Famous Hacker Jon Lech Johansen has done it again!

[Iron Greasel]

Originally posted by Olorin: How is the iPod's proprietary format any different than a PlayStation or XBox. People don't go buy XBox games and then complain that it won't run in their PlayStation. They don't say "I paid $$ for my PlayStation, so it's *my* product and *I* should have complete control over it.

Actually, they do. Consoles are hacked quite a lot. Surprisingly many people want to install Linux on XBox and play 3rd party games on it.

If you want to use iTunes to buy music, but play it on another company's mp3 player, I can understand why Apple makes that more difficult. Why should they be in the business of providing content for their competitor's products? The whole reason that Apple keeps the song prices low through iTunes is because they make up for it with profits on the iPods. If you make iTunes songs freely available to any company's players, you would soon see the prices going up on iTunes to compensate for the loss of iPod sales.

That's one of the side effects of the free market. If company X makes commodity A and sells it at a loss to increase the sales of commodity B with which it seeks to gain profit, it's not long before company Y will start selling commodity B at a lower price than company A. As it should be. And if it shouldn't be, the problem is in the system itself, not individual products or companies.

[Larry_OHF]

I just want to make sure that some of you that are speaking against this guy and what he did/is doing are not those that are strong supporters of Linux and Firefox...because from what this report says...Jon is supposed to be your messiah.

Quoting the article...

"He has since become a strong advocate of the open-source philosophy of making software code freely available for inspection and sharing."

[ 10-26-2006, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[robertthebard]

I may not have mentioned this anywhere here, but I stand firmly against DRM anyway. If I go to the store and buy music, nobody can tell me how many times I can play the cd, case in point, the Metallica that is blasting in the background right now, that I've probably played 1,000 times, if I've played it once. Neither Sony, nor Apple or anyone else has a right to say "We are selling you this music that we hold a license on, but do not own, but we are limiting how many times you can play it, and on what".

To me, this is a direct contradiction. For one thing, if the company doesn't own the music, only a license, how can they sell it? Taking this one step further, they have sold me a pirated copy, since they don't actually own the music. Limits on how many times you can play something you purchase should be illegal, if it's not already, and this goes right along with restricting how you can play it. Elektra Records didn't tell me I couldn't play my cd really loud, or that I could only play it on their cd player.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally posted by Olorin: How is the iPod's proprietary format any different than a PlayStation or XBox. People don't go buy XBox games and then complain that it won't run in their PlayStation. They don't say "I paid $$ for my PlayStation, so it's *my* product and *I* should have complete control over it. Why is it okay for console makers to publish content that can only be run on their hardware, but it's not okay for Apple to operate a music store that is meant only for their hardware (although it still works to play music on your computer--Windows or Mac, and you can burn CD's to play in any brand of CD player). If you own all your music, then you can take your CD's and import them into iTunes. So the iPod can be used to play any music that you own (unless some other online vendors don't allow you to create a CD--but then your issue should be with them). If you want to use iTunes to buy music, but play it on another company's mp3 player, I can understand why Apple makes that more difficult. Why should they be in the business of providing content for their competitor's products? The whole reason that Apple keeps the song prices low through iTunes is because they make up for it with profits on the iPods. If you make iTunes songs freely available to any company's players, you would soon see the prices going up on iTunes to compensate for the loss of iPod sales.

Totally agree. I think the console thing is a prime example. And that's what I do with my Ipod. I convert everything into my iTunes library. I'm not a an iPod fanboi or anything, mine was a gift. Indeed, I didn't want to install iTunes at first and tried to add songs using Media Center, lol. Then I noticed they wouldn't play.

Okay but I wonder, if the guy now sells the info. to another company, can they go ahead and start advertising that their songs are cheaper than iTunes and can be played on Ipods? What I'm asking is does Apple have the rights to that format to the point where no song DLed from iTunes can be converted without making it piracy?

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: I just want to make sure that some of you that are speaking against this guy and what he did/is doing are not those that are strong supporters of Linux and Firefox...because from what this report says...Jon is supposed to be your messiah. Quoting the article... "He has since become a strong advocate of the open-source philosophy of making software code freely available for inspection and sharing."

Well I amn't one of the strong FF/Linux supporters per se, although I am all for the open-source thing but only to a point. It has almost become a buzz term on the internet. "Open-source" as an excuse to hack into anything. Sometimes it is necessary and sometimes it isn't. There is a morale right to truth and access but there is also a right to protection and privacy. I'd be more interested if he had found malicious bots or spyware hidden in the software but otherwise I say let them protect their property and their business if that's all their doing. I think it is good that he "took a look" for us but now all he is doing is trying to profit from it. I know Microsoft is dying to dominate the MP3 market but Apple somehow got the better of them. It's only fair they get to keep their pickings, no?

Remember, we have copy protection on games, some that prevents us from excercising our right to legally back-up the game we bought and yet we don't complain about it at all but instead say how necessary it is in this day and age of piracy and burning and pwnZing.

[Ziroc]

OMG, So the ipod only allows mp3's to be played from itunes where you gotta re-buy them? LOL... that is stupid.

Are their any Mp3 players that I can dump all my MP3's I ripped from CD's? I have 100's of songs from LEGAL owned cds.

$450!?!??!?! For a glorified walkman?! wow!

[SpiritWarrior]

No, iPod only allows tunes to be played in this format. It has a converter that will change any mp3 into their player format. I did it with all mine when I first got it. The standard ones cost like $100, the others have portable video, radio and pictures on 'em.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Ziroc: OMG, So the ipod only allows mp3's to be played from itunes where you gotta re-buy them? LOL... that is stupid. Are their any Mp3 players that I can dump all my MP3's I ripped from CD's? I have 100's of songs from LEGAL owned cds. $450!?!??!?! For a glorified walkman?! wow!

All other MP3 players play any mp3s, some also even play and record radio, or have other features, and are way cheaper.

[Hivetyrant]

Originally posted by Luvian: quote: Originally posted by Ziroc: OMG, So the ipod only allows mp3's to be played from itunes where you gotta re-buy them? LOL... that is stupid. Are their any Mp3 players that I can dump all my MP3's I ripped from CD's? I have 100's of songs from LEGAL owned cds. $450!?!??!?! For a glorified walkman?! wow!

All other MP3 players play any mp3s, some also even play and record radio, or have other features, and are way cheaper. [/QUOTE]But they don't come with the status of an Ipod, which most people seem to be after.

[Sir Krustin]

To be honest, the whole iPod thing is hugely blown out of proportion. Creative Labs makes a better quality media player, that doesn't implement DRM, and has a much better battery life to boot.

People should realize, though, that the whole reason iTunes has taken off the way it did was because of the DRM they implemented. The security convinced record companies to allow electronic distribution of their product and gave Apple the bragging rights to say the do it legally.

If this crack survives a legal challenge, then we may just see the demise of iTunes (though probably not the iPod) - not that it bothers me very much as I consider iPod to be an inferior product, and iTunes unbearably draconian so I stay a mile away from either of them.