FairUse4WM Strips Windows Media DRM!

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/25/fairuse4wm-strips-windows-media-drm/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/25/fairuse4wm-strips-windows-media-drm/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"So far as the yet very quiet forums are claiming, a new app called FairUse4WM can be used to strip Windows Media DRM 10 and 11 (i.e. PlaysForSure, but not WM DRM 9). Yes, yes, we know, we've heard this song and dance before. But before we proceed, let's just be totally clear on how the system works: providers like Napster and Yahoo Music Unlimited provide subscription service for unlimited access to Windows Media DRMed files; stop paying the fee, stop getting access to the files -- but you already knew all this. We tried FairUse4WM and we can verify that it quickly and easily stripped the DRM from our Napster To Go tracks, and made them freely available to play on our Mac (which, of course, has Flip4Mac installed). In other words, it's a simple, apparently lossless, one-step method for making your files playable after you're no longer paying fees on your subscription service."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/wmdrm1.jpg" /> <br /><br />I can already hear the sound of hundreds of keyboards clicking at Microsoft, developing a tool to detect and remove this file from Windows XP computers around the world. I can't support or authorize the use of this program, but if you're interested in trying it out, go download it now. It won't be around for long, that's for sure.

[Philip Colmer]

I'm not really sure what this tool is doing ... I fed it a legitimate DRM track (in the interest of seeing what it actually does) and it said that it removed the keys.

If you open it in WM, it plays and the Media Usage Rights tab for the track is empty. However, if you right-click on the file &amp; choose Properties and select the License tab, it says that it is Protected Content and, indeed, I cannot open the file in an audio editor.

So, it seems as if the restrictions are removed, but the track is still protected.

--Philip

[ale_ers]

I'm not really sure what this tool is doing ... I fed it a legitimate DRM track (in the interest of seeing what it actually does) and it said that it removed the keys.

If you open it in WM, it plays and the Media Usage Rights tab for the track is empty. However, if you right-click on the file &amp; choose Properties and select the License tab, it says that it is Protected Content and, indeed, I cannot open the file in an audio editor.

So, it seems as if the restrictions are removed, but the track is still protected.

--Philip

Now go look in your Video folder (for some reason the output seems to default there). You will find a perfect copy of the song with the name [NoDRM] in front of it.

[Philip Colmer]

Now go look in your Video folder (for some reason the output seems to default there). You will find a perfect copy of the song with the name [NoDRM] in front of it.
Wow! I would never have thought of looking in there! 8O

Thanks :).

--Philip