allowed companies to hold the consumer hostage. In the end it makes businesses more nimble, and technical solutions more robust. We need more DVD Jons in the world who do this work above board.

joe, tallahassee, fl

The reason why it is NOT best to burn your DRM tracks to a disc then re-rip is because the incredible amount of data loss as a result of such. The ratio between the bitrate of lossless WAV (1411kbps) and iTunes AAC (non-plus, 128kps) is 11:1. Thusly, when the AAC is transcoded into 1411kbps WAV to fit on the disc, and re-encoded from that bitrate BACK into 128kbps, there is an additional compression of 11:1±, and yields a lossier audio file.

Let's just say, if your ears can't discern the difference between 128kbps AAC and lossless WAV, consider yourself ignorantly blessed and continue your burning/ripping schemes.

As for me, I will stick to waffles.fm.

aic, Savannah GA, USA

Check out a program called Floola to get around using iTunes. much simpler, lives right on the ipod, and allows you to move music from any PC.

Marchello, Beaumont, Texas

The solution to DRM is very simple: refuse to use it. Greedy record companies follow nothing other than money, so it is easy to direct them, The problem is with too many stupid people accepting their terms of so called digital rights management.

Martin Baldwin-Edwards, Athens, Greece

I own about 70 music CDs, and have copied all the songs onto every one of the computers I've ever owned. Am I a criminal? Why is the music industry not knocking down my door?

Oh wait, that's right; I bought the CD, I spent the money out of my pocket, and I want to be able to LISTEN to it, wherever I am. If Apple doesn't like what this guy is doing, they should release a mainstream way of doing it.

If they're gonna call it _i_Tunes, there should be at least some *I* involved.

John Stevans, Winchester, VA

touche, Robert!

Music is free, actual costs aside.

Matt, Amsterdam, Netherlands

I am so glad I own a Zune and don't have these issues. I share things all the time - move music and video from Zune to computer and back again - plus I put it on all my computers. I cannot understand why people love the IPod.

Rconaway, Esperance, NY

step one - download song(s)
step two - burn to CD
step three - move original downloaded songs
step four - rip CD back to system
step five - use as you like

it's not rocket science

Otto McPoon, Peaknuckle, FL

Um, um, um. I think you'll find companies such as Sony don't like you to listen to music across platforms either. The music industry wants its pound of flesh and cares nothing for the consumer.

One day they will introduce "number of plays" and you'll have to "top up" to keep listening to a tune or album you like. The train is on the track, it's just a matter of waiting for it to hit...

I agree with the above comments. Just because a certain company has to compete with others does not mean that you should be prevented from listening to your music how you wish.

Hackers like DVD Jon keep the industry slightly less dishonest. We all love a boffin fighting our corner.

charles, Cirencester, Great Britain

Copy Protected iTunes could always be burned to CD, this CD could always be ripped and the songs playable on a non-iPod. Alternately a copy protected tune could always be copied analogue. This new process removes a lot of the steps but beyond taking the 'real time' drudgery out of the equation - it is not groundbreaking. Don't programs exist already which create an audio file out of anything playing on your computer? It's not like he really hacked the code. Songs are cheap, buy them. Another workaround to play your copy-protected songs on another player I can't really oppose though.

Davis, Springfield, VA

Once you buy it it is yours. Apple has no right to make it only for Apple products. It's no different than back in the 80's buying vinyl, than copying it to tape, CD or even 8-track. As long as it is for your personal use and you don't make a profit from it Apple and RCCA haven't got a leg to stand on. If I buy it it's mine. If Apple wants to say I'm renting it, than that's a different story, but they don't say that.

Rockerman, Raleigh, NC

I don't understand how the entertainment industry has this kind of power. Any other industry - take "BIG OIL" for example.

I break copyrights all the time by memorizing songs and singing songs. My band as a teenager broke a ton of copyright violations playing Nirvana and other pop tunes at parties. If you purchase the material you should be able to have the right to transfer to any other device that you like rather than only being able to listen on a specific type device.

Then again - the entertainment industry is ENTITLED to profits!

Ben, Jackson, USA/MS

I just want to be able to transfer my music without ITunes

Alan, Rochester, New York

Don't want to be tied to be tied to iTunes? Don't freakin' buy an iPod. It kills me how many people bitch and moan about Apple's supposed tyrannical approach to their products and services. They're not twisting anyone's arm. They didn't force anyone to go out and plunk their money down for an iPod, and they're pretty up front about the supposed "limitations."

Apple will shut this guy down in a New York minute.

JT, USA,

These people like DVD Jon and the other tech-savvy stars who work to make access to copyrigted materials easy and cheap should be given awards! Screw copyrights. Like no one will ever be motivated to make music if there is no copyright protection? Music has existed for thousands of years without the need for greed that is at the root of the copyright.

Robert, Portland, USA

If you want DRM free music Bestbuy.com is selling DRM free mp3's for a period of time. I heard it's a trial run by Universal to see how the market takes to it.

Cay, Orem,

Good comments. There have been audio file converters for a long time....tons of them, most all are free. My daughter's ipod is filled with songs from numerous sources. And she burns itunes songs all the time and listens to them on WinAmp and Windows Media Player. There are tons of apps that removes protection from itunes, CDs and DVDs.

This article is as weird as one would be if it read,
'Bread Industry Upset by Invention That Slices The Whole Loaf At Once'

James, Duncan , Oklahoma

There is always the 'analogue hole' of placing a microphone in front of a loudspeaker, this is just a faster version. The RIAA must curse that humans have analogue hearing :)

Colin Soames, London,

What's the blokes number? I bought an iPhone abroad over Christmas and it worked ok until I downloaded the update that would enable it work with iTunes. Now the iPhone is locked and I can't retrieve anything I stored on it. Help me, DVD Jon!!

Timmy, Ealing, London, UK

The news here is that this guy made this program to "batch" run up to 100 songs at a time or whatever, which makes it a lot faster than burning a CD and then re-encoding it, which takes a considerably longer time.

Just making this "news" brings attention to the situation that iTunes, needs to take the stupid DRm off of all of thier tracks.

I likt iTunes, the way it organizes your files so neatly, I will only pay for single tracks that I can't find any where else though. Buying an album and not getting the physical coverart/booklet for almost the same price is just stupid anyway.

the fact that this guy made this program for others to re-record thier files to DRM-free is great! more power to him. But, it makes the quality suffer so just like someone else said earlier is that it's just like tape-dubbing was in the '80's (no one made a big deal about that) !

JGRIZZ, Los Angeles, CA

You pay more or less in different markets because music is licensed by different organizations in different markets. Apple would love to negotiate one contract with one group and sell at one price. Don't blame Apple for the difference in cost. Blame the various licensing organizations around the world.

Tjp John Painter, everett,

haha I can't believe this guy gets credit for this!! people have been doing this for a long time....its caled an "unauthorized recording," just like if you taped songs on the radio and sold them, but you record what's being played on your computer's internal microphone, aka whatever song is playing, and record it, quality I hear is close to perfect, but it's ridiculously illegal and he's going to get canned big time....

john, los angeles,

"The program gets around Apple's DRM software by replaying a song in fast-forward and taking a copy of the audio track, using a process similar to that by which a CD is 'ripped' - or copied - to a computer."

Nope, guess again. It's actually the OPPOSITE of what CD ripping does. DVD Jon has reinvented high-speed dubbing on a pair of tape decks for the digital age. That's why you lose some audio quality; ripping gives you a perfect digital copy.

MK, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Surely this is not new. I have taking music off my Ipod with a variety of freely available software for ages.
Are we talking about something different here??

charles, London,

Jon, there is no DRM on mp3s.

Fred, Istanbul,

Why not just burn your purchases to CD-ROM, then rip them back as MP3s? Or is that just too obvious?

DVD Tim, Centerton, Arkansas

It never ceases to amaze me how just plain stupid people are about these questions. Most prefer to live in ignorance.

1. Apple has been a leader in the REMOVAL of DRM on music. It's NOT them but rather the music companies who insist on it.

2. iTunes as a media player is a fine piece of software..opinions vary.. but mostly it just works and provides access to iTunes where an incredible amount of content is FREE.

3. iPods cost what they do because they were made right the first time. Thus they retain value over time. My wife STILL uses the ipod she got in 2001 (same battery btw). Disposability in
electronics is NOT a good thing.

4. You CAN play your mp3 on other devices. Burn a CD from your songs- re-rip it and voila..they play on any device.

Consider yourself educated.

pr, Seattle, WA

Does not sound any different to Tune Bite, available for years, which also removes the DRM from itunes, rendering them into bog standard mp4s.

As for allowing an ipod to play 'music bought from other stores' - unless that music had its own DRM, that's always been the case.

Apple needs its monopoly broken. The itunes store is both badly stocked and unfair, as the same products are sold for different prices across different markets. You are not a global citizen in Apple's world you are wherever your credit card was issued. Why should a UK user pay more for the same song as a US user?

Answers on a postcard, please.

jason kennedy, La Antigua, guatemala

This has been around for years, he is not doing anything new!
Look up Tunebite and Soundtaxi, they both play DRM files as high speed and re-record them so they dont have DRM protection. OLD NEWS.

John, haverhill, ma

I don't know what the big to do is. I've been putting iTunes music on other devices and other music on iPods, legally, for years.

Theron Simpson, Richardson, TX

Good man, keep it up!

If you're going to pay £1-2 a song why should you be forced to listen to it on one of the worst media players available (ITunes)
Or only on a branded Mp3 player which costs far more than your average person can afford to pay for a music player.

Don't get me wrong, I have an iPod which was a gift and it is good but I will never ever pay for an mp3 if I cant play it how I choose on WHAT I choose

Jon T, Maidenhead,