Removing DRM from downloaded music?

Nope. It was made illegal in 1998 by the DMCA. Had you purchased the CDs in a retail store and ripped them to mp3 that would have been legal as long as there wasn't any copy protection on the CD.

Makes you wonder what happened to fair use.

Online music lovers 'frustrated'

PC Pro found that many people are frustrated with digital restrictions

UK music lovers are getting frustrated with restrictions placed on digital music tracks once they buy them from online stores, says PC Pro magazine.

The magazine reported that people are also being turned off net music stores because of pricing and disappointing sound quality compared with CDs.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said legal music downloads rose by 900% in 2004.

Last week, the UK's official singles chart included sales of legal tracks.

Yet legal downloads are still fledglings in the music industry, accounting for 2% of the market, according to PC Pro's Nick Ross.

"What people don't understand is that when they buy an iPod or other digital music player, they're being tied into a system," said Mr Ross, deputy labs editor at PC Pro.

That is the trouble when you are presented with a product that lacks the physical nature. It won't feel it has the same sort of value

Paul Brindley, Music Ally

"Many of our readers have already been caught out, buying tracks but being unable to play them on their player."

The technology magazine had so many e-mail comments from dissatisfied people it decided to test and compare the main services.

Your views on net music stores

One confused reader said he had spent £40 in an online store. Although his MP3 player played Windows Media Audio (WMA) files that he created, it would not play the copyright-protected WMA files he had purchased.

Playing fair

Another revealed to the magazine how he had to pay twice to download a song because of an error with the online store.

When he tried to swap the song onto another computer, he found he was restricted from doing so.

PC Pro says people are growing increasingly dissatisfied with restrictions on tracks they have paid for, especially if the price they pay is similar to that which is paid for a physical CD.

"That is the trouble when you are presented with a product that lacks the physical nature. It won't feel it has the same sort of value," Paul Brindley, head of digital music analysts, Music Ally, told the BBC News website.

"If there are problems on top of that with what you can do with it, it is inevitable that consumers will start thinking this is much less of a valuable product.

Apple's online music store, the most successful of the online services, is currently under investigation by the European Commission for charging UK iTunes customers more than users in France or Germany.

Mr Brindley said there was a problem with pricing models online currently.

"There is no question that probably the majority of people are finding the prices still quite expensive," said Mr Brindley.

"The labels are trying to maintain prices comparable to the physical world. Our research indicates that those consumers interested in music and technology think 50p is the right price.

"If anything, music labels appear to be upping prices rather than lowering them. But there is nowhere to go but down if they want to grow this market."

Digital controls

But issues around digital rights management system (DRM) restrictions, he said, were still the most pressing currently facing the digital music industry.

"What we are finding is that there is a fair amount of commitment to ownership - owning it outright seems to be quite prevalent amongst all age groups," he added.

But it was still early days for the business and there was a lot more consumer education required too.

DRM is designed to control and prevent the illegal copying and distribution of digital files.

The number of machines music files can be downloaded onto can differ between services.

Many people still want to properly "own" music they pay for

The stores also vary in how many portable music players can play the purchased track.

Apple's online music store, the largest web service, uses a different format for songs from the other download services.

Some use the MP3 format or Microsoft's WMA format, while Real has its own AAC format. Apple iTunes uses AAC with its own FairPlay DRM.

It means people who have bought tracks can play them on up to five computers, although the latest version of iTunes, 4.7.1, introduced a limit to the number of people who could access iTunes shared music each day.

The WMA format also has a DRM system.

In January, a Californian man filed a lawsuit against Apple stating it was unfair he could only use an iPod to play songs bought from iTunes.

Apple has an 87% share of the market for portable digital music players, market research firm NPD Group has reported.

Apple said it had no comment on the findings of PC Pro.

Lure to legitimacy

The music industry worldwide has been aggressively pursuing those who use file-sharing networks to share copyrighted music.

Online music stores, like Wippit, Napster, and iTunes, have tried to attract file-sharers to their legal sites instead.

More than 900 file-sharers were threatened with legal action last week as part of the music industry's fresh move in its anti-piracy war.

That brings the global number of people accused of illegally swapping files to 11,552.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said it was taking action against 33 UK net users accused of illegally sharing music.

Research for the BPI by market research company TNS found that illegal downloaders had cost the music industry £654m in lost sales.

Half of those questioned said that they would keep downloading illegally. Thirty-four percent said they were unsure, and 15% said they would switch to legal sites.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_tips842.html

http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html

http://www.misticriver.net/showthread.php?t=14000

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Remove-DRM-from-W...