Removing DRM on MP3 Files. FairUse4WM -> FreeMe2
(+33 rating, 9 votes)
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A while back, I purchased a Napster membership. At $14.95 a month I could download all the MP3 files I could find, and listen to them as much as I wanted. No restrictions right? Wrong. Unless you use their proprietary MP3 player to play the music, then you can’t listen it on any other device. IE… the Ipod. I couldn’t believe it. What an utter crock of shit. I didn’t particularly like iTunes soley on the fact, I wanted free reign to all the music I could find. Sound wrong? No, I fucking paid what they wanted, now give me my fucking music!
Much to my dismay, Napster instituted a form of DRM protection on their music. This fucking sucks. What am I supposed to do? I bought this subscription purely on the intention of filling my iPod with lots of music to listen to. /sigh indeed.
So I was on a conquest to figure out how I could get this music to play on my Ipod. One method was using a winamp plugin to record the the soundcards output, and save it to a file. Apparently it took a long time to complete, and was buggy. Great, so what next? The next option, was burning all of the files to a CD, then bringing them back to the computer, thus removing the DRM protection. Wow, that’s not going to take for-fucking ever!
There HAS to be some sort of software to fix this right? At the time (this was about two years ago) there wasn’t much honestly. A few proof of concepts here, and few alphas there. Nothing. - Flash forward 6 months, and I stumbled across FairUse4WM, which worked marvelously. Albeit EVERY song was prefixed with a damn FAIRUSE4WM_ tag, which was… annoying to say the least, I dealt with it. It worked fine, and then stopped working, and I gave up. Meh…
Well apparently there is a new kid on the block, for everyone dealing with DRM issues. This will handle not only music files, but video, and even streaming files!
From the Author:
From the author - After many hours of fighting with WM-DRM protection I decided to create new tool that would allow people to remove it from from files and streams. Of course FairUse4WM is great tool and it works nice but there are few reasons why have decided to create a new one:
1) FairUse4WM is closed source. Everytime MS releases new version of IBX people have to make binary patches or start from scratch.
2) FairUse4WM doesn’t work with video streams since it wasn’t intended to. Of course it is possible to record video stream and then undrm it but this is pointless when we are talking about tv channels.
3) There is no platform independent tool for ms wm-drm. There is no point of running windows every time you want to undrm some file or stream.
FreeMe2 is the program. Based on famous freeme app created by Beale Screamer and based on viodentias (FairUse4WM) findings. It strips wm-drm protection from wmv/asf/wma files as well as video/audio streams.
Download and info at SourceForge
More Instructions and information at Stream-Recorder.com
FootNote: I canceled my Napster subscription long ago. This rendered my music unusable, and my files were removed. They billed me for another year afterwards, after repeated complaints to them, the credit company. Finally it stopped… they gave me $30 back. Fucking morons.
G3rald0 said,
Wrote on March 23, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
itunes has DRM licensing on their music as well. you cant put the music from itunes onto any other device besides the ipod. I agree that getting rid of the licensing is the right thing to do but you should read up on the real reason why not just complain because you are lazy. i mean you are going to listen to the music anyway whats wrong with doing a live record?
Fenriz said,
Wrote on March 24, 2008 @ 12:20 am
Live record? I did that in the 80s when I held a tape recorder to my jam box to copy tapes for friends. It was pathetic then, but there wasn’t a whole lot of options. It’s absurd to do so now when the technology exists to do otherwise.
And read up on the “real reason why” what? Why there’s DRM? Duh, the owners want as much control over their stuff as possible.
As long as they are DRMing stuff, the pirates will always deliver superior product. Hell, pirated content is superior even to DRM-free commercial content. These are the painful death throes of an outdated media model and will subside either when the media giants figure out the correct way to market digital content, or they disappear.
Menekali said,
Wrote on March 24, 2008 @ 2:24 am
@Fenriz:
I couldn’t agree more buddy.
Rob said,
Wrote on March 24, 2008 @ 5:04 am
Glad to see an open source DRM removal option, but it looks like there is still a way to go in terms of ease of use and such… If you’re willing to pirate (or actually use money), go with Tunebite.
Ziggy said,
Wrote on March 25, 2008 @ 7:29 am
There’s a great program called Sound Taxi the will easily convert DRM WMA to DRM free mp3. It is a file converter, so no recording while playing.
zero said,
Wrote on March 25, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
in the future i would suggest:
1. install utorrent (or other bit torrent client)
1a. (optional) install peerguardian to protect yourself
2. go to piratebay or mininova and find the music you want
3. download everything you’ve ever wanted to listen to drm-free
4. rock out
zero is correct said,
Wrote on March 26, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
haha for paying for it.
