DVD Jon's new application DoubleTwist looks completely awesome. I don't think it really does anything that you couldn't do before with umpteen tweaky utilities, but it aims to do it all in one simple program.
So I was all ready to download the beta and start freeing all of my DRM-ed media files from their corporate shackles... when I suddenly remembered that I don't have any DRM-ed media files.
I've got some DVDs, but they seem pretty happy where they are.
If you've got audio, video or even photos (on a stupid locked-down cameraphone, for instance) that you'd like to move somewhere else but can't, though, check DoubleTwist out.
21 February 2008 at 2:48 am
Call me crazy, but almost everything on that site is about the file-sharing Facebook app part of the equation. The only DRM-stripping component mention on the Help files is for removing Fairplay from iTunes. Even if it is a universal DRM-stripper, they've completely doomed that part of the project by shackling it to a 30-foot neon sign reading "PLEASE SUE THIS PROJECT INTO NON-EXISTENCE".
21 February 2008 at 2:49 am
(Said sign being the Facebook app part, I should point out.)
21 February 2008 at 11:03 am
12:01pm ADST - the site has been slashdotted to death. Shame, my iTunes files shave been crying out for un-DRMing for some time now.
22 February 2008 at 2:54 am
" 12) What happens when I liberate my iTunes® music purchases?
doubleTwist can automatically convert music you have purchased from the iTunes store to MP3, a universal format supported by all devices that play digital music. doubleTwist does not delete or move the original files.
You can only convert files that you have legally purchased and are authorized to play with iTunes. "
So it's re-encoding those files, presumably using whatever hack he worked out awhile back that exploited the Quicktime authorization. I guess a useful time saver if you have a lot of ITMS media, but not that revolutionary.
22 February 2008 at 3:08 am
Yeah - it seems to basically just be an analog-hole-exploiter, like any number of other programs.
The difference is that this one aims to work on every kind of locked-down media that a Windows PC (or, in due course, Macintosh) can see in any way, and do it with an interface that "your parents can use".
Since it's less-tech-savvy people who are most likely to find themselves with a large (and probably expensive) library of content on some awful locked-down device which they're likely to be legally (and almost certain to be ethically...) permitted to copy to other devices they own, I think it's great to see an unlocker, even if it's not technically amazing, that Just Works.
And I certainly don't object to using Just Works sorts of programs myself. Once in a blue moon I need to turn an AVI into a DVD; you'd better believe I much prefer a one-click program that may give slightly inferior results to the eight-utilities-and-a-prayer-to-Vishnu technique that takes you an afternoon to re-learn every bleeding time.
23 February 2008 at 10:41 pm
Actually, a utility like this might work in favour of businesses like iTunes. I for one have avoided buying DRM protected music as I don't have an Ipod and for some reason I feel I should be able to my music on whatever computer I happen to be using. A neat way of stripping the DRM protection would certainly make me consider getting an iTunes account.