[Cialug] M4P files

[Bill Davis]

As I recall the .m4p file extension indicates that they are protected  
with Apple's FairPlay DRM system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay

The above link may lead you to some DRM crackers.  Hymn, JHymn,  
etc.   May not still work, Apple keeps breaking the crackers when  
they update iTunes the next time.   Not sure what the current status  
of that is.    See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QTFairUse6

http://www.hymn-project.org/

IMPORTANT NOTE: Removing this DRM is illegal, so don't blame me if  
the Man (or the Jobs) visits you with handcuffs.   (Me, I just buy  
the CD.  Screw DRM!)

For future reference, you CAN now get non-DRMd tracks from iTunes  
from one or two major music labels now (for 1.29 instead of .99) but  
that's still limited yet (but the tide is turning).  They are still  
the AAC format instead of MP3, just without the FairPlay DRM,  but  
AAC is an open standard like MP3 (freer actually,  I think; you have  
to pay for MP3 licensing) so converting from AAC to MP3 is no  
problem, though it might result in a loss of quality.  But Linux- 
based digital music players are likely to support AAC directly, I'd  
guess, the same as they support .mp3 or .ogg or other more open  
formats.  (Disclaimer: I Am Not Presently A Linux User.  Just Mac OS  
X's Unix variant...)

Anyway, the DRM vs non-DRM tracks on iTunes is something to watch out  
for, for now.

You can ALSO get lots of non-DRMd music from Amazon now, as .mp3  
files even! They even have a little helper app to put your downloads  
straight into iTunes and thence to your iPod (they sell a LOT of  
iPods through Amazon, and Amazon is not run by stupid people.....)

Or you can always just burn 'em to a CD in iTunes, then re-rip them  
(losing quality, of course, but you may or may not notice that....)

  - Bill Davis


On Oct 3, 2007, at 1:39 PM, albus wrote:

> off the top off your head what is a good open suse 10.2 GUI enabled  
> m4p to mp3 converter?
> I bought a couple tunes off itunes and need to convert them to mp3.
>
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