DRM Removal
Author
Hello,
I'm getting ready to format my hard drive and reinstall the operating system. However, I have purchased quite a bit of DRM protected music in WMA format. Previously I was able to back up my DRM licenses and restore them through Windows Media Player, but this no longer seems to be an option in WMP11. In the past I have burned my DRM files to audio CDs and then ripped the CDs, but I have noticed that the audio quality is noticeably degraded when I do this. I am wondering if there is any way I can remove the DRM protection without loosing audio quality.
Also I am currently running Windows XP Pro, but through my College Microsoft provides software for free so I also have the option of Windows Vista Business Edition. My computer is about two years old, running a Pentium D @ 3200 Ghz, 2GM RAM, Geforce 7600 (512MB) video card. If I do install Vista will it the performance be seriously degraded, and is there any reason to use vista (my Geforece 7600 is DX9, so I'm not sure if DX10 is going to matter at this point)?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.
What you should have done is say 'Fuck you, I'm not going to let you tell me whether or not I'm allowed to play my own music.', and then not given them your money.
Erm, the entire point in DRM is that it can't be removed by the end user. If you buy DRM-protected music, you get to use it (and copy it or back it up) on very restricted terms.
If you could just click the "remove DRM" button, there wouldn't be much point in adding it in the first place, would there?
So, do you feel it was money well spent? [grin]
*shrug*
Some people like Vista because it looks prettier. Some like it because it's newer. I didn't like it much, but you'll have to try it yourself to decide if *you* want to use it.
Regarding performance, a common figure being thrown around is that you lose around 10% performance in games by switching to Vista. Memory consumption in DX9 games also goes up a bit (or a lot, if you don't apply certain hotfixes)
If you're interested, try it out. You can always install both and dualboot until you figure out whether or not you like it.
If you could just click the "remove DRM" button, there wouldn't be much point in adding it in the first place, would there?
So, do you feel it was money well spent? [grin]
Quote:
Also I am currently running Windows XP Pro, but through my College Microsoft provides software for free so I also have the option of Windows Vista Business Edition. My computer is about two years old, running a Pentium D @ 3200 Ghz, 2GM RAM, Geforce 7600 (512MB) video card. If I do install Vista will it the performance be seriously degraded, and is there any reason to use vista (my Geforece 7600 is DX9, so I'm not sure if DX10 is going to matter at this point)?
*shrug*
Some people like Vista because it looks prettier. Some like it because it's newer. I didn't like it much, but you'll have to try it yourself to decide if *you* want to use it.
Regarding performance, a common figure being thrown around is that you lose around 10% performance in games by switching to Vista. Memory consumption in DX9 games also goes up a bit (or a lot, if you don't apply certain hotfixes)
If you're interested, try it out. You can always install both and dualboot until you figure out whether or not you like it.
Beem, Vista is great. I ran Vista for 6 months on a POS with 512 Mb and integrated graphics, and it was smooth and fast. It started up a lot faster than XP did. Takes less than 10 seconds after turning my PC on to get to the log in screen.
As for DRM. I buy these things called CDs. Just bought some today. I put them into my PC and let WMP rip them automatically grab the alumb art off an online database, and then eject them when they are done copying. From there I can listen to them freely on my PC, copy the files wherever I please, put them on my MP3 player, etc... No DRM and I have my real copy.
Also, had I paid 0.99 cents a track like some online are sold for, I would have paid close to double.
This isn't meant to be sarcastic. IMO, online mp3 shopping is for suckers, this is exactly the type of problem you run into.
This may help you.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/faq/drm.mspx
As for DRM. I buy these things called CDs. Just bought some today. I put them into my PC and let WMP rip them automatically grab the alumb art off an online database, and then eject them when they are done copying. From there I can listen to them freely on my PC, copy the files wherever I please, put them on my MP3 player, etc... No DRM and I have my real copy.
Also, had I paid 0.99 cents a track like some online are sold for, I would have paid close to double.
This isn't meant to be sarcastic. IMO, online mp3 shopping is for suckers, this is exactly the type of problem you run into.
This may help you.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/faq/drm.mspx
Hi,
Feeling somewhat uneasy about downloading music for free, I tend to buy it online -- and of course, it all comes with DRM protection. To get DRM-free music, there are two things that I know of that you could do. One is to buy Tunebite. It's a program made just for this purpose: to remove DRM protection from music files. Unfortunately, it costs $25, which may defeat its own purpose depending on how often you buy music. The second thing is you can do is, in the future, buy music on Amazon MP3. Their niche is the very fact that they sell DRM-free music.
What else? Well, if you're feeling up for it, maybe you can try to figure out a way to reproduce Tunebite's functionality. After all, what it does is quite straightforward: it plays the DRM protected music file, and it simultaneously re-captures the audio through the sound card. It saves the captured audio data into a new file that has no DRM. Unfortunately, precisely how this is done, I don't know.
Feeling somewhat uneasy about downloading music for free, I tend to buy it online -- and of course, it all comes with DRM protection. To get DRM-free music, there are two things that I know of that you could do. One is to buy Tunebite. It's a program made just for this purpose: to remove DRM protection from music files. Unfortunately, it costs $25, which may defeat its own purpose depending on how often you buy music. The second thing is you can do is, in the future, buy music on Amazon MP3. Their niche is the very fact that they sell DRM-free music.
What else? Well, if you're feeling up for it, maybe you can try to figure out a way to reproduce Tunebite's functionality. After all, what it does is quite straightforward: it plays the DRM protected music file, and it simultaneously re-captures the audio through the sound card. It saves the captured audio data into a new file that has no DRM. Unfortunately, precisely how this is done, I don't know.
Heh, you can't play DRM music anymore if you have to reinstall Windows?
That's something consumer organizations should fight against imho, Windows isn't guaranteed to work without reinstalling for longer than a few years, and I'm sure that's not what consumers pay their money for, to lose their music if Windows does unstable.
That's something consumer organizations should fight against imho, Windows isn't guaranteed to work without reinstalling for longer than a few years, and I'm sure that's not what consumers pay their money for, to lose their music if Windows does unstable.
Quote:Heh, you can't play DRM music anymore if you have to reinstall Windows?
Thats one reason why I dont think all this downloadable content, that people are touting to be the future, will take off quite as well as they hope.
The question is, are people stupid enough, to keep paying for content over and over again, if they lose it, or windows crashes, or they release the new operating system, or even a simple update which renders previous content useless. I dont think they are?
Surely its about time windows, looked at trying a different development system, like a modular, updating OS. So you have the standard stable OS, then you have all the customers data which is totally separate from that, and then you pay microsoft for appropriate updates, which no matter what they change, should in no way effect your personal data.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