Oriasten said,
Wrote on March 26, 2008 @ 11:47 pm
I’m with Zero……push comes to shove play the CD in your CD ROM and record it live with Cool Edit Pro and cut it yourself (ie, seperate the songs and label them) Cool Edit 2.0 and up will save MP3s, had to do that with my moms Eagles CD…….then I smacked myself in the head and got it off of Mininova to make the copy she wanted for a friend.
RIAA and MPAA sucks long live PIRACY!
mrsleep said,
Wrote on March 27, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
First get ANY program that records sound, say soundforge, or cooledit pro, or some shit.
Next, run said program, open a file, and set to record.
Next, play DRM’d song.
When its done, stop the recording and save the file.
Voila, non-drm music.
Seriously, it’s not rocket science.
ashton said,
Wrote on March 27, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
I don’t want to be “the man.” But seriously just buy the CD and you don’t have problems. The music industry is suffering. I know no one likes record labels that take advantage of artist and consumers. But by not buying artist music at full price, you aren’t taking money out of the bad people in the industry, you are just hurting the artist and the people who are low in the industry.
About napster you should have read the contract that says what your getting, but I guess you were to busy forking over your credit card number to see what you were signing up for.
I don’t have a problem with people share some music to help promote an artist you like, but there is a point where you are just stealing. Whether you think that record company’s are screwing the public an artist it still doesn’t make it right to steal music.
I see so many sites and places that complain about this stuff, i just couldn’t take it anymore. I’m getting off my soapbox
peace
Doug Glass said,
Wrote on March 28, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
Although I agree with your position, let me make sure I understand what you’re saying. You said, “I bought this subscription purely on the intention of filling my iPod with lots of music to listen to. /sigh indeed.”
Ok, so you bought a product with an expectation of, not an understanding of, what you were getting. Do you also do that when you buy automobiles? Buy it then complain it doesn’t have the options you were expecting? I bet you look at the window sticker don’t you? Good boy; good practice.
Like I said, I believe your position has merit, but I also believe you need to do sufficient research before sealing a deal in order to keep the petulant child in check . I expect you do understand the legal principle caveat emptor. Right?
Roto13 said,
Wrote on March 28, 2008 @ 6:22 pm
Yeah, I’m gonna have to agree with a few of the people above. You signed up for something you didn’t understand. It’s your responsibility to do some research about how this kind of thing works before you pay for it. Unless they specifically said you’d be able to use the music on your mp3 player, it’s your fault.
Hell, I don’t know how Napster would stay in business if they just let you have as much music as you want and let you keep it forever and use it however you liked. People would sign up for one month and never come back.
dividedbyone said,
Wrote on March 29, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
ye old bottle of rum…
if you can’t pay and get what ye want then ye take it without ye wallet….
{||P-)
rileyman said,
Wrote on March 31, 2008 @ 9:17 pm
you morons ever heard of newsgroups?
Tyler said,
Wrote on April 4, 2008 @ 1:08 am
you morons ever heard of torrents?
I don’t care about the legality. If I like a band I’ll buy a fucking tee-shirt. I download music like people listen to the radio. I want to try new music and I don’t want to sort through shit.
-What.cd and waffles.fm members
Jon said,
Wrote on April 4, 2008 @ 6:14 pm
Seriously, stop being gay. All of you.
Oh, and if you really are gay, then…. stop being straight.
Rex Racer said,
Wrote on April 4, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Just a comment for the author… there is no DRM on any MP3 file, and there never has been.
Mary Poppin' Caps said,
Wrote on April 6, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
I’m so cool. I can use colorful words and impress people too.
…but I won’t.
Instead, I’d like to make the statement, on this 6th day of April, “My farts stink.”
Andy said,
Wrote on April 10, 2008 @ 6:33 am
Surely there’s some way to fool the software (iTunes, Napster, etc) into thinking that a virtual drive is a CDROM?
Nick said,
Wrote on April 10, 2008 @ 7:32 am
Don’t forget you can download drm free music from amazon. And some of the music on itunes is now drm free.
TLM said,
Wrote on April 23, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
To Rex, yes there are DRM on MP3 files.
I downloaded the song Say by John Mayer from Limewire and it has DRM protection…
scruffy said,
Wrote on April 26, 2008 @ 10:33 am
I’m another one who got chumped by napster. First I used Music Now, then it became AOL Music Now, then it became Napster. I also had an idividual membership to another download site. Napster took control of all my purchased music regardless of where I purchased it. They have offered all kinds of advice, none of which has worked. They finally gave up on me. I hope this works. I have a lot of good songs I am unable to listen to.
tally ho