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How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

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Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#21

Post by arrrg »

udpheaders wrote: post #20
arrrg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn’t any DRM protected music in the iTunes Store, either. This is only about the previews.

So if I purchase some songs from this store (e.g. someone gives me iTunes credit as a gift) I can still play them without iTunes? I don't need iTunes installed anywhere?

You need iTunes to buy (i.e. you can only access the Store using the iTunes app, not a web browser), but what you get is a completely standard AAC-encoded file without any DRM. I think pretty much any audio player available today can play that (as well as any mobile OS). Just drag the files in your library to your desktop or browse your iTunes folder to find them. After that you can uninstall iTunes and never need to see it again.

iTunes does embed your Apple ID (you need to sign up and get one to redeem your gift card, though you do not need to enter any credit card info or the like) and purchase date as well as time as metadata in the file, but that information is easily removed. There are no watermarks.

Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#22

Post by rkudeshi »

udpheaders wrote: post #20
arrrg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn’t any DRM protected music in the iTunes Store, either. This is only about the previews.

So if I purchase some songs from this store (e.g. someone gives me iTunes credit as a gift) I can still play them without iTunes? I don't need iTunes installed anywhere?

Correct.

Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#23

Post by alpb »

usea wrote: post #19

The article says > Although downloading iTunes previews are illegal and restricted by Apple What does the author mean by this? If downloading the files are illegal, why is there an API for it? And why do Apple products have features for consumers to do it? Is he trying to make a distinction between downloading and streaming?

Hi there I am the author. iTunes API terms state that:

> ...music video previews; (iv) is streamed only, and not downloaded, saved, cached, or synchronized with video

http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentati...

Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#24

Post by nnnnni »

usea wrote: post #19

The article says > Although downloading iTunes previews are illegal and restricted by Apple What does the author mean by this? If downloading the files are illegal, why is there an API for it? And why do Apple products have features for consumers to do it? Is he trying to make a distinction between downloading and streaming?

Yeah, if the file is being transferred from a remote machine to a local machine in any way (INCLUDING STREAMING), it's being downloaded.

Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#25

Post by udpheaders »

arrrg wrote: post #21
udpheaders wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I purchase some songs from this store (e.g. someone gives me iTunes credit as a gift) I can still play them without iTunes? I don't need iTunes installed anywhere?

You need iTunes to buy (i.e. you can only access the Store using the iTunes app, not a web browser), but what you get is a completely standard AAC-encoded file without any DRM. I think pretty much any audio player available today can play that (as well as any mobile OS). Just drag the files in your library to your desktop or browse your iTunes folder to find them. After that you can uninstall iTunes and never need to…

So if I understand correctly, the answer is no.

Is there some sort of iTunes kiosk, a publicly accessible device with iTunes installed where a customer could purchase songs, download them to removable media and then move the songs from the media to whereever they need to have them?

Or maybe you can use a friend's device with iTunes installed?

Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#26

Post by philwelch »

w1ntermute wrote: post #3

If this becomes widely used, it'll only kickstart an arms race between Apple and the people trying to access the iTunes previews. Remember what happened with the Palm Pre and iTunes syncing? Apple doesn't like unapproved devices accessing its content ecosystem.

> Remember what happened with the Palm Pre and iTunes syncing?

Palm Pre exploited security holes that would have allowed any rogue USB device falsely reporting itself as an iPhone to access e.g. your address book, and Apple patched the security holes. Quibble all you want over Apple's motivations, but there wasn't any other responsible thing for them to do.

Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#27

Post by arrrg »

udpheaders wrote: post #25
arrrg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need iTunes to buy (i.e. you can only access the Store using the iTunes app, not a web browser), but what you get is a completely standard AAC-encoded file without any DRM. I think pretty much any audio player available today can play that (as well as any mobile OS). Just drag the files in your library to your desktop or browse your iTunes folder to find them. After that you can uninstall iTunes and never need to…

So if I understand correctly, the answer is no. Is there some sort of iTunes kiosk, a publicly accessible device with iTunes installed where a customer could purchase songs, download them to removable media and then move the songs from the media to whereever they need to have them? Or maybe you can use a friend's device with iTunes installed?

You can use a friend’s machine. Either create your own Apple ID there or redeem your gift card using your friend’s Apple ID and buy music from their account. After that you can just copy your music to an USB stick or to Dropbox or whatever.

Yes, you need iTunes to buy – but once you have the music, you do not need it anymore. They are just standard audio files that work with any (somewhat current) player.

Re: How to bypass iTunes music previews protection

#28

Post by udpheaders »

arrrg wrote: post #27
udpheaders wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I understand correctly, the answer is no. Is there some sort of iTunes kiosk, a publicly accessible device with iTunes installed where a customer could purchase songs, download them to removable media and then move the songs from the media to whereever they need to have them? Or maybe you can use a friend's device with iTunes installed?

You can use a friend’s machine. Either create your own Apple ID there or redeem your gift card using your friend’s Apple ID and buy music from their account. After that you can just copy your music to an USB stick or to Dropbox or whatever. Yes, you need iTunes to buy – but once you have the music, you do not need it anymore. They are just standard audio files that work with any (somewhat current) player.

Nice explanation. Thanks for this.
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