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Digital Rights Update Tool: A Simple Way to Remove DRM from WMA Files



Microsoft Windows Media Audio-Format (WMA) supports Digital Rights Protection (DRM). Many commercial available WMA files (downloaded or ripped from audio CDs) has a DRM protection. So it requires Windows Media Player (WMP) or another DRM capable player to play these WMA files. Also the Windows machine requires a valid DRM certificate. If somebody is moving to another machine, in DRM is affected. Also, WMP or Windows updates has caused serious DRM trouble. Some users are loosing the ability to play their bought WMA files. So, many users are switching over to the DRM free MP3 format.




‘Digital Rights Update Tool’ strips DRM from WMA files




The open network protocol for digital rights management, [MS-DRM] from the MCPP collection, stipulates that software developers have a right to implement the protocol outside the Microsoft's development tools and environment.


A few weeks ago, I installed Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2002. Finally, I would be able to fly a Boeing 747 under the Golden Gate bridge, a pleasure denied me under FAA regulations. The installation procedure purported to provide me with a series of choices about which of the many programs on the three CD-ROMs I could install. In truth, there were few choices. I was compelled to install a variety of files, including all that pertained to Microsoft's digital rights management (DRM) system. I was compelled in the sense that the game required those files to operate. I dutifully installed them.The game is terrific -- I save at least $10,000 every hour I fly the 747 on the computer.Curtis Karnow, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & RosenthalBut I and the many thousands of others who use this leading flight simulator have installed Microsoft's DRM system on our hard drives. And looking into this quiet distribution, I found it was the tip of an iceberg: For well over a year, Microsoft has been building DRM directly into Windows. It has inextricably linked the operation and distribution of its propriety DRM system and its multimedia technology, called Windows Media. "We see [Microsoft's DRM] as a core service in the operating system -- this is going to be a core technology for anything that's distributed across the Web," said Microsoft's Michael Aldridge, lead project manager for the digital media division, in a CNET story.Because older audio encryption systems can be avoided by simply tapping into the sound path just before it hits the speakers (by which time it has been decrypted), Microsoft is also building Secure Audio Path into the operating system. Secure Audio Path scrambles output from the computer sound card to the speakers. Of course, only certain speakers compatible with Security Audio Path will work with that input. Microsoft has also thoughtfully provided an audio file converter that translates ubiquitous MP3 files to the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. With DRM, WMA music files can be programmed not to play after, say, 10 days, or DRM can prevent the files from being transferred to a CD-ROM (see Microsoft 'tunes' up Windows XP).The audio DRM system was broken last October by a hacker using the alias Beale Screamer, who detailed Microsoft's encryption scheme and released a program to strip audio files of their protection. Beale suggests, in an open letter to the Justice Department that accompanies his files, that Microsoft's DRM poses serious antitrust issues. The Microsoft DRM system requires a certified public key for the required communication -- that is, a form of digital certificate that authorizes the encryption and decryption processes to work.Control issueMicrosoft controls the certification. Thus, Microsoft also controls the revocation of these certificates, which means that Microsoft can remotely disable any software that depends on the certificate for communication. There are good reasons to disable certificates -- especially because they may be forged or used without authority to create unauthorized software. But revocation is a stunning power to put in the hands of a third party, especially if it's a competitor.This is a package of protection that will be hard for content providers to resist. They will be attracted to the benefits of DRM built deep into the most widespread operating system. But they now must work with Microsoft to utilize the DRM systems and distribute the required certificates. This is so even if those content providers are Microsoft's competitors. And they need to do this even if they may not want to alert their most powerful competitor to their plans, and even if they recall with some horror past mismanagement of Microsoft's digital certificate processing (see PC World story).And each one of us armchair pilots is an unwitting assistant, for we pave the way for the establishment of the Microsoft-managed DRM standard every time we install Microsoft's simulator.Karnow, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, E-Business Group in San Francisco, is the author of Future Codes: Essays In Advanced Computer Technology and the Law, (Artech House, 1997). Contact him at cek@sonnenschein.com.References:DMCA Protester Cracks Microsoft's Copyright Protection Code"Mad as Hell About the DMCA," by Beale Screamer


Shelley Taylor, analyst and author of a report about online music services, said the locks and limits on digital files were done to maximise the cash that firms can make from consumers. Ms Taylor said the limits legal download services place on files could help explain the continuing popularity of file-sharing systems that let people get hold of pirated content. "People want portability," she said, "and with peer-to-peer they have 100% portability." Cory Doctorow "Not one of these systems has ever prevented piracy or illegal copying,".


On the other hand, the benefits to Microsoft are potentially huge, particularly as the company looks to gain traction for the WMA format over MP3. Windows Media Player packs digital rights management (DRM) technology that Microsoft hopes will woo content providers to WMA. DRM reduces illegal copying of video or audio files.


On one hand, this encryption protects its content from being copied. On the other hand, it also prevents all digital media from being played on or transferred among unauthorized devices, even if users have paid for them. This is most evident in iTunes Store, a leader in the sale of the online digital files. Yet, all hope is not lost, as there are many tools that can remove the DRM protection, so that you can play these media in a host of devices, or share them everywhere freely.


As the No. 1 top rated iTunes DRM removal tool, ViWizard DRM M4V Converter is a very powerful and professional software in DRM protection removal that can remove the DRM encryption from iTunes movies (both rented and purchased ), TV shows and music videos. It will remove DRM first and then convert those video files from protected M4V to MP4 and other formats in very fast speed and high efficiency.


Aimersoft DRM Media Converter is another great DRM removal tool that is noted for its versatility courtesy of it being able to remove the DRM from a wide range of audio and video files and also for its compatibility with most devices. It has efficient speed in stripping off DRM and also the conversion of the files to shareable content. It decrypts protected files from iTunes, Amazon among many other online stores.


Requiem is a best DRM removal software free tool that promises efficiency in the removal of Apple's DRM encryption on audio files, videos and also iBooks that have been purchased from iTunes. This software prides itself in being 'lossless' as its removal process preserves the quality and all the details of the files decrypted among many other aspects.


Sharing of digital movies and music is part of the fun in enjoying the media. And getting rid of the DRM restrictions from those files is easy with those listed DRM removal software. All of them are legal and have a clean bill to run and enhance the fun of great digital lives. 2ff7e9595c


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