A group of underground programmers has posted code online they say will reopen a back door in Apple Computer's iTunes store, allowing Linux computer users to purchase music free of copy restrictions.
The release comes just a day after Apple blocked a previous version of the program, called PyMusique, in part by requiring all iTunes customers to use the latest version of Apple's software.
In a blog posting, Norwegian programmer Jon Johansen, who was previously responsible for releasing software used to copy DVDs, said he had been successful at reverse engineering the latest iTunes encryption.
Cody Brocious, a Pennsylvania high school student working with Johansen, said they saw the project as "necessary for the Linux community," despite Apple's opposition.
The programmers' work has been one of the most persistent projects targeting Apple, whose iPod and iTunes Music Store have drawn consistent attacks and experiments by people eager to extend the capability of the products, or simply disarm copy-restriction technology.
The cat-and-mouse response is a familiar one in the technology world, as programmers have often sought to write software compatible with popular applications or services. Instant messaging companies such as America Online, Yahoo, Microsoft have long feuded with the makers of Trillian and Gaim , blocking and reopening access to the IM services.
The PyMusique programmers say they are primarily interested in allowing people using Linux to purchase music from the iTunes store, explaining their goals in a blog posting online. Their software requires users to have an iTunes account and pay the ordinary price for music.
They say they weren't aiming at creating a tool for stripping iTunes copy-restriction off songs. However, Apple's system adds the layer of copy-restriction inside the iTunes software itself, and so they didn't need to add it in their own version, they said.
Apple's software already allows customers to create an unrestricted version of a song, by burning an iTunes purchase to a CD. That file can be ripped as an ordinary MP3.
While Apple has made no public legal threats against the programmers, the iTunes terms of service bars the use of any unauthorised software to access the store. Copyright lawyers have previously said that the PyMusique system, which evades Apple's intention to wrap all purchases in copy restriction, may well cross legal lines.
"The work I do is completely legal in my country," Johansen said in an email interview. "Of course, I know very well that not doing anything illegal doesn't mean you won't be prosecuted [or] sued."
Johansen was prosecuted in Norway for releasing the DeCSS code in 1999, but was ultimately cleared of charges.
An Apple representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
Brocious said the updated version of PyMusique would only be available for Linux, and that the programmers would not make a Windows version this time.
Talkback
It's time that companies see the potential of Linux. If they keep ignoring it, people will find a way to make a same (better ?) program for Linux.
This is just a result of that. If apple had made an iTunes for Linux then a program like PyMusique would probably not have been made.
I think iTunes (and similar sites) should be forced to disclose just how hindering the DRM copy protection is.
I signed up to the service some months back and downloaded a few songs. I expected to be able to transfer about and basically enjoy my legal rights to products I had paid good money for.
The DRM illegally takes away these rights to personal use. For starts I'm not sure how they get away with it. If a company sold cars that had a secret (and unadvertised) feature only allowing the car to be driven on certain roads (probably toll roads owned by the car company), then this would be obviously illegal.
Apple seem to be able to sell, quite legally apparently, products which after handing over your money you realise you can only play the songs in the way Apple choose using what Apple chooses.
Apple refused to give me my money back for the useless songs I downloaded but could only listen to on the computer (which I never do).
yes but Apple are not about to rele
ase a Linux programe are they they are in bed with BSD and according to the likes of Apple we are just the ass wipes if we run Linux althou it is FAR better than any Apple or MicroSquis offeringt i have EVER seen
Just suffered the same thing. iTunes avoids warning the customer of the severe limitations of the tunes you are downloading. To describe the restricted-use songs they sell as an "Album" is completely misleading. Worse, they store your credit card details, so that at a single click of a button, your card is debited and you've bought whatever you clicked - no chance to reflect on whether it is what you really wanted. I've now got 1 and a half albums (I stopped the second one in mid-download when I realised my mistake) and iTunes sarl in Luxembourg won't reimburse me. Greedy, deceitful, inconsiderate and dismisssive of complaint. If every net trader behaved in this fashion, web commerce would be dead in a week. I haven't finished with them yet, though - we'll see what the courts have to say.