drm-audio thread

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gladiator
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:51 am

drm-audio thread

Post by gladiator »

Something buggin' me!
Drm music came to my attention last year when I found impossible to transfer downloaded music to my new iRiver
Is it useful to use audio drm-converting soft... i.e. Soundtaxi?
Did u try something similar?
Thanx!
DougDbug
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:33 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Post by DougDbug »

I've never heard of SoundTaxi... It looks like it would be illegal here in the USA.

If your files are from iTunes, you are allowed to burn a CD, and the resulting CD is unprotected. The same is true of the 99 cent songs purchased from Napster. (But, not the flat-fee Napster downloads.... just the songs you've paid for individually.)

You can always use the What-U-Hear technique to make an analog* recording, but the quality won't be quite as good. This is not illegal (for personal use) in the USA, since you are not "cracking" the digital eccryption.

* Technically, its a digital-to-analog-to-digital process.
Blandine Catastrophe
Posts: 253
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:25 pm

Post by Blandine Catastrophe »

The result will be better with the source WAV than What-You-Hear, if you have this possibility on your soundboard.
Gloup? :-°
piano nick
Posts: 423
Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:33 pm

Post by piano nick »

If you have a really good soundcard (the onboard chip DOES NOT qualify here, neither do SB Lives, etc) you can record WHAT-U-HEAR with reasonable quality.

It all comes down to the A/D and D/A converters in the soundcard (plus the other electronics).

But most people don't want to spend upwards of $400 for a soundcard.

PN
gladiator
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:51 am

Post by gladiator »

DougDbug wrote:I've never heard of SoundTaxi... It looks like it would be illegal here in the USA.
Why? It doesn't protect anything, all it does is render the track you just paid to download completely worthless because you cant put it on your MP3 player!!!
DougDbug
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:33 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Post by DougDbug »

NOTE- The following is a discussion of the legal issues.... I am not making any moral judgements.
Why?
Because the DMCA made it illegal to circumvent DRM & digital copy protection. Upon further investigation it looks like SoundTaxi may use your soundcard's D/A and A/D converters to make an analog copy. Personal-use analog copies are legal because you are not "cracking" the DRM. The Betamax Case and the Audio Home Recording Act confirmed our right to make personal-use copies!

Although analog copies are legal, they probably are a violation of your agreement with your content provider. That would make it civil matter rather than a criminal matter. The RIAA cases are civil lawsuits too... the downloaders are not getting charged with crimes.
It doesn't protect anything, all it does is render the track you just paid to download completely worthless because you cant put it on your MP3 player!!!
Well... It protects their digital copyrights by preventing you from copying the content to your MP3 player. When you signed-up for the service, you agreed to the DRM limits which vary depending on the service. In fact, you have not paid for the right to make MP3 copies!
gladiator
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:51 am

Post by gladiator »

This prog converts only music which was purchased legally. It doesn't work without valid subscription.
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